Nintendo's carrying on a now-long-standing tradition, as for the fourth year running, it will not have a presence at E3. Rather, reports note, it will do as it's long done and broadcast a Nintendo Direct to run at the same time during the big show.

There's no official confirmation on this one, but most are expecting Nintendo to eschew the big show for a video presentation instead. Though reports suggest Nintendo won't be out of the running completely, as some games set to appear on Nintendo systems will be on hand for users to try out.

The question, of course, is will other companies follow suit. Given that we've seen Bethesda step up to the mike in a much bigger fashion over the last few years, and given that we've seen Microsoft and Sony stay strong throughout--Microsoft actually changed its show date this year to be just ahead of Bethesda's, and given how close Microsoft and Bethesda have been of late this might make some sense.

Of course, some are wondering if, perhaps, gaming companies wouldn't be better off if the whole show went to video instead. Granted, we've seen some impressive things done with streaming video in recent years, but there's still a lot to be said for having that hands-on time with the new games. Considering that E3 recently went to an "open to the public" stance, and in recent years the shows have been more about the games than anything else--am I alone in saying there's been a wealth of game trailers coming out of E3 for the last few years?--which certainly helps. A search for "2016 e3 Trailer" on YouTube turns over just shy of 17,000 results.

There's also something great to say about E3 for indie games. Indie games get a great chance to show off what's going on in the field and what's going to be available in short order, and don't have the resources to stage their own video events like Nintendo does.

Still, we're likely to see E3 carry on for some time to come. Sure, it will likely change its overall face, and we'll see some very different things come out of this event going forward. But there's no doubt that E3 will be E3 for the foreseeable future, and the place where the year in gaming--and beyond--truly comes together.