While many complained that the pre-2007 E3s were mostly about very expensive boasting and not enough about business, few could have imagined that it would turn into an event spread out all over Los Angeles from aircraft hangars to private hotel suites - with optional air-conditioning no less.

Activision last week was the first to say thanks, but no thanks, to this year's July 15 event. That probably means Id Software, which Activision publishes, won't be there, either. So no Doom previews - dang.

Then Vivendi, which is in the middle of a merger with Activision, followed suit. Those two big publishers opened the door for smaller, but important, companies, including Foundation 9, to say "peace." NC Soft isn't coming back, either, but after it had verbal fisticuffs with the event's organizers in 2006, that is hardly surprising.

What is surprising is how far and how quickly the once-mega event has fallen. E3 has gone from bloated to emaciated in just a couple of years, with everyone serving their own slices instead of being one big cake.

While there are plenty of different video game shows (the Game Developers Conference, e for All, the Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft events), we still should have a flagship event.

Maybe a traveling auto show-type of gathering is needed. Or maybe a virtual E3 is the answer. Just don't put too much water in the Kool-Aid, all you game-event organizers, developers and publishers. It was once very sweet.

Take Two isn't shy about Chi-town

Take Two Interactive, publisher of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, isn't sitting still while the Chicago Transit Authority removes the game's ads from its properties. It is suing the agency on contractual and free-speech grounds.

After Take Two paid $300,000 to put up 385 huge posters and smaller placards (if you haven't seen them around Philly, you aren't really looking) on trains, buses and bus stops, CTA started pulling them down after recalling some earlier criticism. CTA now says it had complaints about the series a few years ago - in 2004!! - for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

It seems people complained about those ads, mostly after the ads had been up for months, and CTA decided to be proactive - well, sort of, as the new deal was already done - this time around.

"The CTA has the right to regulate and establish guidelines for advertising on its properties," it told Gamespot.com.

Bare Knuckles says "Straight garbage!" If CTA was so concerned, why allow the deal to go through? Besides, I have seen the ads for GTA IV, they are pretty harmless. I have also seen the national movie ads plastered all over public transit. Do we really want to go there with comparisons?

Take Two should be able to win this one in court. If I were the company, I would also give away a gazillion GTA IV T-shirts in Chicago this summer . . . with free bus tokens, of course.

Mario Kart Wii here

I know this weekend is about our mommas, but I know a couple of mom gamers who will be scarfing down homemade breakfasts Sunday and quickly making their way to the South Street Headhouse District (Second and Lombard) to play Mario Kart on the Wii all day, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Nintendo is bringing out a huge truckful of Wiis, TVs, and those neat wireless steering wheels to showcase the new game. Visitors will also get their own Mario Kart photo license. Just what you need to launch banana peels down I-76 without getting a ticket.

If you are heading to the Dad Vail Regatta on Saturday, the truckful of games will be there as well, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.