Update: Post a story, and all of a sudden, more sources jump out of the woodwork, to say nothing of similar stories from competing outlets. We've spoken with four additional sources since our original post went live, and it appears that our original source's statement that there would be an extra two days specifically set aside for the public--Friday June 5th and Saturday June 6th--may have been incorrect. We're working to pin that down, and as soon as we find out, we'll whip up another post. Separately, we're also looking to gather information about what criteria the ESA will use to admit a broader audience than it has to the previous two E3s, and to find out--as one journalist asked us privately and as many fanboys would like to know--whether the infamous booth babes of years past will make a comeback of their own. Stay tuned.

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Level Up has just learned that after long, bruising and politically difficult negotiations, the Entertainment Software Association is preparing to announce tomorrow that E3 2009 will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center during the first week of June--and that for the first time, E3 will officially open its doors to the public at large. According to a source close to the process, the convention floor and meeting rooms will open on Tuesday June 2nd to media and industry professionals. On Friday June 5th and Saturday June 6th, however, the show floor will open up to the public. What about the famous press conferences from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, along with a handful of third party publishers? Our source told us to "expect a boat load of press conferences on Monday during the day and on Tuesday morning."

Internally, the ESA and its members are referring to the event as a "prosumer show," a term our source found puzzling. Presumably it refers to the ESA's intent to reach out to not necessarily the world at large, but to media, industry professionals and the most avid gamers. For while attendance is expected to rise dramatically from the 2008 show, our source informed us that the ESA is aiming to cap next year's attendance at 40,000. That's significantly less than the record 70,000 people that attended E3 in 2005, and it's also less than the nearly 60,000 people who attended this year's Penny Arcade Expo in August in downtown Seattle.

Three years ago, when the ESA decided to drastically scale back E3 in response to the annual carping about the show's cost to its members, industry scuttlebutt pegged the Four Horsemen most responsible for the original format's demise as the three console manufacturers--Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo--and leading third party publisher Electronic Arts. But as the song goes, sometimes you don't know what you got 'til it's gone, and two years of the new min-E3--first spread out over downtown Santa Monica, then as a shell of its former self back at the L.A. Convention Center--was pleasing no-one, to say nothing of publishers like Activision Blizzard, which pulled out of E3 and the ESA entirely. Clearly, something had to be done.

Still, it wasn't easy. "It was a long journey to get there, politically," says our source. "After vehemently opposing a bigger show three years ago--to now go back to the board, admit a mistake, and advocate for a bigger show. It reflects well on the organization and the board to recognize they made a mistake and, regardless of how it would look publicly, go ahead and fix it." According to our source, Electronic Arts is one of the Four Horseman that changed its mind and strongly championed a bigger show. We tried to ascertain where the three platform holders stand regarding the new format for E3 2009, but on that point, our source remained coy. "The [big] three positions are opposed, indifferent and mildly supportive--not going to say which is which--to adding a consumer show on the back of the media and business summit."

We'll have more on this story as it develops, but for now, we'd like to know whether you give the proposed new E3 a thumbs up or down. Let us know in the comments below.