E3 not scared of swine flu, says ESA

By Robert Purchese Published 29 April, 2009

"Officials taking all appropriate steps."

The Entertainment Software Association has said June's E3 Expo has not been affected by the outbreak of swine flu.

"The 2009 E3 Expo is progressing as planned," ESA spokesperson Dan Hewitt told Joystiq. "Public health officials are taking all appropriate steps and we continue to follow their direction on all measures."

"We look forward to a great event, and to seeing you in Los Angeles in June."

Swine flu is reported to have spread from Mexico, up into the US and Canada, and then over to the rest of the world. The North American continent has the highest amount of confirmed cases and deaths, according to the BBC's map. The US only recently confirmed the first non-Mexican death from the disease.

Plus, map fans, Los Angeles is only a few-hundred kilometres from the Mexican border, meaning the ESA may have more of a problem organising an event for a predicted 40,000 attendees - both national and international - than it is letting on.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cyacomini #1 3 years ago

    article is broken..

    wonder if it has the flu....

  • andijames #2 3 years ago

    Might be the internet connection. I can here crackling on the line..

  • Hunam #3 3 years ago

    What the fuck?

  • mega7ech #4 3 years ago

    Swine flu!?! What is it with all these random animal/human viruses these days? Whats next - Goats dodgy tummy?
    Tabby-cat pocs? Wildebeast ringsting? I blame Tesco Value range sausages personally - Sick!

  • MBar #5 3 years ago

    wonder if it has the flu....

    ITS THE END OF TEH WORLD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

    and so on.
    Edited by 1 at 29/04/09 @ 17:10

  • arctic360 #6 3 years ago

    Aaaaachoooooooooo!

  • Mockerre #7 3 years ago

    mega7ech: porcupine gonorea.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #8 3 years ago

    The page needs some oinkment.

  • theiceman #9 3 years ago

    Speaking of swine flu,i've got a joke for you bums:

    Mate,i'm a bit worried.I want you to go for a swine test flu.
    I know you haven't been to mexico but fuck me,
    you've been with some pigs in your time!!!

  • metallicorphan #10 3 years ago

    don't you dare cancel E3...i look forward to that more than i do Christmas/birthday

  • polaris70 #11 3 years ago

    You're having a laugh if you think E3 will go ahead. Arnie has already issued a state of emergency in California, and I don't want to come out in rashers all over my body because some journo picked it up holidaying in LA.

  • Oh-Bollox #12 3 years ago

    and I don't want to come out in rashers all over my body

    Please tell me that was accidental and not a joke. Christ, I'm gagging, that's terrible.

  • AOFanboi #13 3 years ago

    2005: 19,000 Americans die from multi-resistent bacteria. Big yawn.

    2009: A small number of people die from another variant of a disease that we have drugs against. CRISIS!

    World in "needs to get a grip" shocker.

  • Flash27 #14 3 years ago

    I sneezed today. I thought it was the beginning of the end...

  • makeamazing #15 3 years ago

    Yes the press are loving it for the moment, they have something major to focus on that isnt the recession. As another poster has suggested that hundreds of thousands of people die each year of flu.... normally that wouldnt be too much of a problem as normally its over 65s that get it, but Swine flu affects those under 45... noooo :D

    Well at least the UK has lots of tamiflu vaxcine, according to the BBC some countries have very little, lets hope we dont start handing out ours just before we need it.

  • polaris70 #16 3 years ago

    People saying its not that severe be warned. This little virus likes people now, and now it's circulating it will try and like people even more by mutating. It will be trying to make itself spread easier and will be trying to stay alive longer, by natural selection. The second wave of this virus could be a lethal killer or not. The situation is not to be sneezed at.

  • Sunyavadin #17 3 years ago

    I'm terrified of swine flu. After all, so many millions of people died of bird flu a few years back.


    ....oh, wait....



    Speaking of bird flu - what if the two strains intermingle and we get flying pig disease?