Why? Well, to quote Pocket Gamer's own Kristan Reed, "the handheld, mobile and tablet sector are still the ginger step-child of gaming," and they remain unwelcome at the adult's table that E3 represents.
But things may be changing. GREE will be occupying a South Hall stand this year, nestled alongside Konami and Take-Two.
Korean developer WeMade Entertainment has also booked itself a booth, and plans to show off eight mobile games at its E3 spectacular.
The tides are turning. Slowly.
Anyway, enough chatter - let's get you some news. Here's our bite-sized overview of the important industry happenings of the last seven days.
Funding and acquisitions
- AXA Private Equity buys equity stake in mobile publisher BulkyPix.
- Swedish start up Boldai wins 10,000 from Nordic Game Fund for its digital Lego concept.
- Mobile dev Chaotic Moon acquires San Francisco studio DollarApp.
- CEO Mark Pincus claims 'it's too early to say' if Zynga's $180 million acquisition of OMGPOP was successful.
Platform wars
- Nokia's low-end Windows Phone handsets can't run some of the platform's most popular apps, including Angry Birds and PES 2012.
- US retailer GameStop will now stock Android tablets in more than 1,600 of its stores.
- Foxconn rumoured to have started pilot production of Apple TV in Chinese factory.
- Game Developer Magazine survey finds that Unity is the most popular engine for mobile devs.
- RIM to cut 40 percent of workforce by early 2013 and CEO Thorsten Heins predicts Q1 loss for the company.
- FourBros's Nathan Furtwangler on how he and his brothers carved out a success on Windows Phone.
- Fall in market share leads ABI Research to put Nokia on 'death watch,' but credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's thinks strong Lumia sales could stabilise Nokia by 2013.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook hints at collaboration with Facebook, promises more social features for Apple products, and describes patent disputes as a "pain in the ass."
- Microsoft launches app challenge to drum up Windows 8 dev support.
- Rumours suggest next iPhone will have 4-inch Retina display, unibody casing, and run a variant of A5 chip.
- Higher component costs and lower RRP means Nokia makes $200 less on every Lumia 900 sold than Apple does with iPhone 4S.
- Microsoft casts aside promise of plug-in free browsing by giving Adobe 'special privileges' to build Flash support into
Mobile heads to E3
- GREE plans to showcase six games at its E3 stand, including Resident Evil VS.
- Mobile innovation, rather than tired blockbuster franchises, should be headlining E3 by now, argues Pocket Gamer's EIC Kristan Reed.
- South Korean dev WeMade to unveil 8 iOS and Android games at its E3 South Hall stand.
Industry voices
- Giancarlo Mori on the need to "make Atari's brand relevant in the mobile space."
- Financial fragility leads some indies to "create clones upon clones of their first game," reckons XMG's Adam Telfer.
- iQU's Fraser MacInnes explains why, when it comes to 'gamer profiles', quality is more important than quantity.
- We're aggressively investing in new solutions to deal with UDID transition says Fiksu's Craig Palli.
Monetisation
- Binary Hammer's Bob Koon explains the monetisation method behind time-management app 30/30 - asking the user for some money.
- Co-production deals are the way forward for small indies seeking free-to-play success, argues Kiloo's Simon Moeller.
- 'Making an experience people really love is just as effective a monetisation strategy as finely tuned paywalls,' reckons NimbleBit's Ian Marsh...
- ...But former Digital Chocolate CEO Trip Hawkins thinks making a fun mobile game isn't good enough - developers must create a virtual goods economy.
- MoMini's Eyal Rabinovich on doubling the length of Ninja Chicken's user sessions and boosting advertising revenue.