After two years of diminished excitement from both the publishers and players of video games about E3, the gaming convention's strict invitation only rules will be slackened a bit for 2009.

This change is no doubt a result of E3 2008, which many bloggers (here's one example, and here's another) considered the "worst E3 ever." However, it's not hard to find commentary calling each of the last five E3 events the "worst ever." The real problem for 2008 was the disinterest from major software companies.

E3 2009 will be held on June 2-4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and some of the limits placed upon attendance that shut out the public and a large section of the press will be changed. Specifically, the act of vetting journalists (i.e., separating the wheat from the chaff) will be eased. According to G4tv, which broke the news, a wider range of industry guests will be admitted to the 2009 event.

It is still not open to the public, however, so interested parties may want to get a game blog up and running before too long so you can get your press pass.