Seems this has been pushed to the submit new item option also, but only for the publisher list.
I think the change is a lot better for navigation of the list. Typing something like "Sony Europe" to get to "Sony Computer Entertainment Europe" is a lot better than the previous way of navigating the menu. Only concern being the field will be filled with the position the developer/publisher is on the list temporarily (or at least I believe its what the numbers reference) - so at a quick glance you can't be certain you have selected the right one.