This year's ethos was to show, not tell. To show exclusive games, to show newly integrated XLB enhancements, and to show new ways in which we interact with the medium. It paid off in a big way. This year Microsoft went all out to produce their best E3 Press Conference in years; a conference that delivered on what we as a fan base expect from the tech giant. 

Lets address the new announcements quickly; a few new games were shown, including a couple of sequels (Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2) and new games in old franchises (Halo: Reach). However, the biggest announcement in my opinion was Kojima hopping on stage to reveal Metal Gear Solid: Rising. 'Lightning Fast Action' pretty much alludes to what you'll be getting with this, and as a huge MGS fan I'll welcome a new installment happily. For Microsoft to have gotten a Metal Gear game on 360 is quite a coup, it may not be the port of MGS4 that everyone was looking for (never gonna happen) but it shows a dedication from MS to listening to the fans and responding with new games.

In terms of demos 2009 was a treat for fans; SplinterCell: Convictions, Halo 3: ODST, Alan Wake, Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII and Rock Band: Beatles all took to the stage and impressed. Before this conference Microsoft didn't have a lot to show for late 09 through 2010, but we now have a plethora of stellar titles on the way. I will be particularly interested in watching SplinterCell and Alan Wake develop, both of which present strong exclusives. It's nice to see Ubisoft bringing a new direction to Sam Fisher's adventure's. The visceral combat and unique narrative elements are intriguing enough, but include the re-vamped movement of Fisher in his environment and SC:C excites the hell out of me. The same can be said of the finally emerging Alan Wake, which looks suitably atmospheric.

With the new dashboard features I feel Microsoft are finally becoming a fully realised social experience with the 360. By adding Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and a few of the other smaller additions like joint movie viewing they have created a compact way for users to connect and share. This type of scheme is a much better idea than gimmicky titles meant to cater towards the entire family. The 360 is now a social powerhouse beyond games; and even though much of it will not be utilised by a lot of the install base, the finising touches are nice. 

And then there was Natal. The entire internet knew a motion controller was going to make an appearance this year, but I don't think many knew how it would work. Instead of a blatant wii-mote rip off, Microsoft have come out with something slightly more interesting, though still clearly inspired by Nintendo's sensor bar. The use of Natal to scroll through menus, play specific games (Burnout was shown) and scan objects (though scanning a skateboard in seconds as shown seems ridiculous) is a promising prospect. Natal combined with the social integrations could prove to be the attractive features that allows for the casual market to jump on-board with Microsoft's machine. Natal itself may seem exciting but the demos they showed were underwhelming to say the least, kicking balls about and painting aren't exactly my dream games for motion control.

For years now Molyneux has been talking about Artificial Intelligence and his hopes for it. Yesterday he unveiled Milo, an interactive boy who you could seemingly hold conversations with. Milo was one of the games there that I instantly wanted to play around with and test the boundaries of. To call it a game might be a bit light, but at the moment we just don't know how scripted those events were, or how much leeway we have in situations. Molyneux seemed optimistic for the future of Milo, as is his normal outlook, and I have to say that I'll be closely watching how he turns out. If you saw Iron Man and remember Stark's A.I. servant then you get the idea of where I think Natal and Milo could conceivably go.

After the two hours of all things MS, stars had been rolled out, games announced and boards exploded. There isn't much doubt in my mind that this was one of the best conferences MS has had in recent years, it certainly had hiccups (through some of the Natal demos) but overall it promised a bright future for 360 owners.