Speaking to news blog VG247, “trusted sources” have confirmed that Microsoft is set to make some big announcements at E3, but that the announcements are to be “interesting, partly spectacular and a bit desperate.”

“Let’s put it this way: they’re worried the current line-up can’t carry Q4 for the entire Xbox brand in the core market,” the source said.

“You’ll laugh when you see what they’re planning.”

Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good.

Unsurprisingly, what the announcements could be wasn’t mentioned. Although given all the 360 related rumours that have been flying around over the last few months, there should be plenty to choose from.

The obvious conclusion is that the announcements will be new games. Given the downbeat tone of the source, these could well be a series of spin-offs of popular 360 franchises, akin to last year’s Viva Pinata: Party Animals.

On the other hand, they could be hardware related.

For instance, there’s been no shortage of chatter surrounding a 360 Blu-ray drive ever since the demise of HD-DVD.

Likewise, there were also plenty of reports flying around earlier this year, claiming that Microsoft is working on a Wii Remote-style motion sensing controller for the 360.

Either way, all will – or won’t, depending – be revealed at Microsoft’s press conference on 14 July.

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could be some interesting stuff coming from microsoft, id like to see a blu-ray add on, and some new title announcements including more footage of gears 2.