While there were several good games shown to us during Microsoft's press conference, almost all of it was information we already had. We already knew about Fallout 3, Gears2, Fable2, etc., we just got a few videos and demos. We did get a few solid release dates, but those aren't exactly exciting by themselves. There were truly only three announcements, the marketplace Portal sequel/expansion, the Netflix announcement (though technically this was already rumored but without a lot of evidence) and FF13.
While there was a lot of great information shared about the games I'm planning to get, there were few surprises, and in my opinion the entire thing was rather underwhelming until the very end. Perhaps we've just been spoiled by the events at previous E3's, and now additional information isn't enough to get excited about. It's the unveilings that truly stick out in our minds and so it is those that make for great pre-E3 shows.
