MS has innovate the multiplayer in the console lives , dont get me wrong...

Completely agree, Square Enix simply made a smart decision (even if Microsoft did pay them).  If PS3 would have been doing a lot better in North America and got a better start in Europe this probably wouldn't have happened.  The fact is, 360 has exceeded what people expected to date (outside of Japan).  Many predictions for this round put 360 in the 25-30 million range by the end of the generation.  It is clear that they will easily get there now and Sony has consistently under delivered this generation and are more hell bent on blu-ray adoption then satisfying gamers.

2 years ago Sony fanboys were saying that the release of the PS3 was the end of 360.  By the end of 2007 360 was supposed to be in third place in total WW shipments.  But, title delay after title delay, cost overrun after costoverun, less then spectcular 1st party exclusives, encouraged 3rd party developers to consider and adopt 360.  Now, almost two years later and 360 is alive and well even after an atrocious failure rate through the RRoD.  Microsoft isn't perfect at all, but, they are delivering where Sony isn't...

Well, if you take away FF there was nothing surprising in MS showing. GoW2, etc. look good but are very known entities.

Lips, Avatars, etc. look okay but are clearly copying established ideas to try and get into casual market (nothing wrong with that everyone does it but definitely not exciting and does show that outside hardcore shooters/online MS really doesn't understand the broader gaming market and is locked into copying ).

So overall pretty average to solid... without the FF news. That certainly added a lot of spice.

I agree MS may not have paid for FF - although I'm not sure its going to make much difference short term. Judging by comments its not going to hit US/Others as a multi-platform title for quite a while, and will in fact release to PS3 first in Japan no doubt driving a big spike there that MS cannot compete with, and I doubt many people are going to run out and buy a 360 or a PS3 tomorrow based on this news.

when microsoft first announced that they would be getting this game i was like oh my gd, byt after i read into the details a bit more i'm more like oh thats nothing really

I'm sorry, but annyone saying Microsoft doesn't innovate doesn't know what they are talking about.

Who cares about final fantasy 13...the fact I can run any game off the hard drive was a better announcement. No console allowed this(legally) before...shorter load times, disks won't get scratched...this is innovation.

Xbox live did not have to change and it would be better than PSN or whatever that network Wii has...now with the changes I'm pretty sure the gap between what Live offers over its competitors is not going to be even close. That too is innovation. Steam on PC may offer games as well...but a complete package like xbox live you really can't find anywhere.

Microsoft business strategy is quite smart as well...they are going after Wii market quietly while trying to please their hardcore fanbase at the same time.

The same can't be said fpr Sony who seem to be pushing FPS games this holliday season with 3 of them coming in 2 months...except they are a year late for the FPS standoff.

And Nintendo will not bother trying to please the hardcore audience because...well they just can't.

So all I see in the future is microsoft cutting in to nintendos market share as well, just like they did to Sony's...

No denying that the Mii's (I mean Avatars) are a complete ripoff... but everything else you mentioned is kinda pointless.

Blaming MS for copying games that appeal to the casual crowd is like blaming Sony for developing more FPS games to attract to the more hardcore crowd.

And how do you know MS payed SE for FF? SE is spending millions developing the game.. Why would they release on only one console if they're not going to make any money? Sony didn't want to help them out so they went and did what they had to do. Don't blame MS, blame Sony for not ponying up some cash to help them out.

And finally... you're absolutely right.. Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 look F*%cking Awesome and I can't wait till they come out!

Have to agree with this. The Netflix thing is awesome, IMO. As both a Netflix member and Live Gold subscriber, this more than justifies the >$4/month subscription fee to me.

The Netflix announcement was the only thing that intrested me, the rest was demo and ripoffs so it was average imo. Of course everyone says they "won" E3 by getting a region locked port and not waiting for the other press conferences.