Hmm, he inadvertently admits they've known about the RRoD issue for some time.

MS had a very nice laid out nicely edited conference. But the people that did it lacked passion or charm. They also did what every body expected to happen, so yahh they have some damage control to do. They simply failed to impress.

Attack it's weak points for MASSIVE damage !!! ;)

The problem is the show wasn't well received, and any response short of a grovelling apology can be seen as damage control. If it was really just damage control I think they'd be spinning how wonderful it all was, and how everyone has told them how great their lineup looks.It could just as well be the plain truth that this was their plan, this is why they chose it, and opps, maybe it was a mistake. That comes across as honest to me (which is often a good form of damage control). As for talking about 2008 later, that pretty much goes without saying, if only because 2007 will eventually end.

misterd, what games are the big video game websites talking about? Last I saw, it was about upcoming games this year, and nothing more. Most are talking about Halo3. MS's keynote wasn't well recieved by people like you, that expected more, and just got to know more about the upcoming MS titles that are going to be getting millions of hours of play by gamers, and nothing else.

If I had a game that was going to make $60 million dollars in a few weeks, that was coming out soon, I'd sure want to show it off, rather than a conceptual work, that might not even make it past the cutting room floor.

I wasn't disputing MS's reception by websites, fans, or MSM. It was a bit of a misfire (especially because everyone expected a price cut). The games they've showed - RE4, CoD4 (G4's game of show), Assassin's Creed, etc were generally well received. There were complaints about the HALO 3 trailer, but hands on reviews have been fine.  I can't speak for all websites, but here' a list of E3 games by IGN, with many of the "Hot" titles being on the 360.

http://www.ign.com/index/e3/2007/games/

My point was merely that the comment was not so much damage control as an honest explanation of why they chose to focus on 2007 (and admitting that could have been a mistake). They wanted to make sure gamers knew that the console that currently has the hands down best lineup for this year is the 360 (unsaid: because this is the last time there will be such a clear disparity). However much as I understand the reasoning, I (but not I alone) criticized them for this point, as it makes it look like nothing's coming next year (which is untrue - just looking at the 360's "PS3 exclusives" for next year is impressive).

Just reading IGN's recap, and it seems like the post-presentation went much better:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/804/804991p1.html

I think that we can all agree that we all expected more from E3 in general.

I'm not sure I did. New year, new format, and as far away from the next gen as possible. These are typically disappointing, and I have to think 2007 will be the most critical holiday of this generation. It's Nintendo chance to cement its position and, with the Big Three, show it can move traditional games, it's MS's chance to show it can be more than a hardcore console, and Sony's chance to show it is still relevant. Any one of them stumbles this holiday, and it will have serious ramifications next year and beyond. So everyone really sells 2007 (MS especially), but obviously we're more than halfway through 2007 so what's coming up is no suprise. The one company that really tried to push 2008 titles was Sony, and that's because their 2007 just can't compete with MS.

 I think this is very true.