Today, Microsoft blew our socks off, with a slew of major announcements at its star studded press event. The most significant of which is the new Halo prequel which has been secretly worked on by Bungie for quite a while now, dubbed Halo: Reach. While vastly important to the current console war, Reach certainly wasn't the most surprising. That spot certainly belongs to the new Metal Gear Solid game, which IS on the Xbox 360. Metal Gear Solid: Rising.

Along with these major announcements, we also saw the newly introduced camera controls for the 360, dubbed Project Natal. Along with that, we saw many great exclusives, all of which looked fantastic. Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Forza 3. Older games, such as MW:2, OTSD, and Alan Wake wowed the audience. Microsoft announced no less than 10 new games for the Xbox 360, in hopes to bring mainstream attention to its Xbox 360 exclusive lineup, and they have certainly succeeded.

Though the Kojima announcement brought back memories of the fantastic FFXIII multiplatform from last year, the impact wasn’t as strong. However, Playstation fans might be just as distraught, as the loss of the MGS series as a perceived Sony 3^rd party exclusive is now in the past. That said, everything else about Microsoft’s conference was bigger and arguably better than last year.

Those questioning the upcoming library of the Xbox 360 have certainly been silenced, at least for the time being, and the 360 has proven itself to be a proverbial phoenix, time and time again. We shall see if Sony is able to match Microsoft blow for blow in their conference tomorrow. Let’s hope they don’t focus TOO heavily on the PSP…for their own sakes, if not ours.

Overall, the conference was a huge success. I was certainly surprised at how interested I was throughout. My high point was the Alan Wake trailer/demo, no doubt. Even the 360 haters are giving this conference above average - great reviews. There was no megaton, and I doubt we'll have one this year. The loss of the MGS franchise for Sony was as close as we got. Can't wait for the conferences tomorrow. After this conference, I am fairly certain that the 360 will end up 2nd place this generation.

Cheers! :)

In a way I had wished that MGS announcement hadn't happened, but then the prospect of hearing about it for the next 1-2 years from Sony fanboys and their stupid lists made me grateful.

But MGS4 is still only on PS3?

Also isn't MGS:R as important as Ff Versus XIII....they are both spin-offs aren't they?

thats what I'm hearing from everywhere....kojima isn't even working on MGS:R

& you've got EVERYTHING wrong.....the thing that dealt a BIG BLOW WAS:

NATAL

& thats ablow to Wii & PS3......a BIG BLOW, trust me they are revolutionizing stuff with it, you just got the wrong horse in your post imo

Want proof......just look at the Peter Molyneux presentation again....THATS PLAYING B3YOND (lol)

..........................wow your not a fanboy

I don't see how this is a significant blow, as right now it looks like both systems will be getting the MGS game, and the game won't be a system seller for either console so.....

One final thing

how can it be a significant blow if all people who would buya PS3 for an MGS already bought it with MGS4

FF13 announcement was 100 times more powerful

yet again, I suggest you edit the post with NATAL....that will cause a RISE in Xbox 360 sales MUCH MORE than MGS:R

...but wait, I thought MGS4 was a 1.5 year old game, and you didn't care if it went to 360.

Anyway, I've said my thoughts. Flame me if you must. I think it's great.

Somehow I didn't even feel offended the way they did with FFXIII. But some fanboys are butt hurt about this. I totally accept this since they never said anything about it being exclusive or even touted anything.

Anyway, congrats to 360 fans. :)

It's up to Sony to make up for this now. They can either drown out the importance of the announcement, or make it stick out. Will be interesting to see.

And I love forward to the overdue PSP love tomorrow.

You're in damage control mode, so I'll forgive you for that.

Look around the industry. Do you think more reporters agree with my opinion, or yours? Read any articles about E3 yet?

Just because I liked the show, doesn't mean I'm a fanboy, and YES, losing the MGS franchise as an exclusive 3rd party franchise is a significant blow. AM I WRONG!?

What am I wrong about, please tell me. Nothing.