As he hailed the European launch of triple-A title Gears of War, Moore told the 1,000 plus industry professionals present that it would be arriving on November 17th, "Five days after the US - not five months," in a cheeky dig at PS3's delay in Europe until March 2007.

And elsewhere there was plenty to shout about too: Movie legend Peter Jackson took the stage to wax lyrical about his collaboration with Microsoft to create the 'next chapter in the Halo universe'; RTS Halo Wars, from developer Ensemble, was revealed; and as expected Xbox Live will host 360-exclusive episodic content for potential killer app GTA4.

And Microsoft's ongoing strategy of signing up exclusive titles stepped up a gear with the news that Ubisoft's next Splinter Cell title and 2K Games'  Bioshock will only appear on 360. There was also a new Banjo title from Rare, and the upcoming MMO Marvel Universe Online, which is exclusive to 360 and Windows Vista.

Xbox Live has its share of announcements too, with Doom and Sensible World of Soccer joining the ever-expanding portfolio.

And last but by no means least - there was news of the 360's HD-DVD add-on, set to arrive on November 7th at £129. It will come complete with a Universal Remote control unit and - for a limited time - King Kong.