Microsoft kicked off the three format conferences at E3 by eschewing long-term strategy and focusing clearly on Christmas, whilst underlining the current value of Xbox 360 to retail.

Corporate vice president for interactive entertainment, Peter Moore, even went so far as to claim "the greatest holiday line-up in video games history" during an hour and a half presentation in the outdoor ampitheatre of the Santa Monica High School.

A series of game demonstrations included the highly impressive Call of Duty 4, plus Rockband, Assassin's Creed and Madden 08. There was promotion and videos for many more, not least Halo 3and GTA IV.

Moore was very clear in his message that the 360 is delivering more retail dollars to the US market than any other format.
"Hardware installed base in the US since launch is 5.6 million units compared to 2.8 million Wii and 1.4 million PS3. And even since the other next-gen formats launched, the 360 has sold 2.7 million, compared to that 2.8 million Wii and 1.4 million PS3."

"And Microsoft is winning the software war. Half of all the consumer spend on this generation of consoles is Xbox 360. That will continue this Christmas, with our format being the only one that will carry new versions of what were the three biggest titles of America's biggest ever Xmas back in 2004 - namely Halo, Madden and GTA."