Every summer at the E3 videogame event the big 3 platform holders have press conferences to try to capture the attention of gaming journalism, mainstream media, and the public. How did they fare this year? All three conferences held few surprises, but there were a few stand-out moments.

In my opinion, Microsoft by far had the best conference — as well as the first. With live demonstrations of coming title like Gears of Wars 2, Fable 2, Resident Evil 5, and Fallout 3. A demonstration of their new OS upgrades for the Xbox 360, incorporating avatars (similar to Nintendo’s successful Miis) and shared community spaces (beating to market Sony’s vaporware Home). Other nice touches were the Netflix announcement, as well as new partnerships for video downloads with NBC, Universal, and MGM. Microsoft also had new title announcements, such as a new Galaga, an upgraded version of critical hit Portal, and the title announced at the climax, Final Fantasy XIII. The latest game in the venerable role-playing series from Japanese behemoth Square-Enix, FF XIII was originally a Sony exclusive. Often cited as a title that many gamers bought a PlayStation 3 to play, FF XIII‘s appearance on Xbox 360 removes one of the big guns from Sony’s arsenal.

Read the full article at Fast Company.