Now that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have had their E3 2009 press conferences (and all of us have had time to digest the hours of information delivered), I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at this year's pressers, analyze them, and assign letter grades. All three companies did some things well and some poorly. Here's one man's opinion on the pressers...or the E3 2009 press conference report card!

Microsoft
Since Microsoft kicked things off on Monday (and the three consoles companies happened to go in alphabetical order), I'll start with it first. More than its competitors, Microsoft understands that E3 press conferences are no longer just large media briefings. Millions of its customers can watch, whether it's through networks like G4, sites like G4tv.com, or services like Xbox Live. Charts, pie graphs, and sales figures dominated E3 press conferences in the past, but they simply don't fly anymore. Pressers now require tons of sizzle (check), ample star power (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, check), and buttery flow (check). The one area (in terms of showmanship) where the company faltered was with its executives; MS senior vice president Don Mattrick is a very smart man, but he's not as captivating as past Xbox execs like J Allard, Seamus Blackley, and Ed Fries. Despite Mattrick's shortcomings, Microsoft did the best job at making its presser fan-friendly while still getting its key messages across.
Although several readers of TheFeed don't give a damn about social-networking services like Facebook and Twitter, there are millions of people that do. Microsoft integrating these services into Xbox Live is frickin' huge! It's one thing to have a self-contained network like Xbox Live or PlayStation Network, but opening up a gaming console to two immensely popular services likeFacebook and Twitter is just enormous. This announcement was tremendous for Microsoft. It adds two very big reasons for its Xbox 360 customers to keep their consoles on.
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