Unlike Grumplestiltskin below, I think Microsoft managed to spin some gold at its press conference.

Gears of War 2 in early November

Last year we got Halo 3, and this year we get more Gears. Sure, it’s not surprising and doesn’t look terribly different, but it still looks better than just about any game out there, and it’s enough to make sure I have a 360 by Re-Emergence Day.

Redesigned dashboard for the 360; Mii-like avatars

The 360’s blade interface was always a bit sluggish, so if they can improve its response time, I’ll be happy. The new look seems to borrow a page (or book) from Apple’s Front Row and Cover Flow. Hmm, Microsoft ripping off Apple? Who’d have thought …

The Avatars are a bit Mii-too, but apparently the option to retain your gamerpics remains, so at least it’s not completely forced on you. That said, everyone seems to love making Miis, so it seems as if Avatars could be equally enticing.

Also, the ability to load games to your hard drive and reduce load times should make Elite owners happy. That 20GB 360 is being phased out for good reason, it seems.

Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5, Geometry Wars Whatever, Fable 2, Final Fantasy XIII

Reuben, do you like games?

You’re In The Movies

I’ll give you this one, but Lips, the karaoke game from the Elite Beat Agents creator, looks fantastic, so long as there’s Vision camera support to match Singstar on PS3.

Streaming stuff from Netflix, NBC/Universal movies and TV on XBLM

I personally am excited to watch Netflix movies with Brian and Reuben over XBL, considering we will all be living in different cities when it launches. How else will we be able to go all Mystery Science Theater 3000 on future Resident Evil movies? If we can get Reuben to stop harumphing long enough to join our party, that is.

Rock Band 2 official track list

I’m unimpressed with the Rock Band 2 tracklist. Can’t wait to screech Alanis’ “You Oughta Know,” but what’s with the dearth of female artists? Let’s get some more estrogen up in here, or this grrl’s gonna riot.