Halo 3 (Microsoft/Bungie)
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In a show largely bereft of surprises one of the biggest was that Halo 3 was suddenly starting to look a little ordinary. Although a behind closed doors demo of the first level was more impressive the quickly patched together public trailer looked like nothing more than Halo in high def.

Mass Effect (Microsoft/BioWare Corp.)
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From the creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic this all-new action role-player looks more impressive every time it's shown, with stunning graphics and a highly complex conversation system that gives the impression of talking to real people (and bug-eyed monsters).

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal)
Also on: PS3, PC, DS
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This actually had an awkward E3, with the live demo at Microsoft's conference showing up a number of AI and physics bugs. A later demo by Ubisoft themselves though showed it to be the true heir to Prince of Persia and one of the most exciting multiformat games of the year.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision/Infinity Ward)
Also on: PS3, PC
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One of the highlights of Microsoft's pre-E3 media briefing, this looked truly stunning. Any concerns of modern technology distancing you from the battle were quickly quashed with even more brutal scenarios, including a shipboard massacre of sleeping soldiers that you must participate in...

Rock Band (EA/MTV Games/Harmonix)
Also on: PS3
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From the original creators of Guitar Hero (thus making Guitar Hero III seem almost instantly irrelevant) this is basically the same idea but with karaoke and drum controllers added in and the promise of daily new song downloads from hundreds of different bands.

Also, check out our PC section for news on Bioshock, Fallout 3 and Unreal Tournament 3, which will also appear on Xbox 360.
Top 5 PC games from E3