Microsoft claims 2010 will be year of the Xbox

Microsoft's keynote at CES was an interesting ninety minutes with a confident but relatively low-key performance from Steve Ballmer.

Most of the speech dealt with 2009's successes, specifically Windows 7. It was called “the best-selling operating system in history”, and much was made of its versatility. A selection of Windows 7 PCs on stage, from netbooks to gaming laptops to multi-touch PCs, were used to demonstrate the different strengths of Windows 7 and the various shapes and sizes of PC that run it. There were some oohs and aahs over an HP 'Slate PC' concept – a 10 inch-ish multitouch tablet PC running Windows 7. The slate was shown running the Kindle app, so the intention would seem to make it a more versatile rival to an e-reader.

In fact, convergence was the theme of the day. As well as PCs, Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment & Devices Division, took us through the joys of having a Windows 7 PC in your living room running Windows Media Center. Anything from recording four HD channels at once (in the US) to surfing the web, social networking and instant messaging is possible from your sofa. Not new news, but it fitted in well with the theme.

There was also a brief demonstration of Office 2010's collaboration abilities, with Robbie and Steve Ballmer writing a Powerpoint presentation together in real time. Flashier than Google Docs, if more expensive.

But Xbox ruled the day. Upcoming titles for 2010 include Halo Reach, which takes place before the events in the first Halo game and seems to concern itself with the fate of the Spartans, Crackdown 2 and, finally, the much-hyped Alan Wake.

This is a psychological horror game, where the writer protagonist struggles to make sense of a world where his writing comes alive. It will be told in chapters, with additional parts of the story available online.

Finally, Project Natal. This was pitched as a universal control system, which monitors all your limbs and uses them to control the Xbox. It's not just for gaming, but also to control your entertainment – cue shots of people waving their arms to flick through photos and change TV channels. There were also interviews with developers and footage of the simple full body-control games we've seen before, and a release date – Natal will be available to buy in November 2010.

All in all, no big surprises, but a confident keynote from a resurgent Microsoft proud of its recent successes, and some exciting news, as we predicted, about Natal's release date.