A few folks have asked about themes and the new Xbox experience. Specifically, how do themes fit in with the new experience. Here is a screenshot that will give you an idea of they could work when the new experience is available later this year.

So what did Bungie not get to reveal? It's not clear. But Don Mattrick, Microsoft's video-game chief, was quoted today by MTV News as saying that Bungie is working on a "Halo" game, apart from the "Halo Wars" strategy game or a separate project with Peter Jackson.

Monday was Microsoft's big E3 presentation and there was a some cool things shown and some really big announcements like the new dashboard, Avatars, playing games on the hard drive and Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360. Before I get to talking about those let me mention was missing from the show.

Xbox LIVE GM Marc Whitten (Notwen) has sent me the following letter to share with the Xbox LIVE Community. I goes into a little more detail about some of the new features that are coming as part of the new Xbox Experience this Fall. I'll work on getting Marc on a future show to discuss further.

Microsoft Corp. today unveiled a games portfolio for all ages and interests. Included were new titles for music lovers such as “Lips” and the exclusive launch of “Rock Band 2”; family-friendly games from the B-movie maker “You’re in the Movies” to next-generation game shows such as “1 vs. 100”; and even surprise announcements to make the hardest-core gamer weak in the knees, with the reveal of “Final Fantasy XIII,” to be available on Xbox 360 at launch in North America and Europe.

As Xbox 360 readies for the next wave of audience expansion, Microsoft Corp. today announced a new Xbox experience that will reinvent home entertainment from the inside out, changing the way we play games, watch movies and TV shows, and even become contestants in game shows. It all begins this fall with a bold new look and feel that is fun, social and simple to use.

An exciting new home theater experience is coming to living rooms this holiday season. At the E3 Media and Business Summit, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) and Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, today unveiled an exclusive partnership to offer consumers the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to the television via the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Xbox 360 will be the only game system that lets users instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. This movie watching innovation will be available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix subscribers and will let those users enjoy streaming movies from Netflix on Xbox LIVE at no additional cost.

Microsoft Corp. is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360 console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price (ERP).

Very little is known about DirectX 11, but that should change soon as Microsoft will begin dishing the dirt in less than two weeks: the official announcement of the upcoming version of DirectX will take place at Gamefest 2008. Registration for the July 22-23 Seattle conference is still open.

Byron has posted his review of the Xbox 360 game, Alone in the Dark, published by Atari. Here is an excerpt:

In Alone in the Dark, Central Park is hiding a secret. Built as a safe haven not only for the people of New York, but for something else entirely, generations of guardians have long protected the truth, preserving the vast parkland while the most expensive city in the world reached skyward on its fringes. Now the truth can no longer be contained. Alone in the Dark’s main character paranormal investigator Edward Carnby finds himself inexplicably cast into the eye of the storm as over the course of one apocalyptic night he must uncover the earth-shattering secret behind Central Park. New York will never be the same again. Are you ready to be alone in the dark?