No 'ultimate' 360 annouced at CES

Xbox owners who only recently forked out for the 360 Elite can breathe easier today - rumours that Bill Gates would unveil a 360 "Ultimate", complete with inbuilt HD-DVD, wi-fi and a quieter fan, at the CES show were unfounded. In fact Gates barely mentioned games in his keynote, with the biggest announcement centered around the 10 million users that have now signed up for Xbox Live. Unlike last year, Microsoft didn't announce any new titles. Yes, CES is a general consumer tech show and not an E3-style game event, but considering the increased competition that PS3 will offer the 360 this year, plus the less than stellar performance of some of Microsoft's recent PC games - Shadowrun? Halo2 ? - the lack of news was surprising. You can bet that Sony won't be so coy with their announcements in the coming days.