Xbox 360 announcement in the wee hours tonight

The race for the public pounds kicks off tonight, as next generation console publisher Microsoft releases the details of its forthcoming Xbox 360 at the ungodly hour of 2:30am GMT on music and "yoot" channel MTV. This announcement ends months of speculation and Non-Disclosure Agreement-enforced silence, and precedes an expected PlayStation 3 announcement at next week's Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. As a non-cable or satellite subscriber this leaves me out of the loop until The Guardian's coverage hits the digital waves, but thankfully there'll be plenty of summary and analysis here on the gamesblog and on Guardian Unlimited.