Bottom of the ninth in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, one of the most hyped events in all of baseball. The American League is leading the National League 5 to 2. Two outs and a runner on base.

Alfonso Soriano of the Chicago Cubs hits a home run for the National League to make the score 5 to 4.

The next three batters are walked, loading the bases.

Another walk or hit and the game is tied. A home run or powerful hit and the National League wins in a come-from-behind victory. But an out and the National League loses by one.

Can you feel the tension?

No, you can't feel the tension. You are watching Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference.

Whose idea was it to schedule Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game? Microsoft allows people not at the event to watch its conference live, in part, to create excitement around upcoming and recently released games, peripherals and services for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows, so surely it wants as many viewers as possible.

Is Microsoft bitter that its XSN Sports line of sports video games failed to take off and is taking it out on sports fans by not allowing them to join in the excitement? Or perhaps no one at Microsoft has paid any attention to what is going on in the world of sports since the company sold most of its sports properties to Take-Two and Ubisoft in 2004 and 2005, respectively?

Regardless, there is crossover between baseball fans and video game players--in fact, there are three baseball video games for the Xbox 360 alone--and because of this I missed much of Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference.