Respect to Microsoft, and their willingness to big-up the big ‘Box in a land that’s otherwise pretty indifferent to its multi-functioning charms.

We’re talking about the Tokyo Game Show, of course, where Microsoft isn’t just showing off the Xbox 360 like it was the best thing since warm Sake (which, in Japan at least, it isn’t), but they’ve also drummed up some big names in support of their tricksy new ‘Project Natal’ tech.

Step forward Capcom’s Keiji Inafune, creator of the estimable Mega Man and Dead Rising franchises. Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi is there too. You can thank him for the unbridled joy that is Super Monkey Ball. Finally a true ace in the hole – Konami’s Hideo Kojima, he of Kojima Productions and the monolithic Metal Gear Solid series. All three will be on hand to talk about the blue-sky possibilities that (apparently) only Natal can offer. Can’t wait to hear what Kojima has to say.

Meantime EA Sports’ reliably quotable prez, Peter Moore, is dropping hints about what his lot are working on:

“Project Natal could fundamentally change the way players experience sports games,” he begins. “At EA, some of our top development teams are experimenting with these tools with the goal of delivering a completely fresh take on genres like sports and racing.”

So, no prizes for guessing how Natal might integrate into some of EA’s biggest sporting properties. We’re clinging to the hope that some future Natal-powered edition of Need for Speed won’t just have steering wheel/joypad-less steering but will feature voice-controlled acceleration and braking. Vrrrrrmmm, screeeee etc.

Otherwise MS has put together a pleasingly fulsome showcase of its more regular wares, with big games such as Halo 3: ODST, Forza Motorsport 3, Left 4 Dead 2 and The Ballad of Gay Tony on proud display. They’re also demo-ing LIVE 1080p video streaming via the new Zune Video service.

Last but not least a quartet of hotties for Xbox LIVE Arcade. No doubt Toy Soldiers, Bomberman Live: Battlefest and RayStormHD are all worthy of a public airing, but we’re holding out for Snoopy Flying Ace, which just has to be awesome.

More on all this, and other bombs from TGS soon...