Microsoft has a Christmas Showcase

IT'S ONLY JULY but Microsoft is keen to show off its range of hardware and software that it hopes consumers will snap up for Christmas.

The software giant took over The Saatchi Gallery in London today to display some of its latest and greatest in consoles, games and hardware. We stepped out of The INQUIRER towers to have a gander at what was there.

The event was dominated by upcoming games such as Kinect Star Wars, Gears of War 3 and Forza Motorsport 4. Also on show were some of Microsoft's latest keyboards and mice and it was eager to show off its Windows Phone 7 Mango operating system.

Forza Motorsport 4 with Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Speed Wheel.

Multiplayer co-op on Gears of War 3.

Microsoft shows off the upcoming Mango version of its Windows Phone 7 operating system.

The upcoming Star Wars game on the Xbox Kinect.

An Apple Imac is even on show because of Office for Mac. We're not sure what the Ipad was for though.

The HP Beats laptop with Microsoft's Sidewider X4 keyboard, Sidewider X3 mouse and Lifechat LX-3000 headset. µ