GC: PES, FIFA exclusive to 360

Microsoft brought a touch of the Abramoviches to the next-gen football market today, fashioning a deal to secure FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer's Xbox 360 exclusivity for the next 12 months.

FIFA '07, announced for 360 today, is based on a complete engine rewrite, and today's Microsoft conference in Leipzig saw producer Hugues Ricour demonstrating the game, which is due out later this year.

But it was only following a trailer for the 360 version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 - playable on Microsoft's stand - that Microsoft played its trump card. Addressing a football-loving German press pack, dotted with pesky foreigners (like me), executive Chris Lewis declared, "Microsoft owns football," with no small about of zeal as he pointed out that now it doesn't really matter which game you prefer, since there's only one place to play the flagship versions.

Both games will appear exclusively on 360 for the next 12 months, he said, although the deal is next-gen exclusivity rather than the full shebang - after all, everyone knows current-generation console games don't count.