Introducing Halo: Reach and the upcoming Gears of War 3 game titles to professional competitive multiplayer, Microsoft had a big showing at the Major League Gaming event in Raleigh this year.

Still, with MLG Raleigh increasing the show floor to include Call of Duty: Black Ops and StarCraft II, Microsoft had to share the limelight with its Playstation 3 and PC competitors.

While Call of Duty on the PS3 received relatively light attention, StarCraft II took the center floor this year, with top Korean players traveling across the world to compete in Raleigh.

Despite the attention placed on StarCraft II, the competitive gameplay found in Halo: Reach quickly escalated in intensity as the top teams fought towards the final match-ups.

Ryan Morgan, a junior in mechanical engineering, wasn’t initially interested in the Halo tournament, but got into it as more games went on.

“I heard one of the Reach players saying that it was cool they included StarCraft [this year],” Morgan said, “because in between games StarCraft fans would come cheer on the Reach guys. Halo is consisted mostly of American teams and some European, but because of the MLG tournament some StarCraft fans would watch the Halo games and it actually caught the eye of some Korean well.”

Microsoft also took the opportunity to host a match in Gears of War 3 with a team from the game’s developers, Epic Games. Ever popular Gears of War design director, Cliff Bleszinski, failed to show up at MLG Raleigh to promote the third installment.

“Gears of War 3 didn’t get too much attention, to be honest,” Werner said. “It’s still pretty early for compete.”

Microsoft has begun implementing more of its own motion control technology in big game titles lately, and booths showcasing such tech would be welcome at MLG 2012.

“This was my first MLG, and I thought it was great,” Werner said. “The games were all awesome, and the pros, as always,