Oh yeah Scaleform. I can only imagine how some of the game I've played would have been without it. I've seen some games really exploit the tool to it's best. Rocksteady on Batman Arkam Asylum for instance, really got that well.
The pop-ups in borderlands were just too handy as well. And the "floating" menu was a nice touch.
People keep saying "it's just menu's, not actual gameplay" but what really the menu/UI does is complement the level of polishing a game has. There's just
so many games on the market with much more decent UI's than UT3's not to be bothered with this detail.
I can imagine the guys at the office went "OMG" and "We'll buy that!". Efficient proof of that statement is this topic.
The UT3 menu they had on there was sooo kick-ass. I love it. Lots of vibe and colors, that's exactly how I picture the next UT, if there's ever going to be one.