XBox 360 is now officially a part of our lives although, courtesy of the global launch, it is expected that only a few of us will be able to get their hands on a console before the Christmas break. It seems that excitement was so great about the new Microsoft console that some braved the cold and the rain to queue for more than 28 hours in order to make sure they got their hands on a unit.
Others thought they could escape the queue ordeal altogether and use other means to obtain the console. One such eager gamer visited an Electronics Boutique store in Stafford, Virginia and kindly asked the manager for two XBox 360 consoles. Imagine his surprise when he was arrested a few minutes after leaving the store since it is, apparently, illegal to point a firearm at a store employee while asking for goods.
Other X360 launch new mention fights breaking up outside some stores with police presence required in some cases. As you can imagine voucher-scalping was also going strong while the online shrine to scalping i.e. eBay is already filled with X360s selling for USD 3,000+.
So massive launch parties, long queues and armed robberies have all been a part of the N. American XBox 360 launch and what seems to be missing for the time being is the next-generation of gaming. Although delivering a massive improvement over its predecessor it cannot be claimed, by any stretch, that X360 is ushering a new era in gaming. As most of the launch games, especially those by EA, will confirm X360 games are old games in a new box. Microsoft has kept its motivation pretty clear, it is aiming at accessing our homes through a variety of services and the new console is another step in the right direction. There definitely is potential for better games but it is unlikely that it will be utilised for a few years yet, you can find out more by reading Next-Gen Consoles - The Real Deal.
It's so close now that gamers can smell it, in just a few hours XBox 360 will be available from thousands of retail outlets. The variety of parties and PR events however, have taken much of the edge off the launch as we've already had the celebrity event and the Zero Hour "do" that is, apparently, still going strong in Hangar 9 in the Mojave desert.
Droves of dedicated fans are expected to line the streets as more than 4,500 retailers open their doors at 12:01 a.m. to answer the demand for the Xbox 360 console and 18 launch games, including Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Kameo: Elements of Power, from Microsoft Game Studios.
More than 4,500 retailers will be holding midnight madness events. Best Buy, Microsoft's retail partner for Xbox 360 launch events, also will open all its U.S. stores at 9 a.m. on Nov. 22.
More than 3,500 gamers from around the world descended on an Xbox 360 oasis in California's Mojave Desert last night to celebrate the arrival of Xbox 360 at an exclusive launch party called Xbox 360: Zero Hour. Attendees are now engaged in more than 24 hours of Xbox 360 gameplay and tonight will have a chance to buy the console, launch games and gaming peripherals on site from Best Buy. Some of the gamers at the event are the winners of Microsoft's Hex 168 competition which asked gamers to create little weird videos in tribute to the console's arrival. The winning entries can be viewed by following the download tab above.
All this news is especially great but if we had to select a highlight it would have to be J Allard's heartfelt confession to the girls of the PMS clan, We wanted to do something for you guys in the gaming community-not for the industry. This wasn't about return on investment or a spreadsheet. We wanted to throw a party for the community. Hmm aren't you guys the people that invented spreadsheets?
Xbox 360 festivities will, no doubt, continue as the system launches Dec. 2 in Europe and Dec. 10 in Japan.
