Microsoft Announces Xbox 360 Zero Hour In Mojave Desert

Microsoft officials have revealed the exact location of the main North American Xbox 360 launch event as the Mojave Desert. First hinted at via viral marketing site Hex168 and European companion site Origen, tickets to the event are being offered as prizes to consumers via a number of different website. Referred to as Xbox 360: Zero Hour, the exact location of the event, previously described by Microsoft representatives as “Burning Man meets E3”, is still undisclosed, but will take place in the hours surrounding the North American Xbox 360 launch date. The event will begin on November 20 when the sun sets on the desert horizon and end at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, November 22, the official launch date for Xbox 360 in North America. Sign-up forms for potential winners will be posted on sites including GameSpot, IGN and 1UP.com between 12.01 AM PST and 11.59 PM PST on Thursday, November 10th. 3,000 lucky winners in total will join VIPs from the U.S. “Hex 168” and European “Origen” campaigns at the event, and more information is available at Microsoft's Zero Hour website. The event itself will apparently feature hundreds of playable consoles, as well as live entertainment including rock band Louis XIV and performance troupe “Kaiju Big Battel”. Retailer Best Buy will also be on hand to sell Xbox 360 consoles, games and peripherals to attendees, and attendees will also receive exclusive event give-aways such as “Zero Hour” Xbox 360 console faceplates. “Our goal with the launch event is to reward the gamer by creating the ultimate Xbox 360 oasis,” said Peter Moore, Microsoft corporate vice president, Worldwide Marketing and Publishing for Xbox, who will be celebrating at the event along with J Allard, Microsoft corporate vice president and chief XNA architect, and leading game developers and members of the Xbox team. “Gamers at ‘Zero Hour’ will have bragging rights to say ‘I spent over 24 hours at the epicenter of the gaming universe, and I was among the first generation of the next generation of gaming.’”