Getting back to the hotel after the official Xbox 360 launch, I noticed that everything I looked at had a slight green tinge about it. Could this be for real? Could I be seeing Xbox even after I had left the event! It would not come as a surprise. Microsoft have pulled out all the stops to make sure that this console launch would not be soon forgotten.

Upon going through the doors into the event we were “branded” with glowing neon green glow sticks that were fastened around our wrists, these bore an uncanny resemblance to the Xbox 360’s power circle which is the main symbol they are trying to embed into the consumers minds. Of course we then were ferried along a pathway guided by the beautiful Xbox “booth babes” who I would like to hope would still be as nice and friendly towards me even if they weren’t being paid. A quick ride up the escalators and we were at the main launch area, and were presented with our first drink of the night, apple sours shots (also fitting in with the green profile).

After a couple of drinks and some mingeling the show began. First up on stage was the lovely Cindy White, who is the marketing brainchild behind Xbox in South Africa. She explained the concept of the passing of generations, albeit a bit on the typical Microsoft marketing side. The concept was around the progression of games, the first being noughts and crosses. The second big leap was the step to Pac-Man, and then going even further was the jump to Halo 2 (having sold 7.5 million copies which they did not hesitate the least bit to brag about). Microsoft sneekily totally ruled out any other gaming console in those three simple steps. Lol, look, the wrapping looked pretty but the people there obviously knew it was a lot more than noughts and crosses, pac-man and Halo that got us to the state of gaming that we find ourselves in today! She also stated that Microsoft’s main objective with the Xbox 360 was to bring the world to gamers and gamers to the world, though it might sound vague it is true. Xbox live is already bringing people together from around the world, and non gamers are interested in this thing they have heard about called the “Xbox” (or even in some cases the Wii60).

To our surprise the marketing manager for Microsoft in the European region, Stefan Lamparum, also gave us a brief presentation. He gave us some feedback from the X06 event that he had just been to in Barcelona, stating that “South Africa is very lucky to be getting the launch this soon, there are still a lot of other countries in Europe that have yet to receive the Xbox 360 but by the end of the year we are pleased to announce that the 360 will be available in 40 European region countries.”

He was joined by Kamagelo, a radio DJ who used to present for K.T.V (a local children’s television network). His presentation was awesome as he spoke from the perspective of the gamers and held nothing back. He spoke a lot about upcoming games for the Xbox 360 stating that “Gears of War is the definition of next generation gaming,” lets hope he’s right, we can’t wait to get our hands on that game to bring you our previews. He also gave us some info on Assassins Creed, and how the game played, he had obviously been given the chance to play this at X06.

He later went on to explain haw excited he was that Peter Jackson will now fill a key role in the production of Halo 3, and also how the film industry and the games industry can be fused together to create a really awesome game with a storyline and cinematics that meet up with those expectations too. If you don’t know already, Peter Jackson is directing the upcoming Halo movie.

Kamagelo confirmed that the price for the Xbox 360 in South Africa will be R3700 (premium pack) and that the games would range from around R400 to R600. Telkom was also stabbed in the back a little bit by his statement of “Telkom had better come to the party and bring us Xbox Live!” Although it has been confirmed that most games can even run on a connection as low as dial-up (56kbps).

Suddenly we were told to “Jump In with Xbox 360” and the entertainment started. It consisted of two aerial acrobats performing tricks on material ropes, whilst being flooded with green lasers. Don’t get me wrong, they were very impressive but a bit on the “we’ve seen this before” side, I think the people their expected something a bit more fancy.

After that everyone headed down to the Xbox 360 stand at the rAge Expo to try their hand at some of the games, and also get some more snacks as well as a whole lot more drinks courtesy of Mr Gates. Liquid Bar made sure that the people were having a good time by mixing up every drink and cocktail in the book, and a DJ kept the music pumping so that the people that were swaying from the booze had a good excuse… “I’m just dancing to the music!” Unfortunately a lot of the people at the event left before the midnight launch, which in theory should have been good. The stand was linking up live with BT Games in the North Gate Shopping Center so that we could see the first Xbox 360 being sold in South Africa. Another nifty little touch that really added the cherry onto the top (in this case it would most probably be a green cherry).

Here you can find the first pics of the launch games on offer at the retailers as well the prices of some of the peripherals that you can get (all prices and pics sourced from the Look & Listen booth at the rAge expo).

Xbox 360 Core – R2700; Xbox 360 Premium – R3700; Wireless Controller – R380; Universal Media Remote – R280; Media Center – R400

All in all it was an awesome launch, something of international standards, the whole team from EL33TONLINE want to really congratulate the South African Microsoft marketing team for really bringing this console into the country in a big way. It’s about time South Africa gets some recognition when it comes to gaming, good up on you guys.

Be sure to catch up on all the Xbox 360 game previews that will be bringing you over the course of this weekend from the rAge event. They might even help you decide which of the awesome games available for this console will be your first!