If you actually have an Xbox 360—has anyone actually seen them in stores?—you'll be excited to hear about Microsoft's rollout of new games available this spring. Approximately 90 journalists, most of them from electronics, video game, and music publications, gathered at Splashlight Studios to preview the games and see the launch of Xbox Live's partnership with Epic Records.
Xbox global events manager Melissa Riddington and global events technical producer Nicho Prestegaard worked with Venice, California-based Zed Ink to produce the event, which had a green and white look to match the Xbox logo. (They also produced Xbox's massive 360 launch event in an airplane hangar in the California desert.) The games, of course, took center stage—gamers lounged on white leather furniture surrounding Scenic Corporation's custom-made square coffee tables, all topped with four flat-screen monitors attached to Xbox 360 consoles with different games. (Meyerson Associates guards—some undercover—kept an eye on the Xbox consoles and games.)
White tension fabric discs hung from the ceiling to make the otherwise cavernous space feel smaller and more intimate. Giant white flowerpots with underlit Lucite tops served as bars, and retro-modern furniture and green shag rugs dotted the rest of the space. Splashlight's cute-girl waiters, wearing white cotton dresses wrapped with green sashes, passed mirrored trays laden with mini burgers, chicken satay, and gougeres. Bowls of edamame and patches of wheatgrass throughout brought more green accents to the all-white space. British pop singer Natasha Bedingfield performed a two-song set after remarks from Xbox and Epic execs. After that, it was back to gaming for most of the crowd.
The day before, Xbox cohosted a press conference for video game and children's magazine editors with merchandise licensing company 4Kids Entertainment and video game developer Rare Ltd. to launch Viva Piñata, an interactive video game. Zed Ink decorated the interior of one of Splashlight's elevators with colorful paper fringe—like those found on piñatas—and filled the room with rows of Philippe Starck Ghost chairs.
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 03.22.06
Photos: Nadine Froger Photography (Bedingfield, elevator)
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