Photographer, I most certainly am not. It’s not exactly something I’m all that familiar with, apertures and lenses and so forth, all fluttering way over my head. That didn’t stop be grabbing a half-decent camera last night, and heading in to the Xbox One launch event being held at Leicester Square.
Or should I call it Xbox One Square? Well, that’s what all of the signs were replaced to say, and the whole centre of the square was completely taken over by Microsoft, to show off and advertise their latest console’s launch in one of the busiest parts of town. The biggest part of this included a gigantic Xbox logo ball being put up right in the middle, with various things to see dotted all around.
Somewhat surprisingly, there weren’t many consoles or opportunities to go hands on. Forza 5 was represented by the quite lovely McLaren P1, its cover star, but for the time I was there the game wasn’t playable anywhere, though it may have been earlier on. Instead, a handful of people were queueing up to play head to head FIFA 14 on an utterly ginormous screen. This screen was huge, and really did a good job of showing the graphics the game has to offer. Still not quite big enough to show Cristiano Ronaldo’s full name, though.
The only other games on offer were Zoo Tycoon and Kinect Sports Rivals, in a little bubbly booth.
Of course, the main event was on the stage, which saw Rick Edwards and Sian Welby hosting a series of segments. Sway and Katy B performed, but I left before Plan B showed his face. I don’t know who these people are.
There was, of course, plenty of pitter patter to explain what the Xbox One’s all about to the passing public and captive audience, while delving into a few moments of gameplay. Quite nicely, these saw a member of the public go up against Andros Townsend on FIFA, who I believe beat the England and Tottenham footballer to win himself an Xbox One. There was also a quite lovely moment when two guys competed on Forza 5 for another console while Sian was having fun with a chequered flag, with the winner sneaking the better time trial by a little under a second. He was completely dumbstruck, and I think a little teared up by this moment!
So that was a launch event; a slightly odd takeover of a major public space, with celebrities who I don’t recognise, a handful of technical hiccups, and a small smattering of gaming opportunities for the public. It is quite naturally quite a small part of a major advertising campaign, coming a few hours before people across Europe’s launch countries could buy an Xbox One for themselves. It’s just a shame it was so cold!
I felt sorry for Katy B’s scantily clad dancers…
Bilbo_bobbins
Definitely getting old when you don’t know who the famous pop stars are. Looks good, I work round the corner, but like you said, its a shame its so cold.
Stefan L
Ha! I’m not that old, I just don’t want to endure that particular facet of modern, erm… culture… I guess.
double-o-dave
I’ve heard of Plan B and that’s it. Oh well, I am just over a 3rd of my way to a century old. I’ve probably only got about 10 songs in my iTunes collection from the last decade.
stonyk
Those Xbox graphics for Forza in picture 2 are incredible! Looks almost real.
bunimomike
Looked a bit of fun, fella. Did you pick a console up last night?
Stefan L
I didn’t, no. Only the cash for one of the two, I’m afraid!
bunimomike
Don’t be afraid. Smart move. :-)
MuggleMind
While not a fan of Microsoft, glad to hear their launch event seems to have gone well. More so, when you consider that shortly before midnight they had networking issues that could have really messed everything up (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/21/azure_blips_offline_again/).
And as has been said, the Forza graphics do look very impressive.
Stefan L
The second picture was from real life, actually… but the graphics on Forza are still very impressive! :)
TSBonyman
Well done on braving the cold – did you pick one up?
Eldaveo
Arrgh, just two hours to go until I can pop out and pick mine up. Been a long morning, lol
double-o-dave
What’s going on with your membership date? You’ve been around here since longer than October haven’t you or are you an imposter?
Eldaveo
Not an imposter, I just have an additional WP account for a blog I maintain. Figured I may as well use that account for both things :)
hazelam
kudos for braving the minus billionty-twelve temperatures.
i’ve got no idea who Sway and Katy B are, but i’ve heard of Plan B.
i wonder if they’re related. >_>
i suppose the lucky ones who won an X1 probably weren’t to bothered about the temperature.
probably not a good night if you don’t like the colour green though. ^_^