FEATURES: The Other Side
October 21, 2002
Microsoft invites Billy to the Xbox live boot camp to get his opinion on some games and the Xbox Live service. So what's the verdict from the Director of Planet GameCube?
A couple weeks ago I received an e-mail asking me if I
would be interested in attending the Xbox Live Boot Camp in Redmond, Washington.
I honestly thought this was a joke at first.
Sure enough, it wasn’t. Microsoft
sent me a free Xbox, Xbox Live Beta Kit, and flight information.
I was off to Seattle.
I was curious, so I asked them why they’d want me in
attendance. They told me since I
was a “pillar in the gaming community,” they wanted my opinion on the Xbox
and Xbox Live service. I wasn’t
going to complain, especially since I’m a pillar and all. But I have to admit, I always had this image mulling around
in my head of Bill Gates waiting for me with a baseball bat.
So Monday morning I hopped the plane to Seattle.
The first thing I noticed about this whole thing was that Microsoft
wasn’t shy with spending money or being extremely accommodating.
All editors arrived on Monday and were to depart on Tuesday or Wednesday,
but Microsoft even let me extend my trip so I could stay with Rick Powers for a
couple days, and “visit friends”.
I was greeted at baggage claim by my limo driver, and he whisked me off
to the Hyatt, where I unpacked and got ready for dinner.
At 7pm, all editors boarded a stretch Hummer limousine to
head to Kirkland’s Fish Café,
where we were greeted by the rest of the invited guests.
People from Penny Arcade, Team Xbox, Halo.Bungie.Org, Xbox Addict, Xbox
365, Operation Sports, Dropship Command, GC Advanced, Planet Unreal, and Xbox
Solution were in attendance. It was
very interesting to be sandwiched between a whole slew of Xbox fanboys.
I was instantly targeted as “The GameCube Guy.”
Inside
the stretch Hummer limo
