~HeadShot~
Skilled
Enthusiastic gamers are expected to rush the electronics retailers across the U.S. as the Xbox 360 is officiall launching on Tuesday, 22nd November. A major retailer 'Best Buy' has announced that it will open stores early, and over 4,500 others nationwide will do so at midnight to begin the sale of the console.
Microsoft had held a special event aptly named "Xbox 360: Zero Hour" in California's Mojave Desert that began Sunday night, to commemorate the pending launch of the console. The attendees of the invite-only party will get a chance on Monday night to buy the console, games and its accessories before they call it quits.
Microsoft says that 'Zero Hour' was the first event of this size the comapny ever conducted for gamers. Although the company had earlier hosted a party in 2001 for the launch of the original Xbox console, the attendees of both the events said that the eariler event was no match for this one.
"The debut of Xbox 360 marks one of the biggest consumer launches in Microsoft's history," Microsoft's chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach said.
In addition to selling the Xbox 360 at mignight, Best Buy declared that it would open its stores an hour earlier on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time. The customers were urged to arrive early, as those waiting to get the console would be issued tickets.
A minimum of ten units would be stocked in each store. However, Best Buy said that no pre-orders would be accepted, nor would rain checks be made available.
Microsoft has decided to launch the Xbox 360 in three phases glabally. The launch on Tuesday marks the first phase. The second being on December 2 in Europe, and the third on December 10 in Japan.
Microsoft had held a special event aptly named "Xbox 360: Zero Hour" in California's Mojave Desert that began Sunday night, to commemorate the pending launch of the console. The attendees of the invite-only party will get a chance on Monday night to buy the console, games and its accessories before they call it quits.
Microsoft says that 'Zero Hour' was the first event of this size the comapny ever conducted for gamers. Although the company had earlier hosted a party in 2001 for the launch of the original Xbox console, the attendees of both the events said that the eariler event was no match for this one.
"The debut of Xbox 360 marks one of the biggest consumer launches in Microsoft's history," Microsoft's chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach said.
In addition to selling the Xbox 360 at mignight, Best Buy declared that it would open its stores an hour earlier on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time. The customers were urged to arrive early, as those waiting to get the console would be issued tickets.
A minimum of ten units would be stocked in each store. However, Best Buy said that no pre-orders would be accepted, nor would rain checks be made available.
Microsoft has decided to launch the Xbox 360 in three phases glabally. The launch on Tuesday marks the first phase. The second being on December 2 in Europe, and the third on December 10 in Japan.
