Diary of an Xbox 360 Launch Party Girl

In true Canadian form, the Xbox 360 launch was ushered in by icy winds and blowing snow. But nothing could chill the spirits of hoards of diehard Xbox fans wanting to be first in line to get their very own shiny new Xbox 360. 

Braving the winter storm, hundreds of Xbox fanatics huddled outside Toronto’s Guvernment nightclub to be among the lucky 360 guaranteed to get into the hottest Monday night ticket in town – and have a chance to get their hands on one of only 200 sweet Xbox 360 consoles being sold inside. 

Xbox fans that made it in were greeted by thumping beats, unbelievable feats and a virtual playground of electric energy. Gamers had open access to all the hottest Xbox 360 games – everything from NHL 2K6 to Kameo – and old school action on Xbox Live Arcade. Xbox masters raring to show off their skillz lined up to get in on massive Perfect Dark Zero tournaments, while other party revelers rocked out with a team of street dancers and mixed it up with Master Chief and Joanna Dark.

Upstairs in the uber-exclusive VIP lounge, celebs like Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind from okgo smacktalked on Project Gotham Racing and Perfect Dark Zero. I managed to pry these dance machines (see what I mean by watching the video for “A Million Ways” away from Xbox 360 long enough to ask them about being a game-friendly band, and their inner desire to be Canadian.

Jade: So what are you two doing at the launch party for Xbox 360 in Canada? It’s the onslaught of winter – did you get lost?

Damian: Xbox actually invited us up for the party, and since we are honorary Canadians, at least while our current president is in power, we couldn’t say no. We love Canada! This is our third time to Toronto, and it gets better every time we’re here.

Jade: Enquiring minds what to know, what exactly makes a band “game friendly”? Cause that’s a band we need to get with.

Tim: Okgo is all about the video games, we have songs on a whole bunch of video games - SSX Tricky 3, NHL 2006 (the safest way to play hockey in our opinion), Burnout Revenge, Madden 2003 – we were pumped to give our music for these games. And we are complete video game addicts ourselves. When we were in the studio in Sweden for our latest album Oh No, SSX Tricky and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks were the only games we played - we’d play them for hours! Actually Canada is a lot like Sweden, but everyone there speaks English and Swedish instead of English and French. Oh, and they call gingerbread cookies pepparkakor (pronounced peppercocker). 

Jade: So once you get back to Chicago, and you can properly feed your video game addiction, what Xbox 360 game will have you losing sleep?

Damian: I will be all over NHL 2K6. I love hockey but I’m not that good on skates, so I think this will make me feel better than I really am. 

Tim: I’m really into Project Gotham Racing – the game’s graphics are unbelievable. I can’t drive to save my life in reality or in PGR 3, but damn I have fun trying. To my defense, I actually thought I was Damian’s car, so I’ve figured out it helps if you know what car you’re driving in the game.

Jade: Any last pearls of wisdom for our Canadian Xbox fans?

Tim: The biggest game is the game of life…make sure you enjoy all 360 of them.

Hunh?? Okay, thanks for the deep thoughts guys. If you made it to the Xbox 360 launch party, and have a story to tell, e-mail me at jade@microsoft.com. I have super-exclusive Xbox 360 swag for any great G-rated tales. Remember to send me all your deets so I know how to hunt you down.