MSU video game enthusiasts were given the opportunity to experience some of the latest games for the Xbox 360 Thursday at the Junction. Mississippi State was the 10th stop along the Game U Xbox 360 tour’s route.”We go around to all different college campuses and set up Xbox 360s on HDTVs and basically just give people a chance to try the new games,” said Drew Patterson, production manager of the tour. “It’s a promotional tour about three months long.”
The tour’s large setup at the Junction included about 40 Xbox 360s and televisions, along with a racecar from Suzuki sporting TVs and 360s inside, which allowed gamers to compete for more than just fun.
“They’re doing tournaments, Best Buy gift card giveaways and stuff like that,” Patterson said.
The tour’s game selection included titles to appeal to many gamers’ tastes. According to an online press release, these included NBA Street Homecourt, NCAA March Madness 2007, Def Jam: Icon, America’s Army: Special Forces, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighters 2, F.E.A.R., Dance Dance Revolution Universe, Battlestations: Midway, Crackdown, Fusion Frenzy and Gears of War. The festivities also included a Halo 2 Challenge Competition and a PGR3 race competition.
By early afternoon, the tour had gotten a fairly good turnout and was picking up steam.
“It’s been pretty good,” Patterson said. “It’s picking up. I’ve spoken to some of the students, and they were saying that afternoon-time we were going to get a lot more foot traffic through here and things of that nature. We come on these campuses, and we’ve never been here before, so we never know quite what to expect when we get there.”
One of the many MSU students to take part in the event was undeclared freshman Tanner Knoblock, who participated in the PGR3 race competition.
“A friend called me and told me there was another Gamer’s Ball so I came down here to check it out,” Knoblock said. “[I was impressed], but I think Gamer’s Ball blew them away.”
The tour’s previous stop was Delta State, and it is now bound for Southern Illinois Carbondale.
“We started in California,” Patterson said. “That’s kind of where we’re based out of. We came down to Arizona State; Albuquerque, N.M.; Tulsa, Okla., Nebraska … We’re basically doing a zig zag.”
The tour includes 37 stops, the final one being Eckerd College.
The purpose of the tour is to reach Xbox’s target audience, who are difficult to reach through usual advertising methods.
“As future forward marketers, we know that traditional advertising alone won’t reach the 18 to 25 [year-old] college students,” Navigame President Andrew Klein said in a press release. “What does reach this group is a combination of live and online experiences that makes an indelible impression.