"The Microsoft folks led me into a place called the Green Room. It was very quiet in there. The floor, by contrast, was extremely noisy. Peter was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that said, "I'm a legend in Japan." He said the company had chosen the venue for the event only six weeks beffore. "We were looking for a venue that was accessible but required a journey that was like a pilgrimage." So that's how we got the cross between the X-Files and Burning Man.

Peter said he had met people from 20 different countries at the event. Some were winners of the Origen viral marketing campaign in Europe. In that event, fans went to a web site with talking bunnies and entered a contest to be chosen to attend Zero Hour.

Xbox_zero_hour_015_1 That explained why had a tree with picture frames and white bunnies inside the hangar. In the U.S., Microsoft staged another viral marketing campaign, Hex 168, in which people were asked to submit pictures or videos that reflected the spirit of the Xbox 360. About 168 people were chosen from that group to attend. The last pack hit the Xbox.com web site at the right time with their descriptions of the journey they would take to get to the event." [more]