With the launch of the PS3 going on in Europe the Xbox 360 will get less attention for a few days since the PS3 will be in the spotlights. MS just couldn’t sit down and wait to see Sony launch their new console, they had to find some way to get the attention of the press. They came up with a great plan to steal some of Sony’s shine at the PS3 launch in France.

The picture above was taken from the “Xbox 360 Loves You” boat, which Microsoft hired to cruise the river next to the PS3 launch party in France. The 15 people that were waiting in line to get their brand new PS3 were probably only laughing at it and not even considering to get out of the line and run to a store to buy a Xbox 360, but it’s a nice stunt anyway. Below there’s a French video where a news reporter stops the show for a second to show the Xbox 360 boat cruising the river, see for yourself:

The conversation in the video, roughly translated:

Program host: Can you stop the clip for a second?
Program host: There’s an event that’s happening right now…
Program host: There’s a Xbox 360 boat that’s passing us right now.
Program host: There was already a small war over this.
Program host: So Microsoft likes pulling tricks like this. Oh course Microsoft and Sony like pulling tricks on eachother like this.
Program host: A couple months ago, a couple years ago when Sony was trying to launch the PSP, Microsoft said “Just wait for the Xbox 360, keep your money” and all that.
Program host: This is crazy
Program host: Oh yeah, they’re coming out with a new Xbox 360… It’s black. It’s codename is Xbox 360 Zephir.
Program host: They’re totally crazy for doing this!
Girl: Oh yes.
(Followed by other blabbering in French)

This isn’t the only stunt Microsoft pulled to gain some coverage over Sony’s back, yesterday, CVG pointed out the price difference again when MS send them a package with the price difference between the two consoles in beer! The included notice asked: “What would you purchase with £146? (the price difference)”, followed by: “Well, for a start we thought you might like £146 worth of beer to kick start your weekend early.”

MS UK didn’t stop with the free beer, they also handed folding chairs to the line of gamers that were waiting for their PS3s in the UK. The chairs look like ordinairy chairs but see what happens when you enter the URL that’s printed on them.

Thnx to BadMon1906 for submitting this!