Xbox 360 loves France and spoils PS3 launch
by Dustin Burg 
{ Mar 22nd 2007 at 11:40PM }
With the Playstation 3's Europe launch underway Microsoft had to get creative with various ways to spoil Sony's launch fun. So, during the PS3 launch festivities in France, those who lined up to purchase a PS3 were surprised to see a message from the Xbox team. Microsoft hired a boat to cruise the river near the PS3 launch party with a banner on its side reading "Xbox 360 Loves You". You can see the commotion the boat created in the French video embedded after the break. Between this and the beer delivery we're not sure what has gotten into the Xbox 360 marketing team ... but we definitely like it. Remember gamers, the 360 will love you for who you are and not for how much you spend on it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rami Selim @ Mar 22nd 2007 11:53PM
What are they saying? We need some Frenchies to translate for us.
Arno @ Mar 22nd 2007 11:53PM
Anyone who speaks French know what they're saying?
daniel @ Mar 24th 2007 11:58AM
Lame and funny at the same time. I wonder how an act like this is interpreted in european and asian cultures, whether it's insulting or pigheaded and whether it contributes to Microsoft's inability to sell 360s effectively in some of those regions?
Jonah Falcon @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:05AM
Did Peter Molyneux come up with this? He loves you. He looooooooooooooves you!
Jonah Falcon @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:06AM
Did Peter Molyneux come up with this? It loves you! It LOOOOOOOOOOVES you!
razer @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:14AM
As I said earlier I don't think this changed the minds of the 15 people waiting to buy a PS3 at that location. But from what I've seen it's gotten more press then the Sony launch has.
Believe me the 360 has a long way to go before they even come close to the screw job Sony has done on the PS3 and EU and AU.
Andre @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:40AM
What they're saying:
Dude: Can you stop the clip for a second?
Dude: There's an event that's happening right now...
Dude: There's a Xbox 360 boat that's passing us right now.
Dude: There was already a small war over this.
Dude: So Microsoft likes pulling tricks like this. Oh course Microsoft and Sony like pulling tricks on eachother like this.
Dude: A couple months ago, a couple years ago when Sony was trying to launch the PSP, Microsoft bought a "laverie" that said "Just wait for the Xbox 360, keep your money" and all that.
[Note: Sorry, I don't know what a laverie is.]
Dude: This is crazy
Dude: Oh yeah, they're coming out with a new Xbox 360... It's black. It's codename is Xbox 360 Zephir.
Dude: They're totally crazy for doing this!
Girl: Oh yes.
[And then they continue to blabber on about something.]
THIS IS JUST A ROUGH TRANSLATION. Be dammed if I'm gonna try and translate it word for word. But yeah, basically they're just saying that there's a new Xbox coming out and that there's already been a small war over the boat. Really, the picture says it all.
vadermaggot @ Mar 23rd 2007 1:21AM
I like that, it shows that Microsoft actually has a sense of humor. very classy.
nick @ Mar 23rd 2007 1:30AM
The XBOX people have a better sense of humor and just know how to make fanboys smile. Keep it up!
Brian @ Mar 23rd 2007 1:36AM
OOOOOOOWNED!
Don Wilson @ Mar 23rd 2007 1:54AM
Andre:
Laverie seems to be a washing machine place...
http://images.google.com/images?q=laverie&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Retrofied @ Mar 23rd 2007 2:27AM
Beer, boat with love in France, we need more!!
ITA_Mafia_Boy @ Mar 23rd 2007 3:56AM
... and we reached the bottom ....
Billqvist @ Mar 23rd 2007 3:56AM
@daniel
Answer from Europe:
Things like this are considered extremely funny. :D
jimhuf @ Mar 23rd 2007 5:41AM
Microsoft are playing it well, the more arrogant and cold sony become the better M$ look.
as a brit were getting this stupid "this is living advert" i thought it was for that crap cable tv channel living.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 23rd 2007 6:02AM
Well played.
Admit it... you laughed.
mike @ Mar 23rd 2007 7:08AM
The most sad thing about hte pari slaunch was the boat Sony were on had 1000 PS3's to sell, 50 people turned up, total disaster.. same in australia
Adam @ Mar 23rd 2007 7:55AM
Wow, Microsoft even screws this up. Here's an idea Microsoft.... A boat in France, targeting french consumers, why don't you try phrase your advertising in french? Think about it.
The1 @ Mar 23rd 2007 8:32AM
I think it is funny as heck. This is good competition. If anyone thinks otherwisse, they are CRAZY!!!
Alecks @ Mar 23rd 2007 9:40AM
All I know is that Xbox has provided me with the best image to send anyone who's having a bad day.
:( Xbox360
Jeremy Wright @ Mar 23rd 2007 11:30AM
18: That's what I thought too, but if you watch the video it's apparent that everyone gets it and nobody's insulted and everyone thinks it's pretty funny.
+1 Microsoft
SuicideNinja @ Mar 23rd 2007 11:32AM
The 360 better love me. The PS3 sure doesn't...every time I use it I want to hurl the controller across the room. And I'm not talking like a slipping Wii controller. I'm talking 100mph PITCH. Ever try to accomplish a simple task with the thing, like copy a virtual memory card to a real memory card? Grr...
PS3 cultists can say whatever they want. This type of advertising is 10x better than the creepy stupid stuff Sony has been trying too hard to pummel into people's eyes. "This is living?" Please. "This is frustration." is more like it.
Console wars, ahoy! eh?
JJ @ Mar 23rd 2007 11:43AM
I hear ya suicide... i've tried copying over my harddrive from my old xbox to the 360...and..well, it was just frustrating that it didn't work!
i was always under the impression it was a one way deal with that. But hey at least you have the option *shrug*
But seriously though, if copying saves frustrates you that much... i hate to see what happens when you get stuck/beat at a game or something... your poor console controllers...
robert @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:27PM
to be honest... microsoft and the 360 only love us for the money we spend on their product.
just like any other corporation.
Shama Edward Banks Jr. @ Mar 23rd 2007 4:14PM
My 360 doesn't seem to love me, It keeps staring at me with one red eye. It's pretty creepy and scary, I think it is mad at me.
Z0ng0 @ Mar 24th 2007 3:25PM
I'm french, I wanted to know what foreign people heard about that ^^ (and I apologize if my english is bad)
The traduction is correct, and I confirm that a "laverie" is a place where you have a lot of washing machins :)
In France, we're not a lot of 360's owners, and this event is a good thong for the community ^^ But Microsoft should ask Nintendo to do the same thing, a war on the Seine ^^
Xbox360 loves me and I love it :D
Jay @ Mar 24th 2007 3:47PM
lol @ "thong" instead of "thing"