Xbox Avatars get free festive elements
New clothes, Xmas greetings and a Snow Globe awaits
With the recent release (or more precisely, crash) of Home for PlayStation 3, Microsoft has decided to flex muscles showing the possibilities of the NXE in form of new free clothes, a Xmas greeting tool and Snow Globes where your alter-ego can meet your friends.
While PS3 users have to pay prices between 0.49$ and 0.99$ for a whole plethora of clothes and pieces of furniture for their personal creations, Microsoft has confirmed that (for the time being?) they don’t intend to earn any cash with the Xbox Live Avatars: “I don’t think there’s where you’re going to see a tremendous amount of revenue,” Xbox product manager Aaron Greenberg told MTV Multiplayer. Instead, Microsoft wants developers to elaborate specific content for the New Xbox Experience, and expects them to offer unlockable items through their games, probably in the same way you can already unlock gamerpics in some games.
We’ll probably have to wait a little bit until the first games with that kind of easter eggs arrive; so, in the meantime, Microsoft themselves have provided us with some extra clothes, with the most recent update being a “formal wear” collection, that you can easily identify through a golden star near each item. Available now are some trendy tuxedos for gentlemen, and loveable dresses and accesories for the ladies.
Once you choose the appropiate outfit, you can also get for free (provided you have a Gold account) the new Holiday Theme. But the most strange item doesn’t even need to be downloaded: it can be found in a new dashboard channel called “Happy Holidays” and it features a Snow Globe with you and all your friends inside; you can shake it by pressing ‘A’ or shuffle the Avatars selection by using ‘X’. A Christmas message is displayed in many languages at the top of the screen, while the sound of Jingle Bells completes the festive atmosphere.
But the holidays extravaganza doesn’t even end there. Microsoft Europe has also created a new microsite at Xbox.com where you can create your own greeting card using avatars, a selection of different backgrounds and a personal message. Kinda limited, since you can’t generate different poses for the dummies, but still worths a try!
Somehow related news
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- Edge Magazine on the new Avatar system ()
- Dozens of real Avatars find their way to the Internet ()
- Avatars set for November 19th ()
- New Rare site design implied by Pantsboard ()
