Irish Band 'The Thrills' Celebrate St Patrick's Day On Xbox Live!
London, 8th March 2005 - The 17th March sees more fantastic musical talent brought straight to the Xbox® LiveTM community courtesy of Xbox. On the 17th March between 18.00-20.00 European gamers will have the chance to chat and play online with award winning Dublin quintet 'The Thrills'.
Having only formed in 2001, The Thrills have already taken home a Q Magazine Award for "Best New Act," plus nominations for the prestigious Panasonic Mercury Music Prize, NME's "Best New Band" and the Brit Awards' "International Breakthrough Artist." Some bands might have found such success to be a hard act to follow, but The Thrills have barely taken the time to reflect on their achievements and have once again taken to the road to tour.
"Game With Fame is fast becoming the place for fans to get closer to their favourite bands," said Neil Thompson, UK & Northern Europe HED Director. "The Strokes, Embrace, Big Boi from OutKast, Maroon 5 and Goldie Lookin' Chain are just some of the great bands that have already enjoyed challenging fans on Xbox Live. As well as offering the best online gaming experience to our Xbox Live community and some of the best titles around, we also want to give them the chance to go head to head with some of the biggest stars in music."
Look out for the UK release of their new single - 'The Irish Keep Gate Crashing' on Monday 14th March, which is taken from their critically acclaimed Top Ten album 'Let's Bottle Bohemia'.
If you don't get a chance to speak to the guys on Xbox Live, why not catch them on their UK tour:
March
Sat. 12th, Leeds, University Union
Sun. 13th Edinburgh, Queens Hall
Tues. 15th Cardiff, University
Wed. 16th Liverpool, University (Mountford Hall)
Thurs. 17th London, Hammersmith Palais
For more information on The Thrills, their albums and news check out: www.thethrills.com
How do I get the chance to play The Thrills?
All Xbox Live members need, to pitch their skills against the band, is:
1. Sign into Xbox Live
2. Add one of the following Game With Fame Gamertags to your friends list:
If your Gamertag starts with a letter from A-J. add (insert gamertag i.e. XboxLiveEURO2)
If your Gamertag starts with a letter from J-R. add (insert gamertag i.e. XboxLiveEURO3)
If your Gamertag starts with a letter from S-Z. add (insert gamertag i.e. XboxLiveEURO4)
3. After that, gamers just go onto Xbox Live on March 17th from 18.00-20.00 to check if they have been invited to join in a game and if they have then...
4. Game With Fame and chat to one of the guys in the Thrills.
More Big Names lined up for 2005
The Thrills Game With Fame event is part of the Xbox Live 'Game With Fame' programme and is just one of the many opportunities Xbox Live gamers will have to take on some of the biggest names in the entertainment world.
To find out about other great Xbox Live events including Game With Fame, tournaments and Winning Weekends visit the Xbox Live Calendar on: http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/live/calendar/default.htm
*ends*
Notes to Editors
About Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Windows PC gaming, Xbox video game system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse game portfolios for the PC (http://www.microsoft.com/games/), including such franchises
as "Age of Empires®," "Flight Simulator" and "Zoo Tycoon"; Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/), including such franchises as "Halo," "Project Gotham RacingTM" and "NFL Fever"; and Zone.com (http://www.zone.com/), the official games channel for the MSN® network and home to such hits as "Bejeweled" and "OutSmartTM."
About Xbox Live
Xbox Live is the first comprehensive, online game service fully dedicated to fast-action broadband gaming experiences. Xbox Live allows gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a broadband Internet connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console was built from the ground up to be an online gaming system so there's no need to buy additional peripherals.
Xbox Live enables all gamers to find and play with their friends easily; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; and download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online.
About Xbox
Xbox (http://www.xbox.com) is the video game system from Microsoft that brings people together for the most exhilarating game and entertainment experiences. Xbox delivers an expansive collection of breakthrough games, powerful hardware and the unified Xbox Live online service. The new tagline, "it's good to play together," captures the spirit of Xbox as the social hub of the new digital entertainment lifestyle. Xbox is now available in Europe for an estimated street price of €149.99/£99.99.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.
For more information, please contact:
Marie-Claire Suter
UK PR Manager - Xbox & PC Games
Tel: +44 (0) 118 909 4599
Email: i-maries@microsoft.com