Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, Pepsico’s Mountain Dew and a handful of videogame makers hit the road today with the Game Live on Xbox college tour.
The tour hits 25 campuses with a pavilion of gaming stations and a suite of new games for students to sample. Gamers vie for prizes in Halo 2 and Madden NFL 06 competitions; DJs spin music and Mountain Dew Bars host drinking games of their own. Five tour stops include live music.
Mountain Dew is presenting sponsor; other sponsors are Creative Labs, Alienware, G4-videogame TV, Game Informer Magazine, EB Games, IGN.com, Spin magazine and Norcent (LCD and plasma TVs).
The tour, now in its third year, reached 35,000 students last year and could host as many as 50,000 before it wraps up Oct. 21. Game Live Events, Sausalito, CA, handles.
Mountain Dew has found a strong niche among gamers. Last year Dew parked a branded tanker truck outside the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) convention center and gave away bottles of Dew (aka “Game Fuel”) to attendees, and signed up 35,000 to “beta test” a Dew line extension under development.