Microsoft conference room, lazy Sunday afternoon.
“Hey Bill, let’s send out some more ‘viral’ marketing crap. Try to grab the heat off the other consoles, mess with everyone’s mind.”
”Steve, you’re a bloody genius.”

And so it began. Following on from Cain’s article about a possible Xbox 360 FPS controller, Microsoft has more weird and wonderful marketing for us all. Head over to notfornoobs.com and you’ll find something very interesting. The page contains a flash intro of a TV, with three channels.

Change through the channels and you’ll find the logos of Microsoft and Razer - the dudes who make PC and gaming accessories, regarded by many as the highest quality about – flipping around. The final channel is a timer, counting down - dun dun dun! The question is, to what exactly? At the time of writing, it’s at 47 hours. The countdown will finish on Friday. After that you were asked to find out what notfornoobs.com is by sending an invitation by email, but that privilege has since been removed.

Recently, the Microsoft logo was changed to a ‘CENSORED’ logo, but the link above takes you to the older version (Microsoft logo).

Could this mean that Microsoft is working with Razer on a new gaming peripheral? For instance, keyboards or mouses, Razer’s specialities? Can this relate to Microsoft’s 360 FPS controller, maybe Microsoft want an alternative for Live? And just how many more question marks can I fit in this article?

President of Razer, Robert Krakoff commented on rumours about all this linking to Xbox 360 accessories.

“We’d love to but those wonderful folks at Microsoft want to keep the controller playing field level. That means no advanced technology whereby one player might have an advantage over another. IMO, they are not considering the Xbox Live player who will soon be playing against PC users who will dominate because they have a keyboard and mouse. The controller offered today just can’t (compete). If you are really interested in having advanced controller technology I suggest you and some of your friends email the Xbox people. We have controller technology today that would truly kick ass.”

Translation – “No way. PC rox!!!1!!1!!!”

Looks like a no from Razer. Then why include the logo in the promotion? And just who are notfornoobs.com? Well, it’s all very cryptic and weird. Another way to piss us around or a genuine story? You decide.

My view: The logo change suggests Gates and co stepped in. Don’t completely write it off yet though; keep an eye on the Internet on Friday.

Question mark counter: 8

 - Aaron Kleemann