Old Spice Strikes Again

Just a week ago, I was posting about the Xbox Rewards program, wondering if there were going to be any more challenges. Well, it turns out that Old Spice, the sponsor of the original Xbox Rewards challenge, is indeed sponsoring more challenges - but not, apparently, through Microsoft.

Their new partner is 360Voice, the site which powers my Xbox's blog. You can read about the new Old Spice Experience Challenge on the 360Voice blog.

It's been in beta for awhile, but apparently the official launch is December 5th, the day after the Dashboard update. I may be a bit fuzzy on the details, but here's what it looks like to me: These are smaller challenges - one user will propose a challenge, and invite some of their friends to participate. The lowest tier requires 5 gamers, and the highest requires at least 20. The duration ranges from 7 to 30 days. Whomever wins within that group will receive actual prizes ranging from $20 gift certificates at the low end, to year long GameFly subscriptions and Xbox HD DVD Players at the high end (prizes sponsored, of course, by Old Spice).

In other words, this is more of a way to sponsor small scale events - sort of like what Wizards of the Coast does with Magic: The Gathering, where local stores are given prizes to run small tournaments, hoping to promote a community of fans. Here we've got that model opened up to a more virtual community, with an outside sponsor.

If you're interested in participating, leave a comment. Maybe we can have an official "Whicken's Blog" event.