Digging into Xbox history
By Paul Hunter
This past Friday, Xbox Canada held their much-anticipated Toronto Fanfest. This event for fans, media and influencers was a celebration of Xbox's historic 25 years of gaming.
Before I jump into all of the exciting details from the event, I want to extend a huge shoutout to Xbox's VP of Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, for extending a personal invite to the event. I had a total blast, so let's dive in!
Leading the whole affair was none other than legendary Xbox community lead Larry Hryb, a.k.a. Major Nelson. He did a stellar job personally welcoming folks to the event, and even let us take photos while having short chats. I've seen Larry at numerous E3 events, but this was the first time I've had the opportunity to say hi in person. And yes, the stories are true, he's such a warm and inviting guy. What an honour it was to finally meet this industry icon!
Larry did an on-stage introduction to kick-off the event, and then later he came back on stage for a hilarious rendition of Family Feud, this time called Fanfest Feud. Some of the survey questions included 'which Xbox character wouldn't you want as a roommate' with answers being The Arbiter, Grunts and other funny responses. There was also a question about which Xbox game world you'd like to visit, with Forza Horizon and Minecraft being among the favourites.
Right after Fanfest Feud wrapped, the Major had a big announcement—all Fanfest participants would get a green Xbox-branded sports jersey with the number 25 on it. I've been doing games media for 15 years now and this is easily among the coolest merch I've ever seen!
The whole event took place at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and Xbox did such a good job decorating the place. The large event space was illuminated with green lights, and right at the entrance was a massive Xbox logo to snap photos with.
Game stations were setup all around the space, including a table hockey game where the winner gets a mini hockey stick. There was also a digging station to find prize eggs that could be redeemed for shirts, hats and stickers (I won the stickers!). My favourite activity was the UFO catcher where I managed to grab a capsule with Xbox t-shirt voucher inside. I love visiting Japan and hitting up all the UFO catcher hotspots, so this really reminded me of those fun times.
Other stations at the event, which I unfortunately didn't have time to do, included a funny Fable chicken yeeting game where you had to toss chickens through hoops to get points, and with enough points you win chicken socks. It's too bad I ran out of time, I wanted those socks so bad, lol. They also had Fable playable at the event, and while I didn't get a chance to play, I watched a few folks play the demo and it looked great! I can't wait for Fable's release early next year.
I also want to give a special shoutout to the bartenders who encouraged me to try their "Beer of War" drink that was infused Mountain Dew. I didn't know what to expect, but the drink was delicious. Anyone know where you can buy Mountain Dew-infused beer because I'm craving more (lol)!
I also loved that they had retro stations setup with old Xbox consoles, games, posters and more. Seeing the Halo standee or the Halo 2 poster or the Xbox 360 faceplates brought back a rush of nostalgia. I also thought it was so cool that Xbox had Canada-specific glass displays with funny inclusions like the Canadian Tuxedo controller, Canoe maple leaf controller and Xbox Series Shred (literally an Xbox Series X console with skateboard wheels.)
My hat's off to the team at Xbox for putting on an incredible event. I've been attending Xbox events in Toronto going back to the Xbox 360 era, and they've put on some GREAT events here, but this year's Xbox Fanfest was something special. Cheers to 25 years of Xbox, and I can't wait for the next 25!
By Paul Hunter
This past Friday, Xbox Canada held their much-anticipated Toronto Fanfest. This event for fans, media and influencers was a celebration of Xbox's historic 25 years of gaming.
Before I jump into all of the exciting details from the event, I want to extend a huge shoutout to Xbox's VP of Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, for extending a personal invite to the event. I had a total blast, so let's dive in!
Leading the whole affair was none other than legendary Xbox community lead Larry Hryb, a.k.a. Major Nelson. He did a stellar job personally welcoming folks to the event, and even let us take photos while having short chats. I've seen Larry at numerous E3 events, but this was the first time I've had the opportunity to say hi in person. And yes, the stories are true, he's such a warm and inviting guy. What an honour it was to finally meet this industry icon!
Larry did an on-stage introduction to kick-off the event, and then later he came back on stage for a hilarious rendition of Family Feud, this time called Fanfest Feud. Some of the survey questions included 'which Xbox character wouldn't you want as a roommate' with answers being The Arbiter, Grunts and other funny responses. There was also a question about which Xbox game world you'd like to visit, with Forza Horizon and Minecraft being among the favourites.
Right after Fanfest Feud wrapped, the Major had a big announcement—all Fanfest participants would get a green Xbox-branded sports jersey with the number 25 on it. I've been doing games media for 15 years now and this is easily among the coolest merch I've ever seen!
The whole event took place at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and Xbox did such a good job decorating the place. The large event space was illuminated with green lights, and right at the entrance was a massive Xbox logo to snap photos with.
Game stations were setup all around the space, including a table hockey game where the winner gets a mini hockey stick. There was also a digging station to find prize eggs that could be redeemed for shirts, hats and stickers (I won the stickers!). My favourite activity was the UFO catcher where I managed to grab a capsule with Xbox t-shirt voucher inside. I love visiting Japan and hitting up all the UFO catcher hotspots, so this really reminded me of those fun times.
Other stations at the event, which I unfortunately didn't have time to do, included a funny Fable chicken yeeting game where you had to toss chickens through hoops to get points, and with enough points you win chicken socks. It's too bad I ran out of time, I wanted those socks so bad, lol. They also had Fable playable at the event, and while I didn't get a chance to play, I watched a few folks play the demo and it looked great! I can't wait for Fable's release early next year.
I also want to give a special shoutout to the bartenders who encouraged me to try their "Beer of War" drink that was infused Mountain Dew. I didn't know what to expect, but the drink was delicious. Anyone know where you can buy Mountain Dew-infused beer because I'm craving more (lol)!
I also loved that they had retro stations setup with old Xbox consoles, games, posters and more. Seeing the Halo standee or the Halo 2 poster or the Xbox 360 faceplates brought back a rush of nostalgia. I also thought it was so cool that Xbox had Canada-specific glass displays with funny inclusions like the Canadian Tuxedo controller, Canoe maple leaf controller and Xbox Series Shred (literally an Xbox Series X console with skateboard wheels.)
My hat's off to the team at Xbox for putting on an incredible event. I've been attending Xbox events in Toronto going back to the Xbox 360 era, and they've put on some GREAT events here, but this year's Xbox Fanfest was something special. Cheers to 25 years of Xbox, and I can't wait for the next 25!