Xbox Big Day Out Snowboarding Festival Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
20th – 23rd February 2006, Val d'Isère
This year the Xbox^® Big Day Out – a unique freestyle ski and snowboard competition – celebrates its tenth anniversary on the slopes, with a crowd of 15,000 people planning to jump in and play together on the peaks of Val d'Isère.

What began ten years ago as a friendly snowboarding session and simple mountain barbecue, has become one of the biggest events and non-stop parties in the snowboard calendar. The top prize of €10,000 attracts international pro-riders to compete on the breathtaking course and enjoy a packed schedule spanning six days:

• Saturday 18th February Riders Arrive
• Sunday 19th February Warm Up Sessions
• Monday 20th February Qualifying Stages
• Tuesday 21st February Qualifying Stages
• Wednesday 22nd February Qualifying Stages
• Thursday 23rd February The Grand Final

Following the launch of the Xbox 360^TM at the end of last year, visitors will be able to try out the latest Xbox 360 games including Perfect Dark Zero^TM (MGS-Rare Ltd.), Project Gotham Racing^® 3 (MGS-Bizarre Creations) and Kameo: Elements of Power^TM (MGS-Rare Ltd.) at Xbox 360 games zones in Val D'Isère.

The event will have contestants and spectators jumping to the sounds of international chart acts Stress and Pato, with live sets from other special guests.

Neil Thompson, UK Xbox Director commented: "This amazing event has grown bigger and bigger each year. Ski and snowboard fans not only have the chance to see world-class snowboarding, but it's a great opportunity to try out the next generation of gaming with Xbox 360."

Other event highlights include:

• The Quiksilver Tour will roll into the valley bringing high profile international team riders including Mathieu Crepel, Markku Koski, Hampus Mosesson, Candide Thovex and many others
• UK and European riders will battle it out for the €10,000 prize money on a course which consists of a 20m tabletop into a massive hip-jump, and five different handrails
• The week will culminate in the main competition finals, which kicks off at 7:30pm to a crowd of 15,000 people

Please visit www.xboxbigdayout.com for further details and the chance to win an Xbox 360 and a Quicksilver limited edition snowboard.[/list]