By: Brian Crecente and Michael McWhertor

They've been called fanboys, gaming's fab four and Microsoft employee wannabes, the game-inspired rock band The Xbox Boys crashed onto the gaming scene earlier this year with a set of catchy tunes and an oddly religious fervor for the Xbox 360.

But that fervor doesn't seem as odd when considering that many of the band members have or had ties to New Hope International Church, a Bellevue, Washington-based Christian church that hopes to "turn lost people into fully devoted Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ in our city and all over the world."

When contacted for comment, band front man and church couples minster, Brendan Aye, said that "none of The Xbox Boys work for MS or any marketing companies. Just a bunch of fanboys who like music and gaming (maybe too much)."

Aye, who said he is not part of the band but takes care of their "business/Internet dealings", did not return emails in response to questions about the group's ties to New Hope International Church.

Reached by phone Wednesday, the band's lead singer, Phil Fischer said that the band was "not a religious thing, it was just an Xbox thing."

"We are just in love with the Xbox. This has nothing to do with our religion at all."

The band lists four members in its group, P-Box, B-Box, Beat Box and D-Box. But none of them use their real names. Fischer confirmed this afternoon that the group is made up of: guitarist Bryan Barrows, AKA B-Box; Seattle-area drummer, Bryan Lash, AKA Beat Box; bassist Dave "Kitz" Sproull, AKA D-Box, and himself, a 37-year-old Seattle singer song-writer and former church music minster.

Lash is also a former member of New Hope International Church and Sproull says in his MySpace page that he is a local student worship leader

Fischer said that while the group has nothing to do with religion, its members are Christian. "We aren't ashamed of that, but this is about our love for a console."

According to the official Phil Fischer website, Fischer, who up until recently was a church couples minster with Aye at New Hope International Church, decided to drop his first solo album, "Wounded Soul" and devote his life to God about five years ago.

"I now use my talents to serve Jesus Christ, who without him, none of this would be possible," Fischer writes on his site. In his "Six Promises to You Lord" Fischer says he will "worship you in bars, dancehalls, taverns and other places to reach non-believers."

On the official Xbox Boys site, Fischer, also known as P-Box, lists a different set of laws, laws of the "Keepers of the Orb":

1. Uphold gaming integrity for all gamers of the world
2 .Bring the power of the Xbox to all countries by performing and showcasing the games and consoles
3. Make sure that all age groups and all peoples of Earth have access to the X-Box console and to its games."

These laws, the site says, were delivered to the four band members in the woods of Bellevue, near Microsoft's campus, from a voice "sounding like a thousand horns all at once, but also as quite(SIC) as a single violin note".

The voice also delivered a prophecy, according to the site:

"For thousands of years I have watched, and waited for this moment. I give you three laws to follow. But there are ten total. The final laws the Xbox boys are to uphold are to be written by Microsoft itself when the final prophecy is to be revealed. The final prophecy is that you four, four of integrity and honestly, will receive an endorsement contract by Microsoft. You will perform shows; sell merchandise, and UPHOLD THE LAWS OF GAMING AND THE INTEGRITY OF MICROSOFT. THIS IS THE final prophecy."

The band's official site currently hosts two music videos, one dedicated to Xbox Live and the other to the killing of the final boss in Gears of War. Both are catchy, though bland, pop-rock pieces.

What is unclear is if the messaging of the Xbox Boys band is a deliberate tie-in to Christian themes because the band is, in fact, a Christian rock band or because their leader has such strong ties to religion and Christan rock. A source close to the band said that whichever the case is, Fischer does want to use the money earned from The Xbox Boys to help fund his ministry work in other countries.

Again, Fischer denies this, and asked that the story not run because he feared his budding fan-base wouldn't believe the group is strictly secular.

Erika Doss, a professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado Boulder and soon to be chair of Notre Dame's American Studies Department, says it's not unusual for a ministerial group to borrow the language of the people they are trying to reach in order to connect with them.

Doss, who studies the issue of religion and pop culture, said the Xbox Boys site seems to be filled with religious themes.

"It's rare when you listen to Christian music that you would hear the word Jesus," she said. "But everyone usually gets it, there's this pervasiveness of Christian rhetoric."

And the fact that the Xbox Boys aren't upfront about their religious ties isn't unusual either, she said.

"They are appropriating the current technological means in order to proselytize on behalf of their faith," she said. "They are appropriating the whole culture's rhetoric under (their) vision statement."

Doss said she is a little concerned with their possible duplicity, but said proselytizing is about "bringing people to the light through any means possible."

"If they are really about proselytizing then I have some problems with that because they are not being up front about it."

Luke Plunkett contributed to this story.

Sony's taken the best of various community aspects and blended it into a theme called Game 3.0. Not an official trademark or anything, it's just their idea that video game equivalent of Web 2.0 and its user-created content would be Game 3.0 (goes along the three in PS3).

So how does it work?

Well, you have private and public areas. Imagine the Sims and the ability to customize your home, your body, your clothes, and your face. The 3D avatar and 3D environment actually looks pretty great, considering it's actually PS3-level graphics and not just something quickly thrown up (like Second Life). You can customize your personal apartment however you wish and invite buddies (other avatars) over to chat, play arcade games, launch multiplayer games, or just hang out.

There are loads of public spaces as well. These can be generic arcade halls where you can play pool and bowl, or game company sponsored areas where you can play demos of their latest games and chat with friends at the same time. There could even third-party non-game areas like movie theaters and clothing stores where you can watch trailers, movies, or try on the latest overpriced shirt from A&F.

Speaking of commercialization, there's going to be ads. Yes, there are 3d Banner ads and HD Video ads embedded inside "appropriate" areas in the public spaces. Fortunately for you, you can bring up a virtual PSP interface from anywhere and warp back home to the (presumably) ad-free space. But in your space, you can load your own pictures from your PS3 hard drive onto a picture frame or your own MP3s onto a jukebox.

This is definitely something we can see people sinking a lot of time into as far as socializing. It doesn't seem to have an economy in it like Second Life, as far as we saw, so all your money will be sent to Sony when you purchase arcade games, furniture, and more clothing for your avatar.

How about for the hardcore gamer? There's the "Hall of Fame", an actual hall with display cases that show the "achievements" (Sony's not calling it that) that you've unlocked by playing games. Not only can you browse what you have, you can go to a gigantic hall (imagine the Star Wars Imperial Senate) and view trophies for games you don't have. Or you can see what your buddies have and compare.

It doesn't have as much depth as Xbox 360's achievements, which has possibly 50+ achievements for each game, but it does give you a neat way to walk around a room and admire just how much time you've sank into playing video games.

Although PlayStation Home probably won't be a big enough feature to actually sell the console by itself, it may just be one of many features that Sony's adding to make it quite tempting to even non-gamers, a segment the Wii seems intent on dominating. – Jason Chen

By: Brian Crecente

The interview was, as I said earlier, a bit fragmented due to the nature of the forum. When you get five geeks to sit around the table with Bill Gates, chances are they aren't going to want to all talk about the same things.

While Gates spent a bulk of the time talking about stuff as varied as his charity work (it's going to blossom when he semi-retires next summer), the amount of spam assaulting his mailbox (next to none recently) and his penchant for speeding, yet not dying when he was younger. (Yes, that old gem.)

Gates told the small group that Microsoft has always been about software and that despite their recent jump into some hardware, always will be.

"Microsoft has always been about software that empowers people," he said. "What can happen over the next ten years is probably even bigger than what's happened over the entire history as we get speech and vision just getting rid of constraints: Storage constraints, resolution constraints."

"Microsoft was a software company in 1975 well be a software company 20 years from now, that's what we are good at that's our unique contribution."

He did touch a few times on gaming and for the most part what he said was direct and interesting. Gates, it turns out, is a pretty personable guy.

I even got him to laugh when I asked him to take a picture with me.

Me: Do you mind if I get my picture with you? Last one, promise.
Gates: Sure, though no one ever stops the next person from getting a picture with me.
Me: Give me a fork and a spoon and I'll fight them off for you.

I crack myself up, and at least slightly amuse Gates.

I decided to break down the chat into a group of stories to make it more digestible:

Gates on Vision and Live
Gates the Gamer
Zune is the Xbox of Music
Gates: Xbox is a PC