FYI,

"Microsoft's Vista Launch Promoted with Space Ride Prize"
AFP
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/09/070109154225.mvw0xcxl.html

: A Microsoft online puzzle game launched this week promises to send
: the winner on a rocket ride into orbit around the Earth.

: The Redmond, Washington-based software giant teamed with computer
: chip maker Advanced Micro Devices to promote the new Vista
: operating system with Vanishing Point, a "large-scale online and
: offline collaborative puzzle game."

: Microsoft is to launch the home version of Vista on January 30.

: The companies used the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as a
: venue on Monday to reveal prizes including Microsoft Zune MP3
: players, Xbox 360 video game consoles, Vista-based computers, and a
: sub-orbital space ride.

: A NASA-trained astronaut will take the winner just beyond the
: Earth's atmosphere for "the ultimate vista" courtesy of Rocketplane
: Limited Inc., Microsoft said.

: The puzzle game challenged players worldwide to decipher clues
: from "spectacular events at various locations" beginning on Monday
: at the Bellagio Casino here, according to Microsoft.

: A taunting video interspersed with numbers, symbols, equations and
: the hint "it's all about time" was projected onto dancing fountains
: in front of the casino after dark.

: Players have established online forums and wikis -- web pages that
: visitors can modify -- devoted to the game, the companies said.

: Microsoft created the website www.vanishingpointgame.com to provide
: rules, videos of clues, a "count down" and other information.

Mark Reiff