Microsoft, You Had Me at "Free Xbox 360 Kiosks"

April 23, 2008
I'll cop to an innate mistrust of most things corporate, but when a company does something this cool, honor must be paid.

So, my heart is warmed by a Macworld report that Microsoft will distribute hundreds of Xbox 360 game kiosks to US children's hospitals:
The first hospitals to receive the kiosks are Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California...

The kiosks are set up with a variety of Y-rated TV programs, G-rated movies, and games rated E and E10+ by the ESRB. They come with headsets and Xbox Live Vision Cameras, and have been configured to communicate with other kiosks over a dedicated Xbox Live network designed specifically for this purpose...

Microsoft is partnering on the kiosk program with the Companions in Courage Foundation, a nonprofit that builds interactive playrooms in hospitals.

Comments

Re: Microsoft, You Had Me at "Free Xbox 360 Kiosks"

Submitted by Donna (not verified) on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 20:11.

By the way, this is old news for Nintendo...they have been partnered with Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation since the early 90s to place more than 5,000 mobile gaming units called "Fun Centers" in more than 1,200 hospitals across America. The new units, rolling out right now, feature the Wii. They roll right up to the kids' beds so that it doesn't matter how sick the child is or even if they are in isolation. Pretty cool. www.starlight.org/funcenter

Submitted by Kajex (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:48.
@ Grizzam

Better known as a Demo system stand- yaknow, where places like Gamestop have the stand with the console and T.V. connected.

Submitted by Todd (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 19:11.
Don't kid yourselves, this is marketing hard at work. Get the kids familiar with M$ products early on. Some day later they will be shopping for a system and think "I had lot's of fun on that Xbox during those dark and scary days in the hospital..."

Corporate greed aside, I hope they bring a smile to someone's face.

Submitted by Doopydoo22 (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 04:39.
@LightWarrior

Much of the hate for Microsoft comes from their monopolistic and abrasive tendencies as a computer software company, not their Xbox division which has given them an actual fanbase now. This turnaround is particularly effective with the younger audience that doesn't remember a time without Xbox.

But then it seems that kids nowadays can't remember anything past three months ago. Which, I believe, is also why some people are able to like EA.

Submitted by Stueymon (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 09:54.
microsoft deserve a pat on the back for this. yeah they often get bad press about being an evil all consuming corporate being, or atleast having that image, but thats just nice.

ofcourse, will the news networks put this out? a positive gaming story? doubt it. i can already imagine jack thompson protesting this, corrupting children and such >.>

Submitted by Jonathan, aka Soul (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 10:00.
Wow, Microsoft is doing something quite good, Impressive.

Submitted by Gift (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:07.
Well there are rational business reasons you might want t do this... but I'll suspend the cynicism for a minute to say "well done Microsoft".

Gift.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:08.
It's nice to see a corparation doing something like this. Speaking of which anyone have an idea what Child's Play goal this year is?

Submitted by kurisu7885 (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:13.
I applaud Microsoft for this.

Submitted by Sidewinder (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:15.
And here I was, thinking Bill Gates was the anti-Christ. Funny how that works.

Submitted by Cidas (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:22.
I will tell you, about 6 or 7 years ago I was in the hospital for a few days out of a month for six weeks, the treatment was chemotherapy. Access to games was very limited, and it wasn't until I had to go there for an emergancy (very high fever, could have died) that I didn't have geniune acess to a good console game. It took my mind off of the treatments for the time and saved my parents anguish of feeling powerless.
This is sure a noble deed.

Submitted by Freak4all (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:22.
I can't but think that now Nintendo has to do something charitable. Sony has Folding@Home and Microsoft is doing this, how long before Nintendo offers free copies of Wii Fit to P.E. classes in schools?

Submitted by JustChris (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:25.
This reminds me of the time I was at a children's hospital and had access to classic Namco arcade machines, at no cost!

Submitted by King of Fiji (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 16:29.
As awsome as it is for Microsoft to do it I can't help but feel like a downer by guessing that in a week of this being announced watchdog organizations such as the Campaign For a Commercial Free Childhood will say thats its commercializing hospitals and that its evil for the kids to enjoy fun things....

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:03.
What's a kiosk?

Submitted by Garret (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:04.
kudos to M$ for this, it is truly a good deed.

Submitted by Stoli (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:09.
@ Freak4all:

Actually, Nintendo partners with the Starlight Foundation to bring consoles to kids in hospitals.

Submitted by LightWarrior (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:21.
and yet I just don't understand why so many people hate and bash microsoft....

Submitted by Jim Strathmeyer (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:28.
I came here to blast Microsoft's monopolistic actions but you people have thrown me off.

Submitted by Mystic (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:33.
That's great but what games are there for xbox that are E rated?

Submitted by TheEdge (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:34.
Microsoft doing....good?
Well it is run by Bill Gates,so I would expect no less.Kudos Microsoft!

Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez García (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 17:46.
What about the hated "Red Ring of Hell"? Do the hospitals have to deal with that thing too? I hope Microsoft is prepared.

Submitted by Arashi (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:00.
That is truly awesome.

Submitted by Lance20000 (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:00.
way to go microsoft, even though your pure evil I guess you still can do good in this world.

I remeber when I was a kid and was in the Calgary Childrens hospital they had a NES and all the kids were playing and having fun. I think this is a great idea and will actualy help kids recover.

Submitted by CyberSkull (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:18.
While I applaud this move, I sincerely hope that MS is shipping the latest model 360s. The last thing they want is a Consumerist post about RRoD at the hospital.

Submitted by Ken (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:23.
Let's see how many of those kiosk 360s get the Red Ring of Death.

Submitted by Jack Wessels (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:37.
That's just cool. Good for you Microsoft.

Submitted by DarknessDeku (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:43.
I'll laugh with half of the 360's get the RRoD!

Submitted by Daltin Wentworth (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:45.
I always go to Macworld for all my Microsoft news!

Submitted by CaptainZM (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:45.
Addict the consumers young, build their loyalty, and drain them dry when they move on to your new systems.

360's are the new cigarettes!!!!

Submitted by GryphonOsiris (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:47.
Actually, with the newer systems RRoD is a much smaller problem than it was in the original units. Mind you in the end, M$ is doing a good thing, which compared the hypocracies of other major organisation is a good sign.

Submitted by DarknessDeku (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:49.
I'm going to laugh if all the 360's came with GTA 4!

Submitted by DarkTetsuya (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 18:58.
@darknessdeku:

That's... rated M though.

Anyway you-know-who can stick this into his proverbial pipe and smoke it.

Submitted by Steve (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 19:21.
I applaud Microsoft for this. Lets just hope these systems dont red ring before the terminal kids do.

Submitted by Dan (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 19:25.
This is a marketing ploy? Show me a kid who doesn't know what an Xbox 360 is and doesn't already want one.

Well... besides the kids at the Amish hospital.

Submitted by Salen (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 19:57.
Thats cool to hear. I mean, Bill Gates helps out a lot with his charities, so this is good to hear.

Submitted by Dark Sovereign (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 20:31.
I bet this has some marketing potential, but I also bet that these boxes aren't just shipping with the non-RRoD hardware, but with that prototype chip they were going to bring to the public. Good show, Microsoft.

Submitted by steelcobra (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 00:05.
As long as they don't put them in those airflow-free plastic bubbles the early demo models were in...

Submitted by Ben (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 03:10.
wow, just donating some 360's would have been nice in itself, but building a mini-live network and evertyhing is a pretty big thing to do.

Submitted by BeGuile (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 03:12.
@ Dark Sovereign
Oh man, I can't wait to get cancer and try out the new 360s early then!

Good job, MS. Some psycho hardcore gamers will find a way into the hospitals just to try out new things.


Otherwise, glad MS is doing something good for once.

Submitted by Andy_UK (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 03:48.
Steve Says:

April 23rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I applaud Microsoft for this. Lets just hope these systems dont red ring before the terminal kids do.

.... bit harsh......

Submitted by Brandon (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 06:06.
Damn, that's awesome

Submitted by Ragnaar (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 06:42.
It's nice to see Microsoft do something like this... even if it's a potential distraction from what MS is really all about.

@Doopydoo22:

Actually, you'll find the American public in general has a short attention span. That's how certain political figures manage to stay in office longer than they should.

Submitted by James (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 07:12.
@Doopydoo22

"But then it seems that kids nowadays can’t remember anything past three months ago. Which, I believe, is also why some people are able to like EA."

I really hate the phrase "these days". Kids have always been that way. Well, most kids. I wish I only remembered things from 3 months ago.

Submitted by Verbinator (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 10:40.
Microsoft is THE most philanthoropic corporation in the USA, if not the world. People just don't want to believe that. Bill Gates has personally donated 10s of Billions of dollars to help people around the world. When he leaves Microsoft soon, it will be to run his charitable foundation. Microsoft not only matches employee donations (to non-religious charities) dollar for dollar, but they match employee TIME donations to eligible charities with cash or product in lieu of cash.

Submitted by Repudiator (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 11:53.
I wonder what Jack thinks about this......

Submitted by Loudspeaker (not verified) on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 12:01.
Kudos to Microsoft. Those kiosks will be an awesome benefit to kids at those hospitals.
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