• Friday: Game with Fame: Play Gears of War 2 with Gym Class Heroes.
• Saturday: Xbox All-Nighter with Turtle Beach featuring Gears of War 2:  You could win awesome gaming headsets from TB!
• Friday - Sunday: Underworld Play & Win featuring Fable II: You could win up to 80,000 Microsoft Points!:
• Saturday/Sunday: Knothole Island Download & Win Sweepstakes: You could win a custom Fable II Xbox 360 console signed by Fable II visionary Peter Molyneux
• Sunday: Community Playdate with Xcast Online featuring Gears of War 2

That's a lot of Gears and Fable. AND a lot of frickin' sweet prizes!

• Broke 5,000 Gamerscore. Yeah, shutup.
• Travelled the world, spreading the gospel of Xbox LIVE. Favorite trip: Paris!
• Saw Xbox LIVE hit 17 million members!!
• Married TriXies Marine in Maui, Hawaii!
• Saw GamerchiX surpass 8,500 members. Now THAT's a lot of boobs.
• Was interviewed by X-Play, The Washington Post, and MSNBC.
• Had a weekly show on Inside Xbox. Funny story: People sometimes ask me if I get 'recognized' as trixie360. I usually say "well, yes at gaming events like PAX or E3, but not at the grocery store." Well since my mug has been broadcast on the Xbox LIVE Dashboard, I have been recognized on the streets of Manhattan, at a Dodgers game in LA, by airport security in Honolulu, and yes, at my grocery store. My kids get a kick out of it, but it's still weird to me!
• Worked with my amazing team: KP, meggigirl and kiki kat on Community goodness.
• Created new Community programs on Xbox LIVE: Play the Pros (RIP to the CGS), Community Playdate, Music Monday, and Arcade Afternoon.
• Posted 10,000 Twitter updates.

Lots of other stuff. Thanks for hanging with me here in 2008. Can't wait to see what 2009 brings! Happy New Year everyone.

1. My producer (Action Pak) and I brainstorm ideas for an episode.
2. I write a script and send to Action Pak.
3. Action Pak sends my script back with edits.
4. I change it back.
5. I set up a time and location for a shoot. PiX3L Monkey is our camera man/video editor.
6. Action Pak, PiX3L and I shoot stand-up (I'm on camera) on location and voice-over in the studio. 
7. Action Pak and myself get game footage, logos etc to PiX3L to be cut in with the stand-up.
8. PiX3L does a rough edit and sends to me, Action and SoozyQ for review.
9. PiX3L makes any necessary changes and recompresses the video.
10. Final Review.
11. Approval.
12. Action Pak posts it on the Inside Xbox channel on Xbox LIVE.

And that's just the regular weekly show. Video Monkey and I have been all over the world in the last 12 months covering events for Inside Xbox. Here are some of the places we've been:

Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Hanover, Cologne, San Francisco, Monterrey, and Phoenix covering Maddenbowl, GDC, the Grammys, The Imagine Cup, E3, World Cyber Games (European Championship, US Open, Pan-Am Championship, National Finals, & Grand Finals), E for All, Maddenpalooza, and PAX. I think I've racked up approximately 80,000 frequent flier miles.

Anyway, it's a been a fun year and I've learned a lot. Hope you've enjoyed Inside Xbox almost as much as I have  

• Books purchased on the Kindle: 87
• Pages I read electronically instead of on paper: Approximately 26,000
• Trees I saved: 1/3 (A bit disappointing)
• Cost of the Kindle: $399.99 (the price has since dropped)
• Money spent on Kindle books: Approx $750.00
• Money SAVED buying the digital version of books: $757.47
• 1st book I bought on my Kindle: "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz
• Book I'm currently reading on my Kindle: "Just After Sunset: Stories" by Stephen King
• Most expensive Kindle book I purchased: "Not in the Flesh" by Ruth Rendell. Price $16.02.
• Least expensive Kindle book I purchased: "The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes" for 99 cents.

All hail the mighty Kindle!

• Cologne is the 4th largest city in Germany
• It was founded by the Romans in 38 BC (a mere six years after Julius Caesar's assassination)
• Cologne Cathedral is supposedly the final resting place of the bones of the Three Wise Men

• Cologne's patron saint is Ursula, who was accompanied by an army of 11,000 virgins who were all slaughtered by Atila the Hun.
• Cologne was once a part of Napolean's Empire and was still subject to the Napoleonic Code until 1900. (Streetcar Named Desire fans know what the Code is)
• The Western Allies bombed the living crap out of Cologne in WWII. The city suffered 262 air raids.
• The Royal Airforce staged "Operation Millennium" in Cologne. In May 1942 1,046 heavy bombers attacked Cologne with 1,455 tons of explosives. The raid lasted 75 minutes and did a lot of bad things. How bad? This is what Cologne looke like in 1945, by which time it had lost 95% of its population.

• Cologne's football team is known as the billygoats. Hehehehe.

• I don't know how much blogging I'll do over there, but watch our coverage on Inside Xbox and Xbox.com. You can also follow me on twitter.

I have been looking forward to the Disney Fairies: Tinkerbell game for quite some time now. I was extremely disappointed when they weren't showing it at E3. But lately I've been stoked to see a plethora of games that appeal to my inner third-grader. Confession: I've been playing kiddie games on my pink DS Lite. Examples:

Meteos: Disney Magic. I cannot seem to beat the Little Mermaid level on Medium. Sadface.

My Sims. My racquetball skills are teh fail. I sleep in the empty house by the pier because it's cuter than mine.

Mah Jong Quest Expeditions. You'd think matching a green firework tile to another green firework tile would trigger some 'splosions, or at least get rid of the tiles. No.

Games I've got on pre-order:

My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie's Party

We Cheer. The first action my Wii will see since the Super Smash Bros Brawl dual-layer CD dusty Wii fiasco.

Disney Fairies: Tinkerbell

I'm sure you dudes who are all about headshots and high speeds will claim that I am not a real gamer. I say "You're a mister doo-doo head." Because sometimes I am 8.

Here are some of the messages I've received on Xbox LIVE recently. I've answered a few of them.

• do u know cliff b's gamertag [no]
• hi...i have a question....whrd u get a Happy Tree Friends game lol??? [Xbox LIVE Arcade]
• hey trixie something special happened to me on xbox so if you have a moment could you please read my bio it is my thank you to xbox live and please feel free to comment on it or feature it in an xbox closeup
• HEY TRIXIE! HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTIHNG ABOUT A GRAW 3 COMING OUT? I LOVE GAMES LIKE GRAW, COD4, AND RAINBOW. MY FRIENDS PICK ON ME ABOUT BEING THE BIGGEST GRAW FAN. I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD GAME.
• Trixie Someone hacked my account i called xbox and they coudnt do anything about it?
• what games do u play because there are not many girls on xbox and my cousin is a girl and she plays more of the intence games like call of duty 4 and gears of war.
• boo u suk i hate u dumbass
• trixie u was so pretty on latest inside xbox i dont understans why monopoly is not gonna be a arcade game
• so your like a high school teacher who also plays the xbox 360? weird. [no, that's TheSeventhJedi]
• bitch im OWNING in GAMERSCORE! i found a picture of you on google! type goatse in images k? byE! [Eyes. Burning]
• Did anyone recently tell you that your awesome?
• ur hot
• just wanted to say i'm a fan...love how enthused you get about gaming, think your pretty cool. keep up the good work you do. take care.
• hey can u message me when new stuff comes in?
• nice boobs [thanks?]

Since the Community Close-Up episode about how to get in the Gamer Spotlight on Xbox.com and Inside Xbox, I've been inundated with nomination emails. Some have been really good and interesting and I'm excited to publish their interviews in the coming weeks. Others are mostly 'meh' and some are downright laughable. The following are real, authentic bone fide nomination emails with gamertags and other identifying info removed. Presented for your edification and amusement, I give you The Good, The Bad and the just plain Wrong.

The Good
I'd like to nominate myself. 2 reasons: 1 - I'm probably the most excited gamer there is for the upcoming release of The Force Unleashed. 2 - School just started. My students would go nuts if they saw me up there.

[Gamertag]

Also, I guess I'm supposed to say something about how I'm the best human in the history of humans…

TriXie sez: Brief, includes a hook (he's a teacher and his students would dig it), plus there's a sense of humor and he shows that he's been paying attention. Look for his Gamer Spotlight tomorrow on Xbox.com.

The Bad
1) i will like to nominate myself as a gamertag spotlight

mines is [gamertag]

thank you for your time ^^

TriXie sez: FAIL.

2) Hey Trixie I think I qualify as one of the greatest players u could put on the spotlight put me on.

TriXie sez: this dude didn't even tell me what his gamertag is!

The Wrong
Hey Trixe you are 1 nice girl. i am a dad of 4 with a wife that has cancer. my brother had his hand blown off in iraq. my favorit games are halo 3. [edited]

Trixie sez: I'd ban your ass if you'd provided a gamertag. Nice try though.

1. player1

2. SOLDIER X25

3. souljaboytellem

4. trixie360

5. major nelson

6. t2 is rippin

7. yhslaw

8. Jon CJG

9. borocouncilman

10. zzirGrizz

11. alex

12. TJ Scoot

13. StrongSide

14. DGgeoff

15. o like butter o

16. nizmojoe

17. Sufoor

18. DigitalPh33r

19. Shishka

20. CMNeir

21. beberle2

22. Misha LinGhan

23. e

24. Axe Argonian

25. J for Jade