Microsoft launches €330,000 Xbox Live giveaway

The first anniversary of the retail launch of Xbox Live in Europe is set to be marked with a â'¬330,000 prize giveaway featuring cash and merchandise prizes for randomly selected GamerTag holders.

Every day between March 1st and 14th, Microsoft will be choosing 36 GamerTags at random from those which log into the service, with one winner each day receiving a â'¬1000 top prize while the remaining 35 receive Xbox Live packs worth around â'¬650 each.

The packs consist of an Xbox branded bag containing a Controller S joypad, a limited edition t-shirt and ten Xbox games including Project Gotham Racing 2, Top Spin, Amped 2 and Midtown Madness 3.

The competition is open to Xbox Live users in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Finland (which excludes some European users, although it's not clear why) and to be eligible, all you need to be is an Xbox Live subscriber who hasn't recently been banned on the service.

Microsoft estimates that there are some 100,000 Xbox Live users in Europe at present, and the company is apparently on target to meet its global user base target of 1 million users by the beginning of summer.