Beta Testers, I want to send this mail in first person. The Beta team has been extremely helpful by sharing upcoming campaigns with you, our beta testers, over the last year. Many of you tried out Reality Fame and ESPBilly (Messenger Films) and every piece of feedback was crucial. Even beyond the actual 'launch' our experiential team tweaks the programs daily, always driving to deliver kick-*ss programs that we hope, at the very least, will delight and entertain our customers. As the guy who has answered all the feedback mails personally, I want to thank you and share what I feel is our most integrated campaign to date titled; Dead Man's Tale... Dead Man's Tale is an interactive adventure for you to play with your friends using the new Windows Live Messenger. The experience blends story, chat, collaboration and game play, and has been designed to provide a unique opportunity to play within the world created by the movie franchise; Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. Specifically, you will be given the opportunity to become a member of the pirate crew of the Black Pearl by participating in Pirates 'challenges.' The training will be conducted by our narrator, a dead pirate nicknamed Billy Bones (the movie icon brought to life with the IM bot contact of Billybones@deadmanstale.com) and Captain Jack Sparrow himself. Of course, Jack Sparrow wouldn't dream of lowering himself to speak to recruits who haven't proven themselves worthy (his words not mine.), so you'll only catch glimpses of the captain as he observes your efforts...

The experience is delivered through the new Windows Live Messenger Platform, utilizing many of Live Messenger's unique features, including the ability to converse with another player while engaged in a game or activity, using a bot narrator who can communicate between the Conversation and Activities window, and an interactions with new Windows Live Messenger features, including the ability to search within the Conversation window. This social experience will also provide replayable games for any of you interested in becoming more immersed in Pirate themed activities, (in other words if you think you are the top dog then prove it... ) The experience is highly entertainment/content driven, with 3-4 major flash games, 8 mini-interactive games/puzzles/riddles, plus about 8 segments that reveal images and information about the upcoming film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as well as an exclusive piece of the film; before it's even released, but only if you can make it to the end.. All of this is connected by a narrator (as mentioned above; Billy Bones) who will ensure that you sign a contract to come onboard. If your a casual player you might be able to show your worth in 45-60 mins, and if you think you're the bomb (ie you want the top score) then you might spend anywhere from 1-3 hours. All of the flash games are replayable. The first part (meet Billy Bones) of the story is single player, but the majority of the experience (Dead Man's Tale) is two player (you must invite a buddy into the experience to complete the pirate challenge).

If I had my way I would have delivered this mail to you last week but the lawyers at Microsoft and Disney would sue me due to IP issues with the film.so for this campaign we are sending a note same day. In the end I want to send out a thanks to all of you who have replied with comments and passed along comments to help extend our experiences.