For many gamers, the release of a new game console is a cause for celebration. It ushers in a new era of technology, enhanced graphics, new ways of playing games and, of course, new games.

That is why this year is significant as three new systems from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft plan to make their debut next week at the game industry&s annual Electronic Entertainment Expo.

However, while Sony and Nintendo are content to keep their new systems under wraps until their official unveilings, Microsoft has done everything possible to get advance information about their new console out to the public.

From an obscure Web site to a celebrity-packed premier show on Music Television, gamers everywhere are solving the mystery behind the new Xbox in anticipation of its formal introduction this week.

Information about the new Xbox began to surface early this year as leaked pictures of several prototype logo designs and the name &Xbox 360& began to circulate around the Internet. But with Microsoft refusing to comment on rumors and with no other information to back up the pictures, they were regarded as just some of several rumors floating around at the time.

More concrete information began to surface in early April, as a strange Web site began to make news in Xbox forums and gaming Web sites. Ourcolony.net, operated by a person called the &Gamem8ker,& is a Web site that began to gain notice when several fliers with the name and an ant logo appeared around game stores in America and England.

Visitors to the site were presented with riddles, when solved, that showed images of a power button and a game controller that were very similar to the current Xbox console design.

A more solid link between Microsoft and the Ourcolony.net Web site was discovered when people noticed that a month earlier J Allard, Microsoft corporate vice president, held a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference where he outlined the new features behind the next version of Xbox Live, their online gaming service.

When Allard showed his &Gamer Profile,& the picture in his profile showed him wearing a shirt with the same ant logo as the Ourcolony.net Web site.

Microsoft spokespersons denied any association with Ourcolony.net in statement made at GameSpot, claiming that Allard was a gamer and was interested in the Web site like everyone else.

However, further pictures unlocked from the site showed several angles of a system with a 40-gigabyte hard drive accessory, memory card slots and a computer-rendered picture of a Ferarri 360 Modena, leading people to believe that not only is it a picture of an upcoming sequel to the Xbox&s popular Project Gotham Racing series, but that the name of the new system will indeed be the Xbox 360.

This is not the first time Microsoft has used a mysterious Web site and the Internet community to help advertise a product. In July of last year, Microsoft released a theatrical trailer for their highly anticipated Xbox game, Halo 2.

At the end of the trailer an Internet address, www.ilovebees.com, briefly flashed on the screen for a fraction of a second. People who visited the Web site found what appeared to be a hacked site belonging to a woman who enjoyed beekeeping, complete with broken pictures and links, and strange text messages that alluded to a countdown and an alien invasion.

At the Web log of the woman who operated the Web site, she claimed she had no idea what was happening and asked for help from Internet users to decipher the messages appearing on her site.

It was obvious to many that the Web site was an advertising tool by Microsoft to promote Halo 2. Called &viral advertising& because it uses a viral message, a secret that only a few people know, it quickly gained the attention of the gaming community.

For those willing to play along and solve Microsoft&s advertising riddle, the Web site revealed information about the story behind Halo 2, eventually leading up to the discovery of several &training missions,& where people could and play the game in advance of its release date.

There is a countdown timer on the Web site of Ourcolony.net as well, and it conveniently ends this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, just one hour before the Music Television show &The Next Generation Xbox Revealed.&

The celebrity-attended show, hosted by &Lord of the Rings& star Elijah Wood, was taped this past Thursday in Los Angeles and whether by design or by carelessness, information about the new Xbox has already been leaked online. MTV has revealed that the console will be released this November along with several games, also to be featured on the show.

Several pictures taken by a camera cell phone at the event show the system designs revealed on Ourcolony.net are the final system design, which is a sleek, white-colored system called the Xbox 360. It will use wireless controllers, a headset, camera, and DVD remote control accessories will be available.

Despite the large amount of information revealed about the Xbox 360 already, Microsoft has not given away everything. More will be revealed next week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where Sony will also be unveiling their new PlayStation 3 and Nintendo will show off their new system, codenamed &Revolution.& The MTV show &The Next Generation Xbox Revealed& will air this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. on the West Coast.