Vicepresidente de marketing de día, troll de noche

This is a new one. Earlier today, NeoGAF message board poster "a Master Ninja" wondered aloud if a private message from user "bell801" could actually be from Jeff Bell, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Global Marketing for their interactive entertainment division, who endured Internet mockery for his wooden performance on-stage at the Microsoft press conference at E3 last week. The poster was especially critical of Bell during the press conference, which Bell didn't take kindly to, as his private message read:

"And your contribution to society is...what?"

Wait, wait, wait. It's one thing to insinuate a high-ranking Microsoft executive has effectively called you out, but the connections grew as more people started watching the train wreck. Another user discovered Bell mentioned his GamerTag is "BigDaddy801" in a YouTube video, establishing the 801 connection between the two 'net names. Then, a Xbox.com interview cemented the link:

TriXie: What's the significance of 801?

Jeff: I was a big Roxy Music fan in college, and Brian Eno left and started a band called 801. I was really into art rock/progressive rock, and 801 has been my favorite number ever since.

Still, someone could have created a message board name with all this information in mind. But, with all that evidence lined up, a moderator confirmed to 1UP the "bell801" name is registered to Jeff Bell -- his registration information lined up. Note: none of this information was actually passed onto 1UP, only verified by a trusted source.

1UP immediately contacted Microsoft for a response, questioning the company's stance on ethics and policies related to executives interacting with the Xbox community. It's a well known fact that many industry movers and shakers actively monitor the Internet responses to various announcements, but spending time responding to wise cracks by heckling board posters? We haven't seen that before.

We're still waiting on a response from Microsoft, but between Peter Moore leaving for EA Sports and a top-ranking executive taking message board taunts to heart, it's been an interesting week for the company.