Microsoft has had the attention of core gamers with franchises like Halo and Gears of War, but it's now trying new ways to capture the female market.

Over a recent weekend, the company commissioned a service called House Party to send free Xbox 360 packages, valued at around $150, to 1,000 women across the U.S. who agreed to invite at least 10 friends or relatives over for a party, a USA Today report said.

Microsoft's director of interactive entertainment business global platforms Heather Snavely said, "We've sold 20 million consoles to date globally since we launched three years ago.

"In order to get to the next 20 million, we need to get a new audience of women and teens. We're going after them in ways that are different than ways we've done before."

The packages included Scene It? Box Office Smash, an Xbox 360 universal remote, three months of Xbox Live and $20 worth of Microsoft Points.

House Party has a database of 100K people who offer themselves up as "brand advocates," the report said. Marketers from Kmart, Fisher-Price Kraft and numerous other companies have used the service.

Pic via Kombo.com