Microsoft

Microsoft's J Allard, on the losing end of a bet.

A new look for Microsoft's J Allard? For a while, at least.

Allard's dreds are the result of a bet he made with Newsweek reporter N'Gai Croal over Sony's handheld PSP game player. In 2005, Croal said that the PSP would sell faster than the PlayStation 2 console. Allard bet that it wouldn't.

If Croal lost, Allard was to shave off Croal's dreadlocks onstage at Microsoft's E3 press conference. If Allard lost, he would wear a dreadlock wig for the month of May 2006, including the week of E3.

Allard was wrong, but by last year's E3 he had shifted his focus to Zune and didn't go onstage at Microsoft's event. So he's making good on the bet now with an updated bio page on Microsoft's site.

The picture shows Allard holding a PSP with the words "N'Gai had it right." Here's how Croal describes the bet.