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Lost Planet Map Packs free starting Friday
Capcom just announced that starting this Friday, July 20th, both Lost Planet Map Packs #1 and #2 will be available on the Marketplace for free due to PC users getting free access to them. These four maps together previously retailed for 800 Microsoft points in total and include maps Radar Field, Island 902, Hive Complex and Trial Point. But be sure to note that Map Pack #3 is not part of this free offer and will still cost you 400 Microsoft points. Capcom also announced that an auto update should be released sometime this month to fix the multiplayer connectivity issues. Enjoy your newly free maps and be a little jealous that you can't have the PC exclusive Mega Man skin.[Via Major Nelson]
Capcom sneak peak of SPFIITHDR themes
Over on the Capcom blog Brian posted a photo preview of all the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix themes he's working on. In the picture above you can see a total of three new themes with the top two being the boys and girls of Street Fighter while the blade color coded version on the bottom is a collage of the fighters. Brian also mentioned that there will be one SPFIITHDR picture pack that will include eleven gamer pictures. No pricing or street dates for these or the Arcade game have been announced other than the infamous "soon" time frame.
Free Sprite SubLYMONal downloads
Sprite's SubLYMONal soda campaign has spread onto the XBLM (presumably US only) with a free theme and gamer picture download. There is only one gamer pic which is the Sprite logo and the theme is nothing more than a picture of a Sprite 20oz bottle copied four times to each blade. It's quite, how do we say this ... uninspired. Also, we noticed that the the theme's advertising text in the lower left is cut off by the blades which makes us feel a little more comfortable calling these SubLYMONal downloads uninspired. But they're free downloads, so go get 'em if you like the free.
Burgercon offers second helping of Austin Powers
Nope, you aren't losing your mind, Burgercon did give out a free movie rental a few weeks back and now they're doing it again. McDonalds' Burgercon is offering up a second helping of free Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery movie rental excitement off the XBLM. Starting today and running through July 19th, US Xbox Live members can download Austin Powers off the Marketplace for free. But for some reason we feel like we owe McDonalds something for our free movie and feel guilty for not upgrading our number one Big Mac value meal to a large. Guess we're eating our guilt away tonight.[Thanks, djphatjive]
Activision sticking to GH II DLC pricing
The consumer versus Guitar Hero II downloadable content pricing war rages on with Activision taking the defensive on their pricing strategy. According to Dusty Welch, the head of Red Octane publishing, the downloadable track packs have been a "tremendous success" and that "demand seems to be insatiable" as they're reporting that 300,000 song packs have been purchased since April. Mr. Welch goes on to say that they have been listening to Guitar Hero II customers, but will still be "offering even better music at current price points" due to the success of the previous song packs.So guys, who's to blame? We know we didn't purchase those overpriced track packs, but know there are a bunch who did. This is just another case of the financial bottom line being more important than the vocal majority, so quit buying the songs already! .... now back to the corner to cry myself to sleep again.[Via Joystiq]
Bringing it Home Wrap: Harry Potter demo too
Okay, we thought we experienced all that E3 Bringing it Home had to offer and even expressed out heartfelt goodbye to all the Marketplace fun. But we were a little premature in calling Bringing it Home finished, as Major Nelson just sent word that a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix demo just went live. Major also confirms that this Harry Potter demo officially marks the end of E3 Bringing it Home and so we advise taking a look at the completely complete list of Bringing it Home content we've gathered for you after the break. No heartfelt goodbye this time Bringing it Home, because it's too painful the second time around.
Bringing it Home Wrap: The BIGS demo and the end
It's a sad, sad day today, because it is the last time we'll be getting E3 Bringing it Home content this year. Though, we've had a good ride experiencing the Ace Combat 6 demo, downloading free E3 gamer pictures and digging through dozens of HD game trailers. Yes, Bringing it Home will be missed.But today we've got one final Marketplace hoorah offering up The BIGS demo, trailers from Stranglehold, skate, and The Orange Box and some Stranglehold and Vampire Rain gamer pictures and themes to purchase too. Take a look at our recap of the past few days' E3 Bringing it Home content with all the new goodies bolded for easy viewing. Ooo, we promised we wouldn't cry ...
Texas Hold 'em gets Vision support
We're not sure how we missed this, but today XBLA game Texas Hold 'em received an update enabling the long rumored Vision camera support. The update rolled out this morning and not only added Vision support, but also fixed a few bugs, added custom matches, improved matchmaking, enhanced rich presence, and multi-language support. The update goes on to say that the "Vision Camera also allows players to use a series of game faces using the snapshot mode for all-ins, wins, losses, folds and more". Interesting stuff indeed! Whip out the Vision camera, go play some poker, and try and steer clear of those who like to use their camera to be vulgar. Eww.DeadPlasmaCell also warned us that finding games was nearly impossible after the update was applied. We'll report back in if we hear of any widespread matchmaking problems.[Thanks, DeadPlasmaCell]
Stuntman: Ignition demo impressions
Out of three demos that Bringing it Home has brought us, Stuntman: Ignition piqued my interest the most. Maybe I was drawn to it because of the fast cars and explosions or maybe because Blue Dragon is far from my liking and I have yet to get enough hands on time with Ace Combat 6 to garner an opinion. Never less, I downloaded the Stuntman: Ignition demo, grabbed a soda and prepared for its explosive stunts. So, is this 642MB download worth your time? Read on my friend to find out.
Bringing it Home Wrap: Stuntman demo and trailers
It's day two of our Bringing it Home offerings and look what just crashed into the Marketplace. Stuntman: Ignition has arrived in demo form and is available for download off the Marketplace right now as well as a jumble of other E3 content. The Microsoft E3 press conference is finally up, broken into six separate parts, and will run you multiple GBs of bandwidth. Also, new trailers from games like Assassin's Creed, Frontlines: Fuel of War and Two Worlds are posted for download too. As always, a complete list of all the E3 Bringing it Home content is viewable after the break with new content bolded for your convenience. Happy downloading.
They didn't listen. New GH II tracks still 500 points
In a slap to their fans' faces, Activision released a new Guitar Hero II music pack to the Marketplace and it's still overpriced. Up for download is the Guitar Hero Track Pack 4 featuring three songs including "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, and "You've Got Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest for the ouch that hurts price of 500 Microsoft points.We really thought Harmonix and Activision were taking a while to release new content, because they were actively negotiated and reworking their pricing strategy seeing that fans have been very vocal about the pricing of the last three DLC offerings. But our extended wait was for no gain, because the pricing hasn't changed. Try and keep your anger civil fanboys ... or at least pointed towards the guilty parties.
Bringing it Home Wrap: Ace Combat 6 and trailers galore [update 1]
New content was lovingly placed on the XBLM this morning right after the Microsoft E3 conference ended and so it seems fitting that we recap all the new goodies. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (campaign) and Blue Dragon demos are available for download and are technically the first official demos of Bringing it Home as NCAA Football 08 wasn't actually part of the E3 fun. So, go get those. Also available is a set of free E3 2007 gamer pictures and theme as well as paid gamer pictures and themes from Halo Wars, The Idolmaster and Project Sylpheed. Microsoft also placed new HD game trailers on the Marketplace from games like Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey. Also noteworthy are today's two new XBLA titles Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe.Update 1: We just added a few more listings included in-game content. Looks like new Guitar Hero II content is just as expensive as before.We'll be keeping a running tally of all the new E3 XBLM content with new additions highlighted each update. So, check out the complete list of all the Bringing it Home content after the break.
Video Marketplace now features Disney studios
During its E3 press conference yesterday, Microsoft announced that Video Marketplace will now feature films from Disney Studios. These studios include Miramax, Hollywood Films, Touchstone, and of course, Disney itself. Likely the largest aspect of this distribution deal is that Video Marketplace will now offer many of Disney's animated feature films. Frankly, we're hoping the selection broadens quickly, as Hercules, The Emperor's New Groove, and Tarzan aren't exactly the first films we think of when considering Disney classics (no Aladdin, no Lion King? For shame!). There are other films available as well, including Sky High, Waterboy, The Brothers Grimm, Unbreakable, and many others. All of the new Disney Studios content is available now.
Disney movies available on Xbox 360 in HD
Disney may be a Blu-ray exclusive supporter, but that doesn't mean Xbox 360 owners won't be able to enjoy Disney movies in high definition. Microsoft has just announced that Disney will be providing downloadable HD movies to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Even more surprising ... it'll happen tonight. Get your hard drives ready to download!
NCAA Football 08 demo available on XBLM
Less than an hour ago we were graced with our first Bringing it Home XBLM content which offered up gamer pictures and a theme. And now we're happy to announce that we have our first Bringing it Home demo! Up for download off the Marketplace is a NCAA Football 08 demo coming in at 684MBs of what we expect to be full of football fun. Though, this cannot be guaranteed. We welcome football fans to give the demo a download, tell us what you think and share your overall impressions as we aren't overly familiar with the genre. Heck, maybe you could count every frame in a second to see if the game runs at its promised 60 FPS.
Devil May Cry 4 pics and themes galore
And so starts the promised E3 Bringing it Home Marketplace content with a few Devil May Cry 4 downloads. Available for the picking today is the HD DMC 4 trailer featured at last year's Tokyo Game Show, a theme, and a set of DMC 4 gamer pictures. The five gamer pics feature Nero, Dante and Kyrie and will run you 100 Microsoft points while the theme will set you back 150. Keep your dial tuned into X3F as we'll be keeping an eye on all the Bringing it Home downloadable goodness throughout the next few days.
New MLB 2K7 stadiums will cost you
Previously, 2K Sports treated you to a free Olympic Stadium MLB 2K7 download, but now they're going to make you pay. Up on the Marketplace are six new stadiums to download for MLB 2K7 offered up in four convenient packages. The six stadiums (Sportsman's Park, Forbes Field, Griffith Stadium, Shibe Park, Polo Grounds and Crosley Field) can be purchased bundled together for 800 Microsoft points or in three seperate "two packs" for 300 Microsoft points each. So, if purchased together you'd save 100 Microsoft points making each stadium roughly 133 points. In "two packs" it works out to be 150 points a stadium. Get that? If you have the extra cash and really think paying a few bucks for a stadium is worth it, then go baseball fan go and spend away.
Free Shark Week & Unlock Xbox downloads
We advise US Xbox Live members to swim on over to the XBLM to download a few newly free themes and gamer pictures. Discovery Channel is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Shark Week by giving away a (somewhat bland) shark theme and a set of shark gamer pictures. And what more can we say, they're sharky? But if you hate sharks or just like Doritos, then you'll be pleased to know that there is also a free Unlock Xbox inspired theme and gamer picture set available too.And allow us to vent a little here and point out that the Unlock Xbox theme bothers the heck out of us. Why? Because the background colors don't match the freakin' blade colors! It looks like the designers tried to match the colors, but got sort of confused by the time they painted the media blade. Hey theme makers, is it that hard to match a few colors? End rant.Read - Free Shark Week downloadsRead - Free Unlock Xbox downloads
It's 7/7/07 ... Happy Bungie Day!
Today is Bungie Day, the day we celebrate Bungie and all the greatness that comes from their studio. From Gnop to Marathon to Halo, Bungie creates games that are teh roxorz! And this year is something special, not only because it's the year 2007 which makes use of three sevens, but because Bungie is offering up all kinds of goodies today. As we mentioned yesterday, you can download a free Bungie Day theme and gamer picture set off the XBLM. But hurry, because they are only available for download today and if you miss them they'll be gone forever. You can also head over to Bungie.net and download Quicktime VR's of the Brute Chopper and C.Q.B./E.V.A. armor variants and learn some interesting facts about them. Also, they put up a new Halo 3 wallpaper in their gallery which is the same artwork featured on the Gamepro cover. Finally, Frankie mentioned in yesterday's Bungie Weekly Update that the Halo 2 Blastacular maps would be free starting today. But, after signing into Halo 2, the Blastacular map pack still reads $4.00. Bummer ... but maybe it'll be fixed a little later in the day. Fixed! The Blastacular maps are now free.Thank you Bungie for creating some amazing games and being one of the most accessible developers out there. We just want to say that we love you too.
Reminder: Bungie Day goodies on XBLM tomorrow
Tomorrow is Bungie Day for the Halo 3 developer, as they've celebrated every July 7 in recent memory. Since it will be 2007 (i.e. 7/7/07, or triple 7s), there is some "extra special content" coming to Xbox Live Marketplace, according to the developer's website, in addition to new content on Bungie.net itself.As to what the goodies will be, exactly, Bungie isn't saying -- "don't get too excited, it's not Halo 3," said the newsbrief. We're predicting gamertag pictures, themes, and the like, of either Halo, Marathon or their long-running joke Pimps at Sea.Regardless of what the content is, there's only a small window of opportunity, as the mysterious content will only be available from 5:00 am ET until 3:00 am on Sunday. [Via X3F]
