Right on cue, the Xbox Live Video Marketplace has indeed launched in Europe today, and our neighbors to the north are being treated, too. Effectively immediately, Xbox Live users in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom can dip into features made available to Americans last year. More specifically, gamers will be able to rent downloadable flicks in HD and SD forms, and while the former will run folks "as little as 250 Microsoft Points (£2; $4.06)," high-definition versions will cost upwards of 380 Points (£3.20; $6.49). Also of note is the inclusion of additional Warner Bros. films such as Batman Forever, Batman Returns and Analyze That -- all of which will be available by the year's end. Lastly, Microsoft will be offering up a "mystery HD [Warner Bros.] title" to UK users for just £0.99 ($2.00) on December 28th, but we can't say we're brimming with excitement over it.

[Via Pocket-Lint]

Just a quick check-in on that supposedly Earth-shattering Xbox news that was due today: turns out that Bandai and Pac-Man designer Toru Iwatani debuted Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox Live Marketplace in New York, with new game types and an undisclosed number of new mazes -- the first in 26 years. (Humorous: the event was presented by... wait for it... Quiznos.) We're not gonna harsh on Pac-Man or anything, we love the little bugger and know damn well that for some this will actually "go down in video game history" as claimed. But our minds remain thoroughly unblown, and so we point you to Joystiq for the complete story.

HD nerds and Xbox fanboys, the moment you've been waiting for: the Xbox 360 Elite we alerted you about way back when it was just called the Zephyr has finally been announced. As we previously mentioned, it will be black, it will have HDMI, and it will have a 120GB drive (it'll also come bundled with a one month Xbox Live trial) for $479. Unfortunately, also as mentioned before, it's not going to have the new 65nm CPUs, it still doesn't have integrated WiFi (Xbox said it's because a study showed the majority of their customers use Ethernet to connect -- huh?), and it won't have an integrated HD DVD drive (not that we expected otherwise). Microsoft did make some marketing decisions since our sources spilled the beans on this thing though: it's not going to be limited edition, as we previously had. Instead, the Elite will be a permanent SKU, the third and top-tier Xbox device. On the solo 120GB drive side of things, that unit will cost $179, and will come with a cable and software to migrate from your old 20GB drive. (MSFT wasn't yet sure if that kit would be sold separately for new Elite users -- sounds like it will be though, and will be priced very reasonably.) More info:

• The console will come with component and composite cables, as well as an HDMI cable. (Take that, Sony and Apple!)
• The console will come with a black wireless controller and black (wired) headset.
• Sorry, the new black controller still doesn't have backlit buttons -- don't let the pic fool you.
• The black controller, black rechargeable batteries, black headset, and black Play & Charge kit will all be available in retail for the same price as the white gear.
• The HD DVD drive will not be released in black.
• Xbox didn't know what HDMI version the Elite uses, nor whether it supports PCM 5.1, TrueHD, etc.; it will obviously support 1080p, though.
• Sorry, no price cuts on the Premium or Core packs.
• Xbox Live Marketplace will also begin vending content from New Line, Paramount, and Universal (and their properties).

It's out April 29th in the US and Canada, people. Ready for your second Xbox? No? Well, it's still cheaper than that other black game console.

Update: Added more pics; also, Major Nelson has live hands-on pics, too.

Looks like all those rumors and conspiracy theories regarding a Wal-Mart download store actually counted for something this time around. Just in time for the holidays, Wal-Mart has announced its very own video download service, which will kick off in "beta" mode next week with an exclusive Superman Returns bundle. Buyers of the DVD will have an option to also obtain a portable, PC, or dual license for a movie download, priced at $1.97, $2.97, and $3.97 respectively. Users will be directed by a sticker on the DVD case to walmart.com/superman where they can enter a promo code and start the download -- which can be watched while the movie is downloading if they can't bring themselves to pop in the actual DVD. This is quite a different tact than other movie download services, such as iTunes, Amazon Unbox and Xbox Live, and it seems primarily designed to protect video sales cannibalization while leaving out much of the convenience of a traditional movie download service. Wal-Mart says it has more bundles planned for the beta launch, along with what is presumably a more traditional download service with more traditional pricing, though deets are slim at this point. What we do know is that the war for your holiday download dollar will be a bloody one this year.

Our pals over at Joystiq managed to get their hand on the Xbox Live Vision camera over the weekend, and what with the official launch of the Vision being two weeks away, they weren't expected to see any other gamers video-chatting during their testing. As it turns out, Joystiq's innocent reviewer met another camera user within minutes of booting up Uno, an encounter made doubly-memorable by the bare-assed greeting that the other Vision owner decided to send down the pipe. As well as functioning as a broadcasting platform for rookie streakers, the Vision is capable of mapping player's faces onto in-game characters and EyeToy-like gestural control: titles taking advantage of these features will hit the XBL Marketplace on September 19. Other tidbits that Joystiq noted include: an anthropomorphic design enhanced by the fowards-backwards / left-right custom tilt of the camera, and the complete listing of what's included in the two different camera bundles. Budget buyers will be looking to pick up the $40 package which includes the Vision, a one month XBL Gold membership, the Xbox 360 headset, and free downloads of Uno and a 3D platform game called TotemBall. The $80 bundle gets you a twelve month XBL Gold membership, 200 Microsoft Points, and a free download of Robotron: 2084 on top of everything included in the $40 package. Something tells us that September 19 is going to be a disturbing day for Uno players on Xbox Live.