The Guild strikes a deal with Microsoft, becomes a timed Xbox Live exclusive

The second season of the explosively popular online video series The Guild, which is a fictional story about the lives of a group of World of Warcraft players (and which was created by and stars Felicia Day, later of Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog fame), will be distributed by Microsoft. Each episode will appear first on Xbox Live, and will only be available through the show's website four weeks later.

The entirety of Season One is now available on Xbox Live, according to Felicia Day's personal blog. The first episode of Season Two will start airing via the service tomorrow, November 25th. The show will remain free to viewers through all venues, and ad supported -- including product placement by Sprint. Microsoft will have its hands in the ad revenue, but will give Day free creative reign. Also, the second season will be shot in HD to accommodate the Xbox 360.

Looks like the scrappy underdog TV series about MMO players has hit the big time, and we're cheering Day on. Next stop: movie deal, right? Fortunately, Microsoft's contract promises that Day will be free to shop around outside of the company for movie and TV deals.

[Via Kotaku]