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Some more new features have been added to the fall Xbox 360 firmware update on December 4th.

These new additions will follow the previously announced “Family Timer” (which limits the amount of playtime the 360 can have per week or even per day, for parents who want absolute control of what their kid plays), Xbox Originals (Original Xbox games that you can download to your 360 via the Marketplace for $15 each) and a new “Friends of Friends” feature that lets you see your Friends’ Friends list. You’ll also be able to set your name, location and a brief bio as part of a social networking-style addition to the service.

And now the update will also include the Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, which will give us a discount for older Xbox Live Arcade downloadable titles. The first group of Arcade Hits will be: Bankshot Billiards 2 and Lumines Live!, both of which will cost only $10 (1200 Microsoft Points) now down from $15. And Marble Blast Ultra, Zuma Deluxe and Small Arms, which will cost $5 ($400) down from $10.

A new “Inside Xbox” news ticker will appear just below your gamercard on the Xbox Live blade. And it will show any update to the service, including new games added that week. There will also be a number of smaller updates, although none the less significant. You can now view previews in full-screen, and there is support for DivX and Xvid video files. People who were minors when they bought the system but are now adults will now be treated as such, and see their chat and IM features enabled. And you’ll also have the ability to change your Windows Live ID (passport) that’s associated with your Xbox Live account. — Via Joystiq

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Devil May Cry 4 is one of the most anticipated early 2008 action games, and the demo may be hitting soon.

The demo will clock in at 10 minutes and be a mish-mash of portions from the overall DMC4 story, including cut-up sections from Fortuna City and a piece from the ever-popular icy level that you can see in many of the screenshots from the game.

A boss character called Berial will also make an appearance in the demo.

Speculation had been running on the net though that the DMC4 demo would only be coming to the Xbox 360 marketplace in December, but Capcom has released a statement saying that is not the case. So we can expect it to hit for both 360 and PS3 (the Playstation Network) and according to the statement, we’ll have some news on the upcoming demo soon. — Via CVG

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New songs have been added to Boom Boom Rocket! Earlier in the month developer Bizarre Creations announced that they would be adding dance pad and guitar support for Boom Boom Rocket (they’re music/rhythm Xbox Live Arcade game) and now they are set to add even more downloadable support for the title!

The guitar and dance mat support is now officially up for you to download and along with it are new leaderboards for players using the new control methods, Japanese and Korean language support (as previously announced) as well as five new songs!

These five songs will be free until December 16th, after which they will cost $3.12 each (250 Microsoft Points).

The new songs are:

Eine Kleine Rochtmusik
Cannon in D
Sugar High
Sting of the Bumble Bee
Explode to Joy

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Chessmaster will be making it’s way to yet another platform in the form of a release on Xbox Live Arcade in January 2008 from massive publisher Ubisoft.

Features of Chessmaster on Xbox Live include:

* Hundreds of AI opponents in “ELO-ranked matches”
* Voice-chat
* Live Vision Camera functions for head-to-head matches
* New 3D chess sets inspired by luxury board designer, House of Staunton
* Five “original chess variants”
* The “Message Chess” variant allows you to spread one chess match over “days, weeks or even months”!

“Chessmaster Live is not only a comprehensive chess program, but it is also one that has expanded beyond the traditional game to include exciting features for fans, both old and new,” says Ubisoft’s Peter Helm.

Ubisoft already published various Chessmaster games here including the recently released duo of Chessmaster: The Art of Learning on DS and Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition on PC and they will be publishing ChessMaster for PSP in Spring of 2008.

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Tomb Raider: Anniversary is out now for download via the Xbox 360 Live Marketplace, but you can only get it if you already own Tomb Raider: Legend on disc, since the downloads act as additional episodes; Although it’s the entire Tomb Raider: Anniversary game, just split up into four downloads (the initial level of which is downloadable for free, btw).

This makes Tomb Raider: Anniversary the first full-retail game to be available for download over Xbox Live (although the audience is limited obviously).

This is in addition to all the other ways you can get the game, which is available as a standalone Xbox 360 title that you can buy on store shelves (but hey, now you don’t even have to get up off your couch to play it!) as well as on the PC, Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, Nintendo Wii and you can download Tomb Raider: Anniversary via Valve’s Steam service (although Europe is excluded).

If you’ve never heard of the game, it is a remake of the original Tomb Raider but using the engine (which includes updated graphics, effect, physics and control) from the extremely successful Lara Croft revival, Tomb Raider Legend. And since it is a remake of a very, very old and archaic game, many changes were made to update it to a modern experience and to make-up for all of Lara’s new moves and abilities that weren’t available in the original game. But all the same worlds and the feel of the original game is largely intact. Making it a great place to get acquainted with the video game icon Lara Croft if you never played the original.

Here is a trailer for the Xbox Live version of the game (which oddly enough doesn’t say anything about you having to own Tomb Raider: Legend on disc in order to download it).

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From today, November 28th at 9AM GMT (2AM PDT), you can play Atari’s Asteroids Deluxe on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. Asteroids Deluxe will be available worldwide for 400 Microsoft Points (that’s US$5 / €4.80 / £3.40 / CAN$6.20 / AU$6.60).

Save the earth from a deadly deluge of asteroids and re-experience the beloved arcade classics Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe on Xbox Live Arcade. Players control a spaceship in an asteroid field and shoot to destroy asteroids and saucers, all while trying to avoid a costly collision. Complete with re-mastered HD visuals and the whiplash inducing high-speed “throttle monkey” mode, players will be hooked for hours! “Asteroids” and “Asteroids Deluxe” will be available worldwide as a joint download.

All I could find was this really old Asteroids game video, I’ll update once I spot a video the Xbox 360 version.

Key features include:
* The original Asteroids: Released in 1979 by Atari, the simple black and white game was a masterpiece of vector graphics game design, and had millions of arcadegoers entranced by its simple mechanic of controlling a spaceship firing at and destroying asteroids.
* The release of Asteroids Deluxe: The sequel to the original, released in 1980, Asteroids Deluxe featured the same classic gameplay but added a new shield feature and dangerous satellite enemies. Play both the original and its sequel in all of its classic old-school style.
* Next-gen evolution: But now, both games have evolved. Support is provided for both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, including HDTV. Full-screen anti-aliasing and Dolby Digital surround sound complete the gaming experience.
* Throttle Monkey mode: Both game versions come with a high-speed version known as Throttle Monkey. Can you survive?
* Achievements and leaderboards: Twelve new achievements for you to earn, and new leaderboards to conquer. Show your friends who is the master at Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe.

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  Codemasters Online and Microsoft are pleased to announce that the release date for the highly anticipated game Sensible World of Soccer has been set for December 19th on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft . The wait is finally over for the many thousands of dedicated fans [...]

In appreciation of Guitar Hero and Halo fans alike, Neversoft, Bungie, Activision/RedOctane, and Microsoft have all joined forces to bring players the iconic Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix) as a free playable song for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, exclusively for the Xbox 360. The theme will be available from Xbox Live Marketplace starting today. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Halo theme was written, composed, and performed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori; and the MJOLNIR Mix features guitars performed by the Grammy Award winning guitar hero, Steve Vai.

“It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. “As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans.”

Since I couldn’t find a video of someone playing the song, here’s a “scientist” putting Halo 3 and a Guitar Hero 3 X-plorer guitar controller in the blender! “Will it blend?”

PS: There’s also a Demo for The Orange Box’s Half-Life 2 Episode Two available on Xbox Live today.

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From today, November 21st at 9AM GMT (2AM PDT), you can play Chair Entertainment Group’s Undertow on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. Undertow will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points (that’s US$10 / €9.60 / £6.80 / CAN$12.40 / AU$13.20).

Undertow redefines aquatic based shooters through a mix of high-definition graphics, intuitive controls and multiple modes of game play action. “Undertow” features a story driven single player campaign, on and offline co-op, and multiplayer for up to 16 players over Xbox Live. Players battle for control of the oceans as one of three selectable races, each with four unique, upgradeable units.

(more…)

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Xbox Originals is a new service for Xbox 360 that allows you to download classic Xbox titles such as Halo, Crimson Skies, Fable and Psychonaughts at a price of $15 (1,200 Microsoft Points) and will be debuting with the next system firmware update on December 4th.

The Xbox Originals program is part of the Xbox 5th Anniversary Live is 5ive celebrations, and in addition to offering downloadable Xbox games Microsoft will also be giving away a free Xbox Live Arcade game for 48 hours, beginning on November 15th, which is the actual 5th anniversary of Xbox Live. Most Live subscribers will be able to get Carcassonne for free, whereas Korean gamers can get Hexic 2.

In this interview Xbox Live group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg discusses the new Xbox Originals service, including the criteria for how new games will be added.

GS: How frequently will you be releasing Xbox Originals?

AG: It will be a very regular flow. Obviously we have a large library of backward compatible titles, so we’ll have access to that library, and over the coming year we’ll release a very steady flow. Ideally, it will be close to a weekly basis. We haven’t ironed out exactly the flow, but it should be similar to what you see for Xbox Live Arcade game releases.

GS: So the work you’ve done on backward compatibility is the basis for the Xbox Original releases?

AG: Exactly. You basically download the bits of the game and they have to have passed all our backward compatibility certification and testing. We’re only going to make available the ones that we know perform extremely well and have a high quality, if that gives you an idea of some of the titles you may see. To start, I think we have a good lineup. To be able to download them, own them, and if you delete them you can download them again, it’s very similar to how Live Arcade games work.

GS: Beyond having a game that runs well, what are the criteria for selecting Xbox Originals?

AG: We look at sales of the titles, which is obviously important, and we look at the performance of the game. We also look at a third criteria–if it’s a cult classic. Psychonauts is a great example of that. It’s a title that maybe didn’t sell extremely well, but we know is very popular with our community and is something people would like that is not available at retail anymore. We’ll continue to make those titles available.

GS: So there won’t be enhanced content or added online play in Xbox Originals?

AG: No. What we’re basically doing is taking the games as they were originally created and maintaining that. We want to preserve the integrity of what that original game experience was like. If they have online multiplayer, it’s there. Whatever functionality was built into that original game is what people will get. We’re not going back and getting the teams that made the game and having them open the vault and recode them or anything like that.

GS: Will achievements, in-game messaging, and the rest of the Xbox 360 trapping be integrated somehow?

AG: It will perform just like a backward-compatible game, so you’ll have limited access to those things. You’ll be able to hit the guide button to get into the dashboard, but you won’t have access to in-game messaging and things like that.
(more…)

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