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.
In the latest episode of GameSpot's On the Spot, In Joon Hwang, Product Marketing Manager for Namco Bandai, revealed that a demo for Ace Combat 6 should be available on Xbox Live Marketplace next week. Ace Combat 6 is the first in the flight combat series to appear on a non-Sony console and also the first new-gen entry in the series. Hwang notes that the game's support system has been revamped, and players will now be able give commands to naval, air, and ground combat units during play. Expect to hear more about Ace Combat 6 from E3 next week.
Tomorrow, whether you know it or not, is Bungie day. Fans of Bungie will know that the number 7 has a special significance to the company and its games. As such, July 7 (7/7, get it?) has become known as Bungie day. Seeing that tomorrow is 7/707, this year marks a super special Bungie day (so special, in fact, that it won't happen again for one hundred years). To celebrate, some extra special Bungie goodies will be appearing on Xbox Live Marketplace tomorrow. What sort of goodies exactly? We don't know. All we do know is that it won't be related to Halo 3 and is "of a more decorative nature." Naturally, we're guessing themes and gamer pictures. You'd better act fast though, as these downloadable morsels will only be available tomorrow. At the stroke of midnight, they will vanish into the intertubes.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, Microsoft continues to do some damned good business with its Video Marketplace. Business is so good, in fact, that Microsoft claims that the service has maintained double-digit growth every single month since it went online last November. The article is filled with praise from Microsoft's content partners like Comedy Central and Warner Brothers. The true strength of the service, according to the article, is that it essentially hits gamers where they live. As many gamers watch less television and see fewer movies, Video Marketplace places content right where they spend most of their time: in front of the Xbox. Of course, that's not to say there isn't room for improvement. As noted by Josh Roberts, a gamer interviewed by The Times, downloads still take hours and the Microsoft Points system is confusing and annoying (he compares it to carnivals forcing patrons to buy food with tickets rather than real money). Still, quibbles aside, there's no denying the convenience of Video Marketplace, something we're sure even more companies will eventually realize.
Continuing the tradition of releasing trailers on Marketplace long after we've seen them on the internet, the teaser for Fallout 3 is now available on XBLM. It is a teaser trailer in the strictest sense of the word. You won't be seeing any gameplay, just getting a look at the world of Fallout. In case you don't know, that world isn't particularly sunny. It is definitely pretty, though, in that destroyed beauty kind of way. Go download it and enjoy. Failing that, you can always watch the streaming trailer right now.
The Eternal Sonata trailer that was showed you from IGN is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace in HD. It weighs in at 71 MB, and gives you a better scope on the the game's world, art style and gameplay. As we said before, the game follows the final hours of composer Frederic Chopin, while in a feverish dream state. All of that to say that we still can't wait for this to hit come September, though we hope it doesn't get crushed under the weight of Halo 3's release on the 25th. Either way, if you didn't watch the embedded trailer, or thought the quality didn't give you a proper impression, check it out on XBLM.
A new trailer for NCAA Football 08 popped up on Xbox Live Marketplace this morning. Try as we might, it's hard for us to find ways to colorfully describe it. It is football, of that we're certain. There are players, a field, and there is most certainly a ball. The graphics look decent enough, and the hits look good. All in all, it looks to have most of the necessities required by a football game. What more do you need, right? Check out the trailer for yourself, conveniently embedded at the top of this post.
A couple of new trailers landed on Xbox Live Marketplace this morning. First we have a trailer for Ace Combat 6, it's the same cheesy trailer we saw released before, with lots of American pride and important-sounding music (think Armageddon). Our favorite moment is when a woman's voice breaks through the chaos: "I don't know a whole lot about war, but there's something I need to tell you." Yes, the cheese-factor is strong with this one. The Bigs trailer, on the other hand, is straight up balls-to-bat action (still no demo, by the way). You've got big, beefy players, flaming baseballs, and home runs so powerful that they could bring down small aircraft. For those of you without access to your 360, we've embedded it at the top of the post. Enjoy.
If you haven't powered on your Xbox 360 today, you're missing out on a boatload of new trailers. In all, we've got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (girlish squeal!), Overlord (which we can't download for some reason), and a trailer for Conan. Conan, perhaps, deserves the most attention. Unfortunately, that's not because it's the best of the three (far from it, in fact). Not to be confused with the Age of Conan MMO from Funcom, Conan, quite frankly, just looks awful. The gameplay looks decent enough, but the graphics lack anything even resembling polish. Seriously, it's like they decided to release a trailer of an alpha build (which may be exactly what it is). The character models themselves look alright, but they seem completely separate from the environment, like they're really in front of a green screen. Joystiq seemed to be impressed by the game back in March, so we remain hopeful that the final product will be a solid experience.
A new Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements video is risen on Xbox Live Marketplace. The video is short and to the point, making sure to emphasize the violent first person combat of the title. There's plenty of slicing, dicing, whacking, and thwacking to be had, and just so you remember that there is both might and magic, a few spells are thrown in for good measure. We imagine most players will get a kick out of telekinetically launching opponents off cliffs. One new tidbit revealed in the trailer: the 360 version of Dark Messiah will have a new multiplayer mode designed by the Splinter Cell team (how will that work? Spies versus orcs?). Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elementsships September 7.
There are 4 Transformers: The Game videos available on Marketplace. One of them is the opening cinematic of the game, whilst the other three are all interviews. The first interview is with the game developer itself, and the other two are with lead actors from the film, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Also worth noting is that in the text field that usually has some information like the developer or something above the file size is "<String text>". Very nice. Either way, the interviews vary from 67 to 94 MB a piece and the cinematic weighs in at 102 MB. Minor flub in the tagged information notwithstanding, are you interested in this movie to game adaptation, or do you think it will just end up as Achievement fodder?
Xbox Live Marketplace has a couple of videos and a Gamer picture pack from MLG, or Major League Gaming. The pack costs 80 MS Points and the videos are free. One video is sort of an introduction into the world of competitive gaming, while the other sort follows around one of the top tier players, Walshy, and is a lot meatier than the former. The video follows him around and gives insight into the life of a "professional gamer", and does a good job of representing those who compete. To say the least, he makes a bunch of really cool t-shirt designs. Definitely worth a watch, if you're interested in seeing what MLG is all about.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Guy Wilday, the head of SEGA Racing Studio, claimed that he'd like to see a pre-release demo of their upcoming title, SEGA Rally Revo, which is set to debut in September. Wilday noted that the team will "look to do potentially 360 and PS3 downloadable demos before release." Not exactly the most concrete of promises, but we'll take what we can get. Wilday further comments that the challenge of creating demos comes from balancing how much of the game one is allowed to play. As Wilday puts it, "We want people to get the experience of the game without giving the game away." Whatever the team decides to do, finishing touches are still being put on the game proper, so the demo will have to wait.
With two major racing titles -- Forza 2 and DiRT -- just released for the 360, are you considering SEGA Rally Revo?
We always knew that teleportations are accompanied by a BAMF! sound effect -- caused by the rushing of air into the newly created vacuum. What we didn't know, however, was that teleportation is also accompanied by the hearty smell of bacon. At least, that's what the newest episode of 1-800-Magic tells us. Episode 2, cleverly subtitled "The Second Episode," is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Of course, it's been available online for a week, but we likes our "high resmolutions."
So, what do you think of this new series from the creators of Red Vs. Blue?
Perhaps you find yourself in the unenviable position of wanting the new Command & Conquer 3 maps but not knowing if they're worth the money. Lucky for you, EA has released a free video on Xbox Live Marketplace detailing all of the new maps. The video is narrated by one of C&C3's developers, who gives you the scoop on each map, noting where the tiberium is and where most of the action will take place. Each map gets a fairly thorough overview, so the video should serve as a decent way to gauge whether or not the maps are worth 500 MS points.
Have you downloaded the maps yet? What do you think?
Tomorrow, whether you know it or not, is 
A new Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements video is risen on 
