Over at Platform Nation there is a very interesting article about what could be done to improve the Xbox 360 dashboard, thus creating Dashboard 2.0. You can see a mock-up of the Marketplace blade above, including eye-popping images for XBLA games. Even better, the games have user ratings and the prices are listed right on the front page, no need to click through to see how much a game costs. There are a number of other improvements, including the ability to hotkey areas you use often (XBLA, Marketplace, etc). The article goes into detail about where the current dashboard has problems and what can be done to address them (right down to cleaning up completely unused space). It's really a good read and we suggest you check it out. We can only hope that someone at Microsoft is paying attention.
We'll admit it, upon seeing that there was a demo for Crash Time on Xbox Live Marketplace this morning, it was actually the first time we had even heard of the game. It was made by Synetic, a company we've never heard of. It's based on a German TV series that we've also never heard of. Those things in and of themselves don't really mean much though. What we know is that it has cars and, presumably, said cars will crash. That's two points in the game's favor right there. Three points actually, considering the cars can explode. Wait, it also has a cheesy hard rawk soundtrack. That makes for a potential fourth point. Whether or not it's actually any fun is a quandary we'll leave up to you. Go grab it and tell us what you think.
In our continuing effort to bring you fresh and interesting content, X3F presents Would You Rather ... a weekly feature that asks you the hard questions. The point? If you had to choose one or the other, which would you go for?
Assuming that when it's all said and done you'd spend the same amount on an entire season of content, which would you prefer? Purchase an entire season of content for a final total price and download each episode when they are available (akin to one of the purchase models of Sam & Max from GameTap) or purchase each episode/content pack separately like the current Xbox Live Marketplace model?
Feel free to share the reasons for your vote in the comments. We'll share the results of the poll during the next edition of Would You Rather ... which hits X3F every Wednesday.
Last weeks WUR results can be find after the jump ... steal this info!
In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft's Games for Windows (G4W) senior global manager director Kevin Unangst mentioned that they hope to bring some sort of Xbox Live Marketplace to the G4W platform.
When talking about the possibility of a G4W Marketplace, Unangst said that "you can be confident we want to enable things like digital distribution, the ability to do downloadable content for games - that's a direction we're definitely headed in". He was also clear about the fact that they "don't have anything specific to announce in terms of timeframes right now" regarding a Marketplace or a way to obtain DLC on the G4W platform. It's an interesting and welcomed idea, but wouldn't you think priority number one would be to get more developers on board to support G4W? We think that's where the effort should be focused.
Beautiful Katamari's demo just landed on Marketplace and has been rolling up a storm. At first, it was available on a recent OXM demo disc, but now it is available for the whole world Canada, America, and Mexico (read: North America) to download. It weighs in at just under 435 MB, so it's not going to break the disk space bank, although X3F reader Magic Whiskey tells us that it's also on the short side, but enough to get the premise of the game. Give it a download and tell us what you think.
In today's Marketplace Roundup, we've got a couple trailers for you. First off, for Madden NFL 08, EA Sports Producer David Ortiz gives a demonstration of "Hit Stick 2.0", which should be interesting for those into 26% of the 360's retail library. Next up, Clive Barker's Jericho also has a trailer available for your viewing pleasure which isn't available in Asia. Finally, a slew of downloadable costumes are available for Rumble Roses XX, each set costing you 80 Microsoft Points. Oh Joy.
Those attempting to download goodies from Xbox Live Marketplace today may be experiencing a few hiccups in the system. We experienced the issue ourselves during our daily content check. When attempting to download content from Marketplace, we were greeted with a message stating that information could not be retrieved from Xbox Live. We're not certain what the issue is, but it seems as though it's only affecting Marketplace downloads at the moment. We've contacted Microsoft for more information. We'll post the news as soon as we hear anything.
Update: As some of you may have noticed, the Live team is aware of the issue and working on it. We'll update as soon as we know more.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
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.
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.
Okay, we thought we experienced all that E3 Bringing it Home had to offer and even expressed out 
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.
