Downloadable Xbox games coming to Xbox Live

Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports that 'Xbox Originals' will be made available for download starting Dec. 4th as part of the Xbox Live Fall Update. There will also be a gift for long time Xbox Live subscribers.

Each original Xbox game can be purchased and downloaded for 1200 points ($15). In its press release, Microsoft explicitly names Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies and Fable as titles for the Xbox Originals service, but does not confirm which titles will come first. According to the press release, "This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games."

While I would personally love to see Psychonauts on the launch list, third-party reports claim the preliminary lineup will include Halo, Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Xbox Live service, Microsoft will be offering Carcassonne (Hexic 2 in Korea) free to all subscribers for 48 hours, along with 500 Microsoft Points to subscribers who've been on since 2002 -- sometimes living on the bleeding edge of early adoption does pay off!

Halo 3 Beta fixed and extended

Assuming your brain hasn't undergone a complete meltdown from the todays Halo 3 Beta anti-launch, I have good news. The problem for players using the Crackdown disc to enter the beta has been fixed and installed on the servers.

One caveat, it may take up to four hours for your system to receive the update which will come via a Crackdown game update when you start up the game. Full details here. The good news is Microsoft has extended the Beta by four days to compensate us for all the hassles, to June 10th, which includes an extra weekend of play.

So, although it's been a high stress day for many gamers who took off of work/school in anticipation of this mornings scheduled Beta launch, I'm sure it was much more stressful for the men and women working hard to fix the problem and thankfully the light at the end of the tunnel is visible and Halo gaming goodness is right around the corner.

See you online!

Halo 3 Beta absent, internet is exploding!

After months of waiting and constant jokes about having bought the Halo 3 "demo", er uh Crackdown, 8:00 AM EST, the announced time of arrival, came and went and still our "download the Halo 3 Beta" boxes remained grayed out. Now, as of 10:40 EST, the Beta remains unavailable.

Bungie's Frankie is already on the case, saying "We have alerted the appropriate Live authorities and they are taking care of the problem as we speak. More news as it comes in. With any luck this will be a short delay. People enetering the Beta through other methods - Friends and Family, Rule of Three and so on, are unaffected." So, only the people that actually paid to play the Beta are affected...not good.

Do all the people who bought Crackdown just to play the Beta care about the fact that all the other three groups of Beta players are unaffected?? Apparently not, and they are pissed! A scan of the Bungie forums reveals more anger than David Banner right before he turns green. At least one kid is happy though, saying, "7:03 and no download but my parents just decided to let me skip school :):):):):) so its all good." Glad to know the parents have their priorities in the right place. How could little Johnnie possibly go to school after being scarred by the trauma of the absent Beta?

A couple of other comments were "YES I AM SAD AND NO I STILL HAVE NO BETA :"( *BEATS HEAD ON CONSOLE*" and "I just died a little inside...still grey."

The absence of the Beta is annoying to be sure, but making it even more annoying is the fact that Crackdown has like 17 unskippable pre-load screens that make it VERY annoying to even check for the Beta.

Unhappiness abounds.

More when it becomes available.

Gears of War "Annex" Update This Week

With all the matches being played on Live each day it sounds pretty strange to call multiplayer a "weakness" for Gears of War. But even the most avid of those players recognize that the basic team deathmatch variants available only graze the surface of the team-play potential of the game. This week Epic plans to release Annex, a new game mode that steps up in a big way to fulfill more of that promise. And we're not just saying that; we've played it, and afterward it left no doubt that once released this is the new mode of choice everyone will be playing.

Aside from the new game mode, it seems the Lancer has gotten a little boost to it's stopping power; a welcome change to everyone sick of being run down by enemies with shotties.

1UP has all the details from their exclusive hands-on time with the new game mode. It sounds very exciting.

I'll see everyone online once it hits!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance DLC coming to XBLM

Activision plans to release Marvel Ultimate Alliance Heroes and Villains, a multi-part expansion pack for the Xbox 360 version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance in April. Heroes and Villains will feature eight new playable characters: The Incredible Hulk, Magneto, Hawkeye, Sabretooth, Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Venom, each complete with new signature powers, skins, dialog, conversations and (whoohoo!!) achievement points.

The expansion will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace and will be released in three packs. The Hero Pack and Villain Pack will each be 500 Microsoft points and the Combined Hero and Villain Pack will be 800 Microsoft points. Heroes and Villains gamer pic packs will also be available for 80 Microsoft points each.

More achievments and more Marvel characters? Count me in!