Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Microsoft Points

Main article: Xbox Live ArcadeXbox Live Marketplace Xbox Live Arcade
The Video Marketplace is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute television shows and movies to Xbox 360 owners. The service was launched in USA on November 22, 2006 via Xbox Live. Initial content partners include Paramount Pictures, CBS, TBS, MTV Networks, UFC, NBC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Other movie studios have since supported the service including Lionsgate Films and Walt Disney Pictures as announced at E3 2007. [1] At the present time, the service is only available to users in the United States, however Microsoft intends to bring the service to Canada and Europe by the end of 2007.
Various films and TV shows are available for purchase on the Video Marketplace, including both past and present series, such as Star Trek and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Since then, all such problems have been resolved.
On March 6, 2007, the South Park episode "Good Times with Weapons" was available for free download. However, this episode was free only for the HDTV version until April 3, 2007. Starting on March 13, 2007, all episodes from South Park's 11th season were offered uncensored. Also, starting on July 26, 2007, the pilot episode of Jericho was available for download free of charge for both the Standard and HD versions.

Xbox Live Pipeline
Most criticisms leveled at the Xbox Live service concern the Xbox Live Marketplace. The service has come under fire from both gamers and the gaming press for charging for downloadable content. In many such cases, users were expecting instead that such content would be made available for free.
A notable incident was Microsoft charging for a Gears of War map pack that developer Epic wished to give away for free (although the plan of record is to release it for free in September). In this case, Microsoft Publishing was responsible for setting the price, with this not actually being a policy of the Xbox team or Xbox Live Marketplace as was implied. Free content is indeed possible, as evidenced by the release of a complete Xbox Live Arcade game, Aegis Wing, for users in North America.
Another topic for criticism is that most of the available downloads in the U.S. are not available for other global subscribers. The Video Marketplace, for example, is not available in other regions outside the US. However it will be released in Europe and Canada in Fall 2007, although some other content such as themes or game demos, is still not available in other regions than the US.