With
Xbox LIVE nearing it's
5th Birthday, and subscribers numbers breaking the
8 million mark -
Microsoft is celebrating by unveiling new features for the service.
To kick things off
Microsoft will be giving away one free
Xbox LIVE Arcade game on
Nov 15th. To take advantage of the offer you'll have to make sure you access LIVE and execute your download between 12:01 a.m. PST on Nov. 15 and 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 16.
In addition to that - all active members who joined the service in
2002 will receive
500 MS Points for free!
Lastly - but not least - starting on
December 4th, 2007 -
Xbox LIVE will receive a system update with a host of new features and enhancements including the ability to download full Xbox games (not X360) through the new
Xbox Originals program. These games will cost about
1200 MS Points per game - not exactly a steall but if you want to catch up on classics like the original
Halo or
Psychonauts then this could save you a trip to
Gamestop.
What I'd most like to see added is the ability for
Microsoft to track
ALL your purchases - beyond the current imposed limit - and allow you to delete and redownload at will any and all of your purchases.
Valve does exactly that with
STEAM and with hard drive space on these consoles become a valuable commodity - for those without
Elites - they will need to do shifting of files as large downloadable content files, like
Xbox Originals, become the norm.