Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE Momentum Facts 'n Stats

Leadership: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are leading the charge into the future of gaming and entertainment, bringing the best games, an active community and a growing catalogue of high definition entertainment to all members of the household.

* More than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold across the 37 countries where it is currently available. Xbox LIVE is currently available in 25 countries across the globe.

· According to U.S. NPD data, gamers have bought more software for the Xbox 360 (24.3 million units), than software for PS3 and Wii combined (19.8 million units).

* Faster than expected, Xbox LIVE has eclipsed the 7 million member milestone and is on track to reach 10 million members by the end of June 2008. In fact, in the last year we've added a new Xbox LIVE member every 8 seconds.

Gaming: With the greatest lineup in the history of video games, Xbox 360 is hands down the best gaming console on the market.

* There are more than 250 games available today on Xbox 360, including 86 Xbox LIVE Arcade games.

* Xbox 360 is the next-gen console with the largest games attach rate at an astounding 6.3 games sold per Xbox 360 owner.

* Xbox LIVE members have spent more than 3.2 billion hours playing games on Xbox LIVE with their friends around the world. That is equal to 137 million days or more than 376,000 years of gaming.

* To date, Xbox 360 owners have unlocked more than 600 million Achievements. All of those unlocked Achievements have created a total combined Gamerscore of more than 14 billion.

* There have been 2.5 billion game sessions hosted since the launch of Xbox 360, with more than 5.6 million hosted each day so far in 2007.

* Xbox LIVE Arcade has been a huge hit on Xbox 360, with nearly 70% of all connected consoles downloading and playing Xbox LIVE Arcade titles.

* Xbox LIVE Marketplace currently offers nearly 200 free trials and demos, giving owners more free playable content than any other console.

Entertainment: Xbox 360 is the center of digital entertainment in the living room, offering the best in high definition games, movies and television along with access to all your friends, digital music and pictures.

* Xbox 360 continues to lead with the largest library of on-demand high-definition movies and television in the U.S. on-demand market. Twenty-nine movie studios and TV networks continue to provide a growing catalogue of premium high- and standard-definition entertainment content that to date totals 2,800 hours.

* Xbox LIVE Marketplace is now the leading provider of on-demand high-definition content in the U.S., providing more than twice the number of hours as leading cable operators.

* Xbox LIVE Marketplace is home to a growing catalogue of more than 9,000 pieces of individual gaming and entertainment content, downloadable at the click of a button.

* There have been 290 million downloads of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Social Networking: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE offer the largest, most active online community of friends, family and rivals worldwide.

* Xbox LIVE is the largest social network in the living room with 2.6 million IM, text and voice messages sent over the service every day.

* Since Xbox LIVE launched, 3.1 billion games sessions have been hosted on the service.

* The average Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber has 23 friends on their Xbox LIVE friends list.

* More than 1.2 billion cross-game invites have been sent since the launch of Xbox 360.

Xbox LIVE Top 10: Check out the list of the top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE, as well as the top 10 worldwide downloads for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos since Xbox 360 launched in November, 2006.

The top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE worldwide:

1. Halo 2
2. Gears of War
3. Hexic HD
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
5. Call of Duty 3
6. Call of Duty 2
7. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3
8. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
9. Crackdown
10. PGR3

The top 10 Xbox LIVE Arcade downloads worldwide:

11. Aegis Wing
12. Uno
13. Texas Hold 'em
14. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved
15. Bankshot Billiards 2
16. Street Fighter 'II Hyper Fighting
17. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
18. Worms
19. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
20. Contra

The top 10 Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos downloads worldwide:

1. Crackdown
2. Lost Planet E3 2006
3. Dead Rising
4. BioShock
5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
6. Forza Motorsport 2
7. Sonic the Hedgehog
8. Saints Row
9. Superman Returns
10. Colin McRae: DIRT

MEDIA ALERT: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2 - *DLC - Throwback Pack 2 Available Now on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace!*

SAN FRANCISCO - August 28, 2007 - Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, today announced release of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2 Throwback Pack 2, a new downloadable content (DLC) package for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. This new premium content package will enrich and extend the original game by allowing players to expand their Xbox LIVE experience with an all-new game mode and seven fan-favorite maps hand-selected from past Ghost Recon® games. As a special thank you to the devoted Ghost Recon fans, Ubisoft is offering both Throwback Pack 2 and the previously released Throwback Pack 1, now available via the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for free download. Take a look below for an outline of the full contents of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Throwback Pack 2:

Content available in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Throwback Pack 2:

GRAW 2 Throwback Pack 2 consists of seven classic maps from Ghost Recon's illustrious history. In addition to the seven maps, there is a new game mode called Co-op Exfiltration. All of these maps have upgraded visuals and support all of GRAW 2's thousands of customizable game modes.

Game Modes:

Co-op Exfiltration:

In Coop Exfiltration mode, players must work together to protect AI officers as they escort them to a helicopter extraction zone through a map populated with enemies.

Maps:

Ghost Town

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike®

Recommended # of Players: 2 to 8

Overview:

A rural North Korean village surrounds a temple courtyard. Narrow streets and back alleys make for intense close-quarters battles.

Aral Sea

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

This map is a forgotten harbor village on the coast of a vast, empty sea. Grounded ships provide sparse cover on the dried seabed dividing the map. The shelter of the docks above makes this map a favorite with marksmen.

District

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike

Recommended # of Players: 8 to 16

Overview:

This map is a government district of a large Kazakh city. Open city streets make for long-range firefights, while winding alleys create flanking opportunities.

Bunkers

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

Training grounds feature several simulated bunker complexes divided by open ground with intermittent cover. Players must move quickly from cover to cover to avoid marksmen in the firing positions above.

Rocky Cove

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

This is a coastal area, featuring tidal pools and an imposing central promontory. Beaches are littered with large rocks, and long sight lines invite marksmen to test their skill.

Boneyard

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 2 to 8

Overview:

This is a vehicle graveyard, with rusting aircraft parts and scrap metal piled all around. Tight quarters ensure no one is ever far from the action.

River Depot

Previous GR Title: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 6 to 12 players

Overview:

This is an old, abandoned storage facility, overrun by the surrounding jungle and repurposed for military use. Deteriorating railways run the length of the map, connecting two gates on higher ground to a warehouse near the river.

For more information on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, please visit www.ghostrecon.com.

Demo: Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII [Major Nelson's Blog]

The thing is: the skate.reel video upload functionality is much more technically complex than a standard offline demo. So after submitting it to MS, we got blindsided by a technical (server related) issue we needed to address. Unfortunately it wasn't really something that could have been avoided - just an unfortunate side-effect of doing something totally new in a demo environment.

Demo Timing Announcement [Skate Forums via Destructoid]
image courtesy of Gotcha

EA'S AWARD-WINNING SKATE VIDEO GAME ROLLS ONTO RETAIL SHELVES IN SEPTEMBER Download the Demo on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 15 to Experience True Skateboarding Action Before It Hits Stores

CHERTSEY, UK. - August 3, 2007 - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced that its award-winning SKATE video game will ship to retail stores on September 12 in the U.S. and September 14 in Europe for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system. The PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system version will ship to stores on September 24 in the U.S. and October 5 in Europe. For players eager to get their hands on the game pre-launch, EA will release a SKATE demo on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 15 so players can experience first-hand the title's groundbreaking new gameplay style - a new way of playing skateboarding games that will invigorate the genre.

The downloadable demo features tutorials and gameplay challenges in San Vanelona's community center skatepark to introduce gamers to SKATE's revolutionary Flickit controls. The demo also includes the innovative skate.reel feature where gamers can capture video footage of their skate session at any time during the demo and share the footage online at www.skate.ea.com for other players to view, rate and comment on.

In the game, everything you do works towards getting you coverage in two of skateboarding's premiere magazines - Thrasher and The Skateboard Mag. Coverage also means sponsors, product, money and fame. Become a legend by getting the covers and you'll earn a coveted invitation to skate in the X Games - the world's top skateboarding competition. You'll be able to throw down on the street course and go huge in the Skateboard Big Air event, innovated and dominated by two time gold medalist Danny Way.

SKATE recently received the "Best Sports Game of E3 - IGN Xbox 360" award at the E3 tradeshow in Santa Monica. SKATE was also one of only four games nominated for Best Sports game for the "Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2007". The judges for this award included editors from the 36 leading videogame publications in the industry.

With innovative Flickit controls that take advantage of the dual analog sticks and the ability to sculpt tricks that define your own style, SKATE delivers an authentic boarding mecca like no other videogame. SKATE is developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia and is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB and 12+ by PEGI.

Then the next few weeks will see the release of five new missions, five enhanced versions of original missions, and several new costumes, including schoolgirl, secretary, pixie, and mummy. It really is a staggering amount of support for a game that is hardly even worth renting. Michael Fahey

First Bullet Witch Downloadable Content On Xbox Live Marketplace

New Costume, Themes and Gameplay Content Available Now, More to Follow

LYON, FRANCE - 28 March 2007 - Atari today announced the first downloadable content for Bullet Witch available now on Xbox Live Marketplace. Launched in February for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Bullet Witch is published by Atari in partnership with Japanese publisher AQ Interactive Inc.

The first set of new downloadable content includes a free brand new White Witch costume for the game's stunning heroine Alicia and a Bullet Witch Xbox 360 Theme pack. In addition, for 20 points each, players can download one brand new mission "Dynamite Beauty" and two enhanced versions of the "Clad in Streaming Black" mission featuring 'Great Spells' unlocked and a heightened level of difficulty respectively.

Over the coming weeks, more free costumes for Alicia will be available free of charge - Mummy, Schoolgirl, Secretary and Pixie. Additional new missions 'Caterpillar City', 'Endless', 'One Shot Kill' and 'Geist Search and Destroy', plus enhanced editions of the missions 'City of Screams', 'Up in Flames at 10,000ft', 'Down in the Valley', 'The Bound Soul' and 'The End of Chaos', will be available for 20 points each.

Developed by Japan-based Cavia, Bullet Witch is set on a bleak planet earth in the year 2013 with human kind on the brink of extinction and hideous demons creating a tidal wave of destruction and havoc. All hope of mankind's survival rests with Alicia, a beautiful witch blessed with magical skills and a swift trigger finger. Players take control of Alicia on her heroic quest to prevent the decimation of mankind by using her fearsome weaponry and spectacular powers with which she can manipulate natural phenomena in her environment.

For more information about Atari's entire product line-up visit www.atari.com.

-ends-

New heroes include former PSP exclusive Hawkeye, along with Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and number-one fan request, the Incredible Hulk. Joining the heroes are four villains - Doctor Doom, Sabretooth, Venom, and Magneto. With the exception of Doom, all of these bad guys at one point played for the other side. Sabretooth in X-Factor, Magneto as the headmaster of the New Mutants, and even Venom showed his more heroic side in his own limited series. Doom just kicks ass. Each character will have different costumes, powers, dialog, and achievements.

Great power never comes without a price, however. The Hero Pack and Villain Pack will cost 500 points each, or 800 points for both. I'm a little on the fence as to the worth of the packs, but that hardly matters. I've bought the game itself four times, what's another $10 to a raving Marvel fanboy? Michael Fahey

ACTIVISION TO RELEASE NEW MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE HEROES AND VILLAINS ON XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE

Santa Monica, CA - March 23, 2007 - Expanding on the experience of controlling the world's largest army of Super Heroes on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today plans to release Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Heroes and Villains. The expansion packs 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 achievement points. The download will be available in April via the Xbox Live Marketplace online gaming service.

"The signature gameplay of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance has made it a favorite among fans, as well as the best-selling Super Hero game on the Xbox 360 to-date," said Rob Kostich, vice president of global brand management, Activision, Inc. "By adding some of the biggest names in the Marvel Universe to the roster we're enabling Xbox 360 gamers to build a variety of all-new teams and enjoy the epic action in brand new ways."

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is the award-winning action/RPG that allows players to create their Marvel dream team from the largest roster of Super Heroes ever in an epic quest that will determine the fate of Earth and the Marvel universe. With a total of over 140 popular Marvel characters and a playable cast of more than 20 Super Heroes, including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Captain America, gamers embark on a dangerous journey across exotic terrain and well-known comic book locations like Atlantis, the Shield Heli-Carrier and the Skrull home world in an attempt to defy Dr. Doom and the world's most notorious Super Villains.

The downloadable content will be released in three packs. The Hero Pack and Villain Pack will each be 500 Microsoft points ($6.25) and the Combined Hero and Villain Pack will be 800 Microsoft points ($10). Heroes and Villains gamer pic packs will also be available for 80 Microsoft points each ($1).

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is currently available for the Xbox 360 for the suggested retail price of $59.99 and rated "T" (Teen - Mild Language, Violence) by the ESRB.

How much will two maps and five vehicles set you back? 600 MS points, or roughly $7.50, for far less content than many other publishers hand out for free - but who can truly put a price on the freedom of the (virtual) western world? Michael Fahey

Battlestations: Midway Marketplace levels release tomorrow

Tomorrow , the fast growing community of Xbox 360 Battlestations: Midway players will get the chance to engage in fresh new Pacific battles as two new historical battle maps and brand new vehicles become available on Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

The new battle maps will re-enact two epic battles from the Pacific war: The Battle of Sibuyan Sea and The Raid on Truk. Both maps and five new vehicles will be available to download from March 1st.

The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea provides a new multi player experience based on one of the major battles of the Leyte Gulf Campaign, the greatest naval warfare battle in history that effectively destroyed the Japanese fleet in October of 1944. Players command either the US Fleet featuring the USS Iowa and USS Enterprise or Japan's finest fleet, Kurita, featuring the super battleships Yamato and the ill-fated Musashi.

The single player battle, The Raid on Truk, is based on Operation Hailstone, a massive naval air and surface attack launched by the United States Navy against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk. The devastating attack took place in mid-February 1944. Players command the US Fleet in a four phase battle starting with a P-38 air strike and leading to the command of the USS Enterprise and her screening force.

The new battles will also feature a new and unique set of air, sea, and undersea vehicles that will challenge the player's skills and naval strategies:

P-38 Lightning
A fast, powerful and distinctive twin-engine interceptor and one of the most important American fighters of the Second World War. Its long range and twin engines made it well suited for duty in the Pacific.

Nakijima J1N1 Gekko
The first Japanese aircraft designed and built specifically to intercept and destroy other aircraft at night. It was deadly against Bombers and as a powerful kamikaze plane against ships.

USS Iowa (BB-61)
The lead battleship of its class. Nicknamed "The Big Stick", this famous flagship fought in numerous and significant battles in World War II and the Korean War.

IJN Shimakaze
The IJN Shimakaze ("Island Wind') is considered to be the fastest and most powerful Destroyer of World War II and she was the only one of her class built.

Type A mini-sub
The Type A mini-sub was a two-man submarine. Difficult to detect, the Type A submarines were used during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and throughout the war.

We've been talking up the new Call of Duty 3 map pack for quite awhile now, and today it is finally available for purchase via Live Marketplace. So what do you get with your $10 worth of MS points?

5 non-functional new maps.

Gamers everywhere have downloaded the Valor map pack only to find that the maps are not available for selection at all. 850MB of data that seems to do absolutely nothing at all. Needless to say the Xbox.com CoD 3 forums are chock full of pissed off people, calling for boycotts, lawsuits, and public burnings of those responsible. Many of them mention how they hated the game in the first place, and spending $10 on the broken pack for the game they hate makes them hate it more. Makes perfect sense to me.

An official response has been posted on the forums promising that Treyarch and Microsoft are working hard to fix the problem, and that the new maps should be fixed in a day or two. A day or two too late for many fed-up fans. Michael Fahey

Xbox 360 Call of Duty 3 Forums
New Call Of Duty 3 Maps Do Not Work [2old2play - Thanks Jay!]

A single-player and online coop demo for Crackdown hits the Xbox Live Marketplace on Jan. 18, according to Microsoft.

The full game goes on sale Feb. 20. I'm not too excited about this game, but I just got a demo in the mail, so I'm going to give it one more chance.

The game pits genetically enhanced "agents of justice" against a wave of crime in Pacific City.

Is anyone waiting for this game? Brian Crecente

Halo 3 'Brute Documentary' HD [GameVideos]

For those of you who weren't up at 2AM Pacific eagerly refreshing your Xbox Live Marketplace, the second Halo 3 vidoc is now available for download in 480p and 720p flavors. The seven minute video showcases the Brutes in all their redesigned glory. The 480p version clocks in at just under 100 megs, so you won't be that late to work.

No, they aren't playable, but they do look to be set to kick some serious ass once the game comes out. Gone are the 'damage sponges' of the previous games, replaced with fully armed, fully armored monstrosities that use pack tactics to crack open Master Chief's candy coating to get at his delicious creamy center. Though Bungie is careful to advise that everything in the video is a work in progress, the Brutes are looking really tight in their shiny metal armor (much better than that guy on the right), and their animations are downright brutal.

Initially available only through Xbox Live Marketplace, Bungie will make a non-Live version available relatively soon. Michael Fahey

Et 2am Brute? [Bungie.net - Thanks Andy!]

Prodigious Gaming reports on the THQ announcement of The Outfit's multiplayer demo heading to the Xbox Marketplace on March 3, in addition to being available in issues of Official Xbox Magazine.

Demos via the Marketplace is one of the smartest things Microsoft can do to promote it. They need to keep the demos flowing.

The Outfit Demo Readies for Action on March 3 [Prodigious Gaming]