The offer: Buy any three titles from this list and you get 800 Microsoft points back. Now, some of these are full $19.99 titles. But if you get a new hard drive or Christmas cash and want to lay out the price of a new game to get three, you can consider the points back to be like a gift card. And many stores run that kind of special.

If you want to know the bare minimum you can spend to still qualify, that would be buying up both Mass Effect downloads, plus the Dragon Age: Origins DLC (or Madden AFL Legacy Pack), for 1360 points. You then get 800 back, effectively making the cost 560 points, or the entire package for $7. Naturally, given the units in which Microsoft points are sold, your actual cash outlay may vary here.

The special runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 31.

Xbox Live Holiday Discounts [Electronic Arts news]

More than a half a million unique contestants competed in the 15 week beta season of 1 vs 100, and Microsoft wants even more to show up for round two. The second season of the game show kicks off on November 19th at 5:00 pm Pacific Time, with 1 vs 100 Extended Play. Extended Play features new themed trivia every week night, giving players a chance to capitalize on their strengths, giving them a better chance at being chosen as one of The Mob or perhaps even The One himself.

Nearly 2 million Microsoft points were given away as prizes during the first season, so you might want to keep an eye on the schedule this time around. Even if you aren't a big fan of trivia, you could win enough points to buy a game you really want to play. No pain, no gain?

U.S. Xbox 360 owners who shell out the 5600 Microsoft Points necessary to net them Splosion Man, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Turtles in Time Re-shelled, Trials HD, and Shadow Complex between now and August 31st will get an extra 800 Microsoft points added to their account, basically cancelling out the price of Splosion Man. From a monetary standpoint, it amounts to getting $80 worth of Microsoft points for $70, which is a pretty good deal no matter how you look at it. Of course, if you don't buy all five games you get nothing, but that's the price you pay for not paying the price for everything.

It seemed like the prices for Ring of Honor pro wrestling and M-1 Challenge MMA series were off. But Microsoft told Kotaku that they were not typos. HD Net, the network that puts them on, did not offer us an explanation.

Two months later, those prices have been dropped for Ring of Honor, but not for the MMA show.

Old ROH pricing (which looked suspiciously like someone put the resolutions of the clips in the price column):

New ROH pricing (which is still higher than than the 160/240points SD/HD seen for shows like ABC's Lost):

The new prices convert to $4 for SD and $6 for HD, for an hour of programming.

I had checked the prices a couple of weeks ago, and they had not yet changed. Thanks to reader Ravi for noticing that they finally dropped.

Pay-Per-P pricing lingers, but it's lost at least one foothold.

[PIC]

Fans of the fighting arts may be wondering, like me, why some videos on the Xbox 360 Marketplace are so expensive. They have easy-to-remember price points, but those price points are high.

Want to watch an hour of Ring of Honor pro wrestling, brought to you by HD Net? The official listing shows that that will cost you 480 Microsoft points for standard definition, 720 points in high definition.

The same prices are listed for hour-long episodes of MMA series M-1 Challenge.

Don't those prices look like the resolutions of those videos to you? You know, 480p and 720p.
Instead, they represent $6 for SD consumers and $9 for HD consumers. ROH wresting is pretty good, but good enough to command that price?

By comparison, episodes of ABC's Lost and NBC's The Office run 160 and 240 points for SD and HD. That's $2 and $3.

We're trying to find out if this is intentional or a slip. Representatives for HD Net and Microsoft were unable to comment by press time, but we'll let you know what we find out.

Microsoft is doing up Discovery's crap-fishing television series big across all of its various networks, including MSN, MSN Mobile, Hotmail, and of course, Xbox Live. The promotion, which started on April 10th and ends tomorrow at Midnight, has players texting special mobile phone numbers for a chance to be one of 5,000 winners of 2 million Microsoft points. The codes can be found either through video clips accessible via Xbox Live ads, or through in-game advertisements in certain Xbox 360 games, including Madden NFL 09, Need for Speed: Undercover, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Skate2, and NHL 09.

The best part of the promotion is not actually having to watch The Deadliest Catch to participate. Not that it is a bad show...it's just one of those trap programs you cannot tear yourself away from no matter how hard you try. I've spent many a weekend afternoon watching countless hours of crab fishing, and I don't even eat seafood. That's too much power for one show to have.

Some will meet these prices with outrage, while I say why not? I've played both of these titles (Braid extensively) and they are completely worth the extra real currency substitute. I've paid $60 for disc-based titles that had a quarter of the entertainment value of these two games. More power to them.

真夏のXbox LIVE アーケード最新 4 タイトルの配信日が決定 [Japanese Xbox Blog via GamerBytes - Thanks ZeroMystic!]

UPDATE:Microsoft contacted Kotaku to clarify some details. Apparently the price of Braid is listed incorrectly, with the correct price being announced Monday, while North American Castle Crashers pricing will be announced August 25th. Note they didn't say the Castle Crashers price was incorrect.

But it's the Points he's pissed about.

While his insurance covered the majority of the loss, the one thing he couldn't recover was the hundreds of dollars in Microsoft Points charged to his credit card, via the information stored on his Live account. Oddly enough, he says he was talked out of canceling his credit card (bad, bad idea) by a customer service rep at his card company, resulting in someone else enjoying the entirety of NHL 08's downloadable content.

Unfortunately for Clinton, Xbox Live customer service reps told him that "it can take up to 30 days to remove credit card information from your account, and up to 5 years for that information to be purged from Microsoft servers." Might not be a bad idea to see if you can wrest some of that control back in your direction, folks.

The full harrowing tale is recounted at Evil Avatar's forums. I'm definitely going to check up on my stored financial info on my three current-gen consoles. Convenience be damned! Just kidding, I didn't mean that, Convenience. You know I still love you.

Theft, Lies and Credit Card Numbers: Microsoft's Inability to Handle Your Private Info [Evil Avatar]

I mean, if you're going to spend sixty bones on Crackdown just to play the beta, what's another fiver?

Hell, while you're at it, why not drop another $66 on the Xbox Live Vision Gold Pack? Think of the savings! Michael McWhertor

Xbox Live Marketplace Points Offer [Best Buy]

9 1/2 Weeks
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Analyze This
Art of War
Ask the Dusk
ATL
Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever
Batman Forever
Chariots of Fire
Chinatown
Clash of the Titans
Congo
The Core
Cradle 2 the Grave
The Dead Pool
Deep Blue Sea
Exorcist III: The Heretic
Failure to Launch
Gallipoli
The Hunger
The Lake House
Looking for COmedy in the Muslim World
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
The Matrix
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Natural Born Killers
Patriot Games
The Perfect Storm
Pootie Tang
Poseidon
Rat Race
Rebel Without a Cause
Romeo Must Die
Rosemary's Baby
The Shining
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek VII: Generations
The Sum of All Fears
Superfly
Tequila Sunrise
Three Kings
THX
Timeline
Unforgiven
Untouchables
V is for Vendetta
We Were Soldiers
Zoolander

An impressive mix of movies. Anything that has Wrath of Khan, Dreams and Zoolander in it is OK in my book. I just wish there were a tad more new releases. Brian Crecente

The gadget obsessed mouth-breathers over at Gizmodo point out that Microsoft's answer to the iPod, the Zune, will let you buy your music wirelessly with Microsoft points, that's right the stuff you're using now to buy games on Live.

A single track will sell for 79 Msoft points, or about a buck. Am I the only one who just felt a chill run up their spine? How long till where buying Milk for 100 Microsoft points? Brian Crecente

Fact: Zune In your Hands for $249.99, Songs a Buck, November 14th
[Gizmodo]

Want to get in on the action? Throw your own Wednesday Night Arcade party! We'll even help get you started with a Party in a Box. Okay, there's not really a box, but here's what we'll send you: A free pizza from Papa John's. 1000 Microsoft points. Use 'em to download Xbox Live Arcade titles! Free digital music download to get your favorite eighties tunes. All we ask in return? Take some pictures of your party and tell us who was there and what happened. What did you play? What did you listen to? Did you get pepperoni or sausage on your Pappa John's pizza?

I'm not quite sure where they are going with this, but why are they only sending one pizza over? That's not a party. They need to be paying for at least three... and a donkey. Now that's a party!

If you're interested in a Microsoft-sponsored party hit them up at xlmail@microsoft.com with Arcade Party in the subject line and make sure to include your gamertag. Brian Crecente

The new Perfect Dark Zero Multiplayer Map Pack is now available on Xbox Live. The pack sells for 500 points and include the following frag locales:

Plaza: Test your skills in this labyrinth of roofs, tunnels, and alleyways.
Trench: Unload in the desert at this archaeological expedition turned battlefield.
Rooftops: Watch you back in this killing ground, where danger awaits around every corner.
Gas Plant: Hide out amongst the pipes inside, or take you chances out in the snow.

I wish they'd give more info about the size of the maps and how many players they support. Brian Crecente