Today in San Francisco At the Game Developers Conference Microsoft announced the winners of the Xbox Live Arcade.
The finalists in each award category were chosen by a panel of select industry journalists. Winners for the first six categories were determined by popular vote, with the final four categories decided by sales and gameplay data.
Xbox.com had this to say, "The Xbox LIVE Arcade business is currently the strongest it's ever been, thanks to the content provided by the diverse range of talented developers attached to the platform," said Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox LIVE. "The Game Developers Conference is the perfect venue to recognize the successes of Xbox LIVE Arcade developers, and as we move further into 2008, gamers can expect to see even more quality content land on Xbox LIVE Arcade."
The latest Xbox 360 Live Stats for the week ended January 14 have just been release by Major Nelson. Call of Duty 4 is the most popular retail game and Metal Slug 3 is most popular XBLA title.
All statistics are based on unique users. The most popular Xbox 360 Live titles for the week ended January 14 are:
Despite the recent announcement of upcoming downloadable original Xbox games for Xbox 360, Microsoft has released another free backward-compatibility update for its console.
On December 4, Microsoft will begin charging $15 a pop for original Xbox game downloads such as Crimson Skies, Halo, Fable and Burnout 3 as part of its upcoming Xbox Live Originals offerings. But apparently the firm isn’t letting the opportunity to make more cash on old games get in the way of continuing to provide free back-compat support.
Xbox Live figurehead Larry Hryb said in his blog that over 80 games would be added to the list of backward-compatible Xbox games, including Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Breakdown, Freedom Fighters, Future Tactics: The Uprising, High Heat MLB 2004, Playboy: The Mansion, Thrillville and The Bard’s Tale.
The compatibility update is available for free over Xbox Live.
Following the recent announcement of Xbox Originals, Next-Gen contacted a Microsoft rep to find out if the company would continue back-compat support, but the rep was unable to dig up an official comment. For now back-compat updates appear to be ongoing, although the timing of the next update is unknown.
Here's the latest LIVE Activity for the Xbox 360 straight from major nelson's blog.
These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. If the Xbox 360 list and the original Xbox list were combined, then Gears of War continues to be the top Xbox Live title.
The arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
For all the latest xbox 360 gaming info check out the 360-hq games database which will link you to our xbox 360 screenshots, trailers, videos, achievements and cheats.
The guys over at Xbox 360 Rally have done a fantastic job and gone to all the effort of writing up a Complete List of FREE Xbox 360 Live Marketplace Downloads..
Kudo's must go to the guys for putting in such a great effort..
Please remember that this is a US-based list! If you live in, say, Canada or the EU and see items on here that are region specific.
The Xbox LIVE Marketplace is a true cornucopia of stuff. Whether it be classic arcade games like Paperboy, Time Pilot and Contra, or downloadable content for your favorite games, like Santa Claus outfits for Saints Row and expansions for Oblivion, Xbox LIVE is chock full o’ stuff for just about everyone. If you have the MS Points, you can open the door to all the world’s delight and joy.
But what if you’re broke? Are you just left outside in the snow, to stare in the window from behind the bushes to see all the joyous boys and girls playing with their horse armor and their extra Crackdown skins? Of course not! There’s stuff for you, too, cheap ass!
In fact, there is a LOT of free stuff for you. Whether it be extra content for your favorite game, or the most worthless of things (*coughgamerpicscough*), there is a surprisingly large amount of free stuff for your downloading delight on Xbox LIVE.
HQ Network: 9,554 | 
Guests: 5564 |
Members: 2
Xbox Live figurehead Larry Hryb said in his blog that over 80 games would be added to the list of backward-compatible Xbox games, including Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Breakdown, Freedom Fighters, Future Tactics: The Uprising, High Heat MLB 2004, Playboy: The Mansion, Thrillville and The Bard’s Tale.
