Tuesday 13-Nov-2007 9:48 AM Films AND games on demand in the biggest dashboard update yet! The Fall Xbox 360 dashboard update has now been officially revealed, and it's looks awesome with Xbox Classics and films on demand.
December 4 is the date you'll need to watch out for; that's the day you'll be able to download and play Halo. Yes, Halo as in the Xbox game, through Marketplace, on your Xbox 360. Isn't technology great!
Microsoft is introducing games it has published for the original Xbox on XBL Marketplace, with the eventual plan to bring as much of the back catalogue across as possible. Third party games will also be available to 'demand'.
Games cost about 1200 Microsoft points (about ten quid), which according to us puts them a little over what you'd pay for them second hand.
The initial list of downloads includes Halo, Fable, Fahrenheit, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3. All good then, apart from maybe Crash.
The official blurb reads: "Starting on Dec. 4, all Xbox Live members will receive a free system update with a host of new features and enhancements. Included in this update will be the launch of Xbox Originals, which, for the first time, will enable consumers to download and own full Xbox games, such as Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fable, among others, directly to their Xbox 360. This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games."
And if that wasn't enough, films on demand, though not confirmed for the December 4 date, aren't far away either.
Studios such as Warner Bros are potentially lined up for the service, so we can look forward to films such as The Dark Knight, The Assassination of Jesse James and I Am Legend appearing eventually.
Films will cost less than a fiver and come in 720p resolution. You have 14 days to start watching a film once it has downloaded. Once you started watching a film, you have 24 hours to finish it.
After that, the film deletes itself from your hard drive. It's basically an online rental service then, like the US Video Marketplace that's been going for a few months now.
"In just five short years, Xbox Live has revolutionized the way friends and family have fun in the living room," said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Live, software and services at Microsoft. "On its fifth birthday, Xbox Live truly is the place for hanging out with friends and enjoying downloadable TV shows, movies, videos, game add-ons and now downloadable Xbox games on demand."
What do these new additions mean for the future of Xbox Live Arcade? Does the PS3's PSOne download service now look horribly dated? It's going to be an exciting 2008 in the download space, for sure.
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