XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE

The 'Xbox Live Marketplace' ('XBLM') is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, gamer tag images, and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes.
The Spring 2007 update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard relocated the Marketplace to its own "blade" in order to bring more attention to the service and make it more accessible to users.

Contents

Microsoft Points

Xbox Live Arcade

Video Marketplace

Xbox Live Pipeline

Criticism

Problems with replacement consoles

Pricing

Content Region Controls

References

External links

Microsoft Points

Main articles: Microsoft Points

'Microsoft Points' are used as scrip in the Xbox Live Marketplace, which includes the Xbox Live Arcade. These points may be purchased with a credit card through the Xbox Live Marketplace, or redeemed from gift cards purchased at a bricks and mortar business.

Xbox Live Arcade

Main articles: Xbox Live Arcade

The service was launched beginning November 22, 2005 on the Xbox 360. The Arcade service is integrated with the Dashboard user interface, allowing for distribution through the Xbox Live Marketplace using Microsoft Points. Arcade titles on the Xbox 360 support accurate and up-to-date leaderboards, with high scores linked to a player's gamertag. Players can see where they stand in the Xbox Live community, take a look at the records set by the world's top-ranked players, or see how they match up against individuals on their friends list. Titles can also contribute to a player's Xbox Live GamerScore, with each game containing 200 Gamerpoints spread over a maximum of 12 achievements.

Video Marketplace

The Video Marketplace is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute television shows and movies to Xbox 360 owners. The service was launched in USA on November 22, 2006 via Xbox Live. Initial content partners include Paramount Pictures, CBS, TBS, MTV Networks, UFC, NBC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Other movie studios have since supported the service including Lionsgate Films and Walt Disney Pictures as announced at E3 2007. [1] At the present time, the service is only available to users in the United States, however Microsoft intends to bring the service to Canada and Europe by the end of 2007.
Various films and TV shows are available for purchase on the Video Marketplace, including both past and present series, such as ''Star Trek'' and ''.^[1] TV shows will be saved permanently while movies are only "rentals"; they will become unwatchable 24 hours after initial viewing or 14 days after purchase.
At launch, the Video Marketplace encountered widespread problems such as lengthy download times, duplicate billing for the same content, and downloads that could not complete, or for which users would have had to repay to complete.^[2] Since then, all such problems have been resolved.
On March 6, 2007, the ''South Park'' episode "Good Times with Weapons" was available for free download. However, this episode was free only for the HDTV version until April 3, 2007. Starting on March 13, 2007, all episodes from ''South Park's 11th season were offered uncensored. Also, starting on July 26, 2007, the pilot episode of ''Jericho'' was available for download free of charge for both the Standard and HD versions.

Xbox Live Pipeline

'Xbox Live Pipeline' was a website that allowed users to view downloadable content available through Xbox Live Marketplace on their PC. Launched by Microsoft on October 12, 2006 the Flash-based web site provided access to an easy-to-use listing of game downloads, demos, game videos, themes, gamer pictures, and other pieces of media content.
At website launch, the site contained 6 main sections:

★ Game Downloads - Xbox Live Arcade games and add-ons available for existing games.

★ Demos and Game Videos - Downloadable demos and trailers for currently released or future release games.

★ Themes and Gamer Pics - Themes for the console's interface and gamer pictures for a user's avatar.

★ Media and Entertainment - Trailers for movies, short films, sports, music, and TV content, along with videos from the gaming community.

★ Editor's Choice - Featured items chosen by the site's editors.

★ We Need Your Help - Surveys inquiring as to how to improve the site.
As of the beginning of 2007, the Xbox Live Pipeline website redirects to the standard Xbox site, which now contains most of the functionality of Pipeline.

Criticism

Problems with replacement consoles

Per Marketplace design, the digital rights management license for downloaded content is tied to both a specific user, as well as to a specific console. This means that to access the content, the user either needs to be signed on to Xbox Live using their Gamertag, or be playing on the original console the content was purchased on.^[3]
As a result, users with replacement consoles (either as a result of a warranty claim, or due to an upgrade to the Xbox 360 Elite model) cannot use the content they have downloaded without being connected to Xbox Live. This has the effect of restricting usage of purchased content when no Internet connection is available. Currently (Sept 2007), Microsoft has no procedure for transferring ownership between consoles.

Pricing

Most criticisms leveled at the Xbox Live service concern the Xbox Live Marketplace. The service has come under fire from both gamers and the gaming press for charging for downloadable content. In many such cases, users were expecting instead that such content would be made available for free.
A notable incident was Microsoft charging for a ''Gears of War'' map pack that developer Epic wished to give away for free (although the plan of record is to release it for free in September 2007).^[4] Adding fuel to the flames, Game Informer made somewhat erroneous and incomplete claims that Microsoft forced other companies to charge for content they wanted to distribute for free.^[5] In this case, Microsoft Publishing was responsible for setting the price, with this not actually being a policy of the Xbox team or Xbox Live Marketplace as was implied. Free content is indeed possible, as evidenced by the release of a complete Xbox Live Arcade game, '' Aegis Wing'', for users in North America.
Another topic for criticism is that most of the available downloads in the U.S. are not available for other global subscribers. The Video Marketplace, for example, is not available in other regions outside the US. However it will be released in Europe and Canada in Fall 2007 (but as of September 2007, Canada and the UK still pay the same price as US subscribers, with less features), although some other content such as themes or game demos, is still not available in other regions than the US.

Content Region Controls

After the Spring 2007 dashboard update^[6], Microsoft made their grip on the regional content restriction even tighter. This made obtaining entertainment content for international markets impossible, while the US market has a substantial offering in comparison (but still small in comparison to something like iTunes).
Critics of the near-empty International marketplaces want Microsoft to push harder to deliver quality content world-wide, or at the very least offer local content on a region by region basis. Presently, it seems that they have taken an all-regions-or-nothing approach to the problem. They argue that it's mainly about "legal restrictions" and the difficulty in attaining "global rights".

References

1. First Wave of TV Shows and Movies on Xbox Live
2. Tech problems hit XBL video marketplace
3. Xbox.com "Shop 'till you Drop" (subsection):Usage restrictions
4. Gears of War Map Pack Live on Thursday
5. www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5359&Itemid=2
6. Xbox 365

External links

★ Official Xbox Live Marketplace Website

★ Xbox Live Pipeline - Marketplace content listing

★ Xbox Live Video Offerings In HD