Xbox LIVE Turns Five, Gives Away Carcassonne, soars past 8 million mark

Xbox LIVE membership soars past 8 million mark, Microsoft unveils new download service for Xbox games direct to your living room beginning Dec. 4.

all 8 million members will have the opportunity to download a free Xbox LIVE Arcade game,* available for downloading between 12:01 a.m. PST on Nov. 15 and 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 16.** In addition to this, every active member who joined the service in 2002 will receive 500 free Microsoft Points.

[TheMART]

In the original message I find this one the most interesting:

"Also, our new press release has mentioned that Psychonauts is coming to XBLA as a classic Xbox download with the fall update."

GO GET PSYCHONAUTS. ALL OF YOU. THIS GAME DESERVES IT. ONE OF THE BEST PLATFORM GAMES EVER

Too bad it didn't get enough advertising. Check out the new game of the guy that made Psychonauts also. Brutal Legend. It'll rock again! Great humor. Download Psychonauts first. Really. It for sure will surprise you

[Marceles]

Psychonauts is definitely the most underrated and best platform game. I'm definitely downloading that (and Carcassone too), but the Psychonauts news excited me more lol.

[Snukadaman]

Its looking good...ill get carcassone...is this for Americans too???

[Enigma_2099]

I actually AGREE with you on something... Psychonauts is an underrated GEM... and when you're looking for that... BUY BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL YOU SPITEFUL BASTARDS!!!!

[kewlkat007]

I never played it?

8 Million for a "Fee-Based" service is not too shabby.

*I know it is not FREE but last time I checked the world is not perfect either.(for the PS3 fans out there)

This is still a business and MS is in it to make money somehow.

I would like the price of XBL to be cheaper, not because I wanna screw MS out of not making money from their service, or because I can't afford it but, I know some people that can't afford it.

Anyhow Free is what everyone would like in this world but things could be a little cheaper on XBL, that's my only gripe. More content is on the way which is good. I've never had any issues whatsoever with the service. I actually go on PSN and quite frankly PSN got a long long way to go.

[no_more_heroes]

listen to everyone above you. Buy Psychonauts. Just do it. They are right (yes, even theMART is right surprisingly). You're doing yourself a great disservice if you don't. It was supposed to be exclusive to the xbox but Microsoft dropped it like a hot potato and it went multiplatform.

[WilliamRLBaker]

my bad your right it was exclusive I had a brain fart at the time of that writing and when i tried to change it the site went down.

[predator]

cool 500 free ponts

[tomfoolery]

Everyday I'm more and more glad I own this gens best system.
The one.............the only.................drumroll please...

360
Tom out.

[Darkiewonder]

Mmmmmmm.

[macsto]

500 free points? im there. Thank you MS.

[Covenant]

Happy Birthday. Still the best.

[Close_Second]

Nice to see these types of giveaways and it makes you appreciate the quality service that Xbox Live really is. Looking forward to downloading a couple of classic Xbox titles.

Am wondering what other surprises await us in the fall update???

[OOG FunK]

interesting to see how much it has grown....

Heres to another 5!

[FirstknighT]

Microsoft definitely has all the right moves this gen! :)

[UltramanJ]

A free arcade game and 500 points? It's the little things like that that make M$ so awesome. But...what dummy's going to pay 1200 points ($15) for Xbox games that can be bought in retail for $5-$10? I'd rather save the HD space and own a physical copy of the game. They should lower the price to at least 800 points.

[Close_Second]

...but that would really make most of the current XBLA titles over priced. How could you charge the same for "Crimson Skies" and "Word Puzzle"?

I wish they would lower the price of XBLA games to 300 and 500 points (depending on their calibre) and then have the price of the classic Xbox titles at 800 or 1000 points, again depending on their calibre.

[predator]

my request for live and arcade:

Chop the price in half/free,
video marketplace for UK,
Customize each blade with different theme,
bring killer instinct 1 and 2 to arcade,
group chat,
have a schedule of whats coming out,
have a 360 show previewing 360 games and news every week on live.

[Asylumchild]

hhmmmmm sweet

[d3vad]

8 million, not bad at all!

[BIGBAER]

TheMart: "GO GET PSYCHONAUTS. ALL OF YOU. THIS GAME DESERVES IT. ONE OF THE BEST PLATFORM GAMES EVER"

HELL YEAH!

Get Crimsom Skies too. Good, good, GOOD TIMES!

[Daxx]

Yes, everyone get Pyschonauts!

Tim Schafer needs our money to make another one. ^_^

[Parlivus]

Pity that Live! has been absolutely horredous in terms of lag and things not working over the last 72 hours. I've not been able to play COD4 or Halo 3 at all because of the issues.

I can't even get to my friends list without the 360 hanging (and I've tried this on 4 of my friends consoles as well so its not hardware related).

Hopefully they'll get it sorted soon.