The recently rumored game show channel for Xbox Live was officially announced at this morning's Microsoft press conference in the form of "Xbox Live Primetime." TV producer Endemol has teamed up with Microsoft to produce the new massively-multiplayer game show channel, which will include a version of the semi-popular NBC show 1 vs. 100, complete with real prizes (no word on whether host Bob Saget is involved). Primetime is part of Microsoft's new "Live Party" community channel, which includes the long-rumored Avatars. No word on what, if any, other game shows will be coming to Primetime, but we're hoping for a version of Ninja Warrior that involves rampant button mashing.

No sooner does Sony (briefly) improve the PS3 user interface with the much-talked-about version 2.4 firmware update, than some at the company feel cocky enough to start badmouthing the competition's interface. Speaking to Next-Gen, PlayStation Network Director of Operations Eric Lempel took the bait, comparing Sony's redesigned PlayStation Store to Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. "I think if I look over at the competitors' UI they may have some issues just displaying content," Lempel said, "and scrolling up and down lists isn't the easiest way to find things." Tell that to McSweeny's, why don'tcha?

Lempel also pointed out that the PlayStation Store interface has "a lot of room with virtual shelf space to put a lot of things," a not-so-subtle jab at Microsoft's recently announced plan to de-list some Xbox Live Arcade games. "Depending on what type of UI you have you can accommodate a lot of titles," Lempel continued, "and specifically with our new store redesign which launched back in April we have a great ability to merchandise a wide variety of titles." That's all well and good, assuming your PS3 is currently working.

[Via X3F]

Netflix told Reuters today that it's been surveying its subscribers about interest in streaming movies using the Xbox 360. The company declined to go as far as saying this meant there was a partnership in the works, but did say it's looking to use "as many ways as possible" to provide its service to consumers.

The whole "Netflix on consoles" thing has been batting around for a while with reports last month that Netflix was running surveys to gauge consumer interest. Netflix has made no secret that it wants to be on consoles and our eyebrows were already raised way up early last year when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined the Microsoft board of directors. If Microsoft doesn't want to go down the Blu-ray path, but still wants to offer a service that makes it stand out, Netflix would certainly make a marquee alternative.

The much-improved Rock Band store announced to the world yesterday is now available on Xbox Live and PSN. A 30-second download and installation gives players access to the streamlined song-buying interface, which features audio previews and individual instrument difficulties for each song, as well as a much simpler way to sort and browse through the growing selection of music.

Besides the cool new store, we're also extremely gratified by the much-needed faster loading of DLC provided by the patch. After a one-time file creation upon the first post-patch load, the annoying little "loading additional content" animation was reduced from roughly ten seconds to about one second in our tests on Xbox Live. The physical "download data file" that actually speeds up the process takes up a paltry 112KB on our system, meaning there's no reason not to rock out faster!

We've known it was coming for about a month now ... now we know exactly when it's coming. Metanet Software announced via their blog this morning that the Xbox Live Arcade version of 2D Ninja platformer N+ will be available for 800 MS points at 9 a.m. GMT (1 a.m. Pacific) on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

The Wednesday release will come with the obligatory Gamerpics and Dashboard themes which, unfortunately, will cost even more of your hard earned Microsoft points. Metanet also announced "one or two level packs coming in the future," although, really, if you manage to beat all 450 levels included in the main game, it's probably time to move on to another title. We're just saying ...

[Thank Robber Tom]

We were planning on accompanying this post with a poll asking how many of our readers regularly watch Hannah Montana, but we're pretty sure we can guess the results of that questionnaire -- half of our readers would fess up to watching the pre-teen pop queen, and the other half would be bold-faced liars.

Fine, you don't have to admit it -- but if you have a friend (wink, wink) with an Xbox Live account, that friend (nudge, nudge) can now download episodes of Hannah Montana as well as a plethora of other Disney channel programming on Live Marketplace. It's just like having that dreamy Zac Efron live inside of your Xbox 360 hard drive, ready to serenade you at your behest, just one ashamed button press away from your Veteran career on Call of Duty 4.

[Via Gamerscore Blog]

Boy, you guys must really hate going to your local game retailer. Sony today announced that it's PSN Online Store has racked up an impressive 52 million downloads since launching with the PS3 back in November '06 (and expanding to the PSP in November '07).

For context, Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace reached to 50 million download milestone back in August '06, roughly five months faster than Sony's network (when staggered launch dates are taken into account). Sony's current mark of 2.9 million registered PSN users also pales in comparison to the 7 million Xbox Live users as of last September, though Microsoft's head start likely played a part in that lead.

Still, Sony's online service is going in the right direction, growing from 6.6 million downloads in Dec. '07 to 7.9 million in Jan. '08. And with the PS3 starting to outsell the Xbox 360 in the American marketplace, could the much-predicted Sony turnaround finally be coming to pass?

Not content to let their premiere racer rest with just a release and a quick update, Bizarre Creations is offering up new downloadable content for Project Gotham Racing 4. The content is split into two downloadable packs:

Free Challenge Pack (free download!)

• A playable, hydrogen-powered Peugeot Flux
• Tourist Mode - Just drive around the city and admire the scenery with no explicit goal
  
• "Free Roam" Cat and Mouse Mode - Implements the delayed updates previously discussed here
  
• Seven unlockable achievements

Premium Challenge Pack (400 MS points)
Includes all the content of the Free Challenge Pack, PLUS:

• Seven new cars - Including the "1987 BMW M3 E30 DTM," whatever that means
  
• World Challenge Arcade Mode - With 20 new events in three themed chapters
  
• Three more unlockable achievements

The packs will be available for download on Feb. 14, just in time to play Cat and Mouse with your valentine.

Game industry types looking for yet another reason to flock to a central location and gab about the business while getting liquored up at the open bar should take a moment to block out some time for this summer's Ion Game Conference, taking place from May 13-15 in Seattle. Known as the Online Game Developers Conference in a previous life, organizers Evergreen Events note that the re-dubbed conference will feature an expanded focus, with panels covering topics such virtual worlds and social networking on home consoles.

While few details concerning specific panels have yet been revealed for this year's event, last year's topics included "Xbox LIVE on Windows and 360: Are Your Games Dead or LIVE?," "The Future of Games and Entertainment Resides Online," and "Dirty Secrets of Episodic Video Games," among others. Early registration for the Ion Game Conference is now open, and event organizers note that as they are expecting a considerable turnout by attendees across the globe. Those interested in taking part in the event should register early.

Come back with us, if you will. Back to the middle ages of video gaming. Back to the early '90s. Mortal Kombat was a huge, bloody (and we do mean bloody) hit in the arcades. Unfortunately, console makers were concerned with how such a gory game would be received in family living rooms. Thus, the game's signature red blood was replaced with white "sweat" for the console versions.

Luckily we don't live in such dark times anymore, right? Not so. The Xbox Live Arcade version of Metal Slug 3 similarly has been toned down to include white "sweat" instead of red blood. This is especially odd considering the Metal Slug 3 port for the supposedly family-friendly Wii included what one reviewer called "arterial blood spraying everywhere."

Luckily (for real this time), there's a way around this bit of historical revisionism that's as simple as the Genesis Mortal Kombat's famous "blood code." As Insert Credit points out, simply setting your Xbox language to Japanese brings back the original Neo Geo classic in all its gory glory. Apparently, someone at Microsoft thinks the Japanese have a higher tolerance for this stuff. Either that, or they think Japanese gamers are just more picky about historical accuracy in their re-releases. Which is probably true, but still ...

We admit that the opening of a new studio is not the most terribly exciting event under the sun, but that news becomes decidedly more intriguing when said studio dedicates itself to a single market, or in the case of British developer Kuju's newly opened doublesix studio, a single distribution channel.

With a moniker always referred to in lowercase, we expected doublesix to be quietly reserved regarding its plans, which include developing titles exclusively in the downloadable space for Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, WiiWare and the PC. What we found, however, was a studio that is enthusiastic about its positioning in this young, but rapidly growing segment of the video game industry. To find out more, we managed to speak with doublesix studio head James Brooksby on a number of topics, including the price of downloadable games today and in the future, the importance of platform exclusives in the digital space, and of course, where the team likes to eat.

Getting gifts and embarrassing ourselves while under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol are reasons enough to count down until the new year, but Capcom has given us another reason to continue to mark through days on the kitchen calender, announcing plans to release a free playable demo of Devil May Cry 4 over both the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store in early 2008.

It's unclear exactly what will be included in the demo, with Capcom saying only that the download will serve to introduce the game's new hero, Nero, and feature levels "chosen to showcase Devil May Cry 4's varied locales and allow gamers to familiarize themselves with Nero's unique abilities." The demo will also include in-game instructions on how to use DMC4's Exceed sword charge system and various superhuman abilities, made possible by Nero's "Devil Bringer" powers, and will be capped off with a fight against a surly boss named Berial. We hope the boss has insurance, because players have been waiting a long time revisit Devil May Cry, and we imagine Berial is going to buried many times before the game's February 5, 2008 release.

Microsoft has finally released its 'Family Timer' for the Xbox 360, a long rumored update which was only recently confirmed by MS exec Robbie Bach last month. Once applied, the timer can be used to adjust and set the amount of available console playtime "on a daily or weekly basis...and the feature will automatically turn off the console when the predetermined time limit has been exceeded." Thankfully Microsoft has included reminders which it says will appear to notify players when their time is growing short, so hopefully they can make a mad dash for the nearest save point instead of being cut off without warning.

Interestingly, Microsoft notes that this feature came about as a result of two independent surveys conducted by the company throughout Europe and the United States, which included 800 parents in the US and some 4,000 parents in the U.K., France, Germany and Italy. According to the company, the surveys found that the majority of respondents (75% in Europe, 62% in the US) welcomed the idea of having such parental controls built into their game consoles, though it remains to be seen how many of said parents will actually take the time to implement and use the controls now that they are available.

Tired of getting college football and basketball games live, as they happen, for free as part of your cable package? Well, now you can pay extra for days-old copies of those games thanks to ESPN and the Xbox Live Marketplace.

We know, some people don't have cable or a VCR or access to a sports bar or anything better to do with $3 (for standard definition) or $4.50 (for high definition), but really, unless a game is a true instant classic, we can't see paying to download a copy of a game two days after it happened. Original programs like The Contender and Madden Nation might get our $2, but if we want to see the World Series of Poker we'll just tune in to ESPN and hope that they're showing one of their ten daily reruns of the tournaments.

Stealing your bank account or credit card information is one thing, but now e-mail phishers are going after something truly important: Your Xbox Live account. Xbox.com forum-goer Whagi reports on an e-mail he received, purportedly from Xbox Support, announcing new features on his Xbox Live account. The e-mail links to a supposed Microsoft passport login page that's actually a phishing site designed to capture your login information.

The problem goes deeper than your Xbox -- if you use your Passport account for other Microsoft services, the phishers could have access to a lot of sensitive information. The same e-mail has reportedly been received by other users in the U.S. and U.K.

It probably goes without saying, but if you get a similar e-mail, delete it immediately. If you accidentally use the link, change your password immediately. And don't trust random e-mails to notify you about new Xbox Live updates -- that's what we're here for, after all.

[Update: Microsoft has acknowledged the scam and reportedly taken action.]