In between everything else going on, turns out the Tales of Vesperia demo is now available on the North American Xbox Live marketplace. Granted, we've only been waiting a couple weeks for this game to come out, but for JRPG fans, they could just have easily come up with a new game: Tales of Waiting for Vesperia demo. Sure, that's long, but we've heard worse titles.

[Thanks to those who sent this in.]

Ninja Gaiden 2 will receive Mission Mode as DLC on July 25, according to a post on NeoGAF. Mission Mode, if similar to the original iteration introduced in Ninja Gaiden Black, drops Ryu into an arena setting and lets him go on a flippin' awesome ninja killin' spree. There is currently no price attached to the new Mission Mode DLC.

The possibility of a Mission Mode should come as good news to NG II players who don't find dressing up Ryu like a Ken doll a worthwhile activity. But, let's be honest, if it's anything like the original Mission Mode, shouldn't it have been shipped with the game or, and we're hoping this is the case, at least be free?

[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.

Happy free Heroic Map Pack day everyone! For those with a little patience, you'll be rewarded today with Halo 3's former $10 set of maps for the cost of air (but not PerriAir; that the Spaceballs still charge for). The pack includes Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry. While we'd love to tell you all about these levels, we're getting our first taste of them today.

With all that said, there's currently a hiccup in the system and the content – which was supposed to be free at 2AM pacific last night – is still listed for $10 on Xbox Live Marketplace. Bungie's forum has a nice thread (about to break 100 pages) on the issue and we're trying to get an answer from Major Nelson for the Microsoft angle. We'll update when the map pack actually becomes, you know ... free.

Update: It's free now, go get 'em.
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In last year's onslaught of groundbreaking, AAA titles, there was a a good chance for smaller gems to get lost in the shuffle -- case in point: Overlord. With wallets tightened in preparation of the year's later blockbuster releases, not many people shelled out the cash to pick up this clever Pikmin-esque treat, and our hopes for the previously announced trio of downloadable expansions for the game faded as the winter months passed.

However, just as surreptitiously as the game hit American store shelves, the three Overlord DLC packs recently crept onto Xbox Live Marketplace. For 800 MS Points you can grab the "Raising Hell" expansion, which adds some new levels and challenges to the single player campaign. The "Challenge Pack" goes for 400 MS Points, and adds 7 new multiplayer maps and a new campaign difficulty. And, for the low, low price of free, you can download a split-screen multiplayer mode to enjoy with a good friend, or better yet, your most trusted minion.

In a conference call with analysts, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings brought up the idea of enabling the service through "internet connected game consoles." That was one of numerous options proposed. Currently Netflix only offers movie rentals by mail or PC streaming, but it's been no secret that Netflix has been seeking to connect with a company that has an internet enabled box attached to a television in the home. The obvious contenders for this service in the game space would be the PS3 and the Xbox 360 -- and that's where things get interesting if we look back a few months.

Back in March, Hastings joined the board of Microsoft. Considering Xbox Live already has an amazing infrastructure set up, the real question becomes: How difficult would it be to implement Netflix service on it? Even if the movie takes a day to download, it's still better than mail for those with a modicum of patience. Netflix revolutionized the way we rent movies, could it revolutionize the way non-gamers in the household view the Xbox 360 (or PS3)?

[Via Gamasutra]

It's been a long while since the last group of downloadable songs came out for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II and it looks like those who are prepared to rock will need to wait just a bit longer. A post on the Red Octane site says that we'll finally get more songs come July. An administrative poster on the site by the name of Rodth says, "While nothing's been formally announced, look for something to come down the pipeline around the July timeframe."

Being as there is nothing "formally announced," we have no idea if they'll be more GH 1 rehashes or actual new songs. It's probably a safe bet that the $6.25 price tag for three songs like last time won't be changing. Although, it would be nice that the genres of the songs sync up a little better this time. At this point, all major announcements seem to have the smell of Min-E3 all over them.