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New York Times on the Xbox Live Marketplace
By Mack Male | July 5, 2007 at 5:13 pm
The New York Times ran an article on Monday about the Xbox Live Marketplace (XBLM), the “virtual market” that launched in November of last year (and which received it’s very own blade in the Spring 2007 update). Though still not available in Canada, I am quite interested in the service. The article includes a general overview and some interesting statistics:
Microsoft declined to give revenue figures for the service, but claims it has grown by double-digit figures each month since it was introduced.
The service currently offers more than 2,000 hours of programming. To prevent piracy, consumers have 24 hours to watch rented material before it is automatically expunged from the console’s hard drive.
I think Microsoft was smart to launch the service when they did. There’s a lot of room for improvement, but gaming consoles are definitely morphing into something more - call them entertainment consoles. Thanks to XBLM, Microsoft has a good lead over competitors.
Speaking of improvements, why not make it possible to synchronize content with the Zune? Currently it’s a one-way relationship: nothing leaves the Xbox 360.
Really though, I’d be happy if they launched XBLM here in Canada!
Tags: canada, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, xbox live marketplace, Zune
Topics: Xbox 360, Xbox Live |
