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December 24 MERRY CHRISTMAS! Well, this is going to be my last post of 2008. It's been a hell of a year - personally I've got to do loads of cool and ridiculous things thanks to Inside Xbox (interviewing The Mystery Jets in a hottub on the balcony of a penthouse suite in San Antonio while dressed as Jimi SpandexX pops into mind, or strutting down the streets of Prague in a purple velour pimp suit...) and I've loved working on projects like The Gathering 2008 and the Gears of War 2 Last Day campaign. And for Xbox it's been a crazy year - the launch of the New Xbox Experience, the best line-up of games EVER and a community that continues to grow and improve. 2009 can only get better!
Thanks for sticking around on the blog through all the quiet times and for making this as much fun to do as it is. Have a merry Christmas and an amazing new year, and I hope you get as much GamerScore as you do presents!
Today's XBLA game is Puzzle Arcade, an 'online jigsaw game'. It's 800 MS Points or the trial version is free.
- RESIDENT EVIL 5 TGS2008 Trailer: Free and available everywhere.
- Street Fighter4 Gamer Iconpack #1: 100 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Street Fighter4 Premium Theme #1: 250 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Legendary™ Demo: Free and available everywhere.
- Puzzle Arcade Classic Sc-Fi Pack: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
See you next year! December 23 If you're planning a bit of festive Rock Band or GHWT action here's plenty of songs to stuff in your stocking. My folks are coming down to mine for Xmas so I might try to get them onto RB after a few sherries...
- GHWT Reggae Rock Track Pack: Featuring "Your Face" by Pepper, "Jimi" by Slightly Stoopid, and "Sacrifice" by The Expendables. Free and available everywhere.
- GHWT Hard Rock Track Pack: Featuring "Use Me" by Hinder, "Light It Up" by Rev Theory, and "Because of You" by Nickelback. 440 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Hard Rock Rev Theory Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Hard Rock Nickelback Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Hard Rock Hinder Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Holiday Pack 01 [Track Pack]: 440 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Pretenders "Blue Christmas"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Billy Squier "Christmas is the Time (To Say I Love You)"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Barenaked Ladies "Hanukkah Blessings"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Foo Fighters Pack 01[Track Pack]: 440 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Foo Fighters "Times Like These"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Foo Fighters "DOA"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - Foo Fighters "This is a Call"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
December 22 Cough cough. Woah! Sorry I've been away, I've spent most of the last week lying comatosed in a pool of sniffle, sweat and phlegm. It was rubbish, and about the best thing that I could do was spend a few spaced out hours playing Fallout 3. I barely even remember it, I reckon I was a bit hysterical, but I did get 60 GamerPoints.
Anyway, back for a few days up to Christmas now and then I'm taking a break until the new year. Hope you're all set!
- MotoGP 08 Demo: Free and available everywhere.
- X-Blades Trailer: Free and available everywhere.
- Lara Classic Pack - Lara Classic and TR Legend outfit: Free and available everywhere.
- Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans Gamer Pictures: Free and only available in the UK.
- Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans Theme: Free and only available in the UK.
December 16 Check out the trailer for the Xbox 360-exclusive expansion to the biggest game of the year now on Marketplace... We've just launched a wicked application on Xbox.com in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain that lets you pull your Avatar image (like using that url but much easier) and then manipulate it, add swish backgrounds (including festive niceness), add text, and then export the image in a variety of handy file sizes like Facebook profile pics, iPhone wallpapers and even Xmas cards! You can add in as many Avatars as you want so go wild and stick all your friends in too!
And the coolest thing is that if you're in the UK, France or Germany and you use your image as your Bebo, Facebook or MySpace pic you can be in with the chance of winning some amazing prizes - including a desktop statue of your Avatar! How cool is that?
You need to head over and try it for yourself at www.Xbox.com/en-gb/freeyouravatar (if you're not in the UK go to your local Xbox.com - it's promoted from the homepage!).
Here's a quick one I made earlier - I'm sure you can do much better!
 December 15 I'm off to see The Mighty Boosh tonight - wheeee!
- Gears of War 2 Combustible Pack: Explosive action takes center stage in these three new Gears 2 multiplayer maps: Flood, Gold Rush, and Fuel Station. Flood features a rising flow of Imulsion that drives the fight into close quarters. Infiltrate an Imulsion factory in Gold Rush, where multiple levels and volatile materials guarantee memorable encounters. Fuel Station delivers a dangerous battle around an abandoned refueling facility. 800 MS Points and available everywhere except Germany.
- Gears of War 2 Combustible Pack Trailer: Free and available everywhere except Germany.
- Mercs 2 Blow It Up Again: Blow it up again with four new explosive missions! Free and available everywhere.
- Mafia 2 Holiday Trailer: Free and available everywhere.
- Shaun White Snowboarding DevDiary - Authenticity: Free and available everywhere.
And don't forget to check out the free festive Theme and the Avatar snowglobe - just head to the Happy Holidays channel on your Dashboard. UK only at the moment - the team are working to roll it out across Europe in the coming days. December 12 Lots of music stuff up today, including plenty more festive songs for LIPS to get you right into the Christmas mood. Got any plans for the weekend? I'm off Christmas shopping tomorrow but I should find some time to get some more Fallout 3 in - I'm hooked again!
- LIPS Holiday song 4 - "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 5 - "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 6 - "A Holly Jolly Christmas": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 7 - "Hanukkah Blessings": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 8 - "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 9 "Santa Baby": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- LIPS Holiday song 10 - "White Christmas": 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Pure Inspiration Trailer: Free and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - The Rasmus - Livin: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Tila Tequila - Paralyze: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Squarepusher - Come On My Selector: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Scooter and Status Quo - Jump That Rock: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Mischa Daniels - Take Me Higher: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Natasja Giv - Mig Danmark Tilbage: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - London Elektricity - All Hell: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Kidda Smile: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Vidzone - Devils Gun - Gold Dust: 200 MS Points and available everywhere.
December 11 I don't normally post stuff like this but this is just too funny:
Only two weeks to go until Christmas day! What's on your list?
- Tom Clancy's EndWar™ Escalation Expansion Pack: 800 MS Points and available everywhere. 4 exclusive missions on all new battlefields playable in skirmish mode, 3 exclusive unit upgrades and an extra set of achievements to expand your experience with Tom Clancy’s EndWar™. New missions includes the siege of a firebase in Kursk (Ukraine), the assault on Devon beach (England), the raid on Rota naval base (Spain) and the conquest of Dorsey Knob (USA, West Virginia).
- GHWT Nirvana Track Pack: 440 MS Points and available everywhere - contains the three Nirvana tracks below.
- GHWT Nirvana You Know You're Right Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Nirvana Sliver Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Nirvana Negative Creep Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT European Track Pack: 440 MS Points and available everywhere - contains the three European tracks below.
- GHWT Mama Mae Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT 54 70 90 2010 Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Dis Moi Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
December 10 I know what some of you are thinking - 'why would I want to do that?' Well, you haven't been able to do this in the past and in some multi-lingual countries - Switzerland and Belgium in particular - this has been a real problem as people are being served content in the wrong language.
So what do you need to do?
Are you seeing some information that is not in your preferred language? To determine if there is a language more suitable for you, sign in to Xbox.com, go to ‘Manage Profile’ and select ‘Contact Information’. Changes may take up to 24 hours to take effect. Quick one this morning - two brilliant XBLA games today, Meteos and Power-Up Forever, both 800 MS Points. Then this pair, including a free NXE Theme... 
- Xbox 360 Dashboard Holiday 2008 Theme: Free and available everywhere.
- STREET FIGHTER UNO Pack: 280 MS Points and availble everywhere.
December 09 Some cracking Rock Band content again today - especially if you're a female vocalist! I know that the track list can be a bit sparse for the girls so it's nice to see a stack of No Doubt stuff so you can work your Stefani.
Also worth pointing out that while I'm not linking through to each individual piece of content (it would take AGES...) if you pop along to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace page on Xbox.com and scroll to the bottom there's a dynamically updated list of new content every day. Lovely.
- Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts NXE Theme: 250 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "The Singles 1992–2003"[Album]: 1600 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Just a Girl"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Ex-Girlfriend"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Don't Speak"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Simple Kind of Life"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Spiderwebs"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Running"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Excuse Me Mr."[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Underneath It All"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Hella Good"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Sunday Morning"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Bathwater"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "Hey Baby"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Rock Band - No Doubt "It's My Life"[Track]: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
December 08 How was your weekend? It was the Xbox Europe Christmas party on Friday so Jimi SpandexX made another appearance as the host of our very own LIPS Factor, wearing extra special festive spandex - red and sparkly like a bauble. I had some serious VPL going on, nice. Will try to upload some photos soon.
Also went to see The Gaslight Anthem on Friday night - they were amazing, they're back in February so will try to catch them then too. Black Stone Cherry this weekend then Biffy Clyro next week, so many great gigs at the moment!
Didn't play much though, just a bit of Rock Band 2. Jonesing on a bit of Fallout 3 though, been away from it for a while and it's calling me back, probably because we've been talking about the PDLC at work. That sounds well cool - check it out here if you haven't already! It's exclusive to Xbox 360 too, dontcha know...
Just a couple of things today:
- Fable II Knothole Island Theme: 250 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Sonic Unleashed Demo: Free and available everywhere.
December 04 Hello! Been AWOL for a few days again, just seems to stay busy around here! Usually by this time in December things have calmed down a little, but it's still hectic. Did find time to get along to an Atari event yesterday to do some Q&As and help with some Inside Xbox filming - I was talking to the Race Pro development team and got a shot in the owner of the sudio's Dodge Viper GTS, one of my favourite cars of all time. Amazing! Look out for that on IX in the future.
I've been looking at some of your comments about slow Marketplace performance and I've fed that through to the team. No specific issues to report here, but they'll keep an eye on it. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Loads of good stuff up today including four big new pieces of PDLC, so they're coming first with some info:
- Race Driver GRID 8-Ball Pack: 800 MS Points and available everywhere. The ‘8 Ball’ pack for GRID features 8 thrilling new cars and two new online events as the first in a series of three new extensions for the game. Each carefully selected and beautifully realised vehicle is a thoroughbred racing car chosen for its unique personality to deliver a stunning race experience. All 8 cars become available in ‘Race Day’ mode and in online races. Two new multiplayer events, set on existing circuits from across GRID’s three continents, have been created to test drivers to their very limit online. Car List: McLaren F1 GTR, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Mitsubishi 2.0 Turbo Lancer Evolution X, Honda S2000, Nissan GTR GT500, VW Nardo, Pontiac Firebird Trans AM, Volvo C30 Green Racing.
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack: 800 MS Points and available everywhere. The Apprentice Mission Pack contains an entirely new single-player mission set in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant. In this mission Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice turns to the Jedi Temple to learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he must confront his inner demons... Download this mission pack and you’ll also get 6 brand new characters and 3 all new Secret Apprentice costumes.
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Costume Pack #2: 400 MS Points and available everywhere. In this pack you get seven new characters including Republic Trooper, Tatooine Luke, Ben Kenobi, Jedi Master Plo Koon, Count Dooku, Jango Fett, and C-3P0. You’ll also get three new Secret Apprentice costumes including Utility Combat Suit Apprentice, Animated-style Apprentice, and Spirit Apprentice.
- Vigilante 8 High Octane Pack: 320 MS Points and available everywhere. Rev up with 3 new crazy cars and 2 never-before-seen arenas in this groovy pack! Grab the Strider buggy (Sheila), Towmaster tow truck (Houston), and the Groundhog 6-wheel armored car (Loki), each with its own ultra cool special weapon. You also get a tricked-out Stunt Track arena and an explosive miniature Garage environment – both fine-tuned for some high octane multiplayer action! There are no refunds for this item.
- GHWT Smashing Pumpkins GLOW Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Smashing Pumpkins Everlasting Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Smashing Pumpkins 1979 Single: 160 MS Points and available everywhere.
- GHWT Smashing Pumpkins Track Pack: 440 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed Picture Pack #6: 100 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed Picture Pack #5: 100 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Theme: 50 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed Girls of TFU Theme: 50 MS Points and available everywhere.
- Saints Row 2 - Brotherhood Gang Trailer: Free and available everywhere
Are you cold? I'm FREEZING. And my Avatar is chilly too. Lucky then that some new Avatar clothing has popped up - and it's all cosy ski/snowboarding gear! There's a new jacket, hat, gloves, and boots available for both boys and girls (all free) in the Avatar customisation menus - look out for the stars that show there's new stuff available.
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