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E3 09: Games on Demand coming to Xbox 360 photo

At a luncheon following their media briefing today, Microsoft announced an upcoming new digital distribution service coming to Xbox LIVE Marketplace this August, called "Games on Demand."

This new service will allow users to purchase full Xbox 360 retail games directly from their Xbox 360, games that will act exactly like their retail counterparts -- achievements and all -- simply without the box. 30 titles will be available when the service launches. While titles weren't mentioned by name, some titles shown in the demo included Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and BioShock. 

It sounds like pricing will be in line with other retail channels, with Mass Effect being displayed for $19.99 in the demo we were shown. Good news? You won't be locked into using MS Points -- credit card purchases will be accepted. Right now it appears we're looking at back-cataloged items, but the future is open for day-and-date "Games on Demand" and brick and mortar retail releases. 


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32 comments | showing # 1 to 32

SnakeDude4Life's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:54
SnakeDude4Life
Sounds cool, but I like to get the box and sometimes the CE stuff.

Xhumation's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:54
Xhumation
A good if predictable idea. personally I like having something to display on my shelf and the HD on my 360 is not big enough to house many games so I'm gonna skip on this.
aivan's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:57
aivan
Cool, if the price is right.

Isn't Mass Effect going for $20 anyway? On Amazon it is. Why would I buy a digital copy when I can have the physical one for the same price?

Unless ofcourse, I really am that lazy and don't want to leave my house.
Tubatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:58
Tubatic
You know, I'd probabyl re-buy a few games if it means I don't need to throw the disc in...
HarassmentPanda's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:58
HarassmentPanda
I don't understand Microsoft's strategy. They seem to continue offering really compelling content via Xbox Live, but refuse to sell me a large enough hard drive to store it at a fair price.

I bought two Xbox 360s when the largest HDD size was 20 GB--why should I have to spend an additional $300 now to upgrade them both to 120 GB units so that I can actually enjoy this content? Why can I get a 2.5" 60 GB HDD for $16 + shipping online, but a 2.5" 60 GB HDD in some shitty proprietary plastic housing costs me $100? Until I can get a reasonably priced drive for my Xboxes, I won't be touching retail game downloads.
zer0faults's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:59
zer0faults
If I am not saving any money I rather have the box. While not so eco-friendly. I rather know I have a piece of media and not a game that will end up lost with a HDD failure or system sell. While I am sure I will have the option to redownload, at 3gigs ... I rather just pop the disk back in and save the headaches.
andycadaver's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 14:59
andycadaver
Ah, this lack of plastic wrap, green plastic, paper and disc plastic feels like a very Earth friendly approach. Or maybe I'm just overlooking the fact that Microsoft is trying to create a media center that someone will never stop using. Why even get off the couch when pretty much everything a gamer needs is going to be given right to them? You don't need food, you don't need a computer, you don't need plastic, retail stores, waggle sticks, DVD's or even friends! Just buy an Xbox 360 and everything will be okay.
Zippyduda's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:00
Zippyduda
How original! Not.
Zarathustra's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:00
Zarathustra
This sounds exactly like that OnLive service announced at GDC, except it's only for the 360. I wonder if it works the same way...

I could definitely see the appeal of this for catching up on backlogged games that I never got around to buying.
Shadowiii's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:01
Shadowiii
I agree with HarassmentPanda. They are still selling crappy Arcade versions with no Hard Drives, and I only have a 20 GB hard drive and it hardly can fit all my DLC and arcade games. Do they really expect me to shell out $120 for a 120 GB "Xbox" hard drive, when I have A terrabyte external that should work just as good that was only $70?

I'm really hoping they'll announce some HDD price drops, or else I'm screwed.
Cyclone's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:04
Cyclone
Yeah without a price drop for the HDD this announcement is just worthless to me personally...
SilverDragon1979's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:06
SilverDragon1979
And so it begins ....
manasteel88's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:06
manasteel88
if they dropped the hard drives then this is a good thing if not...meh
Black Nexus's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:07
Black Nexus
Well as everyone stated a good idea if it weren't for the HDD issues, I'm still using a 20 gb
So there's no way in hell I could use this( not being on xbl is also an issue).
pedrovay2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:10
pedrovay2003
On the PS3, I can see this working. On the 360, where hard drives of God-awfully expensive and all the hard drives are proprietary, then no, this won't work.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:10
Necros
Sony's been doing this for a few of their releases, good to see MS follow suit. Except that my PS3 has a 300GB hard drive in it, so, you know, it has room. With all the DLC and XBLA games I have, there is little to no room on my puny 120GB hard drive on 360. Sigh...oh well, I prefer having hard copies anyway.
Zarathustra's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:11
Zarathustra
Wait, so this is not a streaming service? If it is, HDD space is not an issue.
gamadaya's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:12
gamadaya
That's cool. I would definitely use this if I had a bigger hard drive. Maybe a price drop is coming though, who knows. I mean, pretty much all of MS's news has been pretty positive so far (fuck you Raiden).
Chronic Logic's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:28
Chronic Logic
I'd rather buy the box game for the same price. Unless they can make it cheaper to justify downloading a virtual copy.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:34
Holyetheline
Sounds like a really cool idea. I like this.
wutang4ever's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:45
wutang4ever
Its cool but the 360 HDD is too expensive... It works on the PS3 since it already comes with a 80 gig HDD. Microsoft needs to lower its HDD price soon.
RiotMonster's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:49
RiotMonster
Woohoo no real reason to see sunlight again!! :]
GohanGVO's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:52
GohanGVO
Amazon is still the reigning king of deals. Try harder, MS.
koehler83's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 15:54
koehler83
I only have a 20GB HDD for my Xbox :/ (Which I think is actually only like 17GB)
HiddenAHB's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 16:35
HiddenAHB
Yeah... about that...
I prefer having a pile of boxes, much more cooler.
Wan Sum Dung's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 16:46
Wan Sum Dung
I guess it'd be a neat idea if they weren't the same price...otherwise, I'd prefer to have the case and all. >.>
whormongr's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 16:47
whormongr
I don't get what's so great about this- no physical backup while hogging the drive- I am a ps3 guy but even still @ 40 gigs I just had to delete a ton of install data just to grab a couple of demos and really got to get around to buying a bigger drive- I can't imagine what 20 gig 360 owners will go through with this- btwn install, dlc and other random stuff you've got to have room for what- 1 game?
Catmur's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 18:31
Catmur
Has Gamestops stock fallen because of this?
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 19:34
DaedHead8
As much as I love downloadable titles, I agree that they would have to be cheaper than their retail counterparts or else I will feel ripped off.
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2009 19:47
Wedge
Considering the ripoff HDD space is on a 360, and the inevitable terrible terms you'll be agreeing to for "owning" them, I couldn't be even remotely interested in this.
pkbunghole's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2009 05:57
pkbunghole
Urgh 120gb was a nice size hardrive, before it was possible to install games, but its really quite small still, a 500gb drive is what is needed (at a reasonable price) for this to work.
Ray Tarded's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2009 09:45
Ray Tarded
The only problem I see the the pricing. As for downloading / hdd space, once you've purchased the dlc, it's yours to download as often as needed. Run out of space on your hdd? Just delete some of the games you've finished. You can always redownload them later (for free) if you want to play them again.

I know, I know... that's not the point. The point is the small hdd's to begin with and the outragous cost of upgrading. It'd be nice if MS would release a tool which would let us format our own hdd's and lock it's content to use with the 360.

Myself, I'd prefer digital over a hard copy anyday. I'm more for functionality than "oh how big my weiner will be when someone see's how many cases I have stacked on a shelf".
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