The future of Xbox Live: Virtual console, free Xbox Live Gold & Goldeneye?

Aaron Greenberg, responsible for the Xbox Live Marketplace content, was interviewed in a podcast of VGM Daily, and some interesting news surfaced:
First of all, the Xbox 360 is getting a “Virtual console” feature similar to what Nintendo planned for the Revolution, meaning older games (from other platforms) will be downloadable for a small price. The service will be officially announced at E3.

Greenberg also talked about how Microsoft is hoping to get the N64 cult-classic GoldenEye 64 onto Xbox Live Arcade. This kind of contradicts earlier statements made by MS that XBLA will be focused on “coffee break” games, that are easy to pick up and provide a satisfying gaming experience within 10-15 minutes. It’s not clear whether this is related to the “Virtual console” service or not.

Also, a big Xbox Live update is planned for the end of Spring – will this possibly contain one of the things mentioned above?

And despite the appearance of movie trailers on the Marketplace, full movie downloads are, according to Greenberg, not planned. However, more detatils about the previously announced partnership with DirectTV will be announced soon.
The possibility of a free Xbox Live Gold membership sponsored through advertisements was brought up, but it’s nothing more than a possibility yet – with more free Xbox Live Gold time for everyone coming up in May, it might be a way to lure more gamers into a subscription.

Finally, Greenberg revealed a bunch of interesting Xbox Live statistics. According to them, every second Xbox 360 owner is also connected to live, and 85% of those have downloaded content via the Marketplace. With 10 million downloads, the Marketplace download numbers at launch exceeded even those of iTunes.

Aaron Greenberg, responsible for the Xbox Live Marketplace content, was interviewed in a podcast of VGM Daily, and some interesting news surfaced:
First of all, the Xbox 360 is getting a “Virtual console” feature similar to what Nintendo planned for the Revolution, meaning older games (from other platforms) will be downloadable for a small price. The service will be officially announced at E3.

Greenberg also talked about how Microsoft is hoping to get the N64 cult-classic GoldenEye 64 onto Xbox Live Arcade. This kind of contradicts earlier statements made by MS that XBLA will be focused on “coffee break” games, that are easy to pick up and provide a satisfying gaming experience within 10-15 minutes. It’s not clear whether this is related to the “Virtual console” service or not.

Also, a big Xbox Live update is planned for the end of Spring – will this possibly contain one of the things mentioned above?

And despite the appearance of movie trailers on the Marketplace, full movie downloads are, according to Greenberg, not planned. However, more detatils about the previously announced partnership with DirectTV will be announced soon.
The possibility of a free Xbox Live Gold membership sponsored through advertisements was brought up, but it’s nothing more than a possibility yet – with more free Xbox Live Gold time for everyone coming up in May, it might be a way to lure more gamers into a subscription.

Finally, Greenberg revealed a bunch of interesting Xbox Live statistics. According to them, every second Xbox 360 owner is also connected to live, and 85% of those have downloaded content via the Marketplace. With 10 million downloads, the Marketplace download numbers at launch exceeded even those of iTunes.

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