Xbox Live Marketplace a Success…So Far

By Ian Bell May 17, 2006

The Xbox Live Marketplace may have sounded controversial at first thanks to a pay-per-download business model wrapped around exclusive content and arcade games, but with 24 million downloads since the Xbox 360 was introduced last November and counting, it appears that only the critics are complaining. Last week during the Electronic Entertainment Expo AKA E3 1.5 million users logged into the Xbox live marketplace to download exclusive content direct from the show floor, including the latest high-definition game demos and trailers, such as Halo 3, Gears of War and Fable 2; game add-on content, such as Map Packs from Call of Duty 2 and additional quests from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, movie trailers and music videos, such as

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I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?

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Xbox Game Pass loses some horror greats, but gains a kid-friendly racing game

A custom car built drives around Lego 2K Drive.

We've learned what games will come to Xbox Game Pass over the first half of this April, and leading the batch is Lego 2K Drive, a Lego racing game that's a solid alternative to the Forza Horizon games that are also available on Microsoft's subscription service.

Lego 2K Drive was released in May 2023 and is an enjoyable racing game where players can build their own Lego vehicles and race throughout several open worlds. It found the middle ground between the likes of Mario Kart and Forza Horizon and thrives in that space, even if the microtransactions can be a little aggressive for a game aimed at children. Playground Games has not yet confirmed if another Forza Horizon game is in the works at this time, so Xbox fans can play this game to fill that void until a new one is announced.

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You should keep your eye on these promising Xbox indies

A girl picks up the phone in inKONBINI: One Store, Many Stories

While indie video games from smaller developers tend to get more attention on platforms like Steam or Nintendo Switch, that isn't for a lack of trying on Xbox's part. Since 2013, it has run the ID@Xbox program to help fund and highlight games from independent developers all around the world. While some Xbox fans feel uncertain about the platform's future because of Microsoft's multiplatform push, Microsoft reaffirmed its efforts to uplift indie game developers at this year's Game Developers Conference by highlighting some of its upcoming ID@Xbox titles.

At a hands-off presentation held just after GDC, I got a look at several ID@Xbox games coming soon. From more notable games like Still Wakes the Deep from British developer The Chinese Room to small, cozier titles like inKONBINI: One Store, Many Stories from Japanese developer Nagai Industries, these eight ID@Xbox titles are games to watch going forward.
Botany Manor (April 9)

Gaming

I’m secretly hoping that the leaked all-white Xbox Series X isn’t real

An Xbox Series X sits next to both Series S models.

Xbox Microsoft

Xbox’s anticipated mid-generation console refresh might be right around the corner. Over the past few weeks, there have been some rumblings that an all-white Xbox Series X may be coming this year. That rumor kicked into second gear when Exputer posted photos it says it received of the device. The leaked images show a standard Xbox Series X with a white casing. The design is about the same, but there’s one key difference: It doesn’t have a disk drive. If the rumors are proven true, that’ll be the system’s selling point, potentially putting it at a lower price point than the current Series X.