Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers. Titles range from classic console and arcade video games, to new games designed from the ground up for the service. Games available through the XBLA service range from $5–20 in price, and as of May 30, 2012, there have been 499 Xbox Live Arcade titles released for the Xbox 360.

Prior to the Xbox 360, "Xbox Live Arcade" was the name for an online distribution network on the original Xbox, which was replaced by the Xbox Live Marketplace.

History[link]

Xbox[link]

The Xbox Live Arcade service was officially announced on May 12, 2004, at Microsoft's E3 press conference^[1] and launched on December 3, 2004, for the original Xbox game console.^[2] The XBLA software was obtained by ordering it on Microsoft's website.^[3] It was sent by mail on a disc that also contained a free version of the Ms. Pac-Man video game.^[4]

To generate greater publicity for the service, the disc was also distributed with special issues of the Official Xbox Magazine and as part of the Forza Motorsport Xbox console bundle.^[4][5] The service launched with six titles and expanded its library to twelve titles by the end of the year.^[6] Once connected to Xbox Live, customers could purchase additional titles by using a credit card, or download a limited trial version of a game.^[4] Prices for the games range from USD $4.99 to $14.99.^[3]

Xbox 360[link]

On November 22, 2005, XBLA was relaunched on the Xbox 360. The service was integrated into the main Dashboard user interface, and the Xbox 360 hard drives were bundled with a free copy of Hexic HD.^[7] Every Arcade title on the Xbox 360 supports leaderboards, has 200 Achievement points, and high-definition 720p graphics. They also have a trial version available for free download. These demos are playable and most of them offer only a fraction of the levels, modes, and content of the full game. A full version of the game must be purchased to allow the user to upload scores to the leaderboards, unlock achievements, play online multiplayer (with a few exceptions), and download bonus content.^[8] Several new features and enhancements have been added through software updates including a friends leaderboard, additional sorting options, faster enumeration of games, an auto-download feature for newly released trial games, and "Tell a Friend" messages.^[9] The original size limit imposed by Microsoft for Xbox Live Arcade games was 50MB, in order to ensure any downloaded game could fit on a 64MB Xbox memory unit. The limit has since been changed to 150 MB, then 350 MB, and now 2 GB, the latter of which is a technical limitation of the system (rather than an arbitrary limit imposed by Microsoft).^[10]

On July 12, 2006, Microsoft launched the "Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays" program, which promised a new Arcade game to be launched every Wednesday for the rest of that Summer.^[11] When that summer ended, Microsoft announced that new titles for XBLA would also be released on Wednesdays.^[12] In order to promote the service in retail, Microsoft released Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 as a compilation disc of six games.^[13] On October 18, 2007, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Arcade console SKU which includes full versions of Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Uno.^[14] On May 22, 2008, Microsoft's general manager of Xbox Live, Marc Whitten, detailed changes for the service that included increasing the size limit of the games to 350MB and improving the way digital rights management is handled.^[15] Furthermore, Microsoft created an internal games studio to create "high quality digital content" for XBLA.^[15]

On July 30, 2008, Microsoft announced the XBLA Summer of Arcade. Anyone who downloaded one of the titles released over August, (Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Braid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Galaga Legions and Castle Crashers) would be entered into a prize draw with a grand prize of 100,000 Microsoft Points, 12 Month Xbox Live Gold subscription, and an Xbox 360 Elite console. Another Summer of Arcade began the next year on July 22, 2009. Anyone who purchases all the titles released, ('Splosion Man, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, Trials HD and Shadow Complex,) will receive an 800 point reward. The next Summer of Arcade began on July 21, 2010, and features Limbo, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Monday Night Combat and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.^[16] A "Shopping Spree" promotion ended November 1, 2010, in which anyone who spent over 2400 points during October 2010 received an 800 point reward.

Sales Milestones[link]

By March 10, 2006, three million downloads had been made.^[17]By January 30, 2007, that number had grown to 20 million.^[18] The service reached 25 million downloads on March 6, 2007^[19] with 45 million downloads projected by the end of 2007.^[20]

On March 27, 2007, Microsoft declared Uno to be the first Xbox Live Arcade game to exceed one million downloads.^[21] Nearly 70 percent of Xbox 360 owners connected to Xbox Live have downloaded an Arcade title^[22][23] with the attach rate being 6–7 titles per user.^[24]

Original games typically receive 350,000 downloads in the first month.^[25] Titles have an average 156% financial return over twelve months with the first two months of sales accounting for just 35% of total volume. Average conversion rate (from trial download to purchase) across all titles is 18%^[20] (a low of 4% and high of 51%).^[25] On September 19, 2007, Microsoft announced the top ten Arcade downloads worldwide as Aegis Wing, Uno, Texas Hold 'em, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Bankshot Billiards 2, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade, Worms, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Contra.^[22]

Pricing and releases[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2012)

Xbox Live Arcade games are purchased using Microsoft Points (MSP). Titles range in price from 200MSP to 1600MSP, with the vast majority selling for 800MSP and under. The games are generally aimed towards more casual gamers, striving for "pick up and play" appeal.^[23] Several games were temporarily free, including Texas Hold 'em, Carcassonne, and Undertow.^[26][27][28] Others are permanently free including Aegis Wing, a game created by three Microsoft interns,^[29] TotemBall, a game that can only be played with the Xbox Live Vision camera,^[30] Yaris (a Toyota-backed advergame),^[31] and Dash of Destruction, which was released on December 17, 2008, as a Doritos advergame.^[32] On November 30, 2007, Microsoft introduced "Xbox Live Arcade Hits", where games are permanently reduced in price (a similar concept to their "Platinum Hits" for regular retail Xbox 360 games).^[33] As of July 22, 2008, current Arcade Hits include Lumines Live!, Assault Heroes, Zuma, Doom, Bankshot Billiards 2, Small Arms, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, and Marble Blast Ultra.^[34]

On June 24, 2011 gaming blog 1UP.com reported that Microsoft was preparing to bring free-to-play games to Xbox Live and said games will include a microtransaction service.^[35]

Removal of games from the service[link]

In May 2008, Microsoft announced that games older than 6 months would become eligible for delisting from the service if they had a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6%. The objective was to "focus the catalogue more on larger, more immersive games and make it much easier to find the games you are looking for."^[36] However, Microsoft has never removed a game using the method, despite how some of the removed games received awful reception, it was never because of the reception.

In February 2010, it was announced that nine games from Midway Games would no longer be available for purchase, "due to publisher evolving rights and permissions", (even though Sony's PlayStation Store never did as such with its own downloadable Midway games) referring to the purchase by Warner Bros. of some assets of Midway Games, including certain rights related to the nine games.^[37] Similar fates befell the XBLA version of Double Dragon when its publisher went under.

Yaris was an advergame that was pulled from the system after a year due to the timely nature of its contents.

id Software's Doom was pulled from the catalogue due to iD (creators of Doom) being purchased by publisher Zenimax Media, and as such the publishing rights were removed from then publisher Activision^[38]. As of 19th of January 2012, Doom was restored to Xbox Live Arcade under new publisher Bethesda^[39].

In Summer 2011, Ubisoft announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled was due to be removed from the Xbox LIVE service on June 30th, 2011 due to an expired license.^[40]

Chessmaster Live has also been removed.

List of games[link]

See also[link]

	Microsoft portal
	Xbox portal
	Video games portal

• Xbox Live Marketplace
• List of Xbox 360 games
• List of Xbox Originals
• List of Xbox Live Arcade games
• Virtual Console
• PlayStation Network
• Xbox Live Indie Games

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

individual

Xbox Live (trademarked as Xbox LIVE^[2]) is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in November 2002. An updated version of the service became available for the Xbox 360 console at that system's launch in September 2005, and is a competitor of Sony's PlayStation Network.

The service was extended in 2007 on the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, which makes most aspects of the system available on Windows computers. Microsoft has announced plans to extend Live to other platforms such as handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Live Anywhere initiative.^[3] With Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Phone, full Xbox Live functionality is integrated into new Windows Phones that launched since late 2010.^[4] The service shut down for the original Xbox in May 2010.

The Xbox Live service is available as both a free and subscription-based service, known as Xbox Live Free^[5] and Xbox Live Gold respectively, with several features such as online gaming restricted to the Gold service. Prior to October 2010, the free service was known as Xbox Live Silver.^[6]

History[link]

As Microsoft developed the original Xbox console, online gaming was designated as one of the key pillars for the greater Xbox strategy. Sega had made an attempt to capitalize on the ever-growing online gaming scene when it launched the Dreamcast video game console in 1999, including online support as standard, called SegaNet and Dreamarena. Nevertheless, due to lack of widespread broadband adoption at the time, the Dreamcast shipped with only a dial-up modem while a later-released broadband adapter was neither widely supported or widely available. Downloadable content was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection and the size limitations of a memory card. The online features, while praised as innovative, were largely considered a failure, and the Dreamcast's immediate competitor, the PlayStation 2, did not initially ship with built-in networking capabilities.

Microsoft, however, hoped that the Xbox would succeed where the Dreamcast had failed. The company determined that intense online gaming required the throughput of a broadband connection and the storage space of a hard disk drive, and thus these features would be vital to the new platform. This would allow not only for significant downloadable content, such as new levels, maps, weapons, challenges and characters, to be downloaded quickly and stored, but also would make it possible to standardize bandwidth intensive features such as voice communication. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates both had a vision of making premium download content and add-ons that would attract many new customers. Based on this reasoning, the console included a standard Ethernet port (10/100) in order to provide connectivity to common broadband networks, but did not include a modem or any dial-up support, and its online service was designed to support broadband users only. Critics scoffed at the idea, citing poor broadband adoption at the turn of the century.^[7]

When the Xbox launched on November 15, 2001, the as-yet unnamed online service was destined for a Summer 2002 deployment.^[8] Xbox Live was finally given a name at E3 2002 when the service was unveiled in its entirety. Sound-dampened booths and broadband-connected Xbox consoles—featuring an early version of Unreal Championship—demonstrated the service on the show floor. The Epic title was one of the flagship titles for the service, which was slated for a debut on November 15, 2002, marking the anniversary of the Xbox launch. Microsoft announced that 50 Xbox Live titles would be available by the end of 2003.^[9] Utilizing the required broadband bandwidth, Xbox Live featured a unified gaming "Friends List", as well as a single identity across all titles (regardless of the publisher), and standardized voice chat with a headset and communication, a feature that was still in its infancy.

Leading up to the launch, Microsoft enlisted several waves of beta testers to improve the service and receive feature feedback. The first wave of beta testers were given Revolt! (which never was released officially) and NFL Fever to beta test. Once beta testing concluded, Microsoft sent these beta testers a translucent orange memory card, a headset carrying case, and a beta tester tshirt with the slogan "I have great hands". When the service debuted, it lacked much of the functionality that later titles included, but Xbox Live grew and evolved on the Xbox and many aspects of the service were included with the Xbox 360 console out of the box, rather than through a later update. Microsoft's 5000th patent was Live-related and gave Xbox 360 users access to watch other gamers compete against each other over Xbox Live.^[10]

The packaging for playable Xbox Live titles on the original Xbox console featured the trademark gold bar underneath the Xbox header. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Brute Force sported a Live "bubble" design, as they only featured downloadable content. This was changed later, wherein all Xbox Live titles included the universal gold Live bar. By the time of the Xbox 360, all titles were required to provide at least a limited form of Xbox Live "awareness".

On November 15, 2007, Microsoft celebrated Xbox Live's 5th anniversary by offering its then over 8 million subscribers the title Carcassonne free of charge and awarding gamers who had subscribed to Live since its inception 500 free Microsoft Points. Due to intermittent service interruptions during late December 2007 and early January 2008, Microsoft promised to offer a free Xbox Live Arcade game to all Xbox Live users as compensation, in an open letter to all Xbox Live members from Mark Whitten, Xbox LIVE General Manager.^[11] Increased demand from Xbox 360 purchasers (the largest number of new user sign-ups in the history of Xbox Live) was given as the reason for the downtime.^[12] On January 18, 2008, Microsoft announced Undertow would be offered free to both Gold and Free members for the week starting January 23 through January 27 as compensation.^[13]

On November 12, 2009, Dennis Durkin, COO of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, announced that November 10, 2009, the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 marked the busiest day ever on Xbox Live, with over two million active users simultaneously.^[14]

On February 5, 2010, Marc Whitten announced that Xbox Live had reached 23 million members.^[15] That same day, Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, announced on his blog that Xbox Live support for the original Xbox would be discontinued on April 15, 2010. This included online play through backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360 and all downloadable content for original Xbox games.^[16]

In August 2010, Microsoft announced an increase to the cost of Xbox Live Gold in several countries by 20%, for the first time since its inception.^[17][18][19]

It was announced on June 10, 2011 that the service is going to be fully integrated into Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8.^[20]

In October 2011, Microsoft announced live streaming cable television with various providers.^[21]

On December 6, 2011 Microsoft launched an update for Xbox Live that includes custom applications from world leading TV and entertainment content providers.^[22]

Xbox Live features[link]

Windows Live Messenger allows users of Xbox Live, PCs (Both on the Windows and Macintosh platforms), and Windows Mobile devices to connect and directly message each other. It is possible for eight people to chat with one another at one time, while playing games, listening to music, or watching movies. This complements the existing voice and video chat of Xbox Live. Users will see at a glance if their existing contacts on Windows Live Messenger have Gamertags. As of the December 4, 2007 dashboard update, Windows Live Messenger on Xbox Live is now available to child accounts if the user is 13 years of age or older.

On September 4, 2007, Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit, which included a small QWERTY keypad known as the Xbox 360 Chatpad that connects directly into the Xbox 360 controller, either wired or wireless, to support text and instant messaging.

Current features[link]

• Virtual avatars representing the user's likeness.
• Achievements earned during gameplay.
• Gamerscores amounting the total of a user's Achievement points.
• Rep voted by other users preferring or avoiding the user. Rep defaults to five stars over time after the user has been preferred by at least one other user.
• Friends list displaying the user's chosen friends of up to 100.
• Recent players list displaying the last 50 players the user has met.
• Complaint system allowing users to file reports of other users that have broken Xbox Live Terms of Use.
• Windows Live Messenger integration.
• Xbox Live Marketplace offering downloadable content for games, music and movies.
• Voice and Video chat.
• Multiplayer gameplay for up to four players via system link or Xbox Live.
• Cross-platform multiplayer with Windows gamers on select games via Games for Windows - Live
• Matchmaking depending on the user's cumulative gamerscore, rep, location, language and gamer zone.
• Party system for up to eight users for playing games and watching movies.
• Family settings controlling younger users' exposure to other users.
• Inside Xbox video newsletter detailing Xbox 360 news, events, products, interviews and games. Content is streamed directly from the Xbox 360 Dashboard.
• Netflix video service offering unlimited streaming for thousands of television shows and movies.
• Zune video marketplace offering streaming of video content instantly in 1080p HD with 5.1 surround sound.
• Last.fm music streaming service offering artist radio stations and related music.
• Halo Waypoint multimedia hub for all Halo-related content.
• Game Room virtual arcade space offering a library of classic retro games.
• MSN entertainment portal providing the latest news and gossip in the world of celebrities, music and movies.
• ESPN live and on-demand sports service offering streaming of up to 3,500 sporting events.
• AT&T U-Verse and Telus Optik TV set-top box functionality.
• Windows Phone compatibility allowing users to manage their Xbox Live profiles, send and receive messages, play video games, as well as earn achievements exclusive to Windows Phone titles.
• Zune music marketplace offering unlimited streaming of music and music videos.
• Avatar Kinect social media service allowing users to interact with one another and create media using their Avatars.
• Hulu Plus video streaming service offering commercially-supported television and movie content from networks such as NBC, Fox and ABC (US).
• Kinect Fun Labs development hub allowing users to play, create and share their own Kinect experiences.
• Bing search engine allowing users to search for any piece of content on their console.
• Cloud storage allowing users to access their profiles and save data from any console.
• iHeartRadio streaming service, which streams over 800 US-based radio stations^[23] (requires Gold membership and iHeartRadio account)
• YouTube application allowing for unlimited access to shared video content (requires Gold membership and YouTube account).
• IPTV service offering region-specific television content.
• Epix offering movies-on-television content.
• Dailymotion allowing users to access television and movie content (requires Gold Membership and Dailymotion account).
• UFC on Xbox Live allows users to view pay-per-view events in 1080p HD, access a library of live and on-demand video content, connect with friends to predict fight results and have the ability to compare fighter statistics and records.
• MLB.tv offering out-of-market Major League Baseball games (requires Gold membership and MLB.tv subscription)
• Live event streaming, including the Revolver Golden Gods, Miss Teen USA, and the iHeartRadio Music Festival (requirements vary by event)
• Various TV on-demand services which are available to all users (no Gold subscription required), albeit restricted by region. Such services include:
  • Australia: ABC iView
  • Germany: ZDF Mediathek^[24]
  • UK: BBC iPlayer^[25]
• Various TV on-demand services which require a Gold subscription. Access to these services varies by region and some require a separate subscription to the provider. Such services include:
  • Australia: SBS on Demand and Foxtel On Xbox Live
  • France: Canal+^[26]
  • UK: Demand 5, 4oD and Sky Go
  • US: Xfinity On Demand and Verizon FiOS

Upcoming features[link]

• Skype chat engine allowing users to video chat and voice chat with each content (requires Gold membership, Skype account and Kinect).
• Miss Universe on Xbox Live allows users to view the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants in 1080p HD, access a library of video content from the Miss Universe Organization and all 3 pageant winners, vote using the Kinect's voice features and have the ability to view delegate profiles (requires Gold membership; certain content may also require Club Universe Diamond membership).

User information[link]

Gamertag[link]

A Gamertag is the universal name for a player's username on Microsoft's Xbox Live. A Gamertag used online must be unique and can be up to 15 characters in length, including numbers, letters, and spaces. Gamertags can be changed using a premium service on the Xbox 360 console (for a price of 800 Microsoft Points), the system supports 8 Xbox Live-enabled profiles per memory unit and 32 profiles on the hard drive.^[27]

A player's Gamertag account status can be checked using a variety of online tools, which is useful especially when looking for a new Gamertag, or confirming that a Gamertag exists. Using a valid Gamertag, any player can be located and messaged from within Live. There are also several websites which allow users of Gamertags to upload photos and information about themselves.

Gamertags can be used in a variety of places, including the original Xbox, the Xbox 360, Games for Windows – Live, Zune, and XNA Creators Club.

Gamertags also contain avatar images (or "gamer pictures"), often associated with certain games or game characters. Individual gamerpics cost between 15 and 20 Microsoft Points, but they are usually bundled into packs; packs of four or five gamerpics usually cost 80 Microsoft Points, while packs of ten typically cost 150. "Personal" pictures (which are only shown when friends view a profile) can be taken with an Xbox Live vision camera. It is also possible to take "Public" pictures (which are shown to all that view a profile, unless the user has a different "personal" picture set) can be taken of avatars while using the avatar editor

Users were formally forbidden to use strings such as "gay" or refer to homosexuality in any way in their Gamertag or profile due to it being considered "content of a sexual nature", even if the string occurs in a legitimate surname. Incidents where a woman was suspended from the service for identifying herself as a lesbian, and an incident where a male user was suspended for using his surname "Gaywood" in his username attracted controversy.^{[28][29][30][31][32]} In February 2009, Xbox Live Lead Program Manager for Enforcement Stephen Toulouse clarified the service's policy on sexual identification, stating that "Expression of any sexual orientation [...] is not allowed in Gamertags" but that the company is "examining how we can provide it in a way that won't get misused."^[33] Changes announced in March 2010 permit Xbox Live members to express sexual orientation in their gamertags and profiles.^[34]

Gamerscore[link]

The Gamerscore (G) is an achievements system that measures the number of Achievement points accumulated by a user with a LIVE profile. These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches.

Initially, retail Xbox 360 games offered up to 1,000G spread over a variable number of Achievements, while each Xbox Live Arcade title contained 12 Achievements totaling 200G. On February 1, 2007, Microsoft announced on their Gamerscore Blog some new policies that developers must follow related to Gamerscore and Achievements in future releases.^[35] All regular disc-based games must have 1,000 Gamerscore points in the base game; the title can ship with fewer than 1,000 points, but anything added later must be free. Game developers also now have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content every quarter after the first year of release (for a total of 1,750 points). Xbox Live Arcade titles must have 200 Gamerscore and may add up to 50 points via downloadable content (for a total of 250 points).^[36]

On May 26, 2007, Halo 2 was the first Games for Windows title to feature Achievements, which counted towards a player's Gamerscore.

On March 25, 2008, Microsoft cracked down on "Gamerscore cheaters" (those who used external tools to artificially inflate their Gamerscore), and reduced their Gamerscores to zero without the option to recover the scores that had been "earned", and branded the player by denoting on their Gamertag that they were a "Cheater".^[37]

The development of the Gamerscore system has created a new niche in the internet economy. Many websites have been created to provide gamers with tips and tricks for getting achievement points. Some sites are solely devoted to these achievement guides, and some blogs provide gaming guides in addition to their other content.

Gamercard[link]

The Gamercard is an information panel used to summarize one's user profile on Microsoft's Xbox Live. The pieces of information on a Gamercard include:

• Gamertag (in front a silver or gold bar)(active gold members who have had Xbox Live for less than a year feature small bubbles.Anything a year or over will feature the number of years.)
• Gamer picture (avatar)
• Reputation
• Gamerscore
• Gamer Zone
• Recent games played

A player's Gamercard can be viewed via the Xbox 360 Dashboard, or online through Xbox.com. The top bar that displays the Gamertag is shown in front of either a silver or gold bar which designates if the gamer has an Xbox Live Free or Gold subscription (respectively). If the gamer is part of the Xbox 360 Launch Team, the top bar will also have additional text stating "Launch Team" in the background. Third party sites allow users to post a rendered version of their Gamercard as a small Flash applet or JPEG image on any website or Internet forum.

Similarly, Mac OS X users can download widgets that display their Xbox Live Gamercard within Mac OS X's Dashboard. These can be downloaded onto any Mac with OS X 10.4 or higher via Apple's widget download page.

There are four Gamer Zones; Recreation is for casual gamers, Family is for family-friendly gamers (without profanity, etc.), Pro is for competitive gamers who enjoy a challenge, and Underground is for no-holds-barred gaming where anything goes (as long as it does not violate the Xbox Live Terms of Use). However, in practice these gamer zones are displayed only on the Gamercard of the player, and do not tend to affect the gameplay experience or the matching of players in online games.

TrueSkill[link]

TrueSkill^[38] is a ranking and matchmaking system which was first implemented as part of the Xbox 360's Live services. Developed at Microsoft Research Cambridge (United Kingdom), the TrueSkill ranking system is now used in over 150 titles for the Xbox 360^{[citation needed]} and in the Games for Windows – Live game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. It uses a mathematical model of uncertainty to address weaknesses in existing ranking systems such as Elo. For example, a new player joining million-player leagues can be ranked correctly in fewer than 20 games. It can predict the probability of each game outcome, which enhances competitive matchmaking, making it possible to assemble skill-balanced teams from a group of players with different abilities.

When matchmaking, the system attempts to match individuals based on their estimated skill level. If two individuals are competing head-to-head and have the same estimated skill level with low estimate uncertainty, they should each have roughly a 50% chance of winning a match. In this way, the system attempts to make every match as competitive as possible.

In order to prevent abuse of the system, the majority of ranked games have relatively limited options for matchmaking. By design, players cannot easily play with their friends in ranked games. However, these countermeasures have failed due to techniques such as alternate account(s) and system flaws where each system has its own individual trueskill rating. To provide less competitive games, the system supports unranked Player Matches, which allow individuals of any skill level to be paired (often including "guests" on an account). Such matches do not contribute to the TrueSkill rating.

Clans are a popular idea for gamers to create a group with their friends online and play together. These clans can also play against other clans, called clan battles. Clan battles have become very popular with the Xbox live family.

[edit] New Xbox Experience

At E3 2008, Microsoft announced that all Xbox 360 owners would receive a new dashboard update, titled New Xbox Experience (NXE), on November 19, 2008^[39] that has added many new features. Though the new interface is generally downloaded when a new Xbox is connected to Xbox Live, some games, including Fight Night Round 4 and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, will also update it.

One feature is the ability to watch standard quality and 720p streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix through the Xbox 360. This feature is only available in the US and Canada, and requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription and Netflix Unlimited. Users are also able to watch Netflix titles with their friends in a party of up to 8 players. Xbox Live members have the ability to view over 12,000 movies and episodes. Users can browse for titles based on their interests and Netflix ratings with the Xbox interface. Users no longer need to visit the website to choose the content to watch.^[40][41] When a player parties up with a group, they also have the ability to join games together, chat together or view a slideshow of photos.

Another feature gives players the ability to create Avatars. Players are able to customize avatars by changing body shape, facial features, hair and clothes, as well as new clothing being released from time to time.^[42] Xbox Live requires that users select an avatar.^[39] Another feature is the ability to install an entire game disc onto the Xbox 360's hard drive, which decreases loading times, and significantly reduces noise due to the game being read from the hard drive and not the louder disc drive (similar to the PS2 HD LOADER Feature). For most games this feature also reduces the amount of time spent reading the disc, thereby helping to extend the life-span of the optical drive mechanism.^[43]