Microsoft Shows Retail Games On Demand, Avatar Costumes

Following its downright star-studded press conference this morning, Microsoft hosted a Q&A session with Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten to talk about some announcements that didn't make it into the briefing, and to go into a little more depth on some of the morning's Live-related news.

Microsoft is adding a new service to sell full retail Xbox 360 games over Xbox Live. The service is launching in August with about 30 games, with more coming online every week. Mass Effect, BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, and Crackdown are among the initial wave I can see on the demo screen.

You can buy the games directly with a credit card, and Mass Effect is being shown at a price of $19.99. Wait a minute, that's real American money! No Microsoft points to be seen here. That doesn't mean MS points are disappearing completely, Whitten said.

Whitten reiterated that game-related avatar items are forthcoming. They'll fall into two categories--costumes and props--that will be more elaborate than the current clothing options. He showed a full set of Halo ODST armor as a full costume, and some props like cheerleader pom poms and a remote-control miniature Warthog as bonus items you can dress up your digital self with.

Predictably, an avatar clothing marketplace is also on the way that will sell avatar stuff at prices ranging from free to "slightly more than free." 

This year's Summer of Arcade release schedule will include Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Epic's new Metroid-style side-scrolling action game Shadow Complex, and a new version of the motorcycle physics game Trials HD. Oh yeah, and a new 3D-graphics remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

The company also confirmed The Secret of Monkey Island is coming to Live arcade as a new Special Edition that appears to have new, high-res artwork. Here's a trailer for that.

Microsoft is achieving "instant" 1080P playback on the Xbox 360 with some background downloading and buffering tricks. You'll need around an 8 megabit download to get 1080P with 5.1 audio instantly, though you can still download a movie and watch it later if your connection speed is an issue.

The newly announced Sky partnership will let UK Xbox 360 users watch live television programming like sports events. No such new features are being announced for the States yet, however, though Whitten said users should look at what's being done in the UK as an example of the company's ambition for other territories. So maybe you'll be watching the Super Bowl on your Xbox in a few years' time.

Tiger Woods is the first game that will integrate with your Facebook account, letting you take screenshots on the fly and post them to your Facebook news feed. Like live TV, Whitten said this was just an example of where the company wants to take these features. They won't be widespread across all games or retroactively added to old games, since the integration requires the new API Microsoft is now providing to developers.