Microsoft News Tracker

As promised earlier in the month, Microsoft yesterday commemorated the 1 year anniversary of the launch of the Xbox 360 by unveiling the first wave of movie and TV show downloads on Xbox Live. One initial review said that the downloads were incredibly slow, but there could be a variety of transitory reasons for that. Speed problems aside, the prices seem reasonable although selection is limited:

High-def TV shows are 240 points ($3) and regular def shows are 160 points ($2). High-def movies are 480 points ($6) and regular movies are 320 points ($4). While classic movies (as in old ones) are 360 points ($4.50) in high-def and regular will be 240 points ($3).

When I checked a few minutes ago there were 48 movies available, including Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. Fancy.

Speaking of the Xbox 360, Microsoft announced that the newly released Gears of War game is setting sales records:

As “Gears of War” continues to emerge throughout the world ahead of the holiday sales rush, the Xbox 360 juggernaut has sold an impressive 1 million copies world-wide in just its first two weeks of release—elevating the game to the fastest-selling title of 2006 and fastest-selling original Xbox game of all time.

The battle continues to rage on Xbox Live as well, as more than 850,000 unique gamers have engaged in 10 million gameplay sessions while unlocking an impressive 7 million Achievements. On top of being the #1 title on Xbox Live, “Gears of War” has also driven new members to the network, as paid registrations per day have skyrocketed more than 50 percent since the game’s launch.

Maybe even better news is that Gears of War has apparently gotten some fence sitters to buy Xbox 360 consoles:

But even more importantly, leading video-game retailer GameStop … commented on its third-quarter conference call that the release of “Gears of War” has resulted in a significant increase in Xbox 360 sales. This is a very important data point, as it indicates that gamers have been looking for a reason to buy the Xbox 360, and now they have one.

To be fair, GameStop reported that sales of a number of game platforms were strong including the Nintendo DS and Sony’s PS2 and PSP. GameStop is also expected to profit this quarter from PS3 and Nintendo Wii sales.

No, I don’t mean that it’s the USA’s Thanksgiving holiday. It’s also the day when Microsoft had to turn in a complete set of interoperability documentation to the European Commission or face the wrath of Neelie Kroes. Apparently Microsoft met the deadline, but it still remains to be seen if the output will be acceptable:

Microsoft Corp. filed revised documents with the European Commission on Thursday aimed at complying with a landmark antitrust decision from 2004, the European Commission said.

Microsoft met a deadline set by Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, but it will be months before it is clear whether the submission is sufficient to avoid a fine that could be as high as 3 million euros ($3.9 million) a day.

The official Microsoft statement is here. Next step:

The European Commission, which fined Microsoft euro280.5 million (US$357 million) in July for not providing the “complete and accurate” interface data, said the technical manual can now be reviewed by “potential licensees” — companies who make software for the workgroup server market, such as Sun, Novell and IBM among others.

“In parallel the monitoring trustee will test the documentation in order to verify its accuracy,” it said.

“The commission will decide in due course whether or not Microsoft is in compliance with the obligation to provide complete and accurate technical documentation taking into account comments from the potential licensees and advice from the trustee.”

EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said this would likely take “months rather than weeks.”

It’s just like leftover Thanksgiving turkey in providing enjoyment if not variety for a long time to come.