Late Night Consoling

Last week, Microsoft kicked off the Thanksgiving weekend by launching its Video Marketplace for Xbox 360, allowing users to rent and purchase feature films and episodes of television shows in high definition and standard definition formats. Unfortunately, the launch was marked with myriad user issues, including slow downloads, Microsoft Points overcharging, and content failing to materialize after points were debited from users' accounts.

Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb posted an update on his blog stating that Xbox Live staff has been working to address the issues. Hryb recommended that any users who have experienced problems call Microsoft support at 1-800-4MYXBOX to receive refunds if appropriate. Hryb's post was followed up last night by an update by a Microsoft staffer on the Xbox.com forums, stating that the service has seen significant improvement over the weekend.

Just weeks after announcing an upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer beta on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live, Microsoft has announced a public multiplayer beta testing program for FASA Studio's upcoming Shadowrun. Though the game is heading to both Xbox 360 and Windows Vista, Microsoft is only accepting applications to beta test the Xbox 360 version of the game; the company noted that it may expand the scope of the program in the future.

To apply, check out the list of instructions Microsoft sent over. The test is expected to begin next month and continue until March 2007, suggesting that the full game will be released in the second quarter of the year.

Nintendo has announced the sell through numbers for Wii's first eight days of availability in North America, with the system moving 600,000 at retail. The company was sure to note that this represents average sales of one per second since the machine's initial availability. "We've shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time--and we still sold out," said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, making reference to Sony's PlayStation 3 launch. "Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we're seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike."

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Wii's flagship launch title, managed an extremely (though expectedly) high attach rate of over 75%, selling 454,000 units to consumers.

Despite the general infrequency of new GameCube exclusives of late, according to online retailer Amazon, North American GameCube owners will be treated to a new-to-the-West cel-shaded top down shoot-em-up known as Radilgy, from developer Milestone. The product page was pointed out by a perceptive NeoGAF poster. The game comes courtesy of publisher O3 Entertainment, which also brought the shooter Chaos Field to North American GameCubes. Amazon states that the game, which has also taken forms in Japanese arcades and on the Dreamcast and PS2, will be released later this week, though considering the lack of information on the page it would not be surprising if that date were inaccurate. The game was released on Japanese GameCubes earlier this year.

Footage from the game is available on YouTube.

Speaking of shoot-em-ups coming to Nintendo systems, Hudson's classic TurboGrafx-16 shmup Super Star Soldier was today made available for purchase through Wii's Virtual Console service. The game runs 600 Wii Points ($6). - Screenshots.

Currently, the Virtual Console store's total number of offerings is just over half of the 30 that have been promised by the end of 2006. Presumably, the number of games to be released per week will increase in order to meet that number by the announced deadline.

Microsoft today sent word of this week's Xbox Live Arcade release, and rather than a new game, it's an update to TikGames' Texas Hold 'em. The update consists of various tweaks to increase the pace of the game, combat online exploits, and improve usability. As usual, the update will be available this Wednesday as of 1:00am Pacific time.

Texas Hold 'em will also be receiving a compatibility update for the Xbox Live Vision camera in early 2007.