Just when we were starting to get all excited about Silverlight-powered ads for Mountain Dew and Axe Body Spray littering the Xbox Dashboard, Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson rains on our parade, telling readers that they don't need to sweat.

The Major recently posted, "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."

Aww, come on. Maybe just one "Get Totally Crunchatized With Doritos" ad? Something?

Microsoft's Major Nelson showed off several consoles that the company will be giving to its new partners, now being integrated into Xbox Live. The Major even noted that he may even "liberate" one and asked if anyone was with him. Um, yeah! Now we want Joystiq integration on Xbox just so we can finagle a console in our blue or yellowy/orangish color.

Also, theft is likely the only way to get your hands on one of these custom consoles (unless you've got a high-level insider at one of the involved companies). The Major makes sure to note, "To be VERY clear ... Those are special consoles made for our partners. They are not for sale anywhere." Hmm, five-finger discount it is.

[Thanks, B. Marriner]

Oh, you thought NXE was the last dashboard update you'd be able to sink you mitts into? No dice. Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson said on his show this week that the next update for the 360 would increase the speed of the guide. "Whatever we call it (and it's not going to be called the NNXE), but whatever the next version of the dashboard is called, it's better with a lot of very cool new features," he said. "That update will be out later this year."

We haven't talked about this sort of thing in a while, so we're curious: What updates would you still like to see to the dashboard?

[Via CVG]

After encountering some problems while reopening the virtual doors to Xbox Live yesterday, Major Nelson is reporting everything is back to working order. However, believing everything we read isn't in our job description (even when the source is one we trust), so we put on our Tron suit and hopped into Microsoft's virtual world to find out for ourselves.

Going through Xbox Live and its Marketplace, we were able to do pretty much everything we normally could. We downloaded the trial game for Rocket Riot, then snagged a free gamer picture, and even pulled down the demo of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In fact, we even checked out the Video Marketplace, and viewed a preview for the movie Outlander. So, we think it's safe to say that Xbox Live is back to its old self again. Are any of you still encountering issues?

Start stocking up on canned foods and survival gear, folks. One week from today, the Xbox Live service will be going down for server maintenance. According to Major Nelson's most recent blog post, Microsoft is flipping the "off" switch at 12:01 a.m. on June 16, and is expected to keep things offline for "up to 24 hours." Yes, for an entire day, the vile hatred and foul-mouthedness that consumes the online gaming universe will be freed from its fiberglass prison and released into the physical world. We humbly suggest staying indoors.

[Via 1UP]

With stomachs full of In-N-Out's fatty burger goodness, we're happy to present photographic proof that we were in attendance at Xbox Live's E3 reader meetup. Not that we need any photos to do that, the ketchup stains on our pants and our bloated bellies should be proof enough. Go ahead, take a gander through the photo gallery below to experience Xbox Live community at its greasiest finest!

With the E3 festivities in high gear, the Xbox Live team is having a reader meet up at the In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles. Oh, you want a more specific location? The meet up will be Wednesday, June 3, at the fast food joint located at 7009 Sunset Blvd.

The event will be attended by Major Nelson, e, Notwen and anyone else that decides to make the trip. We likely won't be making it, but tell the Major we said, "Hello."

Correcting the "miscreants" can be an ornery task. Just ask Stephen Toulouse, Xbox Live's virtual bouncer, and the man responsible for resetting your cheatin' heart (er, Gamerscore) back to zero. A recent wave of Gamerscore resets have hit Xbox Live and Toulouse was on Major Nelson's weekly show yesterday to explain what happened. "A couple weeks ago ... we did a Gamerscore reset pass on several Gears of War 2 players who had illegitimately toggled the 'Level 100' Achievement for a map pack that had just come out," Toulouse told the Major.

According to the show, the mathematics behind how quickly people were earning the achievement were, simply put, impossible. "Any time you earn an Achievement you don't actually have to earn, that's against the terms of use," Toulouse said of the official policing policy, something Microsoft has adhered to since the inception of Xbox Live Achievements. And to those of you who have a sibling or friend to blame on your Gamerscore reset, Toulouse feels little sympathy for you. He told the Major that you probably need to address that person and that it's ultimately "your responsibility" to take care of your console and online representation. Tough noogies, indeed!

So what if we've known about this week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week -- NBA Live 09's downloadable "Live 365" feature -- for, oh, say, three weeks now? That doesn't make it any less rebateful at 560 ($7), down from the usual 800 ($10). What does, however, make the now bargain-priced content less valuable, is the impending end of the 2009-2010 NBA season and the relative uselessness of the feature during the off-season.

For a feature that touts "updated player trades, injured players, free agent signings, starting lineups, as well as hot and cold streaks of players," buying the DLC at this moment, just months from the end of the NBA season, might not be the most fiscally responsible idea. How is EA Sports going to push all those hot, up-to-the-minute statistics to you when there isn't a season to push out?

[Thanks, Samit!]

Another week passes and the epic struggle between Call of Duty: World at War and Halo 3 continues. For a second week in a row Halo 3 netted the top slot as the most played Xbox 360 game on Xbox Live -- probably due in part to the public availability of the Mythic Map Pack, released on April 9. On the top played Xbox Live Arcade list OutRun Online Arcade grabbed the top spot while last week's number one, The Dishwasher, dropped to fourth.

In a show of gamers voting with their dollars, the 1600 ($20) XBLA release Puzzle Quest: Galactrix plummeted from fifth spot to tenth while Capcom's Flock! has failed to make a splash on the top ten. "What will knock Halo 3 from the top slot?" you ask. Halo OutRun Arcade... pictured above and coming soon (but, not really). The full top ten lists are available after the break.

Stephen Toulouse, handler of Xbox Live Terms of Service policing, appeared on last Sunday's Major Nelson podcast to speak about how Microsoft is handling the concerns of the GLBT community. He recently sat down with two representatives from GLAAD to speak about the policy and what Microsoft could be doing better. Speaking about the meeting, Toulouse said, "We asked them the question, 'How can we do this better?' ... That dialog was super, super helpful. I think it was a great engagement."

Problems arose in late February when an Xbox Live user named "Teresa" identified her sexual preference in her profile and was subsequently suspended from the service, seemingly due to self-identifying as a lesbian. Microsoft told us at the time that it suspends accounts that identify "any form of sexual orientation" and it seems as though Mr. Toulouse and GLAAD are working toward a more hospitable situation for everyone involved (be they from the GLBT community or not).

We reached out to GLAAD for comment on the meeting and spoke with Justin Cole, the Director of Digital & Online Media, who told us, "They [Microsoft] were very, very receptive and welcoming with all the suggestions. They even admitted that their policy isn't the best in the world. What we, at the end of the meeting, decided is that we're going to have quarterly meetings with them. They're going to be heading out to a panel on homophobia and online gaming in Silicon Valley that we're putting together later this year." We'll be speaking with Mr. Cole in the upcoming days and finding out more about the future of GLAAD's involvement with Xbox Live and, in general, online gaming.

[Via GayGamer.net]

Xbox Live figurehead Major Nelson recently updated his blog with the titillating announcement of a six-week long promotion titled the "Days of Arcade." Similar to last year's "Summer of Arcade" event, the promotion will kick off March 18 with the release of Hasbro Family Game Night, with the following five weeks bringing a number of highly anticipated titles to the Marketplace, including The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Flock, Outrun Online Arcade, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, UNO Rush and Tozai Games' remake of Lode Runner.

Aside from Game Night, we won't know which games are coming which weeks until Major Nelson announces them on the Mondays preceeding their Wednesday releases. However, as the keen-eyed mathmaticians among you have already noticed, with seven titles dropping in six weeks, one XBLA Wednesday will bring us a double dose of downloadable distractions. We've already canceled our Spring Break excursion to Cabo San Lucas in a fit of breathless anticipation.

Here it is, folks. Major Nelson has done us the courtesy of producing the above unboxing video for the red Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 console. New facts have emerged, as we now know the bundle features not only a gaming console, but also a headset, and a power supply. There's even a copy of Resident Evil 5 in there to enjoy. You'll be able to scare up one of your own next month, on Friday the 13th.

Update: A few folks have brought it to our attention that the red Xbox 360 shown in Major's video is one of the newer, more reliable Jasper models. During the video, Major mentions the console includes a Jasper-sized 150 watt power supply and also shows the power plug-in. A plug-in that looks oh so similar to the special Jasper connector.

We aren't sure if all RE5 Xbox 360s will feature Jasper chipsets, but we're nearly certain that the hardware in this video has Jasper innards. Take that knowledge for whatever it's worth.

[Via Engadget]

Today is a day to be proud, Xbox Live enthusiast. For one more week, you've managed to keep the menacing onslaught of undead Nazis at bay, allowing our children to sleep safely and our brains to remain snugly tucked away in our skulls. Humanity's silver-haired reporter, one Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, explains that Call of Duty: World at War was the top game played the week of January 19th on Xbox Live.

He was also able to break down the data for people who used their Xbox for things other than fighting the good fight. Like lazing around and playing Xbox Live Arcade games. See the list of draft dodgers past the jump.

We've got new Castle Crashers DLC coming to Xbox Live Arcade this week for 160 ($2), according to Major Major Major Major (Nelson). As of this writing, no other details were available on his site nor on the Behemoth's blog, but we suspect it's probably the new characters and weapons we heard about in September. Sure, it's not technically a new title, but we'll let them slide this time. After all, it could be worse. As for the week after, you've got The Maw.