Microsoft announced at their E3 keynote last month that Last.fm would be coming to Xbox Live. We're working on an interview with key players at both Last.fm and Microsoft to bring you more details about the collaboration soon. However, we can share one tidbit: today we spoke with Christina DeRosa, a general manager for XBL, and she let us know who the service will be available to.

"Silver users will be able access what we're considering a trial period of three hours a month, which comes with video advertising. Gold users will have unlimited ad-supported access, so they can use it 24 hours a day. There will also be a premium offering on a subscription basis from Last.fm, that will be commercial free and will also have more sophisticated personalization features, like Loved Tracks."

Last.fm's subscription prices are currently $3.00 US (€3 EU or £3 GBP) per month, so you'll have to shell out an additional $36 a year if you want to avoid the ads and have full access to their service. You'll also need a Last.fm account, in case you haven't set one up already. Luckily, that part is free.

It appears as though Microsoft's plans for an August launch of its Games on Demand service is popping up a bit early. Why just this morning, we spotted a listing for the already confirmed Mass Effect (sporting its snazzy new Platinum Hits packaging) in our Xbox.com Marketplace RSS feed. Unsurprisingly, the listing has been removed from the website itself, though RSS feeds won't allow for editing after something has been published.

As 360sync.com rightfully points out, game manuals will be provided virtually through the Xbox.com Marketplace website according to the listing, so you've got that going for ya (which is nice). We're not sure when these puppies are showin' up on XBL for sure, but from the looks of things, we'd say sooner rather than later. For a video tour of the upcoming Games on Demand service, hit the break.

[Via 360sync]

Our mother always used to tell us that "destroying something beautiful is always better if you do it with friends." She was, of course, a known anarchist and generally untrustworthy. You can imagine, then, how interested we are to test her words in the destructive Red Faction: Guerrilla MP demo, which is now available to all 360 and PS3 owners (or at least it will be available when the PSN update drops).

If our mom was on the level (it would be quite the anomaly) and you have a blast, you'll be able to pick up the full game on June 2.

This is one of those weird situations where we're not really sure we're talking to anybody, but here goes: F.E.A.R. 2 is getting some new DLC, the "Armored Front" Map Pack on May 21. For 540 MS points on XBL or $6.99 on PSN, you'll get two maps, "Conductor" and "Decoy", (we've got descriptions after the break) as well as four interchangeable character heads, which is just creepy.

But are you still playing F.E.A.R. 2 multiplayer? Or could Warner Bros. just as productively upload these maps to the darkest recesses of space? Speak up in the comments.

EA's lock on the world of video game football continues with NCAA Football 10, and they're still of the mindset "if it sells well, don't fix it." Plus they're piling on more features with each iteration, and that means soon you'll have a football game in there somewhere, buried under mountains of minigames, training modes, fantasy football managers, mascot uniforms, and cheerleader tryouts.

New to 10 only on the PS3 and Xbox 360 editions will be Season Showdown, where you compete for credits over a four-month long competition by playing games with your chosen team on or offline and answering trivia questions on EA's website. You can also lose points in the Sportmanship category where doing things like going for it on 4th down when you're on your own 10 yard line or kicking an onside kick actually subtract from your credit bank. What about winning one for the gipper?

Also new to the PS3/Xbox versions is TeamBuilder, where you can create your own team by importing your own logos, customizing everything like the uniforms, the stadiums and of course the rosters, where apparently LSU defensive back Tyson Andrus is a white guy. You'll be able to upload your created teams to the EA server, and you can also download any other created teams. We smell a Team Joystiq coming, complete with our old Pong-style logo.

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!]

Though James Gunn's Xbox Live short dropped on the service last year, the director is just now voicing his distaste with the way Microsoft treated his production. The piece, named Sparky & Mikaela, was part of the Horror Does Comedy series released in late 2008. "I wasn't too happy with the version of S&M that was shown on XBox [sic], as they cut the living s**t out of it," he writes.

He also notes that S&M wasn't his first attempt for the game publisher, saying he made "the most balls-out, f*****d up thing [he's] ever shot," named Humanzee, which was flat out rejected by Microsoft. While he voices his steadfast love for the system as a gaming platform, he calls the company, "the most dreadful, non-talent friendly company I've ever worked for" -- and one we're guessing he won't likely work with again.

As an early Easter present, Rare has compiled the video you see above and released it onto Xbox Live. Like the good bloggers we are, we traversed the virtual landscape of Xbox Live to retrieve it for you. In fact, many Bothans ... ah, nevermind.

The video shows off the Stop 'N Swop feature in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, which unlocks content for one of the games granted you achieved a certain goal in the other title, and was promised in the original N64 games, yet never fully implemented. Now, with Banjo-Tooie on its way to Xbox Live Arcade, Rare has had ample time to get the feature into the games, and offers the above video as a teaser on what to expect.

Move over Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, because there's a new top earner on Xbox Live, and it's GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned". Rockstar's Xbox 360-exclusive DLC pack featuring Johnny and his crazy motorbiking buddies has set a record on the service, as its first-day sales revenue has eclipsed all other titles that have debuted on Xbox Live (note: at $20, The Lost and Damned is also more expensive than the previous record holders). Sadly, exact sales figures aren't given, so we don't know how much Microsoft and Rockstar have made off the DLC yet. When we know, we'll be sure to let you know.

GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned" DLC pack is available now on Xbox Live Marketplace for 1600.

The get-kids-voting people behind Rock the Vote recently spread out beyond the limitations of MTV's core demographic and decided to enlist the Xbox Live community, long known to be an e-bastion of enlightened political discourse. So, being the politically (and mathematically!) astute bloggers we are, we took a look at the live poll results, as presented by MyGamerCard.net.

As of press time, Democratic-nom Barack Obama had a commanding lead over Republican oppollnent John McCain, with 4,623 gamerpics in circulation versus just 2,076 – a nearly insurmountable lead of 2,547 gamerpics. That's fine, but what's the real story here? How the pundits and the pollsters – clouded by the corruption and cynicism of a two-party election system – have ignored the dark horse in this election: Gears of War skull face guy, who right now controls a most impressive 87,626 of The People's votes. Ignore the political machine and vote your conscience!

[Via Cheap Ass Gamer]

Hopefully that's enough punctuation in one headline for you. Apparently an eager gamer had sent in some ideas on how to turn their Zombies!!! game, which pretty much keep them rolling in brains and entrails, into an Xbox Live Arcade title, and was told "that they were already underway with this very project." We decided this was something we needed to look into ourselves, given our love of tabletop gaming.

We caught up with Todd A. Breitenstein of Twilight Creations in the extremely slim booth congregation at Comic-Con's gaming portion and he said, "I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of such a project... but do you think it would be cool?" A tile-flipping game was an escape from ravenous zombies plot? Heck yes, we would. While we enjoy getting our game on in Catan, Carcassonne, and even Ticket to Ride, we'd also love to see some good old-fashioned killing of the undead happening as well. Maybe they could even include their flipside game Humans!!! in the deal.

[Thanks, Barry!]

No sooner does Sony (briefly) improve the PS3 user interface with the much-talked-about version 2.4 firmware update, than some at the company feel cocky enough to start badmouthing the competition's interface. Speaking to Next-Gen, PlayStation Network Director of Operations Eric Lempel took the bait, comparing Sony's redesigned PlayStation Store to Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. "I think if I look over at the competitors' UI they may have some issues just displaying content," Lempel said, "and scrolling up and down lists isn't the easiest way to find things." Tell that to McSweeny's, why don'tcha?

Lempel also pointed out that the PlayStation Store interface has "a lot of room with virtual shelf space to put a lot of things," a not-so-subtle jab at Microsoft's recently announced plan to de-list some Xbox Live Arcade games. "Depending on what type of UI you have you can accommodate a lot of titles," Lempel continued, "and specifically with our new store redesign which launched back in April we have a great ability to merchandise a wide variety of titles." That's all well and good, assuming your PS3 is currently working.

[Via X3F]

Not to be trumped in the online flesh-and-blood female host arms race by Sony and Qore's Veronica Belmont, Microsoft has announced a partnership with IGN to bring its popular "IGN Strategize" segments to Xbox Live, hosted by IGN host/celebrity Jessica Chobot (who may or may not lick a 360 controller).

Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's "Major Nelson," made the announcement this morning via his Twitter feed. A brief preview clip of himself and Chobot chatting has subsequently hit the "Inside Xbox" section of Live. IGN Strategize will soon join the other regular Inside Xbox segments and focus on tips, tricks, and strategies, hence the name.