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If you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription and have yet to experience the joys of Shadow Complex, it's time for you to stop reading this post. You see, Shadow Complex has been marked down to 800 for one week and one week only. It was already a steal at 1200 ($15) and $10 is absolutely ludicrous. Go buy it. Now. We'll even help you out with a handy shortcut link. You should click it. Your friends will make fun of you if you don't.

Shortcut: Add Shadow Complex to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

Worms 2: Armageddon here! Get your Worms 2: Armageddon here! Worms for sale! Worms, I say! Low, low prices -- one day only! 400 spacebucks or five Earth dollars, whichever comes first! Cutesy, creepy, blasty, explodey Worms here! Buy today and get the Buffalo of Lies with your order! If you can find a better deal, you're a magician! Get 'em while they're cheap! Tell your friends, and come back tomorrow for another Xbox Live deal. Only ten days left!

Announced earlier this month (though fate had ensured its arrival since the beginning), Brütal Legend's second pack of downloadable content landed on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network this week.

In celebration of the release, Double Fine has handed over a brand new trailer for the grab bag of multiplayer maps, skins for Eddie Riggs, and items with which to brutalize (as seen above). As we previously noted, the DLC also gives players the opportunity to endow Mt. Rockmore with Tim Schafer's beautiful face. If that doesn't sell you on it, we can't imagine what would.

Though we had little more than names to go on before, Ubisoft let some details slip today about the two forthcoming chunks of Assassin's Creed 2 DLC, due at the end of January and end of February respectively. In "Battle of Forli" ($3.99), you'll defend Forli (surprise) from the Orsi brothers with the aid of Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza. With six new memories, the DLC will allow you to "accomplish a daring rescue and prevent the Piece of Eden from falling into the hands of the Templars." Also, the flying machine is back!

In "Bonfire of the Vanities" ($4.99), you and Machiavelli will free Florence from "the grip of the mad monk Savonarola" by offing his underlings in ten memories. There's also a new district of Florence, and a new move for Ezio: the spring-jump, as if his similarity to Luigi wasn't already striking enough.

As many have speculated, the two additions fill in the missing sequences (12 and 13) from the game, meaning the DLC is a great buy for people who love murder and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It looks like the tug-of-war is at an end. After first releasing the 360 Live iPhone app for $1.99 and subsequently being lambasted by Microsoft, creator Xavier Larrea has released a free version on the iTunes App Store. As the app now complies with Microsoft's policy that all Xbox Live iPhone apps must be free, 360 Live should be here to stay. If you'd like to take it for a spin, it can be downloaded at the link below.

360 Live (Free):

[Thanks, WhyleKat]

As promised, Viva Piñata: Party Animals is now available on Xbox Live Games on Demand. Before you get too excited, just remember that Party Animals is the Viva Piñata themed party game. It doesn't involve the wonderfully addicting gardening and breeding aspects of the original Viva Piñata or its sequel, Trouble in Paradise (which is also available on demand, incidentally). That said, if you're looking for a decent game for the kids, you could probably do worse. In the US of A, the game can be had for $19.99. Be sure to check Xbox Live Marketplace for the price in other regions.

Shortcut: Add Viva Piñata: Party Animals to your Xbox 360 download queue (via Xbox.com)

[Via Major Nelson]

The man known as Major Nelson has been so kind as to remind us all that child accounts for Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm have now been enabled for US Xbox 360 users. Once granted parental permission, Xbox Live child account holders over the age of 13 will be able to access these applications. The Major reminds everyone to make sure to select automatic logins for all the applications, otherwise you will be prompted for parental permission every time an app is launched. We'd have to agree with his advice. After all, Mom coming in to give you and your friends Tang and lemon squares: Cool. Mom coming in to log you into Facebook: Not cool.

Now that the exploding men and unrelenting rain of crates have been taken care of, it would seem a new issue has arisen in Modern Warfare 2. Specifically, a bug in the Xbox Live matchmaking assignments is reportedly dumping playlist searchers into private matches. (Nothing's worse than being teamed with the lowest ranking players, after all.)

Penny Arcade's Gabe tweeted (warning: foul language through link) that he had encountered the issue several times. Meanwhile, Infinity Ward's man in the trenches, Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling, confirmed the issue is known and that a fix is currently in the works.

[Via Gaming Union]

Source - cwgabriel [Twitter] (NSFW)
Source - Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling [Twitter]

ZaaM IT, creator of the Halo 3 and ODST armor generators, is at it again, this time with a nifty app for Windows Mobile devices. Called WM Live, the application allows users to sync up their Xbox Live friends lists and check out their own stats as well as those of their friends. The app shows user Avatars, gamercards, and game history, so you'll be able to keep track of what your friends have been up to from just about anywhere.

Best of all, the app is free, so there's really no reason not to pick it up if you have a Windows Mobile device. Also, since it complies with the Xbox Community Developers Program, it will never get pulled. Keep in mind that it's still in beta, though ZaaM IT plans to acquire feedback and improve the application in later releases.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Live Marketplace content schedule for December and it's a real doozy. The Deals of the Week -- usually a haven for long-forgotten or unwanted DLC -- are actually real deals this month. In particular, Shadow Complex will be dropped from 1200 ($15) to 800 ($10) during the week of December 21. The following week, starting December 28, Twisted Pixel's The Maw will fall from 800 ($10) to a miniscule 400 ($5).

In addition to the normal Deals of the Week, Microsoft will also be offering daily deals from December 18-31. The company didn't specify what any of those deals will be, though it promises discounts on "games, movies, blockbuster game add-ons, holiday themes, you name it!" Rest assured, we'll be keeping our eye on things once the deals start rolling.

In the meantime, check out the XBLM December schedule, including Deals of the Week, Games on Demand and XBLA after the break.

When Microsoft rolled out Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm support for the Xbox 360, a number of users were less than impressed. Specifically, those with child Xbox Live accounts were not allowed to use any of the new applications. Outside the US, Microsoft has now released an update that allows child accounts to access these features, so long as parental permission is given. Major Nelson advises users to set each application to log in automatically upon first activation. Otherwise, those with child accounts will be prompted for parental permission every time the application is launched.

Fear not, US gamers, the update will hit American shores on December 15.

Using GamerDNA results as a guideline, DFC Intelligence charted the popularity of 360 games last month, and there are some interesting revelations. For one: Every person alive or dead, including the author of this post, is playing Modern Warfare 2 as we speak. Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration but it was very popular, with somewhere between 22 and 17 percent of GamerDNA's Xbox 360-playing subjects playing the game throughout all of November.

Also somewhat surprising is just how well Borderlands – which, let's be honest, didn't have the biggest marketing push – did, handily holding on to second place until the release of Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin's Creed 2. Admittedly this list doesn't reflect the time spent by those who aren't online, but do you seriously care about those commoners anyway?

If you like the idea of the 360 Live iPhone app, which allows you to sign into your Xbox Live account and manage it on the go, you'd better drop your two dollars into the App Store (link) right now. Creator Xavier Larrea has informed us that, unsurprisingly, Microsoft has asked Apple to remove the program, citing the non-commercial usage restriction -- in other words, the company isn't happy about the app's not-free cost.

Larrea is complying with the request (meaning that it's on the way out), but notes that the app will continue to work for those who have already downloaded it.