Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

The Xbox 360 has the only pay-to-play online service available among the consoles. It’s also by far the best service available and from what we’ve seen from Nintendo and Sony (nothing, in some cases), Xbox Live will definitely continue to reign supreme in this generation.

I guess that doesn’t mean Microsoft has to let up on the advertising, even to paid Gold subscribers. I received the message pictured above in my Xbox Live mailbox earlier this week, reminding me that the Xbox Live Marketplace has free playable demos available for download. I think I download every single demo that’s released, so there’s no way that this e-mail was triggered by my lack of activity on the Marketplace. Did everyone get one of these?

Then I wondered how someone could NOT know these demos existed for download. The only answer I could come up with is the Xbox Live interface itself. While the initial login page might be convenient for the hardcore gamer, it doesn’t clearly notify you of new content that’s become available. If you take a look at the image below, the main blade at any given time features one image on the right and a small banner at the bottom. I’m sure many casual gamers are pre-programmed NOT to click banner ads, which is what these images technically are.

If Microsoft wants to draw more attention to their content, they might want to reconsider this layout. A slowly scrolling ticker might be more effective, describing the newest content since your last login along with the cost to the consumer alongside it. A dynamic ticker would also give you more of a “Live” feel, instead of a static page that only displays your inbox and friends logging on and off.

But that’s just me.