Along with a myriad of other updates as well as bug fixes, Xbox Live's Texas Hold'em now supports Vision Camera, enabling gamers to check out the faces of their opponents and gauge their next moves. Better practice your poker faces, people, as your friends can now see whether you're smiling knowingly when you get good cards, or groan in despair when you're dealt with a bad hand.

To add more excitement to the new functionality, Texas Hold'em will have a snapshot mode to better keep those priceless moments during all-ins, wins, losses, folds, etc.

Other Texas Hold'em updates are as follow:

• Improved usability such as the addition of Custom Match Lists, which allows gamers to view and select which available Custom Match game they would like to join.
• Improved rich presence in the game, allowing players to not only see what their friends are up to, but also if they just won that big pot!
• Improved matchmaking and user results.
• Scoring and screens are more readable than before.
• Multi-language support including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
• New premium downloadable content allows players to customize the in-game environment, and access new gamerpics and themes

It's been a while since we heard anything about popular Xbox Live game, Texas Hold 'em. It seems that Microsoft noticed the same. So what do companies do upon noticing minor problems? Act at once, that's what they do! True to its nature, Microsoft just announced that the game will be updated tomorrow.

As part of their Xbox Live Wednesdays promotion, Microsoft will be making the update available tomorrow beginning 8 a.m. onwards. One of the main reasons for the update is to eliminate cheating, and not to mention speeding up gameplay. Unfortunately for those who are comfortably sitting atop the leaderboards, all scores will be reset to delete the inflated ones.

So if that's okay with you, check out the update to Texas Hold 'em tomorrow morning when you wake up. Anyway, here's the full list of changes and features for the game:

• Post the blind and play right away! - Players can now, if they wish, start playing immediately when joining a table by posting the big blind, rather than having to wait for the blind to come to them.
• New 'Away' mode - Players can now set their status to 'Away'. Hands will be auto-folded and blinds auto-posted until the player returns.
• New 'Auto-boot' mode - Players who continuously let the timer expire (more than three times in a game) will be booted from the table
• Faster overall pacing - Timers and messaging durations have been adjusted to speed up game-play among experienced players, but still allow novice players plenty of time to play.
• Improved blind structure - Initial blinds, as well as blind increases, are now more proportional to table stakes, ensuring more meaningful increases during game-play.
• Matchmaking improvements - Players are no longer matched into games they cannot afford
• Improved interface controls - Improvements to controls, such as increasing/decreasing stake amounts
• Leaderboard display - A player's full winnings and rank are now properly displayed
• Art and text improvements - Game art and spelling issues have been addressed
• Online exploits addressed - Certain known exploits that enabled cheating have been addressed. As a result, the online multi-player leaderboards will be reset to eliminate inflated scores as a result of these exploits.

I bet many of you have downloaded Texas Hold 'em during the 48 hours window when it was free-for-all. Heck, I know I would have, if only my XBL subscription hadn't run out a week earlier. People like free stuff, and that was evident by the fact that more than 100 people were downloading the game every minute!

XBOX Live's Aaron Greenberg was interviewed by Podtacular recently, and he admitted the fact that Poker had been a huge hit. "We had more downloads in the first 24 hours than any other item ever on Marketplace. That is a pretty big deal, given all the big demos and videos that have been up from some major franchises." Unfortunately though, this might be a one-off experiment; when asked if more XBL Arcade games would be given out for free, he bluntly refused. "To be honest this is not part of a long term strategy for us, it costs a lot of money to build these games and I am sure a number of people that downloaded it for free would have been willing to pay for it. Think of this as something we did as a thank you to the community for their support. Otherwise, all new Arcade will continue to have a free trial that everyone can download."

Now I would've loved it if they did this with Pacman, I've heard that Poker wasn't that great. Still, anything free is good, and although they have denied any plans of doing this in the future, I'd love to see more of these "thank-yous"- even if it's only for a few hours. Anyway, stay tuned for more updates in case there are any.

Seems like everyone wants to get down and dirty in Stilwater. Major Nelson's weekly worldwide Live game stats for the week beginning on the 11th show Saints Row topping the 360 list. Well, given that Saints has topped out or at least placed strongly in the sales and rental charts, this probably would be no surprise. On its heels is Madden NFL '07.

Over at the Arcade front, everyone's pulling poker faces as Texas Hold'em leads the pack, followed by Hexic HD. (Texas also pulled 8th in the 360 games list). And with the classic Xbox, Halo 2 is the one to beat.

Here are the complete lists of Live 360 and Arcade game-kickers.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games

1. Saints Row
2. Madden NFL 07
3. Call of Duty 2
4. Test Drive Unlimited
5. Ghost Recon 3
6. Dead Rising
   
7. Oblivion
8. Texas Hold 'em
9. Chromehounds
10. BFMC

Top Arcade Titles (full versions, not demos)

1. Texas Hold 'em
2. Hexic HD
3. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
4. UNO
5. Geometry Wars Evolved
6. Time Pilot
7. Scramble
8. Pac Man
9. Marble Blast Ultra
10. Bankshot Billiards 2

When you think about it, it's crazy how card games such as poker, solitaire (yes, even solitaire), and blackjack are still big hits even though you can actually play them sans the consoles and the extra expenses. But what can we do? The damn card games can get so addicting that when a new one comes out, we just can't help but fall for 'em.

Apparently we're not alone in this as Texas Hold 'Em has set a record over at Microsoft for being the fastest downloaded game ever on the XBL Marketplace! Let's get it straight from Microsoft, shall we?

“Texas Hold ‘em,” set a day one record as the fastest downloaded item ever on the Xbox Live Marketplace, with over 100 downloads per minute in the first 24 hours of the title’s release. For the first time ever, Microsoft offered a free full-version Xbox Live Arcade game to all Xbox Live members during the first 48 hours following launch. The title is the first poker game on Xbox Live Arcade and includes high-definition graphics, persistent bankroll, achievements and online multiplayer."

Well well well...Now that our guys over as Microsoft has seen the effect of offering free full-version downloadables via this record-breaking stunt, how about giving Texas Hold 'Em some competition for that record, eh?

And so the boys of the Third Street Saints lord over the Xbox 360 neighborhood as they sit atop the Top 10 list on Xbox Live.

Released on Aug. 29 for the US market and on Sept.1 for Europe, Saints Row surges to number five for 360 titles ahead of Chromehounds, Oblivion and Dead Rising. The jocks of Madden NFL 07 are still holding on to the top spot, while Call of Duty 2 and Texas Hold 'Em lumber close behind.

Despite some patching problems, these gangsters, with the quality they've shown, are set to conquer not only Stilwater, but the whole of the Xbox community as well. Will anyone dare step up against those guys? We'll keep watch in the following weeks and find out.

Just in case you've been living under a rock for the last few weeks or haven't been around your Xbox 360 since Wednesday morning this is your friendly reminder to log on to Xbox Live and get your copy of Texas Hold 'em for free as you have less than 24 hours. The card came is running a promotion whereas you can download the full version for 48 hours without having to pay the 800 Microsoft Points it would cost you if you wait until 0800 GMT (1:00 A.M. Pacific Standard Time) tonight or early tomorrow morning on Friday August 25th depending on the way you look at it.

The game is actually quite addicting even in the world we live in where anyone can play poker or hold em online or if your like me and live in Las Vegas, but there is something that is pretty fun about being able to kick back with 8 friends over Xbox Live and relax for a few hands or in my case since the release of the game several hours.

One of the funniest things that we have found in the game so far is the 4 of Diamonds, go ahead and check out the picture above and see if you can spot why the card is so special and I'll give you a hint, you're not looking for Waldo. The best thing about noticing that on the card is it took our good friend, guitar playa247, who is legally blind to point that out to all of us. So once again if you haven't done so already go ahead and pick up the Xbox Live Arcade title by downloading it over on the Marketplace before 1 A.M.

Just like promised: as it is August 23rd, Texas Hold 'em has hit the Marketplace. If you haven't heard already, the full game will be available to download for free within the first 48 hours. If you wait to pick it up until after the promotion is over, the game will set you back 800 Microsoft Points. The game itself includes three different single player modes, as well as online play for you poker addicts. The download weights in at 26.39MB. So if you want a free Xbox Live Arcade title, don't gamble your chance away and download it within the next two days off of the Marketplace.

NFL is set for tip off on August 25...in Europe! At least for Xbox 360, it is. Along with other much awaited titles, Madden 2K7 will be released on the said date. On the other hand, Texas Hold'em, a realistic poker-themed title, will come out two days earlier. So if you are itching to know just when your favorite title will be released, refer to the list below and read more on related articles.

August
23rd Texas Hold'em
25th Madden NFL 2007

September
1st Saint's Row
1st Test Drive Unlimited
6th Scramble
8th Dead Rising
8th Enchanted Arms
22nd FIFA 07
30th Mad Tracks

Yeah, it's supposed to be called a "hands-on" preview, but the pun was just too irresistible.

IGN's preview of Texas Hold'Em takes us through a number of features from the anticipated addition to Live Arcade. The big draw of this game's obviously the multiplayer. There is not much else in the world that matches the sweet high of winning an all-in pot from some poor sucker when all you've got in your final hand is a pathetic low pair. Especially if that sucker isn't an AI but a living, breathing, cussing human being. 

See what else's in store when the game debuts at the full article.