What once cost moolah is now free?

Xboxic is reporting that the Collateral Damage Map Pack for The Outfit is now available for free. Originally, it cost 500 Microsoft Points for this 52.80 MB download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. So why is it free now? Well, could it be related to the latest update of The Outfit?

The three maps included in this Map Pack - The Bleak Mile, Eagle's Nest and The Luftwaffe Finale - have been available for download since May.

The important thing to think about here is that Xbox Live content that once cost money is now free. Will this be a trend in the near future? It took awhile, but we've seen this happen before with Halo 2 map packs; however, it was announced from the get go that the Halo 2 map packs would become free at a later date.

Will more content become cheaper or free in the future? Could less popular or overly expensive downloads go this route? We can all hope so.

The Outfit has just undergone a Title Update to improve the online playing experience of this THQ creation. The implemented developments will automatically be available when the user logs in to his/her Xbox Live account.

We all know The Outfit already delivers quite a numbing punch in terms of gaming experience with its explosive third person WWII combat through an epic, story-driven campaign, complete with the freedom of total destruction. But now, the game has been tweaked thus producing these enhancements:

Matchmaking Improvements

• Connection speed of each gamer is now visible in the Pre-Game lobby (green for good, yellow for average, red for poor). This enables easier detection in the host part which players have a poor connection speed, giving him the option of removing them. The Outfit uses peer-to-peer networking, so identifying and removing players with poor connection speeds before the game begins will eliminate lag for all players in a session.
• Connection speed of each game is now also displayed in the Custom Quick Match and Custom Ranked Match lobbies (again green for good, yellow for average, red for poor), aiding players to stay away from games with poor connection speeds.
• Players looking for a Quick Match to join will now automatically connect to the game with the fastest connection speed. Prior to this, Quick Match obtained the first game it found.
• Players can now contact each other in every pre-game and post-game lobby.
• Only your friends who have played The Outfit will appear in the Leaderboard “Friends” filter.
•  Fixed an issue where Quick Match player numbers were being reported incorrectly.
•  Fixed an issue where ‘Play Again’ caused the lobby size to be frozen at previous match’s size.

Gameplay Improvements

• Both Ranked Quick Match and Ranked Custom Match game sessions can now provide Multiplayer Achievements.
  
• Vehicles in particular, is as effective in multiplayer as they are in single player.
• Vehicles can no longer be hijacked when they are moving at high speed, significantly reducing “hijack spam.”
• Event queue messages now appear on screen for one second longer than before, giving players a better chance to read them.
• Fixed an issue that caused the jump animation to play twice in certain multiplayer situations.

Multiplayer Tuning Changes

• The rotation rate and health of Anti-Aircraft Emplacements has been reduced. If you can recall, before AA guns were too powerful given their cost.
• 15% increase to health for all Halftracks and Tanks.
• 25 FU cost increase to Anti-Aircraft Emplacements.
• 50 FU cost reduction to Artillery Strike.
• 25 FU cost reduction to Air Strike.
• 50 FU cost reduction to Tech 3 Antitank Emplacements.
• 10 FU cost increase to first- and second-tier Machine Gun Emplacements.
• Calliope damage versus vehicles has been slightly decreased.
  

Now, what are you waiting for? Prepare your troops and immerse yourself to the virtual battlegrounds of The Outfit.

Some new content has become available on the Marketplace for The Outfit in the form of the Collateral Damage Map Pack just as promised. Unlike the last map download, which was free, this map pack costs 500 Microsoft Points and only includes three new maps. The new multiplayer maps are titled The Bleak Mile, Eagle's Nest and The Luftwaffe Finale. So if you actually have the Outfit go ahead and check them out for more multiplayer games on LIVE.

THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell let Gamespot know that there will be even more downloadable maps coming soon for their third person multiplayer shooter The Outfit. Unlike the map that came out last week the new maps will actually put you back some Microsoft points.

The maps would likely come in a pack of three, and cost gamers 500 Marketplace points or less. We don't have great expectations for that title from a financial perspective, but we think we're going to learn a lot about consumer behavior patterns, consumer preferences, and what works and what doesn't, and that's going to be an advantage as we move further into the generation.

While I don't know anyone that actually owns The Outfit, we'll have to wait and see if new downloadable maps will sell more copies of the game.

Are you looking to try something new with your copy of The Outfit, the multiplayer game from THQ? Well, now you can, and it's in the form of a free map download over the Marketplace. The download is for the multiplayer map Arnhem Mayhem and it weighs in at 8.05MB. I just rented The Outfit and I'm about to check it out, so if you have the game and want to try out the new map, go ahead and send me a game invite.

The word of the day is free! Just released on the Xbox Live Marketplace is The Outfit Picture Pack 2. And unlike all previous picture packs that have been released, this one is free.

Now, it only contains two pictures - a soldier and a shadow of a gun against a yellow background - but allowing some free content such as this is a good move by Microsoft.

Other new items for your downloading pleasure are the trailers for Pixar’s new movie Cars, the video game-themed horror movie Stay Alive and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Log on and check it out!

Fans of the new Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter can celebrate their game's greatness with the new GRAW theme, now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The 4.8 MB theme is available for download for 150 Microsoft points.

To keep the war theme going, Microsoft also released some items for The Outfit - a picture pack (for 160 points) and theme (150 points).

Oddly enough, the GRAW theme is not currently available in France, where part of the game was created. The new content for The Outfit is available worldwide

Major Nelson has posted this weeks show on his blog. Included in this weeks show; the Xbox week in Review, Interview: "The Outfit", Interview, "Viva Pinata", and Name the game to list a few. Major Nelson works at Microsoft under the title of "Xbox Live Director of Programming" and often has good insights about Xbox gaming in general. You are able to grab the Blogcast in a number of ways. Check out his current gaming stats below.

Show #167 Blogcast in iTunes, RSS and MP3 (Episode Length  01:15:39, 21.6Mb in MP3 format)
You can contact him directly @ Major@xbox.com

Major Nelson has just released his list for the Top 10 Most Played Games on Xbox Live. As we all expected Halo 2 is still dominating the charts, but surprisingly enough Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter has already taken the number two spot even though it's only been out for a week! The rest of the list contains mostly EA games, with The Outfit demo just barely holding on to number nine. There's a good chance GR: AW could make it to the number one spot, but with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion due for release this week, it's still anybody's game.

1. Halo 2
2. Ghost Recon 3
3. Call of Duty 2
4. EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
5. Perfect Dark Zero
6. DEAD OR ALIVE 4
7. PGR3
8. Battlefield 2: MC
9. The Outfit Demo
10. Need for Speed™ Most Wanted

So back to the scoreboard to check the stats. No big surprises this week. Looks like Halo 2 is still holding the commanding lead with Dead or Alive 4 and Perfect Dark Zero still holding in the top 5. A new top for this week is The Outfit Demo. Nice to see some new faces in the mist of all that's "holy".

1. Halo 2
2. Call of Duty 2
3. EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
4. Perfect Dark Zero
5. DEAD OR ALIVE 4
6. PGR3
7. Need for Speed™ Most Wanted
8. The Outfit Demo
9. Battlefield 2: MC
10. Madden NFL 06

Only you can make a difference, so get out there and play some Xbox 360 Live. Come on, everybody's doing it.