Great news to all US-based Xbox gamers, you can now use PayPal as a method of payment on Xbox Live Marketplace. PayPal on Xbox LIVE allows users to buy Microsoft Points without having to associate your credit card information to your Xbox LIVE account.

If you're looking for Microsoft's Xbox Originals service but can't find it, don't worry. It's just been renamed to Games on Demand. It's not just a simple act of renaming the service too, as Microsoft will soon be adding Xbox 360 games for download.

More from Media Create's latest report. Last time, we saw new releases dominate the software charts. Now we see the hardware sales pick up during the week ending on the 24th of November. The PSP and Xbox 360 scored big, almost doubling their sales from last week. Figures in the full article.

Lance Seaman, 18, simply couldn't resist the charm of video game based figurines. After supposedly stealing his grandmother's credit card, he went on to spend US$ 10,087.83 buying video game merchandise online.

Last May 17, Seaman confessed to the police that he stole his grandma's computer and camcorder then pawned them for US$ 200. Twenty boxes of Final Fantasy figurines were also found in his hotel bedroom on the 6300 block of Southern Avenue, further making the charges against him stronger.

He was arrested last Wednesday night and agreed to be interviewed by the police. Fellow gamers, let this be a lesson for everyone. Don't steal from your grandmother to buy video game stuff to avoid getting busted.

 

Japan may not be Microsoft's power base but give them an "A" for giving it some of their best shots. This time, the Seattle-based computer giant is banking on Edy e-money to attract gamers to its Xbox Live fold.

So why e-money? In a nutshell, Japan may be a technological trailblazer, but its citizens have never really been big credit card fans. However, one of the fastest-rising means of trade is the Edy system developed by Sony where real money is converted to electronic credits that you can use in most Japanese stores to buy just about anything you want.

Edy money can be stored in either credit cards or mobile phones. Microsoft is taking advantage of the latter because mobiles are big in the country. Essentially, Microsoft's adoption of Edy allows interested gamers to register to Xbox Live and buy Microsoft points. This, Microsoft hopes, will remove the credit card distrust barrier and encourage more people to get into Xbox Live.

Desolation, the map that Bungie has been working on for some time now, is now out on Xbox Live together with Tombstone for US$ 4 a pop. Both maps are remakes of Halo classic maps Hang 'Em High (Tombstone) and Derelict (Desolation). Unfortunately for all you Xbox 360 folks, the usual way of grabbing your download content doesn't apply to this map pack.

You must provide credit card information in order to make payment. Xbox Halo 2 gamers will be quite at home with this purchasing mechanic, since their accounts are tied down to credit card accounts.

You can still try to put a credit card account to your Live account, via Halo 2's "ye olde" school tech:

1. In the Xbox Dashboard, select the profile that you want to modify, and then select Account Management.
2. Select Memberships.
3. Select the membership that you want to update.
4. Select Change Payment Options.
5. Select Add Credit Card.
6. Enter the credit card information for the card that you want to add. This can also be a debit or Visa (or similar) gift card, however, some restrictions may apply.

Take note that the content is still tied down to a per console basis, and not a per account basis. So choose carefully on what console you download the map pack to, because you'll need to purchase the pack again if you choose to download to another Xbox (or 360) console.

Some other reminders before you go about downloading:

• For PAL-60 TV users, you'll have to swap to composite cabling and download the update and maps through your TV and not through your VGA monitor.
• Content may not be available in some regions, since content could roll out more slowly in those regions than others.
• Disable "Child Account" protection to download the maps.
• Make sure your credit card is not expired.
• Maps will be first available only on Custom Game. They'll move on to Matchmaking in a week if things roll out smoothly.

Let's take a few steps from Halo 3 and all the beta testing updates for a while and talk about Halo 2. Why? Well, we just thought you'd be interested to know that Bungie Studios just released two new maps for the almost three year old sci-fi FPS video game. The maps are Tombstone and Desolation (remakes of Hang 'Em High and Derelict respectively) and will be available for download via XBLM by April 17.

But first, some reminders: these are for Halo 2 which was released on the original Xbox console, but as you all know, Xbox1 discs are compatible with the Xbox 360 as well. Also, instead of using MS points, you can use a credit card for the purchase. The pair of maps cost US$ 4, and will be available to Xbox Live Gold members.

As we've mentioned earlier, Tombstone is actually a remake of Hang 'Em High - arguably the most popular multiplayer map for the original title. All familiar spots will be present but graphics have been upgraded, of course. Bungie also said that there are certain new features and surprises that were incorporated as well.

Desolation, on the other hand, is pretty much the same as Derelict. It is a symmetrical, Deathmatch-oriented map with, like Tombstone, new graphics. Effects and gameplay also received a major overhaul. Bungie promised that it is now faster-paced and more balanced than the original version.

The boys at Microsoft have finally listened to the cries of battered and weary Xbox Live denizens, it seems. ZDNet News is reporting that the company will be looking into the cases of potential fraud that may have occurred in Xbox Live. According to the report, the need for this has grown as a result of increasing reports of players having their credit card information stolen and used for the purchase of additional Microsoft Points.

Previously, however, it seems Microsoft hadn't been dealing with complaints swiftly enough. According to one disgruntled Xbox Live user who wrote on the official Xbox forums, "My Xbox Live account was hacked and all credit card info was stolen and used to run up points... Microsoft says: 'Oh, well, better call your credit card companies, nothing we can do.'"

Of course, this isn't the end to the problem. Some are suggesting that instead of hacked accounts, some players were simply attacked by bad patches of human error that made them got them duped into giving out pertinent information. Regardless, Microsoft better get on the case and find out just what's going on, security-wise, and fast.

If you woke up one morning and found yourself with an Xbox on your doorstep and a request to send it to Africa, what would you do?

Call it a two-part scam, or a tale of both good and evil. Tech Diversions was recently the recipient of credit card scammers, but they managed to get some good karma their way. More importantly, it was from someone the scammers were trying to get to work for them.

Here's the set-up: an unnamed woman woke up one morning and found herself one Xbox 360 richer. It was on her doorstep, with a message asking that you use the stamps attached to the package to help send the Xbox 360 to Africa.

Now you could try keeping it, or you could send it to Africa, but this lady did something very classy: she called up the website and returned the item to them.

This women called us and told us her story, how she was told to ship an Xbox 360 she didn't pay for to Africa. This good person let us know it sounded sketchy and is returning the product to TechDiversions utilizing all the stamps she received for free.

Better still, Tech Diversions has also stopped the bogus orders, putting an end to what may have become a costly problem.

If you're looking for one more reason as to why you should pack your belongings and migrate to Japan, well we do have one more that might help. That would be the fact that Japan is one of the few countries who love their anime and video game characters so much, that these characters end up immortalized on either postage stamps or credit cards.

So, when Tecmo's well-known Dead or Alive game franchise turned 10 years old, they did the most obvious thing and decided to commemorate the event by plastering three of the most popular characters in the game onto an object which you would most likely closely guard and care for. After all, it wouldn't be pretty if you lost your best picture of Kasumi AND ended up with credit card charges you didn't make.

On top of being the proud owner of one of these cards, though, they're also throwing in special DOA 10th Anniversary original trading cards into the deal. Each credit card owner will be given one trading card which belongs in a set of nine. These nine cards also have parts of a larger image printed on the back, so if you somehow manage to collect all nine designs and put them together, you're then rewarded with an A4-sized piece of DOA artwork.

Now whether this is something that is worth extending your credit line for, is completely up to you.