Superman Returns Demo, NFS Carbon Cars And Defender On XBLM

Bearing no mind whatsoever to Sony's and Nintendo's last-minute preparations for their American invasion, Microsoft continues to pump new content on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Superman Returns videogame was the prime star last night, revealing itself in a massive 900+ MB demo version that could even choke the Man of Steel's bandwidth. In it, Electronic Arts gives gamers a taste of "the ultimate open-world super hero experience", as they explore and protect the living city of Metropolis... or at least part of it.

The demo is initially available for download free of charge to Xbox Live Gold members only, but Major Nelson tells XBL Silver members that they too will be able to get it next week, on November 22 - just a couple of days after the final game's release. You might think that this is just another movie-based game (and rightfully so), but EA "warns" us that it's more than that: "this is the Superman game you've always wanted to play". Fabulous! And what if I never wanted to play any Superman game?

Oh well, since I'm at it, I might as well mention that several other Superman Returns downloads are also up on XBLM: a sizzle trailer (free), a video blog (free), and a Man of Steel theme (free 150 points).

Also, there are three new cars for the Xbox 360 version of Need for Speed Carbon, each one costing 80 points ($1). And also from EA, comes a FIFA 07 Pitch Crests pack, allowing players to customize their in-game practice arena with a crest from their favorite team. Well, as long as they find it in the pack, anyway, for which they first have to pay 100 points. Or, if you'd rather spend them on something equally useless, and are having trouble getting past the Corpser in Gears of War, an "Angry Titan Strategy" pack is also available for 100 points.

And finally, Defender is this week's Xbox Live Arcade game. The classic space shooter is back, and so are the invading alien abductors in need of serious ass kicking. So why not go kick some ass, if you're into that sort of activity.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)