Xbox Live Marketplace - Lots of stuff if you can get to it!

The big news this week isn't what is new on Xbox Live Marketplace, but whether you could get to it at all. The Xbox Live service has been difficult to login to since a few days after Christmas. Rumors have it that it might be denial of service attacks or simply some misconfiguration of the Windows Live authentication service. Hopefully, some good will come from it (besides the free Xbox Live Arcade game that's been promised). I suspect many more users have been affected by the lack of a license transfer feature when they tried to play their purchased games and add-on packs offline on a replacement Xbox 360 and found they didn't work.

When you are able to get to Marketplace, here's what you'll find:

• Arcade: Metal Slug 3 ($10)
• The Godfather Corleone Challenge Pack ($3.25) with 12 missions and 10 achievements
• Ace Combat 6 Team Battle Download Pack 1 ($1.25) with a map for up to 16 players in Player Match only (unranked)
• Rock Band songs "Limelight" by Rush, "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes and "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd ($2 each)
• Guitar Hero III Warner/Reprise Track Pack ($6.25) with "No More Sorrow" by Linkin Park, "Sleeping Giant" by Mastodon, "Pretty Handsome Awkward" by The Used
• Naruto: Rise of the Ninja Jiraiya and Sarutobi Pack ($6.25; free trial lets you try each new item three times) with characters and arenas
• Bomberman Live Bomb-up Pack 3 ($3.13) with two arenas and 10 characters
• Virtua Fighter 5 Item Pack 3 ($2.50) with two items for each character
• Videos: Borderlands, Burnout Paradise and NFL Tour
• Themes: Dark Messiah of Might & Magic: Elements, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, NBA 2K8, Sensible World of Soccer, African Safari, Bulldog, E-Bunnie Xmas, Enchanted Blades, Fractal Explosions, Goth, PvP 2, Terran Sniper and Yorkshire Terrier ($1.88 each), plus Konsole Queenz ($2.50) and Ford Sync Green (free)
• Pictures: Arkadian Warriors ($1), Kane & Lynch: Dead Men ($0.63 to $1.25 each), Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom ($1), Metal Slug 3 ($0.75), Sensible World of Soccer ($1.88), 360 Laws ($0.63), The Barbarians ($1.13), Bulldog ($1.25), Elements ($1), Fantasy Eyes ($1.25), Ford Sync Green (free), Konsole Queenz ($1.25), Terran Sniper ($1.13) and Turtizzle ($1)