In other news, Microsoft is late to the party AGAIN. (I know it’s a lame analogy. At least I didn’t say “LAN party.”)

The HD DVD player for the XBox 360 is “officially” $50. Not recommended unless you have the shelf-space to buy one of every “limited edition”, made in China toy and keep it in the original packaging…

Kudo is known for enjoying the spotlight (yeah that’s him with the tradeshow hottie in the pic). Expect to see him showing off plenty of demo screens and trailers once Gears gets off the ground, check his 1UP blog for those.

Xbox Live members — gold and silver alike — will be able to download the full version of the submerged shooter Undertow, according to the Gamerscore blog. The free download will be available from Jan. 24-28. Don’t forget. That’s a $10 value, yours for free! For those who did experience problems with XBL and aren’t so easily placated, well, there’s always the class-action lawsuit that’s brewing. Either way you’ll probably end up with the equivalent of $10, though, so why put yourself through the headache?

And if you already paid for Undertow? Ha ha, sucker!

Just kidding. A user posed that very question in the comments of the blog post, to which someone presumably official responded, “You should call support, they’re prepared to take care of you.” I picture him giving a little wink as he says this, but that’s probably just wishful thinking.

Undertow is a pretty good game, according to some cursory searching I just did. I’ve actually never heard of it, but IGN’s review is pretty favorable.

The reason it all works so well is that the level design in Undertow is top notch. It’s clear that a lot of care was taken to balance the stages and create clear strategy/counterstrategy options.

And IGN’s description of the game includes:

Based in an alternate world where earth has been completely flooded and several factions are vying for supremacy, Undertow is an underwater shooter featuring a complex multiplayer component.

Not only did Microsoft not unveil the rumored HD DVD-bundled Xbox system at CES this week, but the company announced they would begin offering TV shows and movies from ABC and MGM - two companies currently aligned with Sony’s Blu-ray.

Somewhere, a Toshiba executive is sitting in a park, watching the ducks and reassessing his life.

The ABC/MGM deal adds more than 500 hour of standard and HD content from ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC News, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and the MGM film library. ABC hits like Lost and Grey’s Anatomy are included in the deal.

The ABC offerings should finally appease Assassins Creed players who’ve been clamoring for the latest episodes of Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, truly an underserved demographic.

Back to typical fashion, no specifics on when you had to be signed up by or if there are restrictions on what games are eligible. Check the original letter (and the lack of details) from Xbox LIVE’s General Manager at Major Nelson.

LIVE is looking pretty good now….how is it for you guys-n-girls?

If you’re down hop over to the Major Nelson blog and let him know. If you’re finally up forget about it and keep playing.