In an interview over on Next-Gen.biz, the general manager of Xbox Live Marc Whitten let loose some great news for those of us with replaced Xbo360s. Coming next month is a tool that will allow gamers to relicense content for new consoles so they can access it while not being signed in to Xbox Live. Coming in at #2 in our Altered State column concerning Microsoft, the DRM issue has been a thorn in the side of the Alt community for some time now.

Another bit of news is that there will be no Spring Dashboard Update, and Microsoft will start removing underperforming titles  from Xbox Live Arcade, if they “have been out for more than six months, have a Metacritic score of less than 65%, and have a conversion rate of less than 6%.” While we don’t have access to sales numbers, taking a look at metacritic.com, the Xbox Live Arcade titles potentially on the chopping block are:

• Robotron: 2084 (65%)
• Bankshot Billiards 2 (65%)
• Feeding Frenzy (65%)
• Dig Dug (65%)
• Ms. Pac-Man (65%)
• Gauntlet (65%)
• Crystal Quest (64%)
• Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (64%)
• Hardwood Hearts (64%)
• Texas Hold ‘em (63%)
• Fatal Fury Special (63%)
• Contra (63%)
• Marathon: Durandal (63%)
• Missile Command (63%)
• Time Pilot (63%)
• Track & Field (63%)
• Hardwood Backgammon (62%)
• Hardwood Spades (62%)
• Pac-Man (62%)
• Frogger (62%)
• Mad Tracks (62%)
• Root Beer Tapper (61%)
• Fatal Inertia (61%)
• Super Contra (61%)
• Soltrio Solitaire (59%)
• Arkadian Warriors (59%)
• TiQal (8%)
• Rush’n Attack (58%)
• Aegis Wing (58%)
• Defender (58%)
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil (57%)
• Double Dragon (57%)
• Xevious (56%)
• Gyruss (56%)
• Asteroids / Asteroids Deluxe (55%)
• Battlestar Galactica (55%)
• Centipede & Millipede (55%)
• Boogie Bunnies (54%)
• Spyglass Board Games (54%)
• Brain Challenge (54%)
• Tetris Splash (53%)
• Ecco the Dolphin (53%)
• Battlezone (52%)
• Yie Ar Kung-Fu (51%)
• Wing Commander Arena (51%)
• Novadrome (50%)
• Shrek-N-Roll (49%)
• Mr. Driller Online (48%)
• Scramble (47%)
• Tempest (47%)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (46%)
• Street Trace: NYC (45%)
• Discs of Tron (44%)
• TotemBall (44%)
• Word Puzzle (44%)
• New Rally-X (43%)
• Tron (43%)
• Bliss Island (42%)
• Cyberball 2072 (41%)
• Screwjumper! (40%)
• Rocky and Bullwinkle (37%)
• Yaris (17%)

The list is dominated by old Arcade remakes, which typically sell pretty well, so they may be safe for now. Also, no details were given on if a gamer will be able to redownload a delisted title from their download history. So does the news of a DRM fix make up for no Dashboard Update this season?

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Stan resides in Shreveport, LA and spends his time writing about vidja games and vidja game accessories.
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