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MS Details Last.fm on Xbox Live, Marketplace Changes
Two of the less prominent announcements during E3 were that Last.fm would be coming to Xbox Live, and so would the ability to purchase games that were only available through physical media in the past. Microsoft has now elaborated on how those services will work. According to Kotaku, "The [Last.fm] service will be made available later this year, and will be free to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Once accessed, the Last.fm section of the 360 dashboard will function in much the same way as the popular internet radio station does on your PC." The Games on Demand service will let people pay the actual cost of the game with a credit card, bypassing the Microsoft Point system if they want to. To start, the service will be focused on making the popular, but older games available, rather than launching new games through it. Licensing for the games will work in much the same as for Arcade games now, so players will be able to re-download deleted games at will.
I agree with your post. (or the cut of it). I disagree with your tag. IF the government is taking over private corporations that sounds like tyranny. IF the government is *buying* private corporations, I don't see any loss of liberty (provided you have a choice in the sale).
Except in some questionable cases where it appears the treasury pressured companies to make deals that might not have been in their interest. Or in other cases where it exercised non-controlling pressure to get things it wanted. In the first case, the CEO of Bank of America indicated that the board would be removed if he didn't approve a deal to merge with Merrill Lynch http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124045610029046349.html. In the second case, the White House forced out the CEO of GM by threatening to withhold funding http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/29/AR2009032900708.html. Admittedly a legal action, but the government is leveraging itself a little uncomfortably.