Xbox Live downloads hit milestone

Xbox 360 owners have been all over Xbox Live Marketplace, sucking up game demos, trailers, picture packs, themes, and music videos. During this year's E3, Microsoft offered up a free week of its gold membership to Xbox Live, as well as a boatload of content to download.

The public's response gave Microsoft's servers an unexpected stress test as 5 million downloads were completed last week, bringing the total to more than 24 million since the launch of the Xbox on November 22, 2005, according to Microsoft.

"The sheer volume of downloads during E3 week was simply staggering," said Microsoft's VP of marketing Peter Moore. "To put it in perspective, all the printed material in the U.S. Library of Congress is estimated to be about 20 terabytes, and Xbox Live delivered 30 times that amount in just seven days."

Microsoft announced the next chapter of its flagship franchise Halo during its pre-E3 conference, and shortly afterward, gamers were able to download the trailer in high definition over Xbox Live. Not surprisingly, it was the most downloaded item from the busy week. The top 10 downloaded items are listed below.

1. Halo 3 Game Trailer
2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Free Playable Demo
3. Test Drive Unlimited Free Playable Demo
4. MotoGP '06 Free Playable Demo
5. X-Men: The Last Stand Pack
6. Gears of War Game Trailer
7. Call of Duty 2: Skirmish Map Pack
8. Spider-Man 3 Game Trailer
9. Fable 2 Trailer
10. Uno Xbox Live Arcade Game