If you have an Xbox 360 and an internet connection, Xbox Live Arcade is giving away Texas Hold ’em for free for the 1st 48 hours of release.

Texas Hold ’em Free in Arcade for First 48 Hours (from SD):

Microsoft isn’t bluffing: Log on to Xbox Live® within the first 48 hours after launch and download Texas Hold ’em completely free of charge! This full-featured poker title for Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360™ will launch on Wednesday, August 23, at 0800 GMT (1:00 A.M. Pacific Time).

For 48 hours only—through 0800 GMT (1:00 A.M. Pacific Time) Friday, August 25—as a special limited-time only promotion, all Xbox Live Gold and Silver members can download (and own) the game at no charge. Starting at 0801 GMT (1:01 A.M. Pacific Time) Friday, August 25, Texas Hold ’em will be available for 800 Microsoft Points.

Since this was a limited time offer, I actually went and cracked open my Xbox 360 from the storage area and set it up.

After downloading it, I gave it a short whirl. The animation and graphics were actually pretty nice. However I did lose $1200 already (from my initial $2000). Hehe. The game is fast moving and the buttons were easy to figure out, though I would say that holding onto the controller at lengths of time got tiring given the fact I pushed a button or two every 15 seconds. With an Xbox Live Silver account (free), you can play the single player mode. With the Sbox Live Gold account, you can play online with other players. I doubt they’ll ever make a version that allows playing with real money, though you never know.

Enjoy!

Speaking of which, I just realized you can now buy Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting through Xbox Live. It’s actually quite tempting for only 800pts (~$10). According to the newsflash, Street Fighter II Best Seller in Arcade – Sunnyvale , California—Capcom® today announced that Street Fighter® II’ Hyper Fighting, the company’s first title for Xbox Live® Arcade, has seen a phenomenal record of downloads since its debut on August 2. Within the first 24 hours of its unveiling, Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting has become the fastest selling Xbox Live Arcade title to date with hundreds of matches being played every hour.

---

Random Crap:

Beloit College’s Mindset List for the Class of 2010 (from MS newsgroup) – A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration. Most 18-year-old students entering the class of 2010 this fall were born in 1988. They grew up with a mouse in one hand and a computer screen as part of their worldview. They learned to surf the internet as they learned to read. While they were still in their cribs, the 20th century started to close as the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet bloc disintegrated, and frequent traditional wars in Latin America gave way to the uncontrolled terrors of the Middle East.. The list is interesting and I even went back to read the Class of 2005 Mindset List.

No, that’s not a penis pump, Mom. Really – Cook County prosecutors say a 29-year-old man traveling with his mother desperately didn’t want her to know he’d packed a sexual aid for their trip to Turkey. So he told security it was a bomb, officials said. Sigh… How dumb can people get?

An interesting thought from Deadlock: I was looking at that penis pump thing… I didn’t read the full article, but I think the airport misheard the guy. I bet he would have said BONG, because that would make more sense.

Police crack down on striptease funerals… – “Striptease used to be a common practice at funerals in Donghai’s rural areas to allure viewers,” it said. “Local villagers believe that the more people who attend the funeral, the more the dead person is honored.”

Ant jaws break speed record, propel insects into air, biologists find (from /.) – A species of ant native to Central and South America is entering the annals of extreme animal movement, boasting jaws arguably more impressive than such noteworthy contenders as the great white shark and the spotted hyena. Biologists clocked the speed at which the trap-jaw ant, Odontomachus bauri, closes its mandibles at 35 to 64 meters per second, or 78 to 145 miles per hour – an action they say is the fastest self-powered predatory strike in the animal kingdom. The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye. Do check out the videos showing the ant achieving heights up to 8.3 centimeters and horizontal distances up to 39.6 centimeters.

Dear Sir Bill Gates: invoice enclosed (from /.) – Please find enclosed my invoice for £1,200 sterling for administrative and consulting work, caused by the need to repair Microsoft sabotage. I dare say you’d like details: An funny and interesting, yet so true complaint about Windows Update and the automatic “forced” restart.

San Francisco in Jell-O (from MS newsgroup) – a gallery of photos of a model of San Francisco made completely in Jell-O done by Elizabeth Hickok. She actually has a video of the jello city.