In case there was any doubt that the company is still stuck in the 1990s, Microsoft hired Jerry Seinfeld as the face of its $300 million USD advertising campaign to hawk Windows Vista.

Here’s the incomprehensible part: The 54-year-old washed-up has-been was chosen because Microsoft is “weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.’s advertising,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Seinfeld is most famous for his 90s-era sitcom, which always prominently displayed a Macintosh in his TV apartment. Microsoft will pay Seinfeld $10 million.

Microsoft is already adding to the Xbox Originals library, and the new title is a great one: Burnout 3 Takedown.

If, like me, you’re getting antsy waiting for Burnout Paradise, this might be just enough to tide you over, though 1200 points is still awfully pricey.

You can grab Burnout 3 starting on Monday. That’s assuming you can connect to Live to download it, of course.

Live service has been suffering lately due to “server strain” brought on by a huge upsurge in demand over the holidays.

The Xbox team has been scrambling ever since to get it back to normal, with varying degrees of success.

I’ve been getting mixed reports. Some of my friends say Live is smooth as pudding, while others are still frustrated.

I’m having trouble getting and staying connected. What’s it like for you?

Microsoft is offering an impressive little bribe to European 360 owners to get them to persuade their pals to follow the way of the console, too: ten free Xbox Live Arcade games.

The pal with the new console gets the free games, too, thanks to Microsoft’s “refer a friend” promotion, which runs until December 14th.

The freebies are:

• Every Extend Extra Extreme
• Sonic The Hedgehog
• Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
• Bomberman Live
• Marble Blast Ultra
• Spyglass Boardgames
• 3D Mini Golf Adventures
• Small Arms
• Assault Heroes
• Zuma Deluxe

Uno and Worms, two of the Arcade’s most-played titles, are notably not included.

The relative age of most of the titles makes it likely that the existing 360 owner will only scoop up a few new games, but for someone just buying a 360, this is a huge bonus.

If the Nintendo Wii turns out to be as hard to get as predicted, casual players just might be tempted to go the Microsoft route instead.

Source: Next Generation

When Xbox Live becomes available in India on November 5th, it will offer rentals of 360 games, and educational content, with Video Marketplace content soon to follow.

Thanks to Microsoft’s partnership with Seventymm (India’s version of Netflix), Live subscribers will also be able to rent the latest 360 titles for a set number of days.

“Education specific learning aids for grades 1-12″ will also be available, though I’m not quite sure what that means just yet.

Once the Video Marketplace is up and running, users will be able to download pre-released UTV Bollywood films, as well as content related to upcoming films like Hanuman.

Given Microsoft’s spin that the 360 Arcade is for families, might we see educational material show up on Live in North America soon?

I’m personally more interested in that game rental service, though. The guarantee that the title you want would be available, 24/7, is really appealing.