More than a half a million unique contestants competed in the 15-week beta season of 1 vs 100, and Microsoft wants even more to show up for round two. The second season of the game show kicks off on November 19 at 5pm Pacific Time (12 noon AEDT), with 1 vs 100 Extended Play. Extended Play features new themed trivia every week night, giving players a chance to capitalise on their strengths, giving them a better chance at being chosen as one of The Mob or perhaps even The One himself.

Nearly two million Microsoft points were given away as prizes during the first season, so you might want to keep an eye on the schedule this time around. Even if you aren’t a big fan of trivia, you could win enough points to buy a game you really want to play. No pain, no gain?

Kotaku AU note: Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on a local launch.

U.S. Xbox 360 owners who shell out the 5600 Microsoft Points necessary to net them Splosion Man, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Turtles in Time Re-shelled, Trials HD, and Shadow Complex between now and August 31st will get an extra 800 Microsoft points added to their account, basically cancelling out the price of Splosion Man. From a monetary standpoint, it amounts to getting $US80 worth of Microsoft points for $US70, which is a pretty good deal no matter how you look at it. Of course, if you don’t buy all five games you get nothing, but that’s the price you pay for not paying the price for everything.

It seemed like the prices for Ring of Honor pro wrestling and M-1 Challenge MMA series were off. But Microsoft told Kotaku that they were not typos. HD Net, the network that puts them on, did not offer us an explanation.

Two months later, those prices have been dropped for Ring of Honor, but not for the MMA show.

Old ROH pricing (which looked suspiciously like someone put the resolutions of the clips in the price column):

New ROH pricing (which is still higher than than the 160/240points SD/HD seen for shows like ABC’s Lost):

The new prices convert to $US4 for SD and $US6 for HD, for an hour of programming.

I had checked the prices a couple of weeks ago, and they had not yet changed. Thanks to reader Ravi for noticing that they finally dropped.

Pay-Per-P pricing lingers, but it’s lost at least one foothold.

Microsoft has teamed up with Discovery to deliver 2 million Microsoft points via the Deadliest Catch Text to Win Sweepstakes.

Microsoft is doing up Discovery’s crap-fishing television series big across all of its various networks, including MSN, MSN Mobile, Hotmail, and of course, Xbox Live. The promotion, which started on April 10th and ends tomorrow at Midnight, has players texting special mobile phone numbers for a chance to be one of 5,000 winners of 2 million Microsoft points. The codes can be found either through video clips accessible via Xbox Live ads, or through in-game advertisements in certain Xbox 360 games, including Madden NFL 09, Need for Speed: Undercover, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Skate2, and NHL 09.

The best part of the promotion is not actually having to watch The Deadliest Catch to participate. Not that it is a bad show…it’s just one of those trap programs you cannot tear yourself away from no matter how hard you try. I’ve spent many a weekend afternoon watching countless hours of crab fishing, and I don’t even eat seafood. That’s too much power for one show to have.

Useless at maths? We feel your pain. Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to work out how much money you’re actually spending when you fork over some MS Points on Xbox Live Marketplace. The Aussie dollar conversion rate is 100 Points = $1.65, not the simplest calculation do perform in your head when your thumb is hovered over the A button, eager to spend spend spend! Pro tip: bookmark the Microsoft Points Converter.

This way you’ll realise that spending 1200 Points or $19.80 on garbage like Blowout really isn’t a good idea after all.

Some will meet these prices with outrage, while I say why not? I’ve played both of these titles (Braid extensively) and they are completely worth the extra real currency substitute. I’ve paid $US 60 for disc-based titles that had a quarter of the entertainment value of these two games. More power to them.

真夏のXbox LIVE アーケード最新 4 タイトルの配信日が決定 [Japanese Xbox Blog via GamerBytes - Thanks ZeroMystic!]

UPDATE:Microsoft contacted Kotaku to clarify some details. Apparently the price of Braid is listed incorrectly, with the correct price being announced Monday, while North American Castle Crashers pricing will be announced August 25th. Note they didn’t say the Castle Crashers price was incorrect.

Inside each pre-order box will be a code for Xbox Live. The code will give you access to four exclusive GamerPics and 500 Microsoft Points to spend on whatever you like. The announcement notes that the code will only be included by “participating retailers”, so be sure to ask before you make your purchase.

While a nice gesture to Xbox 360 owners, it’s not enough to compensate for the high cost of the game – not that Microsoft has any control over this. More importantly, is it enough to coax you into spending your money in Australia? Let us know.