Xbox Live’s 1 vs. 100: Here comes the money

Last July, when Microsoft took the wraps off of its Xbox Live Prime Time program, it promised the games would allow people to compete for “real world” prizes. So far, it has failed to deliver on that.

That begins to change this Friday, though, when players of the U.S. and Canadian beta of “1 vs. 100” will be competing for up to 10,000 Microsoft Points and a new Xbox LIVE Arcade title in every round. (Each two hour episode of the live show generally features between eight and 13 rounds.)

Players who are playing as part of the mob (or, the “100” in the game’s title) or “the One” will have a chance to win the points and games. The great unwashed in the crowd still just get to play for ego boosts and sweepstakes entries, which puts them in the running for a Zune or an HDTV home theater system.

That’s a bit nicer, though hopefully Microsoft will offer players in the game more than just points and LIVE Arcade titles when the game comes out of beta and launches its regular season. That (at least, according to Shane Kim -- corporate vice president of strategy and business development for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business -- was the plan at the beginning.

Time has a way of changing game plans, though.

It’s worth noting that residents of Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland and Vermont (as well as Quebec, Canada) are ineligible to win prizes due to laws in those areas.