VIZ Media has announced that two of their most popular titles, Death Note and Bleach, are available on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment console. American fans can watch episodes of these series on a download-to-own basis, for 160 Microsoft points. (There is no mention of whether this same deal will eventually be available to Canadians or to fans in other countries.)

Both of the new series feature the original English dubbing. Another of VIZ's fan favorites, Naruto Uncut, which has already been available on the system since November of 2007, offers the choice of either the English dub for episodes 1 through 52, or English subtitles for episodes 1 through 24.

The entire Death Note series (37 episodes) will be available on the system, while Bleach will be running episodes 1-41, with more to be added later.

All of these episodes, and more information about how to download them, can be found on the Xbox LIVE site.

Ken Sasaki, VIZ Media's Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, expresses the company's excitement at the partnership with Xbox LIVE: "The combination of the hottest television and movie programming, video gaming and social networking interaction makes Xbox LIVE a compelling platform to present these smash hit animated dramas."

Xbox LIVE features not only hundreds of full-length TV shows and films, but it also includes a worldwide social entertainment network. (So one would hope that this same deal will be available to its other world members eventually.) The Xbox 360 also offers both Standard and High Definition digital distribution, the first gaming console to do so.