XBox Live Dashboard Update: New Features Revealed

[Starlight]

The mandatory XBox Live service update on August 11, 2009 will add a couple of goodies to your dashboard, some of which bring it closer in line to PSN's HOME (i.e. buying digital versions of brand name clothing with real money to play dress-up with your virtual doll - now there's something we've all been waiting for, right?).

First and foremost:

- Avatar Props - You can now equip your avatar with animated items he or she can carry around and interact with.

- Avatar Marketplace - Reflect your sense of style with the new Avatar Marketplace. Download and purchase premium items, including branded apparel from fashion labels and Xbox 360 games.

- Games on Demand - You can now download full Xbox 360 games over Xbox LIVE. You can purchase games using Microsoft® Points or a credit card, and download them directly to your console hard drive. No physical disc is required to play these games.

- UI Improvements - Enjoy an enhanced user interface, including streamlined navigation, new ways to sort your friends list, and a revamped achievement browser.

- Xbox LIVE Parties - Invite your friends to an Xbox LIVE Party more easily than ever before, and automatically reconnect if you get disconnected from a party.

- Netflix Updates - Bring your party to Netflix® and watch a movie or TV show together. In addition, browse through new releases and other genre lists, and add the movies or shows to your instant queue from your console.

The most interesting side features are:

- User Ratings - Rate any game content on Xbox LIVE. Also, sort by ratings to find games, demos, trailers, and more that have received top ratings.

- Account Management Enhancements - Show off how long you've been an Xbox LIVE Gold member with a stamp on your gamer card--and get a reminder when your subscription is about to run out.

They listed UI improvements as a feature, so personally I hope this means they succeeded in fixing the dashboard lag they introduced with NXE last year. We'll all know on August 11.


More PlayStation 3 News...

[mrgreaper]

Games on Demand - You can now download full Xbox 360 games over Xbox LIVE. You can purchase games using Microsoft® Points or a credit card, and download them directly to your console hard drive. No physical disc is required to play these games.

great idea but on a 120gig hd i doubt we can hold many and can you imagine how much a 1tb drive if sold by microsft would be?!?! im willing to bet it wont be a 2 digit price like normal 1tb drives.

but buying games online will atleast be cheaper then the shops (no disturbution costs no packaging no printed manuals) i mean microsoft wont charge us full price for them will they.

[zakezoe85]

Yeah like the wifi really cost $99 or even sale price $89.

They don't care, or else we would have seen a better price for hard drive like the 60GB for $35 or maybe $40 but instead we see $99.

[Kraken]

The main thing I want fixed is the slow games library. I have several hundred live arcade games, and it takes on the order of minutes to display the list, and then another 30 seconds to load icons.

A simple index could make that instant, but I'll bet M$ was too busy making imaginary clothing for dolls.

[Fignutz32]

Im in the update preview the games cost $20-$30 most of which you can buy in-store for the same prices or less

[JeffJ]

I'm on the "NXE Preview" they call it. its alright. bunch of small things changed. no.... things dont load faster yes you can get props but im not paying for them. ohhh and did i mention it takes like 8 days to log into live, and the same amount of time for it to auto log-in on first boot. it also keeps dropping my live connection on me. so im hoping this is all fixed with the public release.

"if any one wants this pre release ill extract it from my hdd and post it up. all you will need to install is a USB key just take my "$SystemUpdate" folder put it on the root of your usb key and the xbox will detect it and install it. it takes about 8 min.

Post back if you want to take the plunge.