Microsoft's New Xbox Live Update: Eight Things You May Not Know (RunDLC)

You can expect a new Xbox Live experience, right before Kinect's November 4th launch. Microsoft has already gone public with the ESPN and Zune features, and now it wants to fill you in on eight additional changes that should make the experience even more enjoyable. Here's what you can expect.

John Artest (RunDLC)

[TheDCD]

Should be a good update.

[Buff1044]

Absolutely! Can't wait for this. It seems like Microsoft has packed it full of great stuff.

[MorganX]

It is. Fast, clean. The new sounds are soft and nice. Like the new Xbox power and eject sounds. The new Netflix UI is fast as well and, at least on new Xbox, streaming over Wireless-N results in HD with no downgrading to SD due to bandwith loss. Feel free to disconnect the wires.

ESPN rocks as well. I got to see the Michigan vs Indiana game and watch Denard Robinson go nuts for the Wolverines in streaming HD. Good stuff Maynard.

[Buff1044]

Ah you're lucky to have early access. Can't wait tho. Should be sweet. I like what you said about the eject sounds. It's about time.

[MorganX]

On the eject sound, that's not from the dash. That's a part of the new 360S. But all the sounds in the new dash are similar, techy/soft.

[IRetrouk]

sorry morgan but the new dashboard is just as slow as the old one, i have it too, it looks worse than the old one too, do not like the squared off look.

[plb]

I see they left out the bit where they added $10 to the price.

[TheLeprachaun]

Hardly part of the xbox live update is it?

[Pootangpie]

people like you on here are the very reason why I'm not getting a PS3 ever way to make you fellow fans look bad

[k-Lan]

"people like you on here are the very reason why I'm not getting a PS3 ever"

I follow you on that one. The PS N4G community is an embarassment to gaming. Obviously there are a few other reasons as well.

As for the update, i can't wait. It looks so much quicker and i love the new look of the dash.

This is what you call an update! It's not a weekly update with no content.

[IRetrouk]

sorry but trolls are on both side, were you on n4g when the ps3 first came out? i was and the xbox fans gave sony fans stick every day, all thats happened is that the ps3 has a lot more users than in them days, both sets of fanboys are a dissgrase but to say it just the ps3 crowd is silly.

[BigPenguin]

@Iretouk: Agreed, anyone who complains about all the "PS3 fanboys" is a new N4G user. This place was 360 trolls up the ass for 2 years after the PS3 came out.

Now that PS3 has finally been acknowledged as objectively superior by most everyone, all the old trolls have blended back into the background. So now all the new 360 users of this site bitch and moan nonstop about how their chosen console gets rightly bashed. MS deserves the shit they get about the 360, this is coming from someone who owns a 360, pays for live, and will continue to pay for at least for another year when my sub runs out in December.

I have all 3 consoles, and there is a clear difference between them.
PSN: BigPenguin XBL: BigRoundPenguin

[IRetrouk]

thank god, someone finaly talking some sence, i, like you also own all 3 consoles, i also pay for live twice, one for me and one for the fiance, and i agree the ps3 is superior when used correctly, most things the ps3 was bashed for were very silly reasons, yet micro got away with a lot, bubbles to you for speaking the truth .

XBL- IR3TR0 PSN- xTSxRetro

[plb]

Er why? It's the truth. You're paying for services (and soon will be paying more), most of which are available for free on PSN and paying for DLC free on Stream. I won't deny that the new interface looks nice but paying for the majority of those services are ridiculous. Even Valve has been having a go at MS and Xbox Live.

[mrcash]

in your opinion its ridiculous, if you can't bring yourself to pay 5$ a month for something that you enjoy then so be it, but you needn't judge. 5 a month isn't bad at all, if you don't like it great that's your prerogative. At the end of the day it comes down to the quality of the service and many people prefer the quality of live than psn.

[bananlol]

The price is not the issue, its the principle.

[mrcash]

Yeah they added 83cents a month what a rip off, I guess some people can't afford that much of an increase.

[MorganX]

ESPN alone is worth 83 cents a month. I'm only interested in Wolverine NCAA games, but wait until BBall season. Oh boy.

[MorganX]

The funny thing is since the price increase announcement, discounts have been more plentiful than ever before, even from MS themselves. If everyone takes advantage of the steep discounts, MS will be hurting over the next couple years with regards to subscription sales. It's ridiculous right now. Why increase it if your'e going to give such steep deals all over the place. Interesting. Has to be long term vision, get new subscribers with Kinect now and get an extra $10 from them a few years down the road. LOL. Really, they're counting on marketplace sales I'm sure.

[mrcash]

yup, they have a 2 year sub for 84 and they give you 1600 points not bad really.

[JUDALATION]

Why charge for all these features that many wont use when you can just add a browserlike the wii/ps3 and all these features and then some would be implemented???

[The Lazy One]

did you read the article? I don't think any of these additions would be helped by a browser.

[Pootangpie]

you want to browse that's what a PC is for

[TheLeprachaun]

Yeh I can count the amount of times I've used my wii/ps3 browser on one hand. Saying that though, perhaps there's people who find them useful.

[Buff1044]

Yeah, I've never really had the urge to sit on my couch and use a console to surf the web. But I could see it being of key importance to other people.

[alexg89]

Yes i do think MS should add a browser

but i do like that MS is adding these things in, even if they are rasing the price :(

[iLLMATICxKiNG]

Anyone know when we are seeing it? This month, perhaps?

[TheLeprachaun]

Early November last I heard.

[MorganX]

Kinect on 4th, so probably a day or so before that.

[crzyjackbauer]

i wish sony was like MS when it comes to updates
i dont play my ps3 that much anymore
most of the time i just watch blurays but everytime i turn it on
i need an update, i have gone two months without an update
and it takes so long to download

[Buff1044]

I think Sony will hit its stride with PS Plus. We'll see plenty of cool things from it in the future.

[Infest]

I have the beta version of the update. Everything seems to load a little bit faster and the dashboard is white. Pretty much it.

[siren]

For those interested, here is the breakdown of the 8 features with regards to whether you need a Gold subscription or not to access them.

1. Improved voice quality (Gold)

Party Chat requires a Gold subsciption to access.

2. Improved experience for changing your Gamertag (Free)

Gamertags are useful to both Gold and Free users. Changing your Gamertag still costs $8.

3. Streamlined in-dashboard virtual keyboard (Free)

Keyboard is mainly useful for account creation and for setting up a credit card for auto-billing. Also useful for text messages to other gamertags which is available to Free users.

4. Improved Xbox LIVE Marketplace UI and browse experience (Free)

All Marketplace content (Music, Video, Game) can be purchased by Free users, though some DLC requires Gold to utilize. This benefits all users.

5. Avatar changes: we’ve made your Avatars slightly more proportional so you can better play Kinect games (Free)

This change is mainly for Kinect which does not require Gold to utilize. Some games like Kinect Adventures do offer online play options which do require Gold, but this is not essential to the experience.

6. Easier to get on a wireless network (Free)

Wireless access is useful for accessing the Marketplace, texting other GamerTags, and comparing achievements. All of these are accessible to Free users.

7. Ability to sign-out other controllers in the sign-in UI (Free)

This is a local activity only and thus a benefit to Free users.

8. New browse experience for 100% completed games (Kinda Gold)

Most games have at least one achievement that requires online CooP or Competitive play, which require Gold Functionality.

[VladimirK]

I got into the beta aswell and it is really good, some definite improvements over the older dashboard.

The one thing I would fault though is that the guide is white now. Hurts your eyes a little when it opens because of how bright it is.
Maybe black with white text would be good.

[Buff1044]

Def can't wait to experience this for myself. The ESPN stuff sounds sweet.