Xbox 360 Fanboy

Things are moving really, really, fast in the world of the 360 right now. After the news that the Dashboard would be receiving a makeover, many of you thought that it was the end of the known world. Luckily, Major Nelson has updated his blog with some of the many new details of the new interface. The first of which is that the blades interface isn't going away, it's now just a smaller part of the larger Xbox Guide.

Even bigger though is the option to install games entirely to the HDD for faster load times and no disc drive noise. However, to get the installed game to boot, the disc has to still be in the drive for an initial check to make sure you still own it.

The new party system that's built into the interface supports up to eight people and allows for chat, sharing of media, and simultaneous launch of games, all for the entire group. As for the so-called Xbox Live Primetime, it's basically a system that allows users to participate in what amounts to virtual game shows, many complete with prizes and a live host.

The last few bits include a few notes on Avatars, including their integration into Arcade games, future retail releases and of course the newly christened "Live Party". Also, for those techies out there, the update will add 16X10 over VGA or HDMI, and support for 1440x900 or 1680x1050. Oh, and you'll be able to buy anything from the Marketplace via Xbox.com too.

Plus the ol' Major promises that there is still more details to be revealed as the update draws ever closer.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

In an exclusive interview with Next Generation, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten announced the rather disappointing news that they will not be releasing a Spring update this year. This of course means that the rumored Spring update feature set that was leaked last week was complete bologna. Whitten says that instead of putting their resources into a Spring update, they decided to focus their energy into "building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service" (ahem, more reliability). But all is not lost in the land of updates, as Whitten confirmed Microsoft will be rolling out a change to their DRM policy in June that'll allow content owners to re-license XBLA and XBLM content to a single console. This move will make said content available when disconnected from Xbox Live.

Finally, we learn that the Xbox Live Arcade will get a metaphorical Spring cleaning as Microsoft plans to remove under-performing Arcade titles. Games that have been on the market for over six months, have a Metacritic average lower than 65% and a conversion rate below 6% will be targeted for de-listing. A move that Microsoft hopes will streamline the service and open it up to bigger and better things.

If history remains true the Xbox 360 Spring update should be on its way soon, but unlike previous updates we've heard nothing about new features. According to a tip sent to Joystiq regarding the spring update there are nearly 80 new features and tweaks possibly incoming for the Xbox 360.

The completely unconfirmed list can be found after the jump but we can tell you it includes some features we've dreamed for. Voice chat conferences for up to four people, an Inside Xbox Portal which includes news, entertainment, weather and various community features, downloading audio from feeds (such as the Xbox 360 Fancast, or other podcasts we guess), a DRM check for downloaded content which lists items that will not be accessible when disconnected from Xbox Live and a new (hopefully working) way to correct the DRM issue are some of the features on the list.

Other notable features include being able to delete games from your played games list if they list a gamerscore of zero (and zero obtained achievements) and the ability to save game data onto the hard drive for faster loading (presumably the way PS3 handles the feature).

The most interesting addition is the ability to calibrate motion sensor based peripherals again pushing the Wii-like controller rumor into the limelight.

Keep in mind that this all squarely falls under the category of "rumor" for the moment. We'll let you know as soon as we hear otherwise. Find the full list of (rumored) features after the break.

If you fired up your 360 earlier this morning you may have been prompted to download a new console update. And seeing that it is Springtime you may also have instantaneously concluded that the console update you downloaded was the Spring dashboard update. But that's where your logical sense steered you wrong.

According to Major Nelson, this morning the Xbox Live team rolled out a new console update that simply adds code to "prepare for future growth of the service" and is NOT the Spring dashboard update. You will not see any new features or any new dashboard excitement, it's simply one of those behind the scenes updates that's a ball of mystery. And what about the Spring dash update? We still have no information as Microsoft is still keeping hush-hush about its release and feature set.

With yesterday's release of the Xbox 360 Fall Update, Xbox Live got hammered. No, not drinking hammered the kind of hammered that happens when millions of gamers clog Xbox Live's network causing all kinds of clunky things to happen. We confirmed with Major Nelson and his Xbox Live ops crew that there were Xbox Live network issues going on last night, but they've since been fixed and everything should be cleared up by now. So, know that it wasn't the Fall Update that was making your console and Xbox Live to act funny, it was simply Xbox Live getting hammered. Now go, enjoy and embrace your new Fall Update without a drunken Live dragging you down.

We've just been informed via Gamertag Radio and Xbox.com's TriXie that the Fall Update is releasing with a minor bug related to the new Live ID switching feature. Specifically, when you download the Fall Update and change the Live ID you have associated with your gamertag, a bunch of Xbox.com issues arise. Problems including all your Xbox.com forum posts being deleted, your community user level will go bye-bye, your icons will be erased and your gamertag will be replaced with with an "anonymous" name. The Xbox 360 dashboard team is trying their darnedest to get a fix in place and should have a solution available in the next few days. Until then, DO NOT change your Live ID that is associated with your gamertag until a fix is announced. You've been warned.

[Thanks, DjDATZ]

With the release of the Fall Update a few hours away Major Nelson wanted to remind everyone about setting their Friends of Friends preferences before the update goes live. The Friends of Friends feature defaults to allowing "everyone" to see your friends list, so if you want some privacy or only want your friends to see it then you have to be proactive. To change who can view your friends list, head on over to Xbox.com and make your decision. And yes, you'll be able to change the Friends of Friends preferences via the Xbox 360 dashboard after the Fall Update releases, but we're all about being prepared and organized. So what will it be? Everyone? Friends? Blocked? The decision is yours.

Sad news fellow fanboys. We know you and pretty much the entire Fanboy community was excited to hear that the Fall Update would allow for deletion of XBLA game trials from your recently played history. But, according to the tech heads over at Xbox Team's blog, this deletion feature isn't what we thought it to be. Instead, the Fall Update will get "support to not write trial-version Arcade games to user's played games history (this is only for newly downloaded games after the Dec'07 update is released)". See the key words there? The 360 will not write XBLA trials to the games history after the update gets released, but anything prior to Tuesday's update is set in stone. So, no deletion option, it's just an enhancement that will stop future XBLA trial games from appearing on the your games played list. Sad ... we thought we were finally rid of our old XBLA trials.

[Thanks, xenocidic]

Hey kids, heads up! We just revealed what new goodies will be headed our way when the new Fall Update releases next Tuesday, but reading about it is only half as fun as seeing it in action. And that's where the Gamerscore Blog comes in. They just posted a nine minute video showing off and showcasing the impending Fall Update's features and demoing everything in an easily consumable YouTube video. Get excited, get watching and take it in all. The Fall Update has a lot to offer. Oh, and by the way. We're digging the new dashboard navigation and re-organization ... much love to that.

Coming straight out of a Microsoft Japan held press conference are new details about what features will be included in the December 4th Fall Update. All the information is in Japanese (and we forgot our Japanese translator at home), but thanks to Engadget Japan's own Ittousai we've got all the goods. And yes, there's more to the Fall Update than just Xbox Originals and Friends of Friends. Click through to the break to get learnified ...

Ahh yes, we finally get a Fall Update feature out in the open, exposed and bared to all! Or we should say an "alleged" feature. We should also say we don't think it's the most exciting Fall feature ever implemented, but it's Fall Update news so we shall divulge.

According to a post made by JasonX1 over on the Xbox.com forums, he spotted some potential Fall Update facts on the back of his recently purchased Guitar Hero III keychain. More specifically, the keychain text hints at a new family timer and reads ...

Family Timer
- A simple tool that lets you manage how much time your kids spend on their Xbox 360.
- Manage time in daily or weekly increments. Easy for parent to suspend or add time.
- Available in December 2007 only through Xbox Live.

As you can see, the text doesn't solely mention family timer options for GHIII and instead uses the broad "Xbox 360" label. Interesting stuff. Oh, and don't count your Fall Update releasing in November chickens just yet, we have a feeling our update eggs will hatch this December.

[Thanks, Hector]

Update 2: Microsoft has responded to our screenshots saying that this isolated IPTV incident is not part of the Fall update and was accidentally exposed during repair. Learn more here.

Update: We just learned that Aaron just got his 360 back from Microsoft repair this week. We also know that his dash version isn't any different than the one that is already out (2.0.5787.0) leading us to believe that his 360 doesn't have the Fall update. But the new options are definitely related to the IPTV service as more options were discovered in his 360's settings. Need proof? Check out the two new screenshots we just added.

If the sweet, juicy, rumor friendly screenshots that we just received via our tipster inbox hold any water, then everyone can look forward to IPTV being part of the Fall update. Though, remember kids, this is all filed under the "rumor" tag ...

The two four screenshots you see in the gallery below were sent to us by tipster Aaron, who says that he turned on his Xbox 360 today and noticed a new TV icon with four text squares in his media blade and was wondering if we knew what it was all about. We investigated and noticed that this new TV icon option wasn't normal and replaced the "Video Marketplace" option that we see on our dash. The second thing we noticed was that, when hovered over, the description for the mysterious TV icon option reads:

Use television services.
• Live & recorded TV
• On-demand movies
• Chat while watching TV

Sounds like IPTV options to us. Once clicked, an error message pops up stating that it was "unable to start" and to contact support at www.microsoft.com/tv. That URL will take you to Microsoft's Mediaroom website ... also interesting. So, if everything is legit in these pictures and Aaron doesn't end up being a Photoshop God, we're going speculate that this random occurrence is related somehow to the Fall update. The square text boxes, error message and overall un-ready status of the dashboard option all smell of a Fall update that isn't yet ready for the masses. Maybe Aaron was online at the right moment when an Xbox Live engineer tripped over a cord sending Fall update goodness to his 360. Who knows. We'll try to get more information about this odd occurrence and ultimately find out if these screens are real and relate to IPTV or the Fall update. Until then, file everything into the rumor section of your brain and give the screenshots a look over.

[Thanks, Aaron]