Sprung: First (official) look at the Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard Update!

Posted By: Tina Wood | Apr 11th, 2007 @ 7:03 PM

You might have heard some buzz Wink

about a little thing called the spring dashboard update for Xbox 360! You know I had to run right over to see what we'll be getting the week of May 7th. We show you how Windows Live integration lets you IM your gamer buddies from games, from your cellphone, or from work (poor you), and we give you an up-close look at the new Xbox 360 keypad.

Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including:

A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.
Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.
A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access the content they seek—whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States)—from one place on Xbox Live.
Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games.
New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace.
Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

Tags: dashboard, First Look, Seattle, xbox 360, Xbox Live

Views (54,142)

Comments (20)

Downloads

TeddyB

That's a huge update. My personal favorites are the automatic system shut off cause I like to download and leave. Being able to have more than 1 person in chat is fantastic, because I, as well as others I talk to, have complained about it. I mean Xbox 1 could do that, why not 360? And I also really like the achievements being labelled when they pop up because I'm an admitted achievements *... Smiley

Having a blade for Marketplace is great too. Looking forward to the update.

DeaconBlade

very nice Tina! good look at the dash and other things headed our way.

leftblack

Tina Wood, I really want too have conversations with you! As soon as possible! As you know i wrote your Tina wood loading site a few times but i can't bee personal there or here, these being public websites you know. Thats why i asked you too get a myspace or some kind of email service were i can reach you!

Tina there needs too be alot more than just hinting at what is, thats gone on way to long Tina.

I want too get more and more personal with you TINA WOOD!

Arztek

Awesome segment...and long too! That was almost a full half hour show if you count commercial time.

I'm really looking forward to the spring update. The revised marketplace setup and quick game joining prompts are particularly impressive to me. I couldn't help but chuckle at the network channel blade...it looks almost identical to the Wii's channel system.

I'm also psyched about Windows Live Messenger integration. I'm on messenger almost every other evening to chat with friends and I hate not being able to game without lugging my laptop beside me. The ability to chat in game will be awesome...along with that awesome keypad peripheral for the controller. I'm a little weary of the pricing though. Microsoft has been taking some negative press lately for over-priced peripherals and downloads.

TeddyB

In reply to TeddyB

#Apr 11th, 2007 @ 8:56 PM

Oops, looks like I said a naughty word and it got edited. My bad :(

FJGamer

Wow. This video is 77mb... large filesize for such a low resolution.

Other than the obviously high quality video, it's nice and long, maybe too long to be entertaining... but this place isn't for our entertainment.

I'm interested in this keypad controller. I wonder if you could simply plug a keyboard into the 360's USB slot. Would that work?

linkyshinks

Yeah great video, and yes it was long but very informative, I have read and heard about all the new features elsewhere and am really looking foward to using them, the little tweaks they have made will make all the difference. LS

The TID- text imput device looks kinda UGH though i reckon.