360 Dashboard Update - 31 October 2006

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http://www.xboxic.com/news/1884

Microsoft will release its “Fall 2006 System Update” on 31.10.06 in Japan, according to a Famitsu report. The update is free and available to all Xbox Live members.

The update, among other things, improves Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace functions, provides 1080p support, adds a start menu for XNA-developed games, adds HD-DVD player support and over 80 additional functions.
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Press Release:
Here's the official press release on the update:

Beginning the morning of Tuesday October 31, owners of the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft™ will be able to download a free system update that will provide more than 85 new features and enhancements, including support for native 1080p games and movies, faster Xbox Live Arcade game list display times and even more choices when it comes to video playback options.

This free update will be distributed via the Xbox Live® online gaming and entertainment network to all members (Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live Gold) with no disc or hard drive required. Gamers without an Xbox Live account can easily sign up for free by connecting their console to a broadband Internet connection. Once online, downloading the update is fast and simple, and provides instant access to features such as:

Expanded HD Display and Video Playback Options

· With 1080p resolution, gamers now have the ability to enjoy both game and video content in the best HD resolution currently available.

· Expanded video playback options increase the ways gamers can enjoy video content on Xbox 360. It is now possible to stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Connect.

· Gamers can now play video files from data CDs and DVDs, as well as from storage devices like USB 2.0 flash drives and Xbox 360 Memory Units.

· Xbox 360 will support 50hz HDTV display modes, providing viewers greater choice in how they watch DVD and HD DVD content.

Xbox Live Arcade Enhancements

· Keeping up to date on Xbox Live Arcade games is now even more convenient with the ability to automatically download newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games. This eliminates the need to manually search for new downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace each time a new game trial is released.

· Fast enumeration of games: you’ll see the games in your Xbox Live Arcade collection appear almost instantly. Get in and play right away.

· With so many games to choose from, Xbox Live Arcade added new sorting options such as “Recently Played” and “By Category.” These enhancements make managing Xbox Live Arcade collections faster and easier than ever.

· A new expanded Friends Leaderboard within Xbox Live Arcade allows gamers to compare themselves directly against their friends and view leaderboard details of their top 10 friends.

· A new expanded Achievements View within Xbox Live Arcade lets gamers view their full Achievement details for their Xbox Live Arcade games including descriptions, icons, allotted Gamerscore and more, right from the Xbox Live Arcade dashboard interface.

· The “Play Now” launch feature has been streamlined. Selecting “Play Now” after downloading a game in Xbox Live Marketplace now bypasses Xbox Live Arcade and takes you directly to the game.

· Xbox Live Arcade now offers a “Tell a Friend” feature. Select this option from the game info screen to send any friend on your friends list a message telling them about the Xbox Live Arcade game.

XNA Support

· Amateur game designers will be able to test and play the games they create using XNA Game Studio Express on their Xbox 360 systems when it launches later this year (separate download and subscription required).



These features and enhancements are just some of the improvements gamers can expect as part of the fall update. For a complete list of updates, visit http://www.xbox.com/live.

Microsoft is committed to providing Xbox 360 customers with the best online experience possible and delivering added value to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Those subscribers will enjoy exclusive early access to special Xbox Live Marketplace content, such as game demos, free game add-ons, free community videos, and free gamer pics and themes for up to one week in advance of their general release. Paid downloadable content remains available at the same time for both Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

Through these regular updates, the way gamers are connected to their friends and entertainment is constantly evolving and improving. With more than 4-million Xbox Live members to date, Xbox 360 has proven itself as the premiere gaming platform of choice.
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I believe the UPDATE will hit everywhere at the same time....I know, it's a bit confusing. HD-DVD interests me, I hope the 7th is correct
 
I'm very curious to see the XNA stuff.

And lord I hope they change the way content is displayed. It was SO annoying trying to shuffle through all the bringing it home content in the game videos section of the dashboard, it truncates it so badly.
 
[quote name='doubledown']I believe the UPDATE will hit everywhere at the same time[/quote]

Why do you believe that?
 
[quote name='Scorch']Why do you believe that?[/QUOTE]

Because multiple people from multiple countries communicate and play with each other over live. In the IT world it's a bad idea to have different versions of said software trying to deal with each other when you could easily force them all to have the same version.

Releasing it in one region and then not another is just asking for a a technical cluster fuck on a global scale.
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']even if it was just japan, log into your japan Live account and DL just like everything else.

But really It will be set and ready to go for the Americans too just like I said in my post a while back here[/QUOTE]



it's probably not a good idea to DL firmware from another country. i don't know why, but it seems like it would be sketchy.
 
[quote name='Apossum']it's probably not a good idea to DL firmware from another country. i don't know why, but it seems like it would be sketchy.[/QUOTE]

I seriously doubt there is any difference from region to region, when it comes to a dash update. It just looks at your country settings to figure out what language to display in, and what content you are allowed to see on live.
 
I'm with the ones wanting more BC. It'd be nice if they added upscaling on regular DVDs for people that aren't getting the HD DVD drive just yet...
 
[quote name='HumanSnatcher']I'm with the ones wanting more BC. It'd be nice if they added upscaling on regular DVDs for people that aren't getting the HD DVD drive just yet...[/QUOTE]

They do. But it only works through the VGA adapter.
 
it's not just in japan, you've got to be a god damn idiot to think they'd do a dashboard update JUST in Japan


http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/10/30/Fall-06-Update-Details.aspx

Looking for official details on the Fall Dashboard update? Check out the Newsflash (or the complete list of new features) just posted on Xbox.com then look for the update to head your way after 0200 PT Tuesday morning (What time is that in my time zone?.) If this whole ‘update’ thing is new to you, don’t worry…it’s quick, free and painless. Next time you login into Xbox Live you’ll get prompted to receive the update…it’s that easy. There is no way to force the update (and, regardless of what you have heard, it's not geographical based.) So sit back and relax and it get ready for the update sometime after 0200 PT Tuesday morning, October 31st.
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details on update:

Check these changes out:

* Fast enumeration of games: Remember how long it took for all your games to show up on the My Arcade Games button? That's all in the past, because now it's lightning fast. (Hey, that rhymed.) You'll see your game count zip to the full number in an instant, and the listing itself after you select the button is also really quick.
* Auto downloads: There seems to be no end to the games coming to your Xbox 360 console. To keep up, you can set up your console to automatically check for and download trial versions of any new Xbox Live Arcade games. Pretty sweet, huh?
* Sort options: With games piling up so quickly, you need a better way to find them. You can now view your games with two new sort options: Recently Played and By Category.
* Achievements, leaderboards, and Tell a Friend: Enhanced achievement lists and friend leaderboards for Xbox Live Arcade games are now available. Get full details for achievements and view a top ten friends leaderboard for each game right in Xbox Live Arcade. Then there's "Tell a Friend." Select this from the game info screen to send a buddy a message about the game.
* Play now: The Play Now button that you see after downloading a game now launches the game rather than just taking you to Xbox Live Arcade. Now that's attention to detail.

HD DVD, DVD, and Video
A huge amount of work has gone into video playback for HD DVD, DVD, and videos. A lot of it was behind the scenes, but there are a few visible changes.

As you may know, the Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player is due out soon. A big part of this update is to support the HD DVD player, and the DVD player also got a little boost. These are a few things to look for:

* Disabled Xbox Live notifications while watching movies.
* Improved countdown timer.
* Zoom controls for letterboxed content.
* Support for 50-Hz HDTV modes.
* Playback for videos also received an update. Video now shares playback controls with the DVD player, so you get new things like skip controls and zoom modes. Plus, you also get:
* Screen saver active when videos are paused.
* Visual and performance improvements.

Streaming Video
Previously, the Video area on the Media blade of the Xbox Dashboard only played back videos from your hard drive. No more! Stream video from a PC, portable device, or Memory Unit.

The Video area now looks very similar to the Music and Pictures area, which already let you stream music and pictures from various sources. Select your console, data disc, computer, or portable device as the source of video content.

Windows Media Player 11, Zune, and Windows Media Connect
Part of the change to the streaming story is the addition of Windows Media Player 11 and Zune™ as supported PC streaming software. If you install WMP 11 or Zune, it takes over for Windows Media Connect, and you manage connections from within the player itself (look for Media Sharing in WMP 11 or the Zune software). You can, of course, continue to use Windows Media Connect if you don't install WMP 11 or Zune.

1080p
I just thought I'd bubble this one up because 1080p display mode was under discussion recently. As it turns out, Xbox 360 can indeed do 1080p. You need a TV capable of this, but if you're lucky enough to have one, you're set.

The Future Is Now
The November update includes a lot of stuff for new products that'll be available over the next few months. Here's a sampling:

* New accessory support: If you've been living under a rock lately, let me be the first to tell you that three new accessories are coming to Xbox 360. There's HD DVD, which I mentioned already, plus the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset and Wireless Racing Wheel. Naturally, the console has been updated to support these. If you get a wireless headset, you'll notice a new display in the Xbox Guide for battery strength of the headset, too.
* Zune: You may also have heard something about an upcoming portable media player called Zune. Yup, the update includes support for that, too. There's support for streaming from the Zune software, which I mentioned previously, plus there's support for connecting the device itself to your console. The screens should be familiar—once you plug it in, select the device in Music, Pictures, or Video, and away you go.
* XNA Game Studio Express: Wow, we're chock full of new stuff these days, aren't we? Finally we come to XNA Game Studio Express, a way for all you budding game developers to create games for Xbox 360. You'll be able to access these games through the old Demos button, which has been relabeled, surprisingly enough, to Demos and More.

Other Stuff
You'd think that would be enough, but no. There's even more to look forward to:

* New locales.
* Improved translations for several languages.
* Visibility of content size in memory area.
* Improved multiplayer host migration.
* Improved Xbox Live Vision support.
* Improved voice chat quality.
* Expanded Family Settings for unrated movies.
* New credit card validation (CCV) field in signup and purchase areas.
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Wow! What an update! It fixed a lot of annoyances and includes some great new features. One of my favorites has to be:

· Gamers can now play video files from data CDs and DVDs, as well as from storage devices like USB 2.0 flash drives and Xbox 360 Memory Units.
 
nice we can stream wmv's now atleast without using media center

another plus:
Improved video playback while downloading from Xbox Live.
Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support while using VGA.
Improved voice chat quality in Xbox Dashboard and in-game chats.
 
Looks awesome.


VERY happy about streaming WMV :D

no bc update yet though. fuckers. better be soon.
 
Damn it, I was really hoping for Xvid / Divx playback.

Now if I can only figure out where to download my favorite tv shows in WMV instead of divx.....
 
waitaminute...everything I have is in .avi. fuck! oh well. any solution for this? (besides making myself an hero?)
 
[quote name='Apossum']Looks awesome.


VERY happy about streaming WMV :D

no bc update yet though. fuckers. better be soon.[/QUOTE]

Streaming pr0n in HD FTW
 
[quote name='AshesofWake']^^ get a video converter, problem solved.[/QUOTE]

Any suggestions? I heard about transcode, I wonder how well it works, converting on the fly.
 
video converters take forever, but I guess it's worth it in this case.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Any suggestions? I heard about transcode, I wonder how well it works, converting on the fly.[/QUOTE]


im going to do some google searching later, ill let ya know if i find anything worthwhile. unless someone links to a good one first >_
 
I am happy about all these changes but one that my wife will surely like, as will I, is that turning off the notifications while playing a movie. She hates that.

Very cool to have WMV file playback. I will have to look into a converter too.
 
[quote name='horrido']Because the wireless headset will not work without the update, and because the headset is being released on the 1st...[/QUOTE]

Not anymore. Its scheduled for the seventh.

My guess is to make sure there's no extra glitches from the update.
 
[quote name='doubledown']So, we can stream videos with Windows Media COnnect also without having to install WMP11?[/QUOTE]

No, what I read was pretty clear that if you want to do video, you have to install WMP 11.

Sucks, but sure beats gaytunes.
 
"Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect."
That means we dont need WMP11 right?
 
[quote name='BREVITY']"Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect."
That means we dont need WMP11 right?[/quote]

That's exactly how I read it, too.
 
1080 P Resoultion? Well thats friggin Bullcrap...Why couldnt microsoft let us know that future games could be in 1080 P...i would of waited 6 monthes to buy a TV in 1080 P when it dropped in price...
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']1080 P Resoultion? Well thats friggin Bullcrap...Why couldnt microsoft let us know that future games could be in 1080 P...i would of waited 6 monthes to buy a TV in 1080 P when it dropped in price...[/QUOTE]

They did talk about this a month ago.

Very few games will support 1080p, and don't expect to see as much eye candy when they do. Most people feel 1080p gaming isn't THAT much better to justify the hit in performance.
 
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