Friday, May 26, 2006

Xbox 360 to get Dashboard Update

Microsoft has announced plans to release the first major Dashboard update to the xbox 360 since the November launch.

There will be a hoarde of new features and the list includes:
  • Better organization of Xbox Live Market place. It will focus content into specific sections with new releases being at the top.
  • New Background download manager: Now you can do other things while downloading whatever. There will also be a queue of up to 6 downloads so you can set the queue and do whatever else you want to and not have to worry about the downloads. If you happen to access xbox live than the downloads will pause until you exit xbox live.
  • Previously when watching game trailers (now going to be called Game Videos) you couldn't play/pause/rewind/fastforward. Now you can.
  • There has been increased music player and DVD playback usability.
  • You will be able to set your console to away much like in IM clients after inactivity.
  • There will be USB keyboard support so you can get your type on.
  • Last but not least, you may now launch Dashboard instead of the game when a game disc is in the tray. For this feature it is a default setting (that you change to select the Dashboard option) so you will have to switch it back if you ever want the game disc to load first.

As for the release of the update it is up in the air although Microsoft has said that it will be in "in about a week." Hopefully, it'll be next week but possibly expect some time in early June.

No comments: