Monday, June 05, 2006

Xbox 360 to get 125 New Features Tomorrow

Here is the complete list via xbox.com. Before you start reading I just would like to point out that all these improvements are being made while still being the ONLY next-gen system out For Sale. These new features just puts the Xbox 360 one step ahead of the Wii and PS3.

NEW FEATURES

  • “Download manager” - Marketplace items now download in the background, queue up to six pieces of content
  • DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing
  • Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive
  • “Boot to Dashboard” setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on
  • Begin slideshows from any photo
  • Music player saves “shuffle” setting
  • Much player save “repeat” setting
  • Music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist
  • Music volume level persists between game / reboots
  • 8 new locales added (Chile, Brazil, India, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia)
  • Separate settings now offered for Game and User volume controls
  • Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard
  • User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard
  • “All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area
  • Personal gamer pictures allowed as Gamertiles – displayed only to those on your Friends List
  • Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard
  • Instantaneous “Change Theme” option added upon downloading new Dashboard themes
  • Preserve folder structure of source when viewing photos
  • A / B labels now provided to identify memory units in Dashboard
  • Online status set to “Away” when screensaver becomes active

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

DVD Player

  • Improved audio/video sync after extended pauses
  • Improved visual quality
  • DVD player outputs at native resolution over VGA connection
  • Improved playback smoothness
  • Improved fast-forward and rewind smoothness
  • DVD play continues to attempt to read a disc after “disc read” error
  • DVD play à Pause à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
  • DVD play à Slow Play à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
  • Repaired issues with missing menu selection icon from DVD disc menu for certain films
  • Improved Xbox 360 Guide efficiency during certain films
  • Repaired playback stutter during certain films

Music Player

  • Player now populates music data (Title, Artist, etc.) when no track information is available
  • User music is now pauses, instead of stopping, when games override user-selected background music
  • Selecting an artist’s album no longer displays albums for all artists
  • Improved performance when retrieving playlists from a Windows Media connection
  • List music tracks in track-order when viewing albums by specific artist
  • Unified music controls for music player in Dashboard and pop-up Guide
  • Improved playback for Mono AAC-encoded files
  • Improved connection timing between console and CD database over Internet
  • Player no longer allows hard-drive selection when no hard-drive is connected
  • Removed handling of MTP/USB devices when playing music from them more robust
  • Improved error codes / messaging associated with unplayable content

Localization Improvements

  • Fixed partially truncated strings in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian
  • Korean clock / date format corrected after initial set-up
  • Fixed system hang when changing the language of the console immediately after signing out
  • Korean virtual keyboard “down” navigation now works for lower-right button
  • Korean virtual keyboard caps disabled for input mode
  • Fixed overlapping characters for pre-paid Gold membership card (Japanese localization)
  • Removed extra spaces in several translated words (French localization)
  • PC name displayed properly when containing Japanese characters
  • Support single apostrophe character for Japanese virtual keyboard

Memory Area Improvements

  • Streamlined selection – no profile selection required
  • Improved overall performance, allowing quicker access to content
  • Improved content views including name, file type, size, profile owner and location
  • Faster identification of file types and fewer steps for actions such as copy, move, delete, etc.
  • Capacity (or percentage-full) of storage device now consistent between select-a-device and storage scenes
  • Device selection now shown on each screen to improve usability

Miscellaneous System Improvements

  • Time elapsed now displayed when playing music files
  • Enhanced categorization of media library
  • Accelerated scrolling of large music lists
  • New “shuffle” icon
  • Repeat / Shuffle icon now operates as toggle button
  • Default button for manual IP address is now “A” instead of “Done”
  • Hidden and system folders are no longer displayed from MTP / mass storage devices
  • Difficulty levels for gamer profiles ordered correctly
  • Added additional line and word-wrap to “Publisher” in video area
  • Shuffle / Random no longer skips last image in list when viewing photos
  • Improved handling of Friend Requests between Gamertags that have changed names
  • No longer asked “Exist to Dash?” when switching between areas in the Dashboard
  • New error messages for when Windows Live ID requires password change
  • Unlocked Achievements now displayed first in Game Summary page
  • Selecting an Achievement now shows the specific Achievement details
  • Full date now displayed for “Member Since” and “Next Bill Date” tabs on Membership scene
  • Updated messaging for deleting arcade games purchased by different profiles
  • No longer launch music CD in disc-tray when moving from Live sign-up to Dashboard or Network Troubleshooter
  • Improved voice quality when connected through wired gamepad
  • Show “Last Played Game” selection in Xbox Live Arcade first before enumerating all games (when Arcade game was last game played)
  • Improved performance of picture enumeration from iPods formatted for Mac
  • Adopt latest updates to Cero-based ratings for Family Settings
  • Show videos downloaded from Marketplace in the Video area of the Media blade
  • Improved usability around “Play Now” when downloading demos, trailers and videos
  • Added support for South Africa-specific Family Settings
  • Updated support for Japanese game ratings
  • Video area changed to include game trailers and entertainment videos
  • Improved robustness of Gamerscore when doing account recoveries
  • Improved messaging around handling corrupt or non-fully recovered profiles
  • Improved download performance for popular content being downloaded through Marketplace
  • Total USB keyboard support
  • Testing Live connection while streaming music from PC works correctly
  • Next item / Focus sound not played when scrolling past the bottom of the video list
  • Handle profiles on memory units inserted into system while enumerating profiles from other storage locations
  • Warning / Alert icons now show as part of deleting items in Memory area
  • Repeat rate for remote control matches game controller repeat rate
  • “A” button disabled when in a list with no items available
  • Wireless battery level added to mini-pop-up guide over backward-compatible games
  • Pop-up guide / Dashboard now supports USB keyboard
  • Console no longer enters “charge” mode when shutdown and the battery has been removed from wireless controller
  • System no longer waits indefinitely when attempting to contact Windows Media Connect service on XP PC
  • Improved Marketplace storage device selector
  • Correctly set focus on selected item when back button pressed on “select a game” scene
  • Notify users when multiple wireless SSIDS with identical names are within reach
  • Provide Gold membership information when trying to join a session or accepting game invites with Silver accounts
  • New text to highlight the ability to clear the passcode for Live account signing
  • Photo slideshow no longer resumes when pressing “previous” or “next” from paused state
  • Improved handling of corrupt profiles when deleting them
  • No longer turn off wireless gamepads after system update reboot
  • More robust handling of initial setup experience for memory unit users
  • Improved handling of backward-compatible update experience, reboot back into Xbox v1 environment instead of Dashboard
  • Improved handling for "block communications" from other players
  • Improved keypress sounds when using USB keyboard
  • Improved usability and performance of content enumeration for storage devices
  • Show visual location for where Xbox Live Arcade games reside
  • Improved user messaging when overwriting content while copying
  • Improved consistency of messaging between "sign out" and "switch profile"
  • Updated troubleshooter text for connection to Windows PC's joined to domain
  • Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition
  • Improved initial setup text messaging
  • Improved overall error message terminology
  • Game updates downloaded to memory unit no longer show "please reinsert" notification when memory unit removed
  • More robust support for handling game deletes from memory unit and simultaneously removing memory unit
  • Improved system performance between console and affiliated Windows Media Connect PC

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