New XBOX 360 Dashboard Update Launches

JamesDM

The newest dashboard update is available for download as of 6:00AM EST today. For those of us who were not lucky enough to get into the preview program some new features include:


Games on Demand:
Enjoy the convenience of finding and buying new games right from the comfort of your own living room. Download a wide selection of full Xbox 360 games over Xbox LIVE. Games on Demand is now available for purchase on Xbox LIVE as part of the latest Xbox LIVE Update. You will be able to browse and purchase games through the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web starting August 13.

* Shop- Games on Demand are found in the Game Marketplace and include a large library of favorite titles right from the start. More titles are added every Tuesday, so check back whenever you’re in the mood for a great new game.
* Purchase - Purchase full games using Microsoft points or a credit card. Games are downloaded directly to your console (hard drive required), and your purchase history is stored by Xbox LIVE, meaning you can delete games and re-download them again if you run out of space.
* Playing and Sharing - As with other LIVE content, your game license is linked to your Xbox LIVE account. Download your purchased games to any console you are logged into with your Gamertag, and anyone else can play on the console that your game was originally downloaded to. No physical disc is required to play these games!
* Find Manuals - Game manuals can be viewed, downloaded, or printed from Xbox.com. Just locate your game in Web Marketplace and select “See Game Manual”.

Avatars:
Avatars have seen lots of love! Check out the new Marketplace and Avatar Props. The Avatar Marketplace is now available on Xbox LIVE as part of the latest Xbox LIVE Update. You will be able to browse and purchase Avatar apparel through the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web starting August 13.

* Avatar Props - Equip your avatar with animated items they can interact with and carry around.
* Avatar Marketplace - Reflect your sense of style with the new Avatar Marketplace. Download and purchase premium items, including branded apparel from your favorite fashion labels and Xbox 360 games.

Netflix
Now you can watch movies with your friends and find new movies to add to your Instant Queue without leaving your seat.

* Party Watch - Catch a show with your friends! Bring your party into Netflix and watch a movie or TV show together. (Feature available with supported titles.)
* Find Content Faster - Browse through New Releases and other genre lists based on the types of shows you’ve previously watched, all from the comfort of your couch.
* Improved Playback Experience - Improvements have been made to ensure a better experience when adapting to changing network conditions.
* Improved Presence - Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are watching.

That's the basics, the rest can be found at Microsoft's official site.

*If you reinstall any installed from disk games you may find yourself with a bit more HDD space!* <Unbreakable Vow

So go get that update and start whining about how you hate it and wish it had never been designed and we should go back to blades.

I am currently browsing the features if anyone wants to try some of the community based ones get at me on GT: JamesDM

Zephos

Its really not all that different. Games on demand might end up being useful though if they would ever drop the price of their damn hard drives.

UnbreakableVow

You left out the part where if you delete your game installs and reinstall them, there's a good chance the install size will be lower as many have been lowered.

User ratings are a neat idea.

Once the Elite price drop happens, Games on Demand will be the most important part of this update for me.

Jam Warrior

This does mark the start of Avatar unlockables from games though. Looking forward to seeing what the 'Splosion man unlockable is.

JamesDM

Zephos wrote: »

Its really not all that different. Games on demand might end up being useful though if they would ever drop the price of their damn hard drives.

I am conviced games on demand means we will see larger HDDs soon as well as a small price drop on current ones available.

Zephos

Microsoft points are still there as well, just they list the prices for games on demand in real dollars.

Blurbl

JamesDM wrote: »

Zephos wrote: »

Its really not all that different. Games on demand might end up being useful though if they would ever drop the price of their damn hard drives.

I am conviced games on demand means we will see larger HDDs soon as well as a small price drop on current ones available.

Bout damn time. A 360 cost me way more than a PS3 could have since I had to buy a Wireless adapter, Play and Charge Kit, and now a new HD. Which the PS3 has all built in. :?

Zephos

The 'Splosion man avatar award is a pink tutu, but I have yet to see one in the wild yet.

JamesDM

Zephos wrote: »

The 'Splosion man avatar award is a pink tutu, but I have yet to see one in the wild yet.

I know that if you

take the cowards way out you get a tutu in game but not as the avatar gear,

is this official at all?

Zephos

JamesDM wrote: »

Zephos wrote: »

The 'Splosion man avatar award is a pink tutu, but I have yet to see one in the wild yet.

I know that if you

take the cowards way out you get a tutu in game but not as the avatar gear,

is this official at all?

my bad, apparently i was wrong, they are as follows


Spoilerd for large images.

Szechuanosaurus

Man, I'm not paying for avatar accessories and I will snarl my nose in contempt at anyone who does.


But clothing and accessories for in-game achievements? Aye.


Speaking of which, where is my vault suit Bethesda? Get on that shit plz.

Zephos

I blew like 3 bucks on avatar accessories, i have a slick eyepatch and some random clothing, meh, wont need to buy anything else pretty much ever, hah.

EvilBadman

The best thing about the update is Netflix browsing, and then instantly viewing something without having to go to a computer.

Spent Fitty Cents on a Laser Kill ring. Because it completed me.

Echo

JamesDM wrote: »

I am conviced games on demand means we will see larger HDDs soon as well as a small price drop on current ones available.

Given the current pricing scheme I'm expecting a 250 gig drive for 300 dollars. :P

Unlucky

I wish you were kidding.

Librarian's ghost

I totally nerded out and made my avatar look like Stan from Monkey Island. Also my Avatar has a chicken with a pulley in the middle.

Blurbl

Theres a card in your game library that shows ammount of gamerscore relative to the maximum gamerscore you could get with your game collection, plus a space which contains icons for games you have all the achevements for.

Which is pretty annoying considering some games have one, ridiculous, achevement that takes way too long. Ex. Far Cry 2 and GTA4.

Edit: Will there ever be an option to delete game achevement data from your library? There's a few games I loaned from a friend that don't have any achevements for them, and for some reason playing the Zuma demo added the card. Sorta pointless to not being able to remove them.

Jam Warrior

Aww, I was hoping you'd get 'Splosion man's big flaming head or somesuch.

urahonky

There is a way to get rid of them Blurbl... If I were sitting in front of my 360 I could tell you, but I'm at work.

MegaMek

Games on Demand coming out just as my XBox's DVD drive dies is probably some kind of sign.

A sign that I should spend money I might otherwise spend on repairs on a new HDD instead.

Lunker

The install size reduction sounds awesome. I've heard it scales drastically from game to game; Raiden Fighter Aces is supposed to go from a few gigs to under 500MB. And it will be quite difficult to avoid buying Monkey Island Avatar gear, but I'll do my best to avoid selling out.

SteevL

I just deleted and reinstalled Overlord to my 360. Went from 3.4 GB to 2.5GB.

Blurbl

How is it reducing the data size? Better compression?

Any effect on game performance?

Edit: Thanks Echo.

Echo

Blurbl wrote: »

Edit: Will there ever be an option to delete game achevement data from your library? There's a few games I loaned from a friend that don't have any achevements for them, and for some reason playing the Zuma demo added the card. Sorta pointless to not being able to remove them.

Go to Achievements in the whateverthehelltheycallthatbutton menu and you can press Y on games with zero gamerscore to remove them from the list.

Jam Warrior

Lunker wrote: »

The install size reduction sounds awesome. I've heard it scales drastically from game to game; Raiden Fighter Aces is supposed to go from a few gigs to under 500MB. And it will be quite difficult to avoid buying Monkey Island Avatar gear, but I'll do my best to avoid selling out.

Monkey Island Stuff!!! This I must see.

But I'm still not paying for it. Had Monkey Island avatar unlocks been included in the MI:SE purchase then that would probably have sold me on getting 360 version over PC. However if they insist on selling them individually I'm simply not going to pay for clothes for my virtual man. Ever.

Librarian's ghost

Jam Warrior wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

The install size reduction sounds awesome. I've heard it scales drastically from game to game; Raiden Fighter Aces is supposed to go from a few gigs to under 500MB. And it will be quite difficult to avoid buying Monkey Island Avatar gear, but I'll do my best to avoid selling out.

Monkey Island Stuff!!! This I must see.

But I'm still not paying for it. Had Monkey Island avatar unlocks been included in the MI:SE purchase then that would probably have sold me on getting 360 version over PC. However if they insist on selling them individually I'm simply not going to pay for clothes for my virtual man. Ever.

Example of the MI stuff on my AV. Getting a picture with the chicken in hand is hard.

Allforce

They just added a ton of Star Wars stuff this morning. Things like a light saber or an entire Clone Trooper outfit. Also a Big Daddy outfit from Bioshock, so your guy can wear that huge helmet, and a entire ODST Marine outfit from Halo.

Librarian's ghost

Allforce wrote: »

They just added a ton of Star Wars stuff this morning. Things like a light saber or an entire Clone Trooper outfit. Also a Big Daddy outfit from Bioshock, so your guy can wear that huge helmet, and a entire ODST Marine outfit from Halo.

The Clone armor tempted me until I saw monkey island stuff.

Moorening

Allforce wrote: »

They just added a ton of Star Wars stuff this morning. Things like a light saber or an entire Clone Trooper outfit. Also a Big Daddy outfit from Bioshock, so your guy can wear that huge helmet, and a entire ODST Marine outfit from Halo.

Well...Big Daddy outfit here I come...goodbye ms points.

MegaMek

Update failed. Console bricked. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Gonna try some things before I throw this fucker out the window.

EDIT: Thank Christ, updating with a flash-drive worked.

Ganluan

Echo wrote: »

Blurbl wrote: »

Edit: Will there ever be an option to delete game achevement data from your library? There's a few games I loaned from a friend that don't have any achevements for them, and for some reason playing the Zuma demo added the card. Sorta pointless to not being able to remove them.

Go to Achievements in the whateverthehelltheycallthatbutton menu and you can press Y on games with zero gamerscore to remove them from the list.

I kinda wish this worked with any game, because I'd rather not have a game I got like 5 points in on the list. It means if a friend is bringing a game by and it's not one I own, I use a different profile.

SteevL

Yeah, I regret playing that Yaris game which has since been delisted. I got 5 achievement points out of it.

Lunker

timspork's ghost wrote: »

Jam Warrior wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

The install size reduction sounds awesome. I've heard it scales drastically from game to game; Raiden Fighter Aces is supposed to go from a few gigs to under 500MB. And it will be quite difficult to avoid buying Monkey Island Avatar gear, but I'll do my best to avoid selling out.

Monkey Island Stuff!!! This I must see.

But I'm still not paying for it. Had Monkey Island avatar unlocks been included in the MI:SE purchase then that would probably have sold me on getting 360 version over PC. However if they insist on selling them individually I'm simply not going to pay for clothes for my virtual man. Ever.

Example of the MI stuff on my AV. Getting a picture with the chicken in hand is hard.

Now, the question isn't, "Can you afford to waste your money on virtual items?" The question is, "Can you afford NOT to?"

jclast

Zephos wrote: »

Its really not all that different. Games on demand might end up being useful though if they would ever drop the price of their damn hard drives.

It would also be nice if games you can't trade in weren't retarded expensive.

Brainiac 8

I have to take my 360 to someone elses house to get this, as I don't have the internet at home for the time being. Are the games on demand up yet? I'm tempted to buy Viva Pinata now since I don't have to search for it.

Beefsandwich

meh, i just bought an eyepatch. the only real thing i care about with this update is the smaller hardrive installs and the party reconnecting.







but that guitar looks pretty sweet

joshofalltrades

I'm at work so I can't check, but what other Monkey Island gear is available?

...I'm, er, not going to buy any of it, just curious...

Jelloblimp

Blurbl wrote: »

How is it reducing the data size? Better compression?

Any effect on game performance?

Edit: Thanks Echo.

360 now ignores the padding files used on the dvd:s (so files are on the outer rim for higher speed), now games are the same size as on the developer-consoles. No effect on perfomance.

Brainiac 8

Does the new update make the XBLA titles take up less space also?

Is it automatic or do you need to reinstall games to do it?

Echo

Man. The avatar store feels overpriced. 160 funbucks for a pair of pants? I'd rather spend that on a Rock Band song.

HyperAquaBlast

Does it allow the ability to block some notifications now? Like say I was to block achievment pop ups and friends coming online but I want to see if a new message is recieved.