First Impressions of Xbox 360 Fall Update

Just a quick update to tell you about my first impressions of the Xbox 360 Fall Update released today, December 4 2007. So far I am impressed!

The update took only seconds to download and install, much faster than PS3 updates take on the same connection, and the Xbox 360 screen loaded up. It seemed to pause on here for longer than usual before saying I had signed in, then it took me to the Xbox Live tab and showed me signing into Xbox Live as normal.

Sticking with this tab you can now go into Inside Xbox which at present has one update from AceyBongos (awful name) explaining that updates will be due every Thursday. I guess they are going for a Blog appeal with weekly updates (unlike us who post at least once a day!). Apart from this no real changes to notice to this tab.

Going into Marketplace is where the real improvements have been made. "Spotlight" gives you the latest downloads, which you can navigate left and right throwing different sub lists, e.g. What's Hot, Top Demos, Top Arcade, etc. It much clearer to navigate.

Back to Marketplace you have "New Arrivals" which again you go left and right to see Games, Arcarde, Xbox Originals, etc.

Then you have "Games Store" which gives you an up and down list that features Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Originals, Game Demos, etc. Xbox Originals is a cool feature on this update, you click on it and makes the display black with green text and graphics in a like the original Xbox. Ah it makes you feel all retro and you almost miss it! There are 7 demo's showing in my region (UK) that include Halo, Crimson Skies, Fuzion Frenzy and Fable. All priced at 1200 credits and approx 2Gb downloads... download a few of these and you will wish you had the Elite or at least the 120Gb hard drive.

The last point I'll touch on for now cause I don't want to spoil all your surprises, is the Games tab. Now when you into "Games Library" you can click on My Games which allows you to flick left and right between All Games, Arcade, Demos, Recently Downloaded, etc. It is just a much better way of navigating and I'm really pleased they have done it like this.

I'm off to play but left me know your thoughts on the subject.

Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard

The guys from Gamerscoreblog walk you through the Xbox 360 Fall Update showing you all the new changes we can expect tomorrow, December 4.

The new update helps to keep you in touch with all that’s new on Xbox LIVE Marketplace – the Spotlight function points you to great new content and promos, while a New Arrivals area gives you easy access to all the freshest downloadable goodies on LIVE. Inside Xbox is another new feature that will keep you up to date with all the latest developments in the world of Xbox Live, and then there’s Xbox Originals. This exciting feature allows you to download a range of classic Xbox titles like Halo, Psychonauts and Burnout 3: Takedown and play them on your Xbox 360. Bring them on!

DivX Support on Xbox 360

Wow, some thought it would never happen but it shows what a bit of competition from the PS3 can do.

It has been announced today that Microsoft will be releasing MPEG-4 Part 2 video codec support as used in the popular DivX and Xvid codecs.

In simple terms this should allow you to play videos with an .avi extension, as long as they have been encoded in either the simple or enhanced simple profile.

These formats are popular on the internet as they maintain a good quality image whilst keeping the file size to a managable size.

This has been reported officially today by Microsoft and will be included in their Fall Update which will be released on December 4. I'll test and update you all then!

Xbox 360 enters social networking

Microsoft have announced today that the next update for the Xbox 360, expected on December 4, will allow users to see other members friends lists, hence allowing them to invite them to their own list in the way Facebook users do and challenge them to a game of Halo 3 (something Facebook users can't).

I'm not sure I love the idea, with Facebook you end up with lots of friends of friends on your list for the same reason. I prefer to keep my Xbox Live list down to my key friends I enjoy playing against. Plus the pop ups mid game telling you someone has signed in can be a pain if you have large active list.

All configurable though so I'm sure some will welcome it. As will concerned parents who will be able to set a Family Timer to restrict access to the console at certain time. Yeah right, like any teenager will let his or her parents near that setting!

MS are also launching the Xbox Originals download service and will be putting its Xbox releases on sale for a fee. They don't seem old enough to be classed as Retro but I guess some will be worth a look at.

IPTV won't make it this year, which is probably a good thing. There are enough games out to play you won't have time for watching TV, on the 360 or elsewhere!

Happy Gaming!

PS3 is sleeping well!

Well my PS3 is back to normal after installing the 2.01 firmware update.

The official release mentions “Stability during playing some PlayStation 3 format software has been improved, stability of system software including Internet Browser and Information Board has been improved, and stability of the upscaler for PlayStation 2 format software has been improved.”

However I am relieved that the Remote Start feature has also been updated to cease unintentional console power ups. It was alarming that the PS3 would "turn itself on", normally when I was playing on the Xbox 360, for no apparent reason. Maybe it was just trying to get some attention!