Jump to content
We promise no intrusive ads, Please help keep the community alive
Consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker / add to whitelist / purchasing VIP.
How to upload mod

Fall '07 Dashboard Update Info Updated 30/11/07 [Readme Only]

Nodz86

By Nodz86
in Gaming Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Nodz86 Grand Master

Nodz86

Posted
Posted

Here is the latest info on the Fall Dashboard update, as soon as more (official) info is released this post will be updated. All info is from Major Nelson or Xbox.com.

 

XBL WILL BE DOWN FROM 02:00AM PST/10:00AM GMT ON THE 4th DECEMBER 07

They have not said how long this update will take, the Spring update took a few hours.

 

From Xbox.com:

2007 Fall Dashboard Update

 

Published November 30, 2007

As promised, Microsoft is bringing some early gifts to your Xbox 360® just prior to the holiday season. Beginning at 0200 A.M. PST on December 4, 2007, the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update will be available for all connected Xbox 360 consoles free of charge, bringing an array of new features and enhancements to the leading gaming and entertainment system.

Among the key new enhancements are the previously announced Xbox Originals game download service, Family Timer parental control feature, and expanded social networking experiences. Xbox 360 owners can also look forward to enhanced navigation, profile, and video features and Xbox LIVE® Arcade Hits.

This free update will be digitally distributed over Xbox LIVE to the more than eight million Xbox LIVE members worldwide (Xbox LIVE Silver and Gold) with no disc or hard drive required. If you don't have an Xbox LIVE account, you can easily sign up for the free network by connecting your console to a broadband internet connection. New features and enhancements include:

MORE DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

  • Xbox Originals:With this new service, announced on November 13, you can download-to-own full original Xbox® games that were previously only available at retail. The digital shelves will always be stocked with classic titles, such as Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge™, Halo®, Fable®, Fuzion Frenzy®, Psychonauts™, and more as the catalogue grows over time, at 1200 Microsoft Points per game.
  • Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits: On Xbox LIVE Arcade, the Arcade Hits program kicks off as some of the best-selling Xbox LIVE Arcade games become available at permanently reduced prices, making it easier than ever for everyone to build a library of downloadable games! The first games to become Arcade Hits will be Bankshot Billiards 2™ and Lumines™ Live!, which will be available for 800 Microsoft Points each, and Marble Blast Ultra, Small Arms™, and Zuma® Deluxe, which will be available for 400 Microsoft Points each. With free trial downloads for every game and over 100 games to choose from, Xbox LIVE Arcade offers something for every member of the family.

NEW WAYS TO KEEP UP TO DATE AND CONNECTED

  • Inside Xbox: A new direct feed brings current news straight from Xbox.com into the Xbox LIVE Dashboard providing an easy, predictable entry point where you can discover what's new in game releases, events, Xbox LIVE Marketplace offers, and lots more.
  • Enhanced online profile: If you're interested in sharing a few more details about yourself you can go beyond your motto and further personalize your profile with an expanded bio. The extended bios will be visible to "Friends Only" or the entire Xbox LIVE community.
  • Expanded Friends List access: A quick and easy way for gamers to expand their personal community on Xbox LIVE, members will be able to see the Friends Lists of other Xbox LIVE members, boosting their social networking experience on the service.

ENHANCED OVERALL EXPERIENCE AND CONTROL

  • Enhanced Parental Controls: Family Timer, a strong and flexible new addition to the Xbox 360 Family Settings, enables parents to set the amount of time their Xbox 360 can be used on a per-day or per-week basis by their children or other members of the household.
  • New video features: The convenience of full-screen movie previews and enhanced video codec support further expand the options when it comes to the Xbox 360 entertainment experience.
  • Easy-to-use navigation features: With several noteworthy changes in the Xbox LIVE Dashboard, from the new Game Store button to the Video Store button to enhanced visuals and descriptions in the video library, Xbox LIVE members can find what they want, when they want it.

GTNLElle.jpg

Tech Girl Elle

Elle tells you everything you need to know about the big Fall Update, from Parental Controls to the new Video Marketplace.

A Fistful of Features in the December 2007 System Update

 

Published November 30, 2007

It's that time of year again. The December 2007 system update brings a bevy of improvements to your Xbox 360® console. Interested? Read on.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Xbox LIVE® Marketplace leads the list with another facelift and more content for your downloading pleasure. Video Marketplace has been renamed to the Video Store, which is joined by the Game Store on the Marketplace blade. The Clips category has been expanded and renamed to Shorts. Categories have been juggled around a bit, with Spotlight and New Arrivals appearing front and center (well, left, but you know what I mean). You'll notice the "twist" interface in many places now, to help you find items more easily.

ilmmarketplace200712.jpg

The new face of Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

As you may have heard, there's now a new category of downloadable games, Xbox Originals. These are original Xbox games, just like what comes on a retail disc for the original Xbox console, now available for download with Microsoft Points. You can find Xbox Originals games, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, and game demos in the Game Store.

Additionally, full-screen video previews are now available, and the Play Now button on the download screen is now available for all content.

Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE also has loads of new features. Check this out:

  • Inside Xbox. Where available, there's a brand new news feed on the Xbox LIVE blade called Inside Xbox. Select this button to view the latest news about Xbox, games, and Xbox LIVE. To accommodate the new button, Friends and Messages have been combined into one button on the Xbox LIVE blade.
  • Personal Profile. Gamer profiles have been expanded to include the member's real name, location, and bio. Use this area to let people know more about you. Don't worry, it's all optional. You can reveal (or not reveal) as much or as little as you like.
  • Friends List. On your friends list, a highlighted friends row expands to show more info about them.
  • Friends List Sharing. You can now view other people's friends lists. Open a person's profile, select the Personal Profile tab, then select View Friends. Your friends list is automatically visible to everyone if you're over 18 (friends only if you're 13-17, and no one if you're under 13), so be sure to check your privacy settings (or Family Settings) if that's not what you want. You can do that right now on Xbox.com, if you prefer.
  • Messenger. You can now add messenger contacts from your console. Also, our younger members will be happy to know that Messenger is now available for child accounts where the owner is age 13 or older.

Family Settings

A new family timer joins the robust set of console controls in the Family Settings area of the System blade. With the family timer, parents can set a daily or weekly time limit for console playtime.

ilmtimernotificationsingame.jpg

Timer notifications in-game.

For example, a parent can set the timer to a limit of two hours of play per day for the family. As the two hours come to a close, a notification pops up warning the child of the remaining time, so they can finish up. When time is up, a Family Timer screen appears, prohibiting further play.

At that point, the child can shut the console down, or hand the controller over to the parent to extend playtime (ask nicely, kids) or suspend the timer altogether. The next day, the timer resets and a new two hours of play are available for the day.

Also improved in Family Settings is support for international movie ratings for video downloads, and videos streamed from PC.

Games

The Games blade has also received a facelift.

ilmgameslibrary200712.jpg

Find all of your downloaded games in your games library.

  • Xbox LIVE Arcade and Demos have been moved under a new Games Library area, alongside Xbox Originals and XNA Creators Club games. You can think of the Games Library area as the spot for all of your downloaded games.
  • The Friends Playing Now feature, which used to list only Xbox LIVE Arcade games, now shows all game types. Want to find friends playing a certain game? Head to Games Library and select Friends Playing Now.
  • When you send Tell a Friend messages (available after selecting a game in the Games Library), the resulting message includes a new button to go directly to that game in Xbox LIVE Marketplace so you can easily select and download the game.
  • Xbox LIVE Arcade fans: we heard you. Trial games no longer show up on your profile. No more zero-gamerscore trial games on your played games list! (This applies to games loaded after the update; unfortunately, previously-played trial games will still be listed.)

Media

The Media blade hasn't escaped rearrangement, either. The Music, Pictures, and Video areas now remember the last storage device you chose (for example, console or disc), so it will automatically display that device's contents the next time you enter the area. To switch to another source like a portable device or PC, press X on your controller.

This change has also affected how you connect and disconnect from your PC using media sharing software like Windows Media Player 11 or Zune. Instead of selecting a PC that will be the connected PC from then on, you can now just switch by pressing X, just like any other source. This also means that you no longer use the System blade to disconnect from your PC. (This doesn't affect your connection to Windows Media Center. For that, connecting and disconnecting methods remain the same.)

Video

The Video area on the Media blade has the following improvements:

  • You can now sort movies and TV shows by title or download date, view a list of TV shows by series, and access game videos and trailers in a single list. The "twist" interface has also been added to this area.
  • The Video area can now display video suggestions from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
  • New shortcuts:
    • Press Start on the controller or Play on the remote to play a highlighted video without going through the menus.
    • Press right and left bumpers to skip chapters, and right and left trigger to rewind and fast forward.

    [*]Video support now includes AVI and MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile.

Accounts

For many of you, I've saved the best for last. Two long-awaited account functions have been added with this update: Windows Live ID switching and child account promotion.

Windows Live ID switching: Did you sign up for Xbox LIVE with a Windows Live ID that you no longer use? Want to use Messenger on your console with a different Windows Live ID? No problem. You can now move your Xbox LIVE account to a different Windows Live ID. There are a few things to consider before moving your account, so check out Switch the Windows Live ID for Your Xbox LIVE Account for full details.

Child account promotion: Until now, Xbox LIVE accounts that were created while the member was under age were still flagged as a child account even after the member turned 18. These accounts can now be "graduated" to a full-fledged adult account, removing Family Settings and lifting child account restrictions. The promotion is fully voluntary, since you have to perform some account maintenance as an adult. For more information, see Promote Child Account to Adult.

Both of these functions can be accessed by pulling up your gamer profile and selecting Account Management. Child account promotion is only available on child accounts where the owner has reached the age of majority.

More Info

Truth be told, this list is just the tip of the iceberg. There were over 300 individual changes in this update, many of which were improvements in performance and support in various areas. For more info about this update, see the official press release.

And have fun with the new features in the update!

Article by Elle

 

 

From Major Nelson:

 

Child Account Graduation and Changing Live ID Association

 

2075321308_6b15a2e468.jpg

In addition to the list of new dashboard features that were announced today, there are a few more that were not included in the press release that I think may be of interest to some longtime blog readers. After the update, there will be two new choices in the account management section of the dashboard:

 

The ability to change the Windows LIVE ID associated with and Xbox LIVE account.

The description pretty much says it all, but choosing this option changes the Windows Live ID associated with your Xbox LIVE account. It will also transfer all your Microsoft points to the new Windows Live ID as well. Here are some screen shots that show what this looks like in the dash.

 

Promote your Xbox LIVE child account to an adult account.

If you were not yet 18 when you signed up for Xbox LIVE, your account was designated a child account. Child accounts are tied to a parent's Windows Live ID to control Family Settings, and some features of Xbox LIVE are restricted. After you turn 18, (how about "Now, if you're over 18, or when you turn 18") you can promote your child account to an adult account. If you signed up for Xbox LIVE with a child account and have since turned 18, after the update you'll see a new option at the very top of the Account Management section of the dashboard. The 'Promote Child Account" will allow you to promote an Xbox LIVE account that is a child account to an adult account. This promotion removes the Family Settings and Xbox LIVE restrictions. To promote your account, you must agree again to the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and marketing opt-ins. If a parent's credit card was on your account, you must also enter a new one to replace it. (Yes, you can use pre-paid cards as well.)

Here are some screen shots that show what this looks like in the dash.

 

Another new feature that may be of interest to some: this update will also allow Under-18 Xbox LIVE members to now use Messenger on Xbox 360.

 

Even more details on the update (Including some answers to your DivX questions)

 

 

The team that worked on the latest dashboard update has posted some details on the upcoming video enhancements that will arrive next week. If you are into video, this post is well worth the read.

 

This post has a much more detailed list of the changes in the update

 

Video of update:

Here's a video of the new dash update found by Khevolution, it is well worth watching as it gives a very detailed insight into the new dashboard features:

 

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16421 (small)

 

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/watc...argeFormat=wmv (large)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nodz86 Grand Master

Nodz86

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Great, will be good, lookinh forward to the europe films things at that would be one thing i'd actually use. Hope its true that its coming.

 

That is semi comfirmed, Peter Moore announced it at E3 this year and that was the whole point of them releasing the Elite with the 120gb HDD over in Europe but nothing has been mentioned since E3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pherelas Grand Master

Pherelas

Posted
Posted

How big are they as I only have the small hard-drive, just think its great having HD films avalible for a fraction of the price of a HD DVD / blueray disk, without having to splashout for the player and the risk of buying the wrong format.

 

Don't like the idea of old xbox games as I have loads in my cubord and never play them, they don't seem to be updated either so waste of money imo, would rather go and buy a cheap copy in game to a fiver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nodz86 Grand Master

Nodz86

Posted
  • Author
Posted
How big are they as I only have the small hard-drive, just think its great having HD films avalible for a fraction of the price of a HD DVD / blueray disk, without having to splashout for the player and the risk of buying the wrong format.

 

Don't like the idea of old xbox games as I have loads in my cubord and never play them, they don't seem to be updated either so waste of money imo, would rather go and buy a cheap copy in game to a fiver.

 

As soon as I know something I will post it, the rumour on the films is that you pay to d/l them and you have 14 days to watch them before they get automatically deleted from your HDD. once you have started viewing them you then have 24Hrs to view all of it before it gets automatically deleted from your HDD.

 

But as soon as I get some solid and reliable info from either MS or Major Nelson it will be posted otherwise it will stay as a Rumour.

 

MS are ment to announce it all next week, probably monday. and will (hopefully) announce the shut down times aswell this week instead of next week as the update is due on the 4 december (tues).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nodz86 Grand Master

Nodz86

Posted
  • Author
Posted
So like BBC IPlayer then, thats fine by me, I don't like watching films more than once really. +rep for all of this if I can.

 

EDIT: Can't, no supprise there.

 

If you want to know the size go onto xbox.com forums and they have a video marketplace section for the U.s. i'm sure you can find out the average size in there.

 

Xvid support

 

Very good!

 

Its only Rumoured NOT confirmed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...