Xbox Live overhaul due in November

Dashboard ad for Rock Band 2 indicates Microsoft's fall update that adds avatars, Netflix integration will arrive in two months.

Mounting evidence continues to point toward November as the month in which Microsoft will roll out its anticipated Xbox Live dashboard overhaul. Although the publisher has yet to make an official announcement beyond the broad fall window, the first indication that the fall update would arrive in November came last month. At that time, a little-known UK blog came away from a Microsoft event and nonchalantly tossed out the month as straight from a representative of the company. However, that story was later retracted.

The ad in question.

Today, a more substantial indicator has arrived. An Xbox Live dashboard ad for MTV Games and Harmonix's recently released Rock Band 2 surfaced today (pictured), urging users to "Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November." [Emphasis added.] Though the proclamation appears straightforward, Microsoft had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Microsoft's fall Xbox Live dashboard overhaul--aka the New Xbox Experience--adds a number of new and requested features to the publisher's already-popular online service. The highest profile of these tweaks is customizable avatars, which will be unique to each gamer's profile and play largely into the new community channel.

As detailed during this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, other features slated to be included with the dashboard update include Netflix integration, the ability to install games to the console's hard drive, and various new display resolutions and aspect ratios, to name a few.

156 Comments

  • bballabarry

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 5:23 pm PT

    can you pay for netflix with microsoft points?

  • DaveyBoy123

    Posted Nov 5, 2008 5:47 pm PT

    anyone know when this is going to be implemented?

  • Tranceplant

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 9:39 pm PT

    Can't wait for november then.

  • squall_83

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 8:52 pm PT

    @Beetroot502

    it depends on the size of the game, but most will probably fall in the 6-7GB range. the storage capacity for a dual layered dvd is 8.5GB so obviously it won't be any higher than that. unless it's a multi disc game such as Lost Odyssey.

  • mister_armolas

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:33 pm PT

    I think the pdate comes out tomorrow (sept 30) because xbxlve was down for 24 hrs today

  • EverteMax

    Posted Sep 28, 2008 8:52 am PT

    if they do such overhauls once every few years, i think they do keep xbox "live"...

  • caiaya

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 7:29 pm PT

    GREAT！很好！

  • Beetroot502

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 6:23 am PT

    Can't wait for this. My 360 better be repaired before this update comes

    Also, anyone have any idea how much space one game (in gigabytes) would take up on a hard drive?

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 10:14 am PT

    jameston80 said "and as for 15 million for ps3 they are not even close they are at about 11 million world wide." Incorrect. Just check out vgchartz.com or have a look at the official ship numbers (you can find them quoted on wikipedia) The official number was 14.41 million as of the end of June.
    As for your nonsense about the Japanese not buying american, I have one word for you. Ipod.
    Also, I never said I wasn't a PS3 fan, I think it's fairly obvious that I am, but I'm a 360 fan as well. You can be both, it's really not that hard and it's how I can intellegently debate the pros and cons of both systems, because I own and love all three current consoles and I don't let anytype of console loyalty blind me to what the realities of the industry are.
    Anyway, your sales numbers are way off - and that's easy enough to prove, your point about exclusives is moot - the PS3 has just as many exclusives as the 360 did at this point in it's life - again just have a look at release chart by date and this is easily verifiable as well, your point about Blu-Ray disks isn't supported by the evidence (far, far more PS3 games are sold vs. Blu-Ray disks, and blu-ray disk sales aren't projected to even come close to PS3 software sales till 2012. Your opinions of the current console race seem to be stuck in 2007. Yes the PS3 is currently 3rd place worldwide, but how long do you think it will take the PS3 to make up that 4, 4.5 million difference at this rate, having won the HD format war and with an excellent lineup now? Most predict it will be next year.
    At any rate, why so defensive? Most people were talking about the issue, the 360 upgrade, myself included. It was you that decided it was necessary to use this forum to bash the PS3 without even checking your facts. Just because I don't bow once a day in the direction of Microsoft's HQ doesn't mean I'm any less a 360 fan..or gamer for that matter. In fact, I'd say having stuck with the 360 through 3 faulty units now I'm probably a bigger 360 fan than most. I can't wait for this upgrade, or for Gears2 and Fable2. You need to find a system wars forum or something to vent in, and I strongly suggest you take some time to get informed and read up about issues and game trends or else you'll find the whole debate quite frustrating.

  • MonkeyWrench127

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 9:14 am PT

    Seems at the moment in Europe the new dashboard update will come before Rock Band 2...

  • jameston80

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 9:06 am PT

    @darkride66: I was not even saying the 360 has more games, i was saying the 360 has more exclusives, look at the exclusives the ps3 has, very few. and as for 15 million for ps3 they are not even close they are at about 11 million world wide with about 8 million in other regions of the world and 3 million in u.s.a. of course the ps3 is selling in japan, because japan hates americans, if the ps3 was an american made product would japan buy it? No they would not, so of course it will do better in japan, but guess what japan is not the world it is one region, and the ps3 is trailing way behind the other consoles, my argument was about exclusives any ways, i dont know why you even brought up the ps3 selling better, it's had a couple months in better sales, mainly because of people that were holding out to get metal gear solid 4, i know a few people that bought a ps3 because of that game, they played it beat it and now they are back playing games on 360 and watching blu-ray movies on their ps3, great too sony for a great blu-ray player, but as a game system they are in third, and there really is no reason to go out to purchase a ps3 other than blu-ray and a couple of ok games, the 360 has the exclusives, that's what makes a system sell, the ps2 sold millions because they had exclusives, the original xbox had very few, well the tides have turned, just because you are a ps3 fan even though you say you are not. Don't get broken hearted because your system is in third, it will catch up to the wii and 360 when the wii and 360 are on their next and better system.

  • dth_dlr

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 5:44 am PT

    that is cool news. hopefully it will drastically improve oblivion load times

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 5:35 am PT

    lucky326 said "About HDD times, it seems more modern games which have better methods to cache wont get as much improvement. Yet older games like Oblivion should see a pretty big boost to its load times."
    Well that's music to my ears. I have to say, most games these days don't seem to have long load times, but those older games could sure use a bit of a boost.

  • David_Kniffin

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 4:25 am PT

    redlar, you'll still be able to use gamerpics, if you choose. You don't have to use Avatars, but I think the Dashboard will change, no matter what.

  • redlar

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 4:18 am PT

    What happens to gamerpics?

  • Damnation_6

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 2:24 am PT

    Isn't November basicly the last month of the fall?
    So it bloody has to arrive in that month

    I'm hoping it's gonna be good.

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 1:49 am PT

    man it cant come soon enough. i want it now.

  • Miss_Wacy

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 1:46 am PT

    hope its out before gears 2

  • lucky326

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 1:18 am PT

    @Darkride66. About HDD times, it seems more modern games which have better methods to cache wont get as much improvement. Yet older games like Oblivion should see a pretty big boost to its load times.

  • aussie_gamer13

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 12:40 am PT

    "new display resolutions and aspect ratios" YES! 16:10 LCD monitor support please!

  • tawagivercetti

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 11:58 pm PT

    bring it on already, how about some more good xbla games...
    I was looking at Wii virtual stores games WOW, I'm very jealous

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:47 pm PT

    @ lamprey263. Yeah, I'm in agreement with you. I certainly hope installing to the 360's drive helps load times. Otherwise, what's the point? First up, Oblivion will go on my harddrive and I'll actually get around to finishing the blasted thing. Next up - Fable 2!
    I've heard conflicting reports about the speed of loads though. MS says it will speed loads by 30%, while other sites that got their hands on the fall update reported it really didn't seem to speed things up at all. I guess we'll just have to wait to find out the truth.

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:40 pm PT

    @ jameston80. Oh, and I see you're one of those "games list" guys as well. I don't think anyone actually reads those, and besides, for every list you bring up someone else will counter with a list from the other guys. End result is yes, the 360 has more games because...guess what, it's been out longer. The PS2 has more games than the 360 as well because...you guessed it, it's been out longer. That whole argument is pointless and proves nothing.

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:37 pm PT

    @ jameston80. Boy, that's quite a rant. But you forget one thing, I'm not some Sony nut..I'm a 360 fan and have been from day one. I just haven't buried my head in the sand with regards to what's going on in the game's industry right now. Let me ask you something? How long did it take the 360 to reach 15 million? Now, how long did it take the PS3? Even at a higher price point the PS3 is selling faster than the 360 ever did, is releasing games just as fast as the 360 did and the metacritic average score for their games in higher than the 360. You talk as if having harddrive installs is a bad thing after developer after developer complains about the lack of a standard harddrive on the 360, you mention analysts commenting the PS3 is a failure when most predict it may pass the 360's total sales next year...and even PC Advisor recently did an article saying the PS3 is now the worlds best console. And you want to talk about lost money? Sony has invested money in the PS3, and yes the price tag was hefty but at least they have a chance of that investment taking off. With the new 360 due out in a couple of years, at the rate their going they may not even break even from what they lost on the 360 due to mismanagement and hardware failures, let along the billions they lost on the original Xbox.
    I'm not bashing the 360..far from it. It was the best for a couple of years, now it's not and as a gamer that doesn't really matter to me. Something better always comes along. That's not going to stop me from enjoying the hell out of Fable 2 and Gears 2. I just don't understand these rants like yours that can be easily be disproved by anyone with even a passing familiarity with the use of "Google". And lastly, I don't appreciate the insults. I don't take shots at others on these sites, I speak my mind and am willing to back up what I say. If you have an issue or simply can't handle intelligent debate about legitimate gamer issues without tossing around school yard insults, perhaps you'd be happier starting your own site or posting on a 360 only forum so you won't be exposed to people with viewpoints that run contrary to your own. Clearly your response is an emotional one. If you're interested, take some time to read up on the issues, have a look at historic console sales and debate and maybe you'll have a little more perspective on the issue.

  • Dead_or_Alive

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:34 pm PT

    @jameston80

    Dead Rising is coming to the Wii... oh and you forgot 360 also has Dead or Alive.

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:23 pm PT

    shabulia said "Playstation Home? What the hell is that? My Xbox Live was keeping me too busy to care!"
    OK, this one made me smile. How exactly is XBL going to keep you busy? With the new Avatars? Seriously, I don't think there's anything wrong with them...but are they really going to keep you entertained for more than 7 minutes?

  • Mechalon

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 7:48 pm PT

    It actually says "Coming this Fall" now.

  • istylee

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 7:40 pm PT

    Man that is ages awayyyyyy, i want the feature to install now!

  • tnargus

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 7:31 pm PT

    Check out the official thread for all the rumours and stupid banter re: this update. November does look promising though. Wish it was tomorrow tho!

  • Ground_Zero

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 7:00 pm PT

    remember remember the 5th of November

  • cf_Kage

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 6:58 pm PT

    If it really does have support for 1680x1050, I'm happy, as I run the Xbox 360 slightly stretched on my 20 inch PC monitor at the minute

  • crunchb3rry

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 5:32 pm PT

    On one hand I can't wait until November because the only thing I want is to be able to play in 1:1 resolution on a 16:10 monitor. On the other hand, by November I'll probably have a 16:9 HDTV so it all really doesn't matter.

  • trw534

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 5:17 pm PT

    i cant wait for the dashboard update

  • shabulia

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 4:51 pm PT

    This is going to be FEAKING AWESOME. Playstation Home? What the hell is that? My Xbox Live was keeping me too busy to care!

  • croatkid2308

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 4:16 pm PT

    i got a feeling its gonna be in the middle of october...message from xbox live said xbox will be offline next monday for the "new xbox experience"...probally getting the servers ready for the millions of people downloading the update at one time...i pray it's not another repeat of the mess created when the cod4 maps were released

  • buzzguy

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 4:12 pm PT

    November! Man, that's still 2 months away!
    I'm sure it will be worth it, though.

  • sorter13

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 4:04 pm PT

    I laugh every time someone complains about the new avatars. Everyone will be using them within a month of the update regardless of what they are saying now. The hardcore will probably pay cash for some new avatar clothes.

  • -E-N-E-M-Y-

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:59 pm PT

    I cannot wait.

  • fariso

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:58 pm PT

    haha dont be so sure .....

  • mikewalsh69

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:50 pm PT

    this update looks good and it'll keep things fresh. i've gotten bored of xmb. sony needs to add more features more often. maybe not change the layout but improve it.(also sorry for bringing something ps3 related into this article)

  • lostaddict1993 posted Sep 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    lostaddict1993

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT (hide)

    Not only are they copying this from the Wii, they are taking many other PS3 exclusives from the system just to help themselves. Final Fantasy XIII anybody?

  • jtthegame316

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT

    Richman57 yeah you can down load games with the £20gb but of course you could fill that quite quickly. why is michaelrulz1 talking politics on a artical about the new xbox experiance he sound like a racist biggit with a comment like that. i can't wait for the new xbox experiance gonna be awesome

  • The_Dude1212

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT

    LastPRmarine, the Wii also has more than party games.

  • jameston80

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT

    Drewsiph87: obviously you never heard of Bullet witch, command & conquer 3, command & conquer 3 kanes wrath, Crackdown, Dead Rising, Gears of War, Halo 3, Import Tuner, Infinite Undiscovery, Kingdom under fire circle of doom, Lord of the rings battle for middle earth II, Forza 2, Mass Effect, Moto gp 06, Ninja Gaiden II, Ninety-nine nights, PGR3, PGR4, Project Sylpheed, Ridge Racer 6, Rumble roses XX, Saints row, Spectral Force 3, Supreme commander, Tales of Vesperia, Tetris Evolution, Universe at war, Viva Pinata, Viva pinata Trouble in paradise, wartech, Gears of war 2, and many others, yes some of these are on the pc, but it is still exclusive to 360 for consoles, i am talking exclusivity for consoles, i dont count pcs as any part of this. So there is some proof that exclusives do exist, and they are on 360, not ps3....period

  • DBZKING1234 posted Sep 24, 2008 3:40 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    DBZKING1234

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:40 pm PT (hide)

    Wow mircosoft is copying yet another feature from another company. This is just a copy of the Miis from the Wii. Im really starting to feel pity for microsoft. Can they create anything original?

  • lamprey263

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:40 pm PT

    @Richman57 "if you have a 20gb hard drive, could you still download the games onto the hard drive and have less memory or do you have to have the 60 gig or higher?"

    Well, since the 20GB HDD is really more like 12GB out of the box, and X360 games use DVD9 discs which have a 8.5GB capacity, I think it's fair to say that you'll only be able to cache about 1 game on your 20GB HDD, considering you don't use your HDD for much else. However, if you plan on using your 20GB HDD for downloading game expansions, mulitplayer map packs, XBLA games, videos, music, you might not have much space to cache your games. Then again, you might be able to hook an external HDD to your X360, or go get a 120GB HDD for $150; I upgraded to the 120GB HDD myself. Can't wait to finally put the games on my HDD.

    = = = = = = =

    @darkride66 - "It's nice to have a few full games on the harddrive so I don't have to hunt around and figure out where my wife stashed my disks that have been lying around, but I thought speeding up load times was the whole point of installing on the harddrive."

    Actually, from what I've heard you can put these games on the HDD so the game doesn' have to read off the disc all the time, but even though it's on the HDD you still have to have the game in the disc drive, this is a measure to protect agains illegal copying (for instance, people could just rent games or borrow games and copy them if they didn't need to be in the disc drive). This feature is supposed to decrease load times, from what I heard. At the very least, the game playing off the HDD should cut down on drive noise, and though I think the X360 disc drive is fine, a lot of people complain it's too noisy. Plus, if things do load quicker, I'm hoping putting games on the HDD will help eliminate certain problems with X360 games like late texture loads, which happens sometimes, especially in a game like Mass Effect which really slaves the disc drive and has problems with texture loads; this will be the first game I try this feature out with to see how much it improves the game.

  • gellis1981

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:39 pm PT

    darkride66 Posted Sep 24, 2008 2:26 pm ET So will 360 Arcade ownders be out of luck for this upgrade with no harddrive? I notice no one has been talking about this. Can this be installed on the memory card? It would suck if 4-5 million 360 owners were just left out in the cold..and also for all the people who buy the 360 Arcade over the holiday season now that the price is so low.

    -------------------------------------------------------

    It should, I highly doubt its going to take more than 50Mb for an up-date...maybe 100mb tops.

  • PEELEDbanana

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:39 pm PT

    Richman57,
    You can if you really want, but i don't recommend it. I mean these games could take up 6gb+ of your HDD, and I personally think of my 20gb 360 HDD as a sanctuary. Nothing unnecessary is on it for too long. Back to the topic at hand: I sure as hell hope it is out sooner. I am really impatient as you can tell.

  • AngelCage-2

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 3:31 pm PT

    Requested features?

    Who was the dumb who had request Customisable Crappy-like, child-friendly, rippof avatars????

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