Xbox 360 Spring Update Released Tomorrow! |
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We've just received a breaking press release from Microsoft's Xbox 360 team stating that the Spring update for the console will be tomorrow, June 6th 2006. Together with the release, we have a host of details to tell you about, including some of the 125 huge updates that will be available for Xbox Live connected users. In order to to get the update, your console must be connected to Xbox Live via a broadband connection, on either a Silver or Gold subscription. You do not need to have any disks, or a hard-drive taking use of built in memory dedicated to the running of the console. Downloading of the update takes a mere minute or two. The update includes features to further unleash the power of your 360, taking the media offerings, graphics capabilities and online content to a new level. During the long months since the 360's release, Microsoft constantly listened and shaped things to the gamers' views. Constant feedback has allowed for these updates, and one can only hope that even more features would be included in future Xbox Live offerings. Anyway, onto the updates:
The main addition and upgrading goes to that of the background manager. The new manager allows the user to download and queue up to 6 high definition items including movies, demos, music and Live Arcade Games while playing on games offline. New features allowed improved usage when browsing and gaming on Live. The manager will instantly pause and queue downloads when you are competing in multiplayer action, and only when the online session has ceased, will the manager continue with the downloads. This means that there will be no lag, and stuttering within gameplay for the optimal experience.
The Xbox Live Marketplace menus will all be redesigned, allowing for gamers to find and store their content much more easily. Menu's will be extended for the media and entertainment content and also they will be shaped to make it easier to find items, as well as quick views within download categories. New remote features for the trailers and video's will be implemented, meaning that now you can fast forward and rewind at various speeds, stated as 2X - 16X, and this feature extends to any video downloaded from the Marketplace.
The music player will also be redesigned. Custom background music will now constantly play even when games load and also the transition from game to game. What this means is, is your music will constantly play even when switching disk media. During the playing of the music, the playback screen will show the artist, song title and time remaining, as well as displaying a visualiser which also shows the album or playlist the track is from.
As with the rest, the DVD function will also get it's upgrades. A new bookmarking feature now means that you can place a tab on certain spots in your films, take the disk out, play a game, and then go back to where you was playing in the film at the exact point you left off. DVD playback will now be smoother than ever, improving on the high quality experience even more, as well as offering a new VGA support.
- Download manager - Marketplace items now download in the background, queue up to six pieces of content
- DVD bookmark support will remember the filmÂ’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 - pause & play jitter / out of synch issues improved
- DVD play - slow Play & 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 artistÂ’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
44 Jumps PSP Homebrew - PSPDisp v0.4
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Comments [refresh]
FINALLY, cant wait!
So it should be officially released tomorrow which is 6/6/6.....hmmm Micro$oft really is the devil. :)
"Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition"
Wonder what that means ? :-P
i think it was a good idea not to spend that money on getting those firmware hacks.
i new this was going to happen and they will probably make and update through one of heregaems a'la psp
Yeah that will be awesome as long as we make it thru 6/6/6
I have a friend who's 360 stops reading the XBox 360 game discs and only reads DVD Movies sometimes.
Maybe this will help?
Everybody rember street fighter is sopposed to come out SPRING well SPRING update im staying up till mid night babby!!!
none of these fixes the problem with inaccesibility of music playlists from an external USB source. in other words, if u connect your psp that has a playlist in the MUSIC folder, you cant play that playlist. you can only play those songs in the folder in alphabetical order. its very frustrating to change songs like that.
Still no Web Browser? I think it would be cool to check out news etc on a web browser since your xbox is connected to LIVE anyway!
Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition
its unclear... does this update now include "proper" passwords for accounts so no one can sign into and abuse my account? Or am i stuck with the controller button combination excuse for a password? :(
"Still no Web Browser? I think it would be cool to check out news etc on a web browser since your xbox is connected to LIVE anyway!"
A web browser could be used to distribute and run viruses on the 360. After that there might be some anti-virus programs for the 360 which would eat into performance. Which iwhy i think the 360 would be better about a web browser. Look at the PS3:
Open Source operating system (Linux) + Access to the internet via web browser = Expensive paperweight.
"Still no Web Browser? I think it would be cool to check out news etc on a web browser since your xbox is connected to LIVE anyway!"
A web browser could be used to distribute and run viruses on the 360. After that there might be some anti-virus programs for the 360 which would eat into performance. Which is why i think the 360 would be better without a web browser. Look at the PS3:
Open Source operating system (Linux) + Access to the internet via web browser = Expensive paperweight.
Cant wait for this.
Background downloading finally.
Thank you M$
It's out. I just updated.
I'm impressed. Well done M$.
its about time ms did this. cant wait for it to finish downloading and installing.
The update sucked!!! There's nothing really cool about it
It's there. It's under console settings
i wanna play my shenmue 2 and my panzer dragoon orta on 360 :(
I HAVE A QUESTION: is it possible to update a 360 without internet connection or a game that contains a update? I mean a downloadable Software that u put on the HDD?
greetz sht1ty
sorry "tom" (24) there isnt going to be very many more games added to the Backwards compatiblity list
niiice ... job well done...
As it stands, Microsoft are not planning a stand alone CD/DVD with the srping update on it. However what we have been told is like that of the PSP, the update may be included in future game releases.
I HAVE A QUESTION: is it possible to update a 360 without internet connection or a game that contains a update? I mean a downloadable Software that u put on the HDD?
greetz sht1ty
look up at #28 he answered it for u
Wow this sucks now wallpaper etc this sucks *****
and the psp has had a virus then, since it has a web browser you dumb a$$
No need to throw insults. Did you see me mention the PSP anywhere? No. I mentioned the PS3. Next time try to actually read the post, before posting rubbish.
the psp is made by the same company thats that going to produce the ps3 which is sony, so why should the web browser be any different, instead it should be enhanced. go to youtube.com and you might see what it looks like and ma'bad if i insulted you.
Someone will always find a bug in a browser and try to exploit it. The problem with the PS3 is that if someone does find a bug, then they could use it to "Brick" the PS3 just like they did with the PSPs firmware. And Linux is easier to exploit than Windows (for example), because it is and Open Source operating system. So i don't think it will be long after the PS3's launch that there will be people with PS3's that do absolutly nothing because the operating system has been messed up by a virus.