Every six months the Xbox community is aflutter with wonderment as to what the next system update will bring. Message boards are inundated with guesses and theories, rumors flow through the entire Internet, and then the moment strikes when the update is released and the world knows for certain what new improvements Microsoft has added to its system. That time has come again and we've gotten our grubby paws on a pre-release version of the fall update to bring you all of the details before it hits the streets. Strap yourself in and get ready to find out how your Xbox 360 dashboard will be changed forever once December 4 rolls around.
Xbox Originals -- While this one was announced a few weeks ago, that doesn't take away from its magnitude. On the first day the update is available you'll be able to download Halo, Fable, Crimson Skies, Psychonauts, Fuzion Frenzy, and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex each for 1200 Microsoft Points (US$15) on December 4. Plenty more backwards-compatible titles are in the works.
Xbox Live Blade -- The first thing that you'll notice when you fire up your console with the update installed is that the Live Blade has been reorganized a bit. Messages and friends have been consolidated into one menu item to make room for Inside Xbox, a new section that acts much like an RSS feed of content from Xbox.com. There you'll find things like videos, pictures, news items, The Major Nelson Minute, and pretty much whatever else the folks at Microsoft want to add to it.
Marketplace Blade -- The hub for marketplace content has clearly received the most attention when compared to the rest of the blades. Gone is the old set of six gaudy buttons and in its place is a much more concise package. Now you'll see four prominent options: There's Spotlight, New Arrivals, Game Store and Video Store. Spotlight points out the hottest items that have been added to Marketplace. Be it demos, videos, movies, arcade, whatever it is, you'll find Xbox Live's most popular offerings there. New Arrivals is arranged similarly only there you'll find the newest content, rather than the most popular. Game Store and Video Store house all of their respective content types, be it demos and Xbox Originals in the Game Store or TV Shows in the Video Store. It should be noted that the Video Store can also be located on the Media Blade.
Xbox Live Arcade Hits --Gamers have been wondering why XBLA games rarely see price drops. Well, this is your new bargain bin, ladies and gents. This one is essentially Platinum Hits for Xbox Live Arcade games. Bankshot Billiards 2 and Lumines Live can be found here for 800 MP (US$10) with Marble Blast Ultra, Small Arms, and Zuma Deluxe dropped to 400 MP (US$5).
Profile Expansion -- The oddest addition, and likely one that nobody saw coming, is the biographical additions to the profile page. Now while editing your online persona you can add in any name you like, as well as any location; city and state, and a short bio about yourself. We were able to create the oh-so-mature name of "s3cks with elephants" without a problem so we're sure to see plenty of inappropriate and fake titles out there once the update drops. Sure, that kind of defeats the purpose (the intention is to have a proper name to go with someone's Gamertag), but it's too much fun making up obnoxious fake names not to give it a try.
Enhanced Video Codec Support -- This addition will please the majority of the video streaming Xbox 360 community. MPEG4 Part 2 support which, in layman's terms, opens up DivX, Xvid, and Nero Digital compatible videos to being sent through your Xbox 360 from your PC and onto your TV. What kind of content that is, well, Microsoft had no comment on that.
Movie Previews -- Another exciting addition for the video and movie enthusiasts of the world is the movie preview which can be accessed by simply clicking on any piece of marketplace video media for purchase. Whether it was movies or TV shows, every one that we clicked on had a short preview available that played after a short buffering sequence. Who knew that Bad Girls from Mars was worth renting?
Parental Controls -- The only item on the list for the parents of the world to hang their hats on is the new Family Timer. For Mom and Dads out there who feel like their children are sitting inside too long playing that blasted Xbox 360, Microsoft has given you the ability to set daily or weekly limits on the amount of time the system can be turned on. Play for a second longer and the system will shut down.
The Little Things -- There were two nuances that we saw while tooling around that were worth mentioning as an aside to the main features listed above. First, there's a snazzy new fade to black that happens when you turn the system off. The Xbox 360 used to pop off instantly, and while it may be a small change, we do like the gentler power-down procedure in comparison. Second, and this is an even smaller detail, some of the Guide's menu items, such as your friends list, now expand and contract depending on where you're scrolling. Essentially it makes the gamertag you've landed on more prominently featured on the screen. Again, it is small, but it's an improvement nonetheless.
While this fall's update is generally small in the way of bona fide new features that will advance your experience with an Xbox 360, what is here can be described as nothing but solid additions to the system. Xbox Originals are sure to have thousands downloading the original Halo onto their hard drive, added codec support will appease videophile gamers the world over, and the new parental controls will hopefully force more children away from their television for a few hours out of the day.
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