Spring update features confirmed: IM and more! [update 1]

by Dustin Burg on Apr 9th 2007 12:05AM

It has been an interesting week of leakage and speculation about the Spring dash update and we now know that it's all true. Microsoft has officially pulled back the curtains on the update's features and when we'll be getting our mitts on the all the goodies. First off, we think it'd be appropriate to recap all the big new features that the update has to offer. Without further adieu, the Spring dashboard update will feature ...

Windows Live Messenger IM integration.
More informative achievement notifications.
A brand new Marketplace blade with updated organization.
Upgraded XBLA friend interaction functionality.
Auto-off downloading functionality featuring low power mode.
Enhanced family settings for chatting.
Ability to watch videos while downloading off the XBLM.
Hundreds of other random fixes and tweaks.

Not only that, but Microsoft also announced that they'll be releasing a new QWERTY text-input peripheral (seen here) this Summer that attaches to the Xbox 360 controller. Also, Joystiq separately confirmed that the once speculated "Play Game" feature will indeed be included in the new dash update. Now no more guessing which game is in the drive. The Spring update will go live on May 7th with all the new IM integration and updated features. Full press release after the break and be sure to take a look at Joystiq or Engadget's Spring dash photo galleries.

Is there anything you think should have been included in the update or something you're specifically looking forward to? Also, will you be using the Windows Live Messenger integration through your 360? Fanboys, it's your duty to discuss!

Update 1: Xbox.com has more information on the other features included in the dash update including various video playback options.

Instant Messaging Comes to Xbox 360, Expanding the Largest Social Network on Television

Xbox 360 owners can connect with more than 260 million Windows Live Messenger users on Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs and Windows Mobile-powered devices beginning the week of May 7.

REDMOND, Wash. - April 8, 2007 - Your Xbox LIVE^® friends list is about to get a whole lot bigger. Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live™ Messenger on Xbox 360™, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft^® Windows^®-based PCs and Windows Mobile^®-powered devices. With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts.

Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the communication options on the Xbox LIVE social network. Members of the 6 million-strong Xbox LIVE community currently send more than 2 million text and voice messages a day and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music or watching movies. Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate with on Xbox LIVE, including voice and video chat.

Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox LIVE will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences they can share online.

"Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox LIVE has really become the largest social network on television," said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. "For our growing community of 6 million on Xbox LIVE, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox LIVE users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360."

Beginning the week of May 7, users of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 will text chat using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. This summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging.

Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including the following:

A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.
Enhanced family settings features for Xbox LIVE communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.
A new Xbox LIVE Marketplace blade lets Xbox LIVE members access the content they seek - whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States) - from one place on Xbox LIVE.
Updates to Xbox LIVE Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox LIVE Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox LIVE members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded Tell a Friend capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox LIVE Arcade games.
New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and is easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox LIVE or on Xbox.com.

About Xbox 360

Xbox 360 is the most powerful video game and entertainment system, delivering the best games, the next generation of the premier Xbox LIVE online gaming network and unique digital entertainment experiences that revolve around gamers. Xbox 360 has a catalog of more than 160 high-definition games and is available in 37 countries. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/xbox360.

About Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE is the first and most comprehensive unified online entertainment network seamlessly integrated throughout the entire console experience, making it easy for people to find the friends, games and entertainment they want from the moment they power on their Xbox 360 system. Xbox LIVE connects millions of members across 25 countries to enjoy hundreds of multiplayer games, downloadable games via Xbox LIVE Arcade, free and premium playable game demos, music videos, TV shows and movies in the United States as well as new game levels, characters and vehicles for all their favorite retail games. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live.

About MSN and Windows Live

MSN^® attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Source

Tags: dash update, dashboard update, DashboardUpdate, DashUpdate, keyboard, messanger, spring dashboard update, SpringDashboardUpdate, windows live messanger, WindowsLiveMessanger, xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (50)

Sweet. I like the QWERTY add on thing

Ooo I got first

When people that I dont feel like talking too IM me. I usually use "I was playing xbox" as my excuse.

Now I have to think of somthing else.

when are they going to make it so I can have more than two people in voice chat? Its friggin annoying because Xbox 1 allowed up to four people per voice chat.

Great updates, it seems like they're really putting a lot of effort into these updates. With the added Windows Live Messenger functionality I assume e-mail is next, and from there some sort of web browser.

Although to be honest, who would want a Microsoft-based web browser? The last thing I want is a bad Internet Explorer program clone filling my 360 with viruses, and leaving me open to more attacks than an armor-less knight. =/

On another note, these are some great updates, but I'd rather see them put more effort into backwards compatibility. Microsoft just doesn't seem to get that it *is* an important feature. You buy an Xbox 360 and then suddenly 70% of the Xbox game library is now useless. I'm not saying they need to put *all* of their effort into it, just *more* effort.

I wish there was an option to choose whether a disc is loaded when you turn on your 360. I typically keep a game in the console and soetimes would prefer to boot to the dashboard. Actually, I would prefer to ALWAYS boot to the dashboard and then load my game.

Uhh, #4 (Parvin) - I believe this spring update is going to allow up to six people in a group XBL voice-chat.

As far as the QWERTY thing goes, I don't know if I like it... too small for my fingers, I'm 22 for God's sake. Not to mention, I wish the On Screen keyboard was QWERTY instead of ABC.

Nu

to quastion number 6!!!

You can already do that! there is an option for bootin into the dashboard already since the last Update 6 months ago or more :D

CHECK THIS OUT GUYS!!!!

"H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles."

Its not the same like x264 movie files? or is it??

Uh, SouthBeach? That is an option. It's under one of the settings menus. It's been there since launch, IIRC. Thought you might like to know before someone comes in and flames you (not that this'll stop them)

"Not to mention, I wish the On Screen keyboard was QWERTY instead of ABC."

Me too. At the same time, you can just plug in any USB keyboard and use that instead... so at least there are alternatives.

It's hard to say what I want to be in this since I'm not sure what's in the "hundreds of other tweaks". A lot of my so-called problems with Live tend to be very minor things that might actually be addressed by that. We shall see.

Also, I think the disc loading thing was added during one of the last major patches. I know it wasn't a launch option or even an option several months later.

Yea the disc launching thing came through a patch...

And what I'd like to really see is who on my friend's list has XBL Gold and who has Silver... I'm pretty sure you can't do that. Would help a lot when I'm inviting people to play, instead of me getting "my one month trial is done."

Xbox360fanboy, let M$ know of this

@ 8 (NuAngel)
I think that was just for the MSN chat channels. You can CHAT (type) with six other people.

great updates! But I still wait for subtitles / closed caption add-on for movies/ tv shows downloads. Im deaf and there are alot of deaf and hearing impaired people out there waiting for that!

@ # 12:

You CAN do that already. When you look at a friend's gamertag, if the bar on where their tag is shown is gold, they have gold, and if it is silver, it's a silver account.

This update is literally worthless to me, as all of my friends use AOL IM. A part of my wants Microsoft to stop putting all this stupid mainstream stuff into the 360 and focus on serious gamer needs (full on clan support, more people in private chats, etc.), but realistically, this is what Microsoft needs to do to pull in the mainstream. I'll put up with some of this as long as it means that we'll have more 360 owners out there.

I am glad that there is a low power download mode with auto-off when the download queue is finished. I worry that my xbox will die in my sleep.

Where is the web browser, the ability to chat with more than one person, and the easy bake oven attachment?

geniouses! wow!

An upgrade that was not mentioned and i'm looking deseperate to it, is for the playback quality of regular dvd. The image right now seems jagged. The 360 has a poor dvd image reproduction. The hd-dvd looks great, but the regular ones are horrible. It is something that i think has priority over others updates. The updates for may 7 are nice, very nice, but until they fix the dvd problem i will have a great discomfort.

The Messenger integration is nice, but I'd have preferred voice chat than text IM

Off Topic but important for Xbox 360 users:

A critical bug has been found for Shivering Isles on PC and Xbox 360.

This bug can corrupt all saves and render your game UNPLAYABLE.

More info at UESP: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Shivering:Reference_Bug

(sorry to post here but I couldn't find a way to email the site with the news)

what about upgraded vga resolutions??

What about Divx playback ??

@ Andres

The update is fixing that.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0408-im.htm?WText.camp=TS1-InstantMessaging&WText.campSrc=Home

Read farther down.

"Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content."

And

"Improved skip forward, skip back functionality during video playback."

:) I like this update. I can't wait.
Good Stuff.

Ps. Is that a picture of Froza Motorsports 2 on the website showing how the achievements work? If so, Damn that looks nice. lol

I think they should have added a option, where you can choose whether at startup, the game loads straight away, or it goes to the dashboard. E.g i have a game in all the time, but sometimes i just wanna go to the dashboard and do other stuff, but the game auto loads...

Vision cam support through Messanger!

Oops just read comment 6 and 7, i'll have a look for it

All i want is a web browser! they have internet explorer undoubtedly the biggest web browser in the world so where is it? whats their excuse sony and Nintendo have managed it.

its funny how people keep overlooking one of the most wicked updates just because microsoft isnt boasting it big and loud

X264 and MPEG 4 CODEC SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris | http://www.nextechnews.com

Umm 25: you do realize that you have been able to set that from the dashboard properties since the LAST dashboard upgrade

Chris |Http://www.nextechnews.com

... why type to chat ? 360's have headphones and mic's ...i am not getting why this is needed 'to chat'... just talk into your mic and listen in the headset , no keyboard required....

Why is Microsoft completely ignoring the 720p/1024x768 issues?????? This completely escapes me.

I could careless about Windows Messanger. But I could put my controller through my TV when I get massacred in Gears because I can't see someone to my far right!

This update is pointless. I agree with many previous posters. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, why not improve the product that's already here?

Clan support, better group voice chat, easier user interface, and FIXED DSIPLAY RESOLUTIONS SO THE VGA CABLE I BOUGHT WHICH IS OEM BY THE WAY IS NOT USELESS!!!!!

DiVx etc. support is nice, since it usually is smaller than WMV. Not sure any time will be saved moving MPEG-2 to that instead. Now I wish I had a DiVx capture card.

The QWERTY device will be nice for entering those Marketplace codes. No use beyond that since I'll find the IM option and turn it off...

So at&t hitman, you want MS to support a non 16:9 resolution better? 16:10 I could understand, but nothing other than that. I wouldn't hold your breath. The real issue the need is..... WHY DOESN'T THE XBOX 360 SUPPORT BACKGROUND DOWNLOADING? JK. I'm surprised by the fanboys here who don't know about many of the existing features. You've been suffering unnecessarily for a long time. I hope you haven't been telling these things to 360 fence sitters. Anyhow, this seems like a decent enough update. My favorite feature is being able to see what disk is in my drive.

It's just a stepping stone update for other, larger updates to come. It's nice to see these new features, and most are important to have, but they're all mostly important for larger ones down the road.
As big as Gears is, I believe clan support on a Blade as well as clan chat might happen in the Fall Update in time for Halo 3 because that's what it'd be used for mostly.

(I.E..people would not just be excited to play H3, but also MS could flaunt better support for it at the same time.)

now that its real i'm looking really forward to it looks like a great list more then i wanted so to me i like it

i wonder if you'll be able to read your hotmail messages in the messages of Xbox live??? i hope so because there isnt a point in doing all this with windows live messenger if you cant read the messages they have sent you!!

Clan support. Hello MSFT, is anybody listening?

Where the f*ck is the ability to lock your marketplace content to a NEW CONSOLE ID? When my refurbished replacement box dies, this time I'd like to be able to have my Arcade content playable while I'm not connected to Live, or on my wife's profile!

i hope the IM got manual and auto connect menu, so my IM on my PC won't log off everytime i turn my 360 on

Ya, as previously stated the 'boot to the dashborad' option was added in another update.
I can see myself useing the MSN messageger service from time to time. It's a great option. Currently I use a USB keayboard for typeing my messages, and I love it. My biggest fear is that they may dissable this ability when the QWRTY thing comes out. I'll be PO'd.

I love these updates. Come spring each year who knows what our 360's will be able to do? I'm still hopeing and praying for some type of recording feature that can be done during gameplay. Halo 3 killing sprees on Youtube fed directly from your 360 anyone?

problem is? I will want to use the live messenger, but my current live messenger is on another email account different to my xbox account. This will probably be a big nuisance.

Yeah, I would also like to see upscaling on the xbox for regular dvds. I just don't have the money, or the desire to buy an HD DVD peripheral. I don't plan on buying HD DVDs.

In Canada, Euro majority uses MSN. Sux for the US AIM users

I'm looking forward to the achievement notifications feature. I always

jump out to the guide to find out what was unlocked. Also the auto-off

after downloads seems usefull. As for the rest of the update I'm not

that concerned with.
As for the features that I would like to see in the future I have 5.
1. X-Y scaling for HD-dvd drive. Some Toshiba HDs have this feature so

that you get 100% of the movie on to your HD-tv. Also good when you

watch 3:4 dvds so it doesn't get stretched or cropped like it does now.

If modders can do X-Y scaling in Xbox media player for the original

xbox, MS most certainly can do this for this gen.
2.In game walkthrough via the guide. Something to think about. Say your

stuck, you hit the guide button and a texted, maybe video (I'm not sure

the guide can support anything other than text directly), walkthrough

appears that you can scroll and bookmark. A paid feature of course.
3.Toggle disk auto-play on/off. (NOT the what to access at boot-up).

This happens to me alot. Lets say I just finished playing Graw2 and I

start playing Jet-PAC arcade I get a little hungry and go for some milk

and cookies. I get my lazy ass off the couch and on the way I think,

"oh let me put in Crackdown while I'm up". As it stands now I leave the

disk tray open for the remainder of my Jet PAc session and then hit

close when I'm done. I just don't like the idea of the tray begin

opened for long amounts of time. (As for being lazy I give 110% at my

tech job so I can slack at home. That's just how I roll.)
4.Now that I have downloaded some TV shows I can re-download and watch

anytime I what. But the problem is I can't remember what shows I own.

If MS wants us to get use to downloadable video content and not keeping

it on our hard drives forever, they should make it easier to tell what

I own. Have a tab in the video section "Stuff I own not on hard-drive".
5.This one is for us who have surround sound and have player audio out

only to speakers. This problem could be user specific, not sure. I have

the tritton surround sound head phone. They sound great. But some live

games don't have loud player audio for some reason. I can't hear my

friends so well when I have the audio out only through the speaker. And

what I end up doing is turning all the channels (front, center, rear,

base) to 10 and lower the over all so I don't blow my ears out. This

defeats the purpose of surround sound. There should be an option or a

standard that lets you choose what channel(s) you what for in game

player-audio or just have the player audio go out ONLY on the center

channel. Time delay for surround could also be an issue if all channels

are used for player audio, because you would end up get an echo effect.

Which is what you what, but not for player audio.

Those features are nice and all, but I think they should include a fix for the low contrast of the picture when using the VGA cable. Something like the 'Digital Vibrance Control' you can find in NVIDIA's Forceware drivers shouldn't be so hard to include!

I like the idea of the new updates but i still don't understand why they just don't put everything we need in the updated instead of giving us a little at a time!!. And yes i do want team chat (3 or more) outside of the regular games that have it.

Give me the option to turn dashboard ads off.

Paid service means ads should be optional. MS is effectively selling adspace on 6 million TV screens around the world and they're making boatloads of money for the trouble.

Even if it's just for free movie tie in gamerpics, it's still ultimately an ad for a movie I don't give a crap about. Let me have the option to turn it off, or make Live free.

I like what the've talked about for this update. I have some thoughts on it and a video showing what the new features will look like at:

http://gamers-grotto.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-xbox-360-dashboard-coming-may-7.html

@ 49

Halo 3 will have this recording feature complete with angle and lighting controls (Source: Multiplayer Vidoc). Although, I have no clue if they'll be transferable.

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Spring update features confirmed: IM and more! [update 1]

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