Xbox Live update detailed: Games on Demand, Netflix queue/Movie Party, and more

by Christopher Grant on Jul 16th 2009 9:23PM

click for gallery of new Xbox dashboard features

Microsoft just dropped some details on the upcoming Xbox Live Dashboard update which begins rolling out later this summer – first, and perhaps most notably, we'll hit what won't be in this update: Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm support, along with Zune video and 1080p Instant On video functionality. Those are coming in "future Xbox Live updates" Microsoft assures us. "Updates" plural, eh?

So, what is included? The Games on Demand feature will be available in August, giving you access to digital downloads of full retail games. Check out our video of the feature here. Netflix is being updated in a big way, bringing Movie Parties (kick back in a virtual theater – think "Party System" for your Netflix movies) and the ability to manage your Netflix queue right from the Xbox. They're also touting an "Enhanced Playback Experience" which we presume uses the latest Silverlight "Smooth Streaming" technology (see the demo here).

Also included: The Avatar Marketplace, so you can buy virtual crap for your Avatar; User ratings, so you can attach a star rating to "every game on the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace" (this thankfully includes Community ... err, Indie Games which have been sorely in need of community moderation!); and more. You can check out the full list after the break, or peruse the gallery of screens Microsoft just dropped on us.

Xbox Live Dashboard Update (2009)

Netflix Updates
Now you can watch movies with your friends no matter where they are and manage your queue from the comfort of your couch.

Movie Parties – Xbox LIVE Gold members can sit together in a virtual theater with up to seven friends no matter where they are while your Avatars watch a movie, flirt or even throw popcorn at each other.
Manage Your Queue – Browse the Netflix Instant Watch video catalogue, choose from the most popular movies and genres and add to your queue all from the comfort of your couch – no computer required.
Enhanced Playback Experience – Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your internet bandwidth fluctuates.
Friends Info – Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are doing.

Avatar Marketplace

Express yourself! Deck your Avatar out with the latest clothing and props from the top brands and game franchises. Please note that only limited content is currently available in the preview.
Clothing – Download premium items, including branded apparel from your favorite fashion labels and Xbox 360 games such as "Halo."
Props – You can now equip your avatar with animated items they can carry around and interact with.
Awardables – The ability to earn Avatar clothing and props as rewards within games has been added. Please stay tuned for an update on supporting titles.

Games on Demand
Please note that Games on Demand will be available in the preview beginning early August.

Enjoy 24 x 7 access to a growing online library of popular full game titles on Xbox LIVE whenever you want them, in the comfort of your living room.
Purchase Options – Browse and download a great selection of full Xbox 360 games using Microsoft Points, direct debit, or credit card.
Game Manuals – Game manuals for Games on Demand titles can be viewed, downloaded or printed on Xbox.com.
It's Yours Forever! – As with other Xbox LIVE content, Games on Demand titles are linked to your Xbox LIVE account, so you can delete and re-download anything you have already purchased to the same console or another console.

User Ratings
User ratings help you find games that other people think are awesome!

Rate it – You can now rate every game on the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace using a 5-star system.
Sort and Find it – Now you can easily find the games that everyone's been raving about by visiting the Top Rated games in the Browse All category of Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace.

Xbox LIVE Parties
Everyone loves to Party! Check out the new and improved Xbox LIVE Party features.

Party Reconnections – If you are accidently disconnected from your party, Xbox LIVE will automatically reconnect you.
Streamlined Party Invites – Invites are now just one click away! No need to click through multiple screens to get all your friends together.

Video Display Options

We've made it easier for you to see your entertainment in the highest resolution possible on your TV using an HDMI connection.
Display Discovery – Make sure you can see and hear your entertainment in the highest resolution and sound quality possible with the option to override and select audio and video formats independent of the information your television sends to your Xbox 360 console.

Other Improvements
We're always listening to you for feedback, and this Xbox LIVE update will include numerous dashboard updates.

Gold Member Veterans – Xbox LIVE Gold members get to show it off with a stamp on your Gamer Card that tells people how long you've been a Gold member.
Indie Games – Xbox LIVE Community Games has been renamed Xbox LIVE Indie Games. We feel this new name better represents the independent spirit of these titles.
Achievement Browser – We've revamped the Achievements browser so it's now easier to read through all the achievements while playing a game. You can now also launch a game directly from the browser.
Achievements Tracking – A new view inside the profile panel which includes a summary of Achievements earned across all the games played, and shows of all your completed games.
Streamlined Navigation - Streamlined navigation, including new entry points in the dashboard for Active Downloads, redeeming codes, recovering Gamertags and more.
Voice Messages – No more blank voice messages! When recording a voice message, a warning will pop up if no audio is detected.
Friends List Sorting – It's now easier to find your friends! Find and sort your friends by activity, Gamertag or online status by pressing the Y button while viewing the friends list in the Guide.
Memory – Time stamps now appear in the memory area, which particular handy when managing saved games.

Account Management
We've made some changes to make your life easier.

Subscription Notification – If your Xbox LIVE subscription is about to run out, you will now be notified when you sign into Xbox LIVE.
Updates for Invalid Windows Live IDs – If the Windows Live ID you provided has expired, you will now be prompted to update it the next time you sign into Xbox LIVE.
Account recovery – We've enhanced the account recovery process to make it faster and more reliable.

What does this Xbox LIVE Update not include?
The following features will be coming in future Xbox LIVE updates, which we'll be sure to let you know about.

Facebook
Twitter
Zune video and 1080p Instant On
Last.fm

Source

Tags: Dashboard, Games-on-Demand, Microsoft, Netflix, NXE, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (92)

free > fee

PSN > Live

For all of you who downvote me, you know I'm right ;)

I have questions on the Netflix parties.

Do all parties have to have a Netflix account?
I'm assuming this is limited to the US only - I can't see them allowing me in Seattle to watch a movie with my nephew in England.
I'm guessing that the much reduced picture size is their way of reducing the bandwidth load as they're streaming to several machines.

All of this stuff is worthless to me except for the Games on Demand feature. I bought a video game system to play games on, not do social networking, which is what the 360 seems to be turning into now: another social networking hub.

I also assume that the games I buy on demand will not be lower price than retail. If it's a new game, I'll buy it new so I get the box show off on display; if it's an old game, I'd love to be able to just buy it on a whim and on the cheap.

The benefits:

-You don't have to see sunshine or interact with people.
-You can't lose the game or break the disc
-Instant gratification

?????

I said I LIKED the Games on Demand feature, so why am I being told the benefits of something I am already looking forward to. That's like someone saying he'll buy a car and thereafter being harassed by the salesman about why he should want to buy the car.

Reading is a necessity, folks, not an option.

Overall, it's a nifty update, but I didn't see anything about the speed of the browsing experience increasing =/

I'm interested in the rewardable clothes and stuff for Avatars. I hope previous games are supported or else...well fuck.

I imagine some developers will go back and add stuff. Halo 3 is a safe bet.. I'd also love to get the Agency uniform from Crackdown and the Fallout vault suit.

Oh, and a Banjo backpack for getting all the jiggies in Nuts & Bolts, because that was one of the most painfully difficult things I've ever done.

Well the Games On Demand feature is sure to give OnLive a run for it's money.

Not really.

One is about streaming video over the internet while playing a game remotely on server.

The other is about downloading games.

I know it's another pointless epenis but this Gold Member Veteran thing, i've had occasions where I don't realise that my Gold is running out and I have to go on Silver for a day or two before I can acquire another subscription. Does that mean my status will be reset each time? That'd suck, i've been a paying XBL member for about two and a half years now.

Sweet. Sounds like a solid update.

Seems like a great update for those who want to watch movies with their friends. I'd love to get an xbox just for the nextflix streaming and this new feature, but sadly, I have crappy internet (windstream) and barely get .55 Mbps download speed. It gets the job done for regular browsing and online games, but it takes for ever to download stuff and buffer videos. Sadly, my options are limited to it since TWC is a lot more expensive.

Sounds good.

Achievement stuff, Friend related stuff, User ratings and the Avatar store are the things I'm most excited about. The Netflix stuff is irrelevant to us Canadians.

Oooh, and Party Reconnections - this is surprising useful! Disconnections seem to happen quite frequently.

Anyways, good job Microsoft for seeing what is needed and making it happen.

Now if only Microsoft would stop ripping us Canadians off with the points cards, I'd be a happy(ier) camper! (P.S. Sony doesn't rip us off :) )

(If you're curious what I mean. For $20, we get 1400 points, you Yanks get 1600 points - not a lot, but definitely adds up. On PSN, a $20 game in the states, is $20 here in Canada - hence them not ripping us off)

Can you buy your points through Amazon.com to save money?

The American MS points cards won't work in Canada. Sometimes we get lucky and retailers (like Amazon.ca) will offer sales on the cards, but most of the time we gotta pay full price.

One could argue that the Canadian dollar, generally speaking, is weaker than the US dollar, but Microsoft should consider charging the same amount since it's really a "cost of doing business" thing. Sony recognizes this, and so does Nintendo ($20 - 2000 point card from Nintendo is usually $20 here at most retaillers with a few sad exceptions.).

It's funny, because it's pretty much my only grieveance with Microsoft, and a solid reason for me not purchasing as much DLC content and XBLA games as I would have. Think about it this way, an american who buys a $20 card in the states can download 1 extra song for the same amount we Canadians pay ($20). It doesn't sound like a lot - but it's a matter of principle and good customer service. Really, how much money would Microsoft actually lose... how much more content would they sell?!? ... What's more important to them? More content sold, or a little bit more money from each Canadian?

Just some thoughts. :)

remember the good old days when microsoft would provide updates that weren't about foisting another buck out of you?

why don't you guys make video calls with WIndows Live messenger users possible? if we can do video chat with other XBL members there is zero reason why we can't with PC users.

You have to pay money for clothing for your little digital self? That's just sad. I'd use that money to buy myself some new shoes in real life.

They've been giving away free content up until now, and there's the rewards which are unlocked for achieving certain things in games. Seems fair to me, if people want to spend actual money on avatar clothes, why not? Sony have been charging for far more frivalous things on Home since the begining.

That was damn funny and sadly true!!!! I love how MS takes care of things fast when it centers around them getting the cash. People get lost in the smoke they are blowing into our eyes. I'm not saying I won't enjoy the update, but making us pay for Avatar stuff is insane. That should be promotional as should themes & gamerpics etc etc etc. Somehow we got bent.

GAY

I love "user rating" and "friend list sorting".

Great updates! Games on demand is my favorite new feature :)

More community options are great, more avatar options, awesome, game ratings, etc.. But I think my favourite part is simply being able to turn off automatic renewl of Gold accounts. As much as I like Xbox Live, trying to cancel your account is an absolute pain, nice to see we finally have the option to simlpy say LET IT RUN OUT AND DON'T CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD AGAIN!

I just wish they'd push out the update to make the dashboard less clunky.

Its too slow for me to bother with it half the time.

I want IPTV... I have Uverse and what to use my 360 as a second box, save myself $7/mo.

Will this service be limited to North America only?

Will North American customers get all the latest movies and games, and the rest of the world lags by a year or more?

If there isn't equity in distribution, then this is really a waste of technology in my view.

Uh oh, time to avoid the banhammer for another year :O

F@#kin CRTC!

I hope MS can bring Netflix to Canada.

Zip.ca just signed a contract to provide online streaming and the CEO of Zip said they'd be happy to bring their service to Live.

There is hope!

Ahaha, you're not even worth replying too.

(Oops)

Really looking forward to the ability to rate games. That could be hugely influential when browsing the marketplace.

Give me facebook & I'll be happy... dunno why.. I'm on facebook all night anyhow

all i need now is aim and a web browser and i'll never need a computer again...

I guess we have to be ready for a new wave of Xbox units getting the dreaded 3 red rings after this update....fantastic!!!!

ah thats so cute how xbox is still trying to beat ps3 by adding stuff and new features ah so cute and funny

What about us in the UK? Is this Netflix shizz is bypassing us again?

I still want my Beta ball on the Xbox forums, but

with this new feature 'Gold Member Veterans' will it show that I'm a LIVE Beta tester?!!? I doubt it.

This is all well and good, features I will enjoy tremendously, but where the hell is the update to fix the guide from hanging for so long!

what about .mkv support and subtitles

That seems good. The update great. I wonder about 4 things I wonder
1. Is netflix party open to ones who did not sign up to netflix.
2. after reverting back to silver then back to gold a few days later do you lose veteran years?
3.if you made the account just less in a year ago with gold, what will the gold show on how long you been a gold member?
4.when will ms make things cheaper and fix the bugs around there?
So far all that left to say is at least get a web browser enabled in the console (if possible) and get the 1080p instant on, and last fm., facebook, and twitter (in the next updates) and maybe enable messenger users to talk with contacts from yahoo, aol and other services on the console then xbl would be good.
Also it be good if all the features of xbl were enabled for all of the world (Ex: (US currently) Netflix , (coming up possibly in the next updates in UK) Sky (tv), and many other features. Although I maybe asking too much on the web browser, maybe on the next xbox console. Other than all of that, i am glad of the coming up update and it better if it taken one step at a time instead of the whole thing to come out.

Hi, cool post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for writing. I’ll certainly be coming back to your blog. Keep up the good work.
http://www.xboxsingapore.com

Previous 50 Comments

Xbox Live update detailed: Games on Demand, Netflix queue/Movie Party, and more

Xbox Live Dashboard Update (2009)

Reader Comments (92)

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 11:00AM Ashitaka said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 10:23PM Jonman said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 10:36PM Nobledevil Gaming Optimist said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:58AM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said

Posted: Jul 18th 2009 10:53AM Nobledevil Gaming Optimist said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 10:37PM Trance Addix said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 10:51PM DelTrigger said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 6:59AM Snowblind said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 10:51PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 2:53AM Peter Moore said

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 11:30PM Ample Salty said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:16AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:41AM darkquota said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:46AM Axcalibur said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:59AM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 1:18AM Axcalibur said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 12:52AM inteller said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 1:06AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 5:00AM Snowblind said

Posted: Jul 21st 2009 2:56PM Johnny Neat said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 1:08AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 2:51AM xboxsonic said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 4:12AM cuube said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 5:03AM Snowblind said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 5:57AM Skytwin said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 7:22AM Usr666 said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 8:20AM Gel214th said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 9:06AM jynxycat said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 9:11AM Tuxy79 said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 1:18PM TomeOne said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 10:01AM Ashitaka said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 2:20PM 343 Guilty Fart said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 4:07PM Mazrael said

Posted: Jul 17th 2009 6:17PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 20th 2009 9:07PM ARPRINCE said

Posted: Jul 21st 2009 2:41PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2009 3:42AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2009 10:39AM Crockett said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2009 10:45AM Ryguy226 said

Posted: Jul 29th 2009 9:55PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 17th 2009 10:04AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 19th 2009 8:19AM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW