XBox 360 firmware update next week!

Apparently the plan is to update the 360 firmware twice a year, with the first update being next week. It can be downloaded through Live, with the possibility for it to be on discs later. It applies itself directly to the 360's flash memory, so you don't need the HDD or a memory unit to download this update. Among the things it does are (things that I personally feel needed changing are bolded):

Marketplace/Download Enhancements

• One of the things they're adding is a new Media and Entertainment section, which contains sections such as:
  • New Releases
  • All Media and Entertainment
  • Movie Trailers and Short Films
  • Television, Music, Sports and More
  • Gaming Community Videos
  • Game Tips and Support Videos
  • Optional iPod Support.
• Game trailers and movie trailers are being separated into their own separate categories.
• Gamerpictures and themes are being separated into separate pages.
• Game demos will be searchable by genre and various other criteria.
• BACKGROUND DOWNLOADING. The update will FINALLY allow you to download things from the Marketplace without having to stare at that godforsaken download screen. You'll be able to queue up 6 downloads at a time, with the downloads automatically stopping when you start to play a game online, and according to Microsoft, this doesn't slow down the system at all.
• When downloading things like trailers, demos, and arcade games, you're now able to head straight to the demo/trailer/whatever when you hit the Guide button while the message that says "Download complete" is showing, instead of being shunted to the menu screen and having to press 50,000 buttons.

Media Enhancements

• Preserve folders on your memory cards when you transfer them to the 360, and slight changes to the slideshow functionality.
• DVD Bookmarking. This allows the 360 to remember where you left off on a DVD and start back up at that same spot when you boot the DVD up again.
• When browsing through your music, the system will remember where you were last.
• Booting a new game or going back to the dashboard will no longer stop your custom soundtrack and require you to boot it up again.
• Downloaded videos can now be fast forwarded, rewound, and such.

Interface/General XBox Live Enhancements

• You can now choose to have the system always boot to the dashboard, even when a game is inserted in the drive.
• When your system is idle for 15 minutes, you are now listed on the friends list as "idle".
• Some things relating to the camera have been added, even though the camera doesn't come out until September.
  • Video chat
  • Apparently you'll be able to take a picture of yourself and use it as your gamerpicture.
• The ability to set two separate gamerpictures, one for people on your friends list and one for everyone else, is being added.

And just for emphasis, here's my favorite part of this whole update:



There's no release date as of yet, but it's apparently at some time next week. It takes around a minute according to Microsoft to download and to install.

I just have one comment:

WHERE'S GROUP VOICE CHAT?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They haven't said anything about that, but I did read that they'll eventually have it pre-loaded on game discs, so I'm assuming when you buy newer games (or even newer pressings of games) once they start doing that, you'll automatically get the update downloaded.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Fuck you MS and your never making a fucking release date. AIAOOAISDFJ.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Has anyone else not been able to connect since last night?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Awesome that Microsoft finally released their own list of crap that's gonna get added in the update. It's irritating that they don't do that more often. I really hate downloading an update for a game and not knowing what exactly I just updated.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Kilroy

I've just downloaded the patch, and while I'm sure that I'm not gonna notice most of the fixes, some of them are obvious. I like the All Arcade Games for exampel. Now I'd just wait for several things worth downloading so I can try out the Download manager...

Hell, I just downloaded two

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACER

trailers to try out the download manager.

My favorite parts are:

• The download manager, of course.
• BOOT TO DASH. OH GOD MICROSOFT HAVE MY BABIES THANK YOU FOR BOOT TO DASH.
• Putting the themes button in the Console Settings menu. Makes a shitton more sense for it to be there.
• Reorganizing the Marketplace and Arcade downloads so they make sense and are easy to browse.
• Remembering my volume setting, AND letting me carry over music between games and the dashboard. SO awesome.

There's one thing that bugs me, though. The shuffle button on the guide player feels backwards to me. The button apparently does shuffle when the icon is displaying something that doesn't look like shuffle. I hate it when buttons do that, I want it to display what the button is doing now, not what pushing the button changes the function to.

That's just a minor gripe, though, and one I'm sure to get used to thanks to the fact that it REMEMBERS MY SETTINGS. Now if I could just get the damn thing to load all the songs off of my computer a little bit faster...

Overall, Microsoft I think is really proving that they know what the fuck they're doing. NOW START UPDATING US ON GAME UPDATES MORE! ARJAGIOJASDIOFJAKLDJIO!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

In something like Halo 2, where it doesn't really play music most of the time, I can see that being pretty cool.

Speaking of which, does anyone know why, exactly, the Guide can't be accessed while playing an original XBox game? I mean, it's able to put the damn blade over the screen, what's stopping it from letting you do messages and stuff?

FELIPE NO