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[Sean]

360 Dashboard update Scheduled for next week. GameSpot post with pictures here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151874.html


Active Download
With the spring auto-update of the Xbox Live service scheduled for May 23, 2006, you will have access to the Active Download feature in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

With an active downloads list, you receive the following benefits:
• Each item that you download is downloaded separately in the background. This lets you continue to use the console while you download an item.
• You can stream music, play DVDs or CDs, play arcade titles, and play games while you download an item from the marketplace.
• If you start to play an online game, the download is automatically paused while you play the game to help prevent game lag because of network congestion. This helps you receive the best online gaming experience that the network can provide.
• All downloads are associated with your profile. If a download is paused or if the download is interrupted, the download will resume the next time that you connect to Xbox Live.
• You can add items to the active downloads list at any time by selecting more items from the marketplace.
• You will receive a notification in the Xbox Guide when an item starts to download and when the download is completed. You will also receive a notification if the download fails.

Boot to Dashboard (translated from french)
Generally to comfort console Xbox 360 will read a disc of media automatically if a disc is in the disk player when you activate the console. A car-update is available which enables you to modify automatic reading of the option of the disc of media to the Xbox interface to be advanced automatically when you activate the console.

To configure how the console comforts Xbox 360 starts, proceed as follows:
1. Start the console without a DVD in the disk player.
2. In the section System of Xbox Dashboard, select Console Settings.
3. Select Démarrage and then press on button A.
4. Select the two following options of and then press on button a:

• Disc
Sélectionnez Disque if you wish that the console read the multi-media file when you activate the console.
• Interface Xbox
Sélectionnez Interface Xbox if you wish that in the Dashboards the console pass when you activate the console.
Note You do not receive a confirmation after having selected an option. The option however will be recorded automatically.

Instantly Apply Themes or Play Trailers
When a download is complete, the content can be immediately accessed or applied. Just downloaded a trailer for Bioshock? No need to navigate back through the menus like before, just select 'play' when the notification comes up. Themes can also be instantly applied, rather than sifting through one's personal settings.

Fast Forward and Rewind, Resume DVDs, Find CD Track Names
Other updates to the various media functions of the 360 include fast forward or rewind capabilities (up to 16x speed) in Marketplace videos, improved data retrieval for names of CDs and individual tracks, and the ability to resume playback on a DVD from where it was last stopped.

Idle, Multiple Gamer Pictures
The system's online functions will also have a few extras as well. Now when a gamer is idle, it will say so on players' friends lists. There will also be an option to have separate gamer pics for friends and the general public. Presumably, this is gearing up for the compatibility with the Xbox 360 camera peripheral, which is supported by this update even though it won't be released until this fall. Until then, gamers can use available pics.

 

[radicalbunny]

THANK GOD!

I am now down to 0 complaints about XBL again.

 

[raYne]

May 23rd huh?...

 

[AtomicShroom]

Boot to Dashboard sucks if it's only an option that you can change within the Dash itself. I want it so that if I hold a particular button on the controller as the console starts, THEN I get brought to the Dashboard instead of booting the game. Like on GameCube. If you hold A when booting, the game doesn't start. Make it happen, MS! Can't be that hard...

 

[Dante]

Hell yes! Active download is really sweet.

 

[AgentOtaku]

glad you can finally boot to dashboard also

 

[AZ Greg]

It just keeps on getting better!

 

[maynerd]

Active download should have been in there from the begining. Lame MS very lame.

But I'll take the update!

 

[SnakeXs]

Active download should have been in there from the begining. Lame MS very lame.

Yeah fuck you MS for listening to what people and and acting on it! Fuck you hard MS!

 

[maynerd]

Yeah fuck you MS for listening to what people and and acting on it! Fuck you hard MS!

I'm glad they are updating it...don't get me wrong. But come on this shit should have been there from the start. I mean it was the FIRST thing I noticed when I tried to download something. I thought...WTF? How lame!

 

[Goreomedy]

About F'n time for both features. But why the delay?

I want it nooooowwwwww!

 

[Joe]

both are cool featuers but my most wanted feature is a 3 or 4 person voice chat room. being limited to 1 person is frustrating.

also, is it possible with a software update to make the dashboard more responsive? i mean its not bad the way it is, i could definitely live with it but it would be nice if it was more "snappier".

edit: maybe they delayed it so they can incorporate a patch for the dvd drive firmware hack?

 

[raYne]

Yeah fuck you MS for listening to what people and and acting on it! Fuck you hard MS!

Not enough dollar signs.

 

[Blimblim]

I'm glad they are updating it...don't get me wrong. But come on this shit should have been there from the start. I mean it was the FIRST thing I noticed when I tried to download something. I thought...WTF? How lame!

It was planned to be there from day one, but if I understood correctly some last minutes bugs forced them to use the interface we have for the moment. That would be why we get a notification when the download is done, when there is no real point in using one.

 

[Do The Mario]

All good work!

We love you M$!!

 

[Vark]

I'm glad they are updating it...don't get me wrong. But come on this shit should have been there from the start. I mean it was the FIRST thing I noticed when I tried to download something. I thought...WTF? How lame!

Every vibe i've gotten from the Marketplace is that people are surprised by its popularity (ie, even MS). So when it was designed I think they intentionally held some stuff back wondering if it was worth the time and effort because they weren't sure that it was going to be as popular as they'd hoped. Now that its taken off and people really like it, they know its worth the time to beef up the features of it.

 

[maynerd]

both are cool featuers but my most wanted feature is a 3 or 4 person voice chat room. being limited to 1 person is frustrating.

I've never tried chatting with more than one person. But I thought in private chat it had slots for up to 4 people. Are you saying that it has slots for 4 but only 1 can go into private chat?

 

[Last Hope]

All sound good.

Now they need to organize the marketplace.

 

[goldenpp72]

Those slots are channels, you can have multiple channels but only 2 people can be in a channel at once.

 

[Wario64]

the only thing left that they have to add to make xbl near perfect is automatic downloads or pre-loading content. say that you want to download all new demos when they're available. the x360 should be allowed to download that demo automatically without you having to start or queue the download

 

[arne]

It was planned to be there from day one, but if I understood correctly some last minutes bugs forced them to use the interface we have for the moment. That would be why we get a notification when the download is done, when there is no real point in using one.

Actually that's not entirely right. But I'm not at liberty to say why, it wasn't a bug though.

both are cool featuers but my most wanted feature is a 3 or 4 person voice chat room. being limited to 1 person is frustrating.

also, is it possible with a software update to make the dashboard more responsive? i mean its not bad the way it is, i could definitely live with it but it would be nice if it was more "snappier".

edit: maybe they delayed it so they can incorporate a patch for the dvd drive firmware hack?

The support documents that went up because they were lined up a while ago. The "delay" was around way before the firmware hack came out actually. May 23 hasn't been the release time for quite some time. I don't even know where those support documents came from.


I believe just about every dashboard update we've seen... ok, which has been one, works on making the guide more efficient. I don't see why they wouldn't look into keeping those improvements happening here.


As for voice chat room... a guy from the Xbox 360 dev team posted why multi-party chat is a challenge to pull off.

 

[soul creator]

both are cool featuers but my most wanted feature is a 3 or 4 person voice chat room. being limited to 1 person is frustrating.

what's odd is that you could start a 16-person chat (I think) from the original Xbox dashboard, but you can't on the 360. I suppose I could understand not having that done in-game, but it's weird that you can't do that from the 360 dashboard.

also, you can obviously talk to multiple people while in a game, so maybe they can make an xbox live arcade "game" which is really just a chat program, lol. Then again you lose the "always on no matter what" that you get with the current private chat. It is pretty cool that I can talk to my friend no matter what game we're playing, and even switch into different games and operate the 360 without losing that connection

 

[maynerd]

Every vibe i've gotten from the Marketplace is that people are surprised by its popularity (ie, even MS). So when it was designed I think they intentionally held some stuff back wondering if it was worth the time and effort because they weren't sure that it was going to be as popular as they'd hoped. Now that its taken off and people really like it, they know its worth the time to beef up the features of it.

That may be true. But if that's their attitude then they are lame. If you want a business to succeed you should go into it making the best product possible not "hold" back because something might not be that popular. Maybe it wouldn't be popular because you held back. Anyways, I'm not trying to argue here. I'm glad this update is coming.

 

[Joe]

As for voice chat room... a guy from the Xbox 360 dev team posted why multi-party chat is a challenge to pull off.

thanks for the reply. that made me really sad to read though

 

[GhaleonEB]

That may be true. But if that's their attitude then they are lame. If you want a business to succeed you should go into it making the best product possible not "hold" back because something might not be that popular. Maybe it wouldn't be popular because you held back. Anyways, I'm not trying to argue here. I'm glad this update is coming.

I think it's normal to put development time into elements of your product that you think will be most popular. The fact that Marketplace proved to be so popular and that MS is responding with a pretty sustantial upgrade in good time is great.

And they are not doing a half-assed job of it, either. I suspect most of us would have been happy with just being able to download one item in the background. But queing up six? The notification system? Auto-pausing while going to play online, and resuming automatically? That's above and beyond.

And arne thanks for your comments as well. I'll take this "leak" to be accurate since neither you nor blimblim corrected/denied it.

 

[arne]

And arne thanks for your comments as well. I'll take this "leak" to be accurate since neither you nor blimblim corrected/denied it.

Well, I don't comment on rumors or speculation.

 

[StoOgE]

As for voice chat room... a guy from the Xbox 360 dev team posted why multi-party chat is a challenge to pull off.

Wow, evidently my post made someone last year of life have meaning. Thats pretty cool. Hopefully my multiple "Xbox 360 is broken again" threads didnt send him over the edge. :lol

 

[Speevy]

arne: Has anyone ever considered an update which would allow the player to delete the emulation software and free up the entire hard drive?

 

[Juice]

Boot to Dashboard sucks if it's only an option that you can change within the Dash itself. I want it so that if I hold a particular button on the controller as the console starts, THEN I get brought to the Dashboard instead of booting the game. Like on GameCube. If you hold A when booting, the game doesn't start. Make it happen, MS! Can't be that hard...

QFT. When I read that it was an all-or-nothing setting I literally ran out of my house and stomped on an anthill in pure unadulterated rage.

 

[brokenwatch]

As for voice chat room... a guy from the Xbox 360 dev team posted why multi-party chat is a challenge to pull off.

Can you explain why this feature cannot simply be limited to when in the dashboard only? Halo 2 supported 16 players in a room fine. The only problem was people talking over each other. Seems like a regression from the first Xbox which allowed multiparty chats from the dashboard.

 

[Juice]

the only thing left that they have to add to make xbl near perfect is automatic downloads or pre-loading content. say that you want to download all new demos when they're available. the x360 should be allowed to download that demo automatically without you having to start or queue the download

And no, the only thing they need now is a low-power sleep mode.

 

[arne]

arne: Has anyone ever considered an update which would allow the player to delete the emulation software and free up the entire hard drive?

How big do you really think the emulation software is? You may jump on me for making an assumption, but I can tell you it's nowhere near as significant as you'd like from what I understand.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Well, I don't comment on rumors or speculation.

No, but blimblim does.

How big do you really think the emulation software is? You may jump on me for making an assumption, but I can tell you it's nowhere near as significant as you'd like from what I understand.

So what is taking up those seven gigs of space?

 

[Vark]

That may be true. But if that's their attitude then they are lame. If you want a business to succeed you should go into it making the best product possible not "hold" back because something might not be that popular. Maybe it wouldn't be popular because you held back. Anyways, I'm not trying to argue here. I'm glad this update is coming.

Well making the "best product possible" is about balance. In a world of infinite time and resources, yea, everything would be perfect. But in real world scenerios you have limitations and the idea is to do the best you can with the resources alotted.

 

[Juice]

How big do you really think the emulation software is? You may jump on me for making an assumption, but I can tell you it's nowhere near as significant as you'd like from what I understand.

Really? Because I was looking to free up about 512KB.

IT'S MY HARDWARE MS, I BOUGHT IT, LET ME DO WHAT I WANTZORS!

 

[Sinatar]

Deleting the emulator wouldn't free up the entire drive, a huge chunk is used for caching, same as the xbox1.

 

[Vark]

No, but blimblim does.


So what is taking up those seven gigs of space?

A decent amount of it is locked off for cache i'd imagine. How much of the original Xbox's HDD was locked off?

 

[GhaleonEB]

A decent amount of it is locked off for cache i'd imagine. How much of the original Xbox's HDD was locked off?

How much? I would imagine a gig - or a few - would do it. Seven is enough to spool the entire game to the HDD, isn't it?

 

[Speevy]

This ancient computer has a 20 GB HDD, 18.6 usable. I know it would be nearly impossible to fill the thing with saves, music, and arcade games, but the demos and trailers fill it up fast.

 

[BuddyC]

Now they need to organize the marketplace.

That's something I know is being worked on as well.

 

[StoOgE]

A decent amount of it is locked off for cache i'd imagine. How much of the original Xbox's HDD was locked off?

.


even with the HDD not being standard? How could a game rely on it?

 

[Truelize]

the only thing left that they have to add to make xbl near perfect is automatic downloads or pre-loading content. say that you want to download all new demos when they're available. the x360 should be allowed to download that demo automatically without you having to start or queue the download

Would you like it to make you a sandwich and fetch your slippers while you play as well? I kid, I kid.

Sweet update.

 

[LakeEarth]

Another suggestion update that might have been already stated - the ability to turn off "______ is online" notifications, but show invite and achievement notifications.

 

[Mejilan]

Looks like lots of VERY WELCOME updates are in the works. Can't wait.

 

[Vark]

.


even with the HDD not being standard? How could a game rely on it?

A game has to work without the HDD, but if the HDD is there its fair game. In which case there needs to be a reliable amount of space available.

 

[Wolffen]

Assuming my box isn't frelled up to cause this, one other change I'd like to see: When a trailer/demo download is finished, and you have the option to "Play Now", rather than actually play the trailer or demo, it takes you to the trailer or demo list. Shouldn't "Play Now", you know, actually play/start the item?

 

[Core407]

So.... where is the update?


*birds chirp*

 

[arne]

So.... where is the update?


*birds chirp*

just because i'm a jerk.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3470619&postcount=21

 

[scooby_dooby]

How much? I would imagine a gig - or a few - would do it. Seven is enough to spool the entire game to the HDD, isn't it?

XBOX1 had 3 750mb cache partitions, that way you could play up to 3 game at once, and you wouldn't constantly have to recreate your cache files (which can take a while, read: Halo 2)

The drive is actually somewhere around 18.5 useable space, which leaves 5.5gb for cache and all applications. I would guess something like 3x1.75gb cache directories and ~250mb for OS, BC and other apps.

 

[maynerd]

Well making the "best product possible" is about balance. In a world of infinite time and resources, yea, everything would be perfect. But in real world scenerios you have limitations and the idea is to do the best you can with the resources alotted.

I can understand what you are saying but the first thing I thought when I couldn't do anything when downloading was...this is retarded. That ain't balanced.