Tech Tuesday – What the XBOX Fall Update means to non gamers
Today is the day that xbox owners will finally get their hands on the new BIG update, but what does it actually bring?
It seems like it has been coming for months now, and it also seems to have been in BETA testing for far too long, but today, 6th December. Microsoft rolls out it’s latest Dashboard Update. But what can we expect?
Apparently the update will completely change the way you experience your XBOX 360. The brand new dashboard will turn your gaming console into a total entertainment box because of the new video services it offers along with the NEW Windows Phone 7 inspired GUI.
At present there are more than 57 million consoles worldwide. Microsoft thought it was about time to take the console into new territory and making it more than just a gaming machine for spotty teenagers. It is now a truly diverse media hub, oh and it still plays games.
The dashboard update will come with new and improved ‘on demand’ services. These are specific to the country you reside in, from today you will get the following…
- EPIX. United States
- ESPN on Xbox LIVE (ESPN). United States
- Hulu. Japan
- Hulu Plus. United States
- LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
- Netflix. Canada, United States
- Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
- Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
- Telefónica España - Movistar Imagenio. Spain
- TODAY (MSNBC). United States
Later this month Microsoft are adding.
- 4 on Demand (C4). United Kingdom
- ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Australia
- AlloCiné. France (AlloCiné), Germany (Filmstarts), Spain (Sensacine), United Kingdom (Screenrush)
- Astral Media’s Disney XD (Astral Media). Canada
- blinkbox (Blinkbox). United Kingdom
- Crackle (Sony Pictures). Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
- Dailymotion. Available in 32 countries globally
- Demand 5 (Five). United Kingdom
- DIGI+ (CANAL+). Spain
- GolTV (Mediapro). Spain
- iHeartRadio (Clear Channel). United States
- Mediathek/ZDF (ZDF). Germany
- MSN. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom
- MSNBC.com. United States
- MUZU.TV. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
- ninemsn. Australia
- Real Sports (Maple Leaf Sports). Canada
- Rogers On Demand Online (Rogers Media). Canada
- SBS ON DEMAND. Australia
- Syfy (NBC Universal/Syfy). United States
- TMZ (Warner Bros.). Canada, United States
- TVE (RTVE.es). Spain
- UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC). Canada, United States
- Verizon FiOS TV. United States
- VEVO. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
- Vudu (Wal-Mart). United States
- YouTube. Available in 24 countries globally
But that is not all, Microsoft are working hard to get more services available for its LIVE users. They are hoping to bring us in 2012…
- Antena 3 (Antena 3 de Televisión). Spain
- BBC (BBC). United Kingdom
- CinemaNow (Best Buy). United States
- HBO GO (HBO). United States
- MLB.TV (MLB Advanced Media). Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
- Telenovelas/Sports (Televisa). Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom
- Xfinity On Demand (Comcast). United States
In addition to these great entertainment services they have also added Beacon and Bing integration, this means that users will be able to search the entire XBOX LIVE library for games, videos, or music all with their voice. Microsoft have brought KINECT into the fore front, making it much more than a gimmicky add-on. For instance, say
‘‘XBOX, Games”
And the XBOX will whoosh you over to the games hub. But that is not it, you can even select what you want from a screen. Want to watch LOVEFiLM? Then apparently you just say..
“XBOX, Lovefilm”
I am really pleased about this, as my kinect was gathering major dust above the TV, and has even been downgraded to the cupboard. But the update will mean that it is worth using again, especially if I am watching a film.
There is so much more to the update then I have mentioned here. ENGADGET have done a brilliant hands on review of it. I know that I am going to be rushing home from work to update my console before I go to the cinema this evening, and you should too.
Have you got a XBOX? Are you updating today? Comment Below…
Scott Lawlor
Nice summary S, I wouldn’t have even known this was happening if you hadn’t mentioned it – Ant didn’t say anything which is strange, since it’s at the very heart of our entertainment habits :p Ever since his laptop screwed up and we’re been sharing mine so we swap and use the XBOX instead; I’ll watch a film or listen to Last while he’s using it etc. Its the only way we don’t scratch each others eyes out!
This sounds pretty good, although now we don’t really need it – Ants buying a sexy new laptop probably today, he’s so excited. Not sure about the BBC though. The whole reason we got the projector we chose is cos it doesn’t have an capacity to receive TV so the vultures who deal with the License Fee have no way of sending us their crappy fine. With their sneaky ways they’ll probably try getting warrants based on people having XBOXs
I would be very grrrrrr.
Anyhoo – been meaning to ask, what you think of MMMM? X
hehe It is out now and it is pretty cool. Especially if you have a Lovefilm account Hels.
MMMM? I thought it was pretty good. I loved the groan at the ending too
We thought that groan was so funny too
It was the perfect ending!
We got rid of our lovefilm account ages ago since we’ve got about 600 films in the house we haven’t seen and we’re your typical flipfloppy types – by the time they’d sent us a film we’d be in the mood for something else :p Probably start it back up again with this development though…
I think they do a new £4.99 streaming only account now, which may suit
Too bad they are experiencing slight delays with putting out the dashboard. Here’s hoping it comes sooner than later.
Yeah the delays were a pain. It is out fully now and pretty good by all accounts
I forgot about this so just started up my 360. Shame it’s not available yet, but I’m interested to see what it looks like. Have bought a Kinect for the kids for Christmas, so once that is unwrapped I will enjoy the voice control.
Our kinect is in the attic. I am going to get it down tonight and give it a go…. How swish, I will let you know matey
Very interesting. I wish I could get those Euro channels here. Maybe I can fool them with a proxy.
I reckon you could. Not that I have a clue how to do that. I am an IT nOOb
A friend of mine has the Xbox 360 Elite and will sell it to me for $50. I have not bought it yet.
Regarding the additions, HBO Go will be sweet…but you will still need an HBO subscription.
Amazing how cheap you can pick up a xbox up for these days!! Bonkers!!
I would love a bit of HBO over here.