360 Dash update today / tonight

[Mannginger]

Linky

Update info said:

Windows Live Messenger Comes to Xbox LIVE, Uniting Friends and Families on the TV, PC and Mobile Phone
Starting tomorrow more than 6 million members of Xbox LIVE can instant message with people on PCs and mobile phones, one of the hundreds of enhancements coming with the Xbox 360 Spring Update

Beginning May 9th, Xbox LIVE, the most interactive gaming and social network available, is once again expanding with the arrival of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360. This new feature, available as part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update, will connect people across Xbox 360 consoles, Windows PCs and Windows Mobile devices. Xbox LIVE members will be able to socialize with people on their unified friends list, including their contacts from the more than 260 million Windows Live Messengers across the world. With Instant Messenger, Xbox LIVE members will have the ability to:

* Chat via instant messenger with up to 20 contacts in a single conversation, and have up to six different conversations at the same time with people on PCs, mobile phones and other Xbox 360 consoles.
* Instant message while playing games, listening to music or watching movies or TV shows downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
* View at a glance if friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags and add them to a unified friends list.
* Utilize the virtual keyboard on the Xbox 360 to text chat or connect a USB keyboard to the console. Launching later this summer, the Xbox 360 text-input device accessory will connect directly to the controller to support instant messaging.

In addition to the availability of Instant Messenger on Xbox LIVE, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will bring with it hundreds of other features and enhancements to the console. Here are just a few:

* On-screen pop-ups that immediately display the name and gamerscore value of a just accomplished Achievement, allowing gamers to see their progress without leaving or pausing the game.
* An even safer way to communicate through Xbox LIVE with enhanced family settings that enable different default settings for video chat and voice chat.
* A new, standalone Xbox LIVE Marketplace blade houses all Xbox LIVE Marketplace content in one easy to navigate space.
* Xbox LIVE Arcade enhancements that showcase what games friends are playing directly from the friends list. Boasting about high scores, comparing progress and checking out leaderboards are all easier now as well.
* Faster access to free, trial version of Xbox LIVE Arcade games through an improved Auto Downloads feature.
* The ability to fast-forward, pause and rewind video as it is being downloaded on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
* Owners can now set their consoles to turn off after downloading content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace to help save energy, and download speeds have been increased.

The Xbox 360 Spring Update is free to all Xbox LIVE members. For more information, please visit www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0408-im.htm.

Speculation on Forza site has some believing that the Forza 2 demo will be included with the update.

I reckon it'll be on Live by the end of the week at the latest - it'll be good to finally have a go at it...

Phil

[Mekon]

According to Major Nelson, it should start hitting around 10am.

[chilled]

More importantly:

# Added H.264 video support: Up to 10 Mbps peak, Baseline, Main, and High profiles with 2 channel AAC LC.
# Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 5 Mbps peak, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC.
# Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
# Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
# Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
# 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.

[Chris Type R]

Just downloaded the update - doesn't seem to have bricked the console.

[wolves_wanderer]

Chris Type R said:

Just downloaded the update - doesn't seem to have bricked the console.

Always good to know

[Tonsko]

Any sign of the Forza 2 demo?

[Mekon]

There is rumour of an announcement before 4pm today. Whether that means it will be out today, who knows? The thread to keep an eye on is here -

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/for

[David Godfrey]

awesome can't wait to get home

[Polarbert]

Does anyone know if you can add MSN messenger contacts on the xbox? I couldn't see any way of doing it. Add gamertag doesn't let you put in email addresses.

[work-shy-wanabe]

Anyone know if this will sort some of the problems that some TVs have with HD through VGA?

[moreymach]

Polarbert said:

Does anyone know if you can add MSN messenger contacts on the xbox? I couldn't see any way of doing it. Add gamertag doesn't let you put in email addresses.

Just done it on mine

On the main screen hit 'chat and IM'... Then bring up the 'Messenger' tab and input your MSN details.

Cant see it being much use though as the inut method is pretty tedious.

[Digby]

moreymach said:

Polarbert said:

Does anyone know if you can add MSN messenger contacts on the xbox? I couldn't see any way of doing it. Add gamertag doesn't let you put in email addresses.

Just done it on mine

On the main screen hit 'chat and IM'... Then bring up the 'Messenger' tab and input your MSN details.

Cant see it being much use though as the inut method is pretty tedious.

I thought you could use a USB keyboard on the 360?
Not for games, but for entering details etc.I assume
the same goes for MSN?

[Polarbert]

No I've done that, what I want to know is if you can add friends to chat to, I've only got a few on the account I use for the xbox and wanted to add some more emails, but I can't find the option for it. Anybody know if you can as I haven't been able to find anything apertaining.

[moreymach]

Ah...

If its just a hotmail address would it not be easier just to add them from a pc ?

Or am I missing somthing...

[David Godfrey]

moreymach said:

Ah...

If its just a hotmail address would it not be easier just to add them from a pc ?

Or am I missing somthing...

can confirm that works fine - when I logged into messenger on xbox it pulled all my current contacts into the list, so adding on computer works, password fields a pain though!

[Polarbert]

Yeah I tried it too and they do show up through the computer. I just thought that they would have put that sort of feature onto the xbox.

[baz7175]

I just got round to connecting up my Vista enabled lappy to the 360 yesterday during the day, and didn't even realise that the Messenger update that came bundled in the patch hadn't been there already...all set up now, and just interested to see what it says on friends MSN now if we're playing a game or something else on the box...

[Mekon]

Downloading it now

[chilled]

To answer someone above, there is a VGA performance update. Don't use it so i don't know how much it's changed.

Also if you're using TVersity to stream media DO NOT UPDATE YET!!!!!!! It breaks it. There will probably be a fix soon from them, but the new folder arrangements have broken it.

EDIT,

if you go on the tversity 360 forums, there's a fix out already.

Edited by chilled on Thursday 10th May 13:06

[work-shy-wanabe]

chilled said:

To answer someone above, there is a VGA performance update. Don't use it so i don't know how much it's changed.

Also if you're using TVersity to stream media DO NOT UPDATE YET!!!!!!! It breaks it. There will probably be a fix soon from them, but the new folder arrangements have broken it.

EDIT,

if you go on the tversity 360 forums, there's a fix out already.

Edited by chilled on Thursday 10th May 13:06

Thanks for the info