Official Xbox 360 dashboard update starts rolling out

By Seth Brodeur
published

For those of you who weren't lucky enough to land a spot in the public beta test of the new Xbox 360 dashboard, fear not. The official version has begun rolling out to about 3 million consoles around the world and will continue for the next week. Once that first batch is finished, more and more LIVE subscribers will be added to the rollout over the next couple of weeks. Much like Windows Phone updates, the deployment was spread out over time and across different regions to make it go as smoothly as possible.

If you aren't familiar with the new features that the update brings, here's a rundown for you:

  • Refreshed dashboard, complete with new user interface and revamped categories.
  • Internet Explorer for Xbox. Now you can surf the web from your console, something that arguably should have been part of Xbox 360 from its inception.
  • Recommendations and ratings, which include Rotten Tomatoes ratings.
  • Pinning. Much like the Start screen on your Windows Phone, you can now pin tiles for apps, games, etc. to the Pins section of your Xbox.
  • Xbox Video, formerly Zune Video Marketplace
  • Recent, formerly called Quick Play. A list of movies, games, apps or other types of content that you most recently accessed on the console.
  • Enhanced Search, which is basically some new keywords, etc. that have been added to the Bing voice search. It also includes enhanced
  • International Expansion of Voice Search to 9 new countries – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Ireland.

Xbox Music will also be part of the new Xbox 360. Another important point of interest is that SmartGlass will also be making its way to Xbox 360 after Windows 8 is released later this month. There aren't any details yet on how exactly that feature will be rolled out.

Source: Microsoft

Seth Brodeur
Seth Brodeur
66 Comments
  • Tell me why my Xbox has to brake the day before the new update rolls out?
  • Ugh....
    I always had a fear my xbox would break right before a major game release.
  • I'm on my fourth, but this is the first time it's lived past it's warranty. I'm hoping to go the distance until the next console generation. :)
  • I don't understand how people can go through so many Xboxes.  I'm still using my first one that I got several years ago.
  • I had a old White 20gb one when it first came out.. and over the years, it got some red-ring of death issues, that I was able to fix and it ran fine for another year but, came back.
     
    I just went out a few months ago and picked up a brand new 250gber, I just remembered that I love my 360 and could not have one that would not work when I turn it on...
     
    Oh, it's released, does that mean NDA is up ?
  • I have my old 20gb white from 4 or 5 years ago, it broke once (unexplainable) gave it to a repair shop then $30 and one night later it was fixed and works great to this day also i upgraded the hard drive to a new 250GB one (put the old 20GB in a usb case, got clickclickclick of death later)
  • My understanding is if the beta section has disappeared from your console, you are on the final release and the NDA no longer applies to you.
  • Same here. I even had red rings show up and all I did was unplug the power supply (not outlet cord) and it worked fine. Only thing broken was CD slot doesn't easily open. No big deal. We buy games from market place.
  • Luck of the draw, I guess. I had one that wouldn't turn on one month after I got it.  They sent me a "new" one, which had a problem with the disc tray not opening when it was standing upright.  They then replaced that one, which lasted for a good three years before that one got the RRoD.  They replaced that too, so this is technically my fourth console as well. One thing I will say is that I never had to pay Microsoft for any of the repairs/replacements, outside of my time.  They also gave me a free month of Xbox Live Gold for my trouble.  Great customer service for me. I too am hoping this one will last for another year or so... whenever the Xbox Surface/720 comes out, though I admit... I've been playing more STEAM than 360 lately.  Graphics and prices have just been better.
  • Which Xbox the slim r did u have old ones
  • im actually on my second xbox and not because my first one broke! :D
  • I bought first box in late 2007 and it lasted just under year so new xbox for me back then. That has been working fine and hopefully there is still juice to go till next gen comes.
  • Me and my friend bought PS3s no need to say we never had any problem with our consoles.
  • No need to say that everything else sucks on ps3, starting with controllers...
  • +100, i like some ps3 exclusives but that controller is uncomfortable and awkward for shooters. 
  • I'm on my 2nd Xbox 360 and 2nd PS3. I had the yellow light of death on one ps3, but I chalked it up to the fact the ventilation system in my crappy apartment was so filthy that I couldn't combat the dust getting into the machines despite my best efforts. 
  • Imagine what that's doing to your lungs...  o_O Get one of them HEPA filters or something....
  • Guess there'll be no updates for you today.
  • I had a PS3 die on me, very sad day that was. My 2nd one is rock solid thus far.
  • I got the slim during Christmas of 2010. Basically when it was released because there is a sticker on the Xbox box that's says do not release before Nov 4 2010.
    Disappointed to see my Xbox only last not even 2 years. And that i will be late getting the update and may not be able to play AC3, Halo 4 or CoD when its release.
    But I always took good care of my Xbox, and now when i try to play a game it says reading for a quick second then it says open tray.
    I just a have a feeling though when I get my Xbox back I will have even more problems.
  • prob because you cant spell for shit!
     
  • New update is cool had it for a while since they were giving beta out.
  • The beta was nice. Glad to see it finished.
  • Used Xbox Music for the first time last night (yes I JUST got my beta update a day before this is being widely rolled out) and IT.IS.AWESOME.
     
    Zune-people, we can now mix in music videos with audio playlists. Xbox Music is beautiful and fast, not sure what the reviewers were reporting. It's not clunky at all...
    It does suck we cant have it play in the background during games though.
    I love that playlists are automatically saved to the cloud. I cant stress enough how that can change everything. That means when I bring up my playlists in my nokia lumia 920 in 3 weeks... the playlists I created on my xbox360 and surface will magically be there.
    I <3 the cloud
  • You would think MS would allow us to store IE9 favorites in the could as well, but so far that is not the case.
  • When you tried the Xbox Music, do you have a paid subscription or are you trying the free one?  Also, is it a nice UI when you play a particular song i.e. artist pictures/stats, etc....?  // Thanks!
  • I used Xbox Music with my pass and it was great. Worked just like Zune did and the cloud playlist are nice.
    Yes, the UI was easy to understand and has great visuals for parties.
  • thnx for the response!!
  • Yup what he said. And I already have zunepass ^__^
  • My experience with the Zune app on the Xbox is terrible.  It takes near a full minute just to launch the app, and then another few seconds for the in-app icons to display properly (and load my existing videos/music that's local on my xbox harddrive).  Having to open Zune every time I want to watch a game video is a little excessive and takes waaaay too long. In some cases it takes longer to open Zune than the game video is long.
    I'll check it out again with this new update, but I don't have any high hopes.
     
     
    Also, the 'quick play' aka recent list takes upwards of a full minute just to open.  It's actually faster to manually find the game/app you want than to use the quickplay section.  It's definitely not 'quick', maybe that's why they changed the name to 'recent'.  
  • I was part of the beta, so had it for a while now.
  • Beta was nice, but still had room for improvement. App and game discoverability has improved a bit, but hopefully will be better with the final release.
  • I was playing with the beta and it was nice. I was really hoping they would integrate Skype into Xbox. That way I could chat with friends on other platforms. Since MS owns Skype I thought this would be a given but I guess not.
  • how do you roll it back your xbox from the beta so you can get the official update
  • I believe that the Xbox will update itself to the offical release rather than having to roll it back like other betas.
  • That's exactly what happens, my bata went away and was automatically went to full version sometime last week(probably last Saturday night when I turned it on).
  • It will automatically update to the official update and remove the beta section.
  • Freak Yeah! I like how Fifa is the game on the dashborad ;) can't wait till I do the update today
  • Got it in the afternoon luckily was not playing fut online had to accept terms and conditions last time and was playing a match signed me off and messed up my dnf
  • It's unfortunate that the beta program was a total bust.  I don't think they listened to a single piece of feedback from us and Pinning is still a mess.
  • I gave up pretty fast because I had that feeling.
  • About time lol I got the beta but it needed fixes the web browser blows out PS3 ANY DAY
  • I'm on the beta. So far I like it. Apps needs to load faster. Smartglass on my lumia 900 works great. Surface next.
  • You have Smartglass working ? Oh, I need to get into that beta....
     
    What games does it work with ?
  • You have Smartglass working ? Oh, I need to get into that beta....
     
    What games does it work with ?
  • No smartglass silly, its just companion app but shows as smartglass on console
  • Is there really a big difference between the curent WP Xbox Companion App and the upcoming Xbox SmartGlass App? I suspect it's just rebranded as in the case of Zune renamed to Xbox Music.
  • So the last beta update that the beta users had was the final release? I see the beta tab isn't there anymore, and I didn't get the update prompt.
  • beta was cool and all, but I still don't get the idea of IE on Xbox...
  • Just like in the Xbox forums during the beta "Brace yourselves, the huge waves of no-flash complaints is coming"
  • Flash is dead
  • Tell that to the guys complaining about no-flash, they'll give you a "flash is still widely used" bullet. Lots of guys tried to tell them flash will never come to IE and adobe themselves are phasing out its support, even Xbox support stickied a post for members to not report a problem about video plugins such as flash, Java and silverlight. But alas, people cant just accept it.
  • OMG!!!! We have full Netflix in Sweden! Afk....
  • No update here in Canada.
  • It'll happen as soon as Canada gets internet. Should be right after the roads get paved.
  • The pins work exactly like the recent list. Just another menu to click on, nothing like wp7.
  • Mobile.youporn.com ftw on the big screen
  • Its a pretty legit update! IE10 is awesome! The pinning feature is great as well! Keep it up Microsoft!!
  • Not sure if serious or Microsoft employee
  • Actually it's IE9 modified based on windows 7, running sandboxed.
  • Voice search always worked in Canada. At least for me.
  • i enjoyed the beta while it lasted now i can finaly speak due to the toa was completed. its a real improvement from the old dasboard.
  • I was in the beta program and there was a lot of users complaining about Flash, but non of them would accept that Microsoft doesn't make it. Also the fact that Adobe only codes flash for desktop based computers. I am looking forward to SmartGlass which is due for release around about the 26th Oct as posted by Major Nelson. I would also like to add that the PlayTo feature works really well aslong as your phone is compatible with DLNA and has a DLNA app for the handset. Every body in the beta got the final update I think it was last week, the public got it yesterday.
  • sweet, so you saying we can now use DLNA with it??? that's the best!!! at work, will try it as soon as i get home with my Lumia.
  • no way!!! it works!!!!! just tried it with PlayTo on my Lumia and it works sweet as!!!! this is awesome. I've been wanting to do this for a long time.
  • I do not know what app Nokia uses, for its DLNA, I know with HTC its called Connected Media.