Shack PSA: Xbox 360 dashboard update rolling out

The new Xbox 360 dashboard update is starting to roll out today, and will make its way to all users within a week.

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The next time you start up your Xbox 360, a shiny new dashboard update might be waiting for you. The official roll-out of the dash update is starting today, and will move in phases over the next week. It boasts a few new features, a prettier UI, and the launch of new services.

The Major Nelson Blog outlines the features, including a new UI with more tiles, the addition of Internet Explorer, Recommendations and Ratings, and "Pins" for saving your favorite apps and games. The Search has also been revised, and Voice Search includes compatibility with several new languages.

For media lovers, the Zune Video Marketplace has been rebranded as Xbox Video, and Xbox Music is starting up too. Finally, this update lays the groundwork for SmartGlass, but that functionality itself won't come until Windows 8 launches on October 26.

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  • reply
    October 16, 2012 8:15 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Shack PSA: Xbox 360 dashboard update rolling out.

    The new Xbox 360 dashboard update is starting to roll out today, and will make its way to all users within a week.

    • reply
      October 16, 2012 9:06 AM

      gaaah cant talk bout it : )

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        October 16, 2012 9:10 AM

        Why not? If it's rolling out, I'm sure the NDA is down.

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          October 16, 2012 9:12 AM

          Yea, I'd have to go skim the NDA again, but I think it was only enforced until this was public.

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      October 16, 2012 9:07 AM

      have they removed ads for XBL gold users?

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        October 16, 2012 9:10 AM

        the ads only play if you go out of you way to navigate to them. they've expanded all the icons from the centre of the screen so it fills more of the blank space and there's more room for navigating to the shit you want to do. i think the games marketplace stuff is a little more organized and i wish there were more ads for stuff on XBLA so I knew what was new and hot without having to go all the way to the XBLA section.

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        October 16, 2012 9:11 AM

        *facepalm* Guys, those ads are like the least intrusive of any form of advertising ever.

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          October 16, 2012 9:23 AM

          most apps and services remove ads when you pay extra. i'm paying extra for gold over the free silver service so i dont expect to see ads. it's just the principle of it all

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            October 16, 2012 9:49 AM

            There are plenty of premium services you pay for where you still get ads. And seriously, you have to go out of your way to interact with the ads on the Xbox.

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              October 16, 2012 11:53 AM

              Stop defending a corporation's advertising. He makes a valid point that if you pay for something you shouldnt have to deal with advertisements no matter how intrusive they are.

              Jesus, gamers can be pretty pathetic.

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                October 16, 2012 12:14 PM

                Yes, gamers can be pretty pathetic. They think everything has to fit into whatever definition they have provided. The ads are not intrusive. If they bother you, go vote with your money and go to Playstation. Go to the Wii. The ads are a stream of revenue that is not going to go away unless people stop paying for that space, and I don't see that happening as more and more people shift time from TV to their console for entertainment hours.

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                October 16, 2012 12:18 PM

                It's not really a great point though, plenty of paid services still include ads. Cable TV, Hulu+, Gamefly, Netflix discs, public transit, sporting events, etc.

                I have no idea why you would expect the ads to be gone with a gold membership.

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                  October 16, 2012 1:15 PM

                  a big reason why ads on XBL bug me more than other platforms is that they weren't there before the first metro update. it doesn't add value to the service and is just one more reason for me to stop paying for it.

                  i'd be fine with a way to opt out but whatevs

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                    October 16, 2012 2:10 PM

                    there absolutely were ads before the metro update

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                      October 16, 2012 2:21 PM

                      I think the original Blades interface didn't have them, but I want to say there were some there as well.

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                        October 16, 2012 2:26 PM

                        According to Wikipedia the 2008 fall update brought us NXE (metro-like interface) and probably the first set of ads... I can't find any confirmation that they were on the original Blades interface or not.

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                          October 16, 2012 2:29 PM

                          There were ads. I remember, but you can look up videos of the original dash on youtube and see em for yourself.

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                            October 16, 2012 3:40 PM

                            If I recall correctly, though, they tended to be co-branded stuff like the Doritos games and so on.

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            October 16, 2012 11:08 AM

            "MOST"

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          October 16, 2012 12:24 PM

          [deleted]

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            October 16, 2012 12:34 PM

            They don't automatically play noise, they are always at least three movements away from the default starting tile... the only way they would be less intrusive is if they were not there, but they are not going away...

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              October 16, 2012 3:00 PM

              are you out of your mind? they are intrusive. the main menus for the console are entirely fucking ads. why are there ads impeding doing shit or buying stuff? why am i constantly wading through ads? why is the newest dashboard worse than the last one? and more unintuitive because of ads in the way?

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        October 16, 2012 9:53 AM

        [deleted]

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        October 16, 2012 12:39 PM

        they advertise content on their platform. It's not like you're getting ads for $2 Big Macs, or 50% off Jeans at Walmart. fucking hell

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          October 16, 2012 2:09 PM

          I see Sportchek and Taco Bell ads right now.

          Here's the Taco Bell one:

          http://i.imgur.com/R3FGg.jpg

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            October 16, 2012 2:20 PM

            Yep, those have always been there. They seem to be in the minority for the most part, but there are some real-world companies buying ads on there too.

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            October 16, 2012 3:57 PM

            shit sorry. I didn't realise you guys got shitty adverts like that. It's all game related in NZ. :(

            I am fully behind those kinds of ads being removed for gold members.

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      October 16, 2012 9:08 AM

      Now with more ads! Awesome!

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      October 16, 2012 9:14 AM

      [deleted]

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        October 16, 2012 9:16 AM

        There are not more ads, unless you count the recommended tiles.

        The expanded bing search makes it easier to find more stuff... they also reorganized XBLIG to be on the same level as XBLA games in the marketplace, so that's a better thing IMO.

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          October 16, 2012 3:06 PM

          the same level as xbla. lmao. so, behind taco bell, debate, and reality tv ads?

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      October 16, 2012 9:15 AM

      My impressions from being in the beta:

      IE is passable, you are not going to give up browsing on your computer. When smartglass is fully implemented this might change, but Xbox Companion (the old WP app) wouldn't do much integration with IE, so I don't know how much better smartglass will make it.

      The dashboard squares are a bit bigger, more things on the screen.

      My pins is a welcome addition to pin your favorite stuff to a few button presses away.

      Recent apps include video apps now, I don't think Quick Launch did this in the past.

      Recommended tiles show up on a few pages, which will pimp you other games/content based on your consumption.

      Bing search is way better.

      There are still some large load times, but it could be due to the size of my profile and the amount of titles I have played. I'm not sure this is a situation that everyone will encounter, however.

      I don't like that by default it would display your Microsoft Account email in the rotation with your messages/gamerscore area. You can turn this off.

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      October 16, 2012 10:40 AM

      They moved the game section closer to the front

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      October 16, 2012 12:35 PM

      [deleted]

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        October 16, 2012 12:37 PM

        yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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        October 16, 2012 12:37 PM

        Please don't feed the trolls.

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          October 16, 2012 2:44 PM

          Can't seem to load videos in IE tho, like this site, can't watch trailers. :/

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        October 16, 2012 3:08 PM

        didn't that update already happen???????? lol

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