I have once again been asked to test the new Xbox 360 Dashboard update, and this time its a fun one, adding, Twitter, Live.FM and Facebook.
Installation was actually quite long, it took 10 or so minutes for the update to download and another few minutes to install. So I decided to get in and try the new features.
Twitter is now located in the My Community section and started straight up, the interface is crisp and clean, but it is very limited. You can only see the last 50 tweets from your followers, which depending on your twitter use, may or may not be an issue. The annoying thing is that you can’t click on @mentions or #hashtags, and given the lack of a browser on the Xbox, you can’t obviously follow links.
It clearly has lots of potential, if it can take over from the #xboxtweet service, it would be great, so every time you got a new achievement it tweeted it to the world.
Like twitter Facebook is located in the My Community section, however, it requires a small download, before you can use it, which is actually quite annoying considering you just had to run through that big download and install.
When up and running, its not too bad actually, a bit basic, like Facebook on my Blackberry. The photos are actually better than on Facebook proper, with full screen photos and very quick loading times.
One cool feature which I have yet to really exploit properly is that you will be able to see whom of your Facebook friends have an Xbox Live account and vice versa, allowing you make more connections which is brilliant, hopefully my mum won’t turn out to be on Xbox Live though as that would be pretty embarrassing!
Eventually Microsoft has promised automatic status updates from the games your playing, and in game screen shots and videos uploaded directly to Facebook, nice.
Last.FM
Last.FM also needs downloading and again that’s quite annoying. But its pretty good, as long as you have scrobbled enough tracks its pretty good, it allows you to listen to your stations, create new ones, skip tracks, love tracks, ban tracks and evn get more info on the bands.
Only down side, it can’t be played in the background, so no I can’t play Forza 3 with the Last.FM stuff streaming in the background, but hey at least I have an internet radio in my living room now!
Other Features
A few other features have been added as well. There is now a Music Marketplace, where you can surprisingly buy music and music videos. The downloadable tracks for the music games like Lips, Guitar Hero and Rock Band now have their own category, so they won’t drown out the rest of the marketplace. The Halo Waypoint is also coming next week, so we will see what’s that’s like.
They have also added Zune to the video marketplace, a change which frankly, seems pointless and a poor relation the US Netflix service, but ahh well, tomorrow (27th October) we get Sky Player!
Conclusion
All in all its not too bad, it makes a good case for the chatpad, which will no doubt become an essential accessory, and if a few tweaks are made, it can only add to the Xbox experience.
Have Fun
Michael
