Xbox 360's Latest Dashboard Update Arrives December 6

@GoodKn1ght: Ms. Sposion Man was on sale last week or the week before. The weekly game deal ads are to the far right on the spotlight tab. (of course, this changes next week.)

why are they showing Jeff's 360? I thought that was his hidden shame

Honestly, I turn on my xbox and my game loads up, I think I am the only person that actually enables this feature. I hardly see the dashboard except for buying XBLA games or the rare chance I want to watch netflix but even then I prefer to hook my laptop to my tv, it is a little more hassle but I never got used to the UI on the xbox. So with that in mind the following opinion people may justifiably say is ill informed but if the ads on xbox are about deals or new games, that's fine. I would like to know when Ms. splosion man goes on sale becuase I didn't want to buy it at full price. The problem is is that the adds that I have seen are often not useful , although it seems that the useful stuff is often pushed ahead of the garbage. I wish the new dashbaord could have something like steam adds, when steam loads up, all the deals are pretty much right up front. The dashbaord could then peper in some bullshit adds and that may make them seem less shady

Cool. Really love the new look.

Oh I hope it's as bright, or brighter, than the last one! ...sigh

It greatly needs that search function for sure.

@Klaimore said:

Could storage about time, and wow remember the faceplates for your old Xbox that was something.

My old Xbox? The original Xbox was just black as far as I remember.

@Klaimore said:

Could storage about time, and wow remember the faceplates for your old Xbox that was something.

My old Xbox? The original Xbox was just black as far as I remember.

@zebwinz said:

People complaining about the big tile in the middle that serves up Content-related ads(haven't seen any old spice ads there) need to realize something. There are tens of thousands of pieces of content available on the 360. To those of us who read gaming sites and follow games closely, we are pretty aware of what is available or coming soon. The average user probably has no idea that new XBLA games come out on Wednesdays or demos on Tuesdays. There needs to be a way to tell the general user that new content is available and the big tile seems like the best place for it. You dont need the Play Disc tile to fill up half the screen. Would I like to see Microsoft put a wider variety of content in that center tile, like cool indie games or less popular stuff, sure I would, but a lot of content would be practically invisible without those ads.

This

Way to pimp out your Xbox bro.

@DarthB: I believe they do have a private forum you can go to.

I'll enjoy my ad-free XMB and PSN Store, on my free internet gaming service.  
Just saying. Puts it in perspective. 

Hey hey! PS3 doesn't have ads ruining the XMB. You gosh darn 360 owners are so lucky.

People complaining about the big tile in the middle that serves up Content-related ads(haven't seen any old spice ads there) need to realize something. There are tens of thousands of pieces of content available on the 360. To those of us who read gaming sites and follow games closely, we are pretty aware of what is available or coming soon. The average user probably has no idea that new XBLA games come out on Wednesdays or demos on Tuesdays. There needs to be a way to tell the general user that new content is available and the big tile seems like the best place for it. You dont need the Play Disc tile to fill up half the screen. Would I like to see Microsoft put a wider variety of content in that center tile, like cool indie games or less popular stuff, sure I would, but a lot of content would be practically invisible without those ads.

@CptBedlam: How else would people know new DLC is out on the xbox. Believe it or not, not everyone is on the internet all the time checking when every new thing is coming out. Like yesterday, I saw an ad showing that there was a demo for RAGE that I didn't know about, clicked on it and downloaded it, went right back to the dash and started up Skyrim. Didn't bother me at all and I don't see the big deal is of advertising what is new on the service they're providing, it would be like Itunes not advertising new movies available in the movies section just because some people might not be interested in the movies.

@Kandycane2029 said:

You people really do think you're entitled, don't you? We'll see what you guys want. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I really can't imagine what you wanted from the Super Nintendo... Science help us all.........

Ads would be understandable for silver members or whatever MS calls them now.

But many people pay 50-60 bucks a year for XBL. It's not at all wrong to feel entitled to an ad free product when you paid for it.

@Pitta said:

MannAlive is full of shit. Period. I'm also in the preview, and the only 'ads' are in the bottom right corner of each 'tab'. The rest of the so called ads are deals and info on new dlc or movies, etc.

Yeah, and how do we call information about deals, movies, games etc on TV or in magazines? These are fucking ads! This is them saying "hey buy this shit!!!" with huge pictures. It's called advertising.

It's hilarious how some people have become so blind and are even defending MS's rampant ads that are all over the dashboard.

It'd be fine if MS kept these ads in the subcategories they belong to. But no, on the start-up screen they shove my stuff into a tiny-ass box on the site to advertise DLC and other stuff in the huge center box, and next to it are even more ads.

You people really do think you're entitled, don't you? We'll see what you guys want. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I really can't imagine what you wanted from the Super Nintendo... Science help us all.........

@SevenRobotCats said:

@ptys said:

For a company that claims it's all about the open user experience with Windows, Microsoft really know how to run a fully locked system with Xbox. Would be nice to see some customisable themes with the next update.

A few weeks ago I just figured out how to set my own custom background. I was so happy with myself. And then i saw that the bottom half was covered up with the stupid white fade overshadowed by stupid boxes.

Yeah, the white fog covering half of my background bothered me for a long time and I was hoping the new dashboard would fix this. But nope.

@AgnosticJesus said:

I know, I already got a call from Major Nelson and Steve Ballmer.

Yeah, they´re fucking MAD right now!!

Honestly, this whole NDA thing is getting a bit out of hand, don´t you people agree? It´s like, you can´t talk about anything that hasn´t been released in this industry. Really annoying. I go to videogame sites to read actual coverage of video games, not just "Oh I wish I could tell you about this cool thing, but you have to wait until next week or something when we post the official press release that you could read ANYWHERE on the internet on our site."

@Brad and crew: I wanna see you guys fight the power some more and tell these NDAs to get bent!!

Yeah, cloud storage works like a USB drive, but it also creates a local cache of the whole amount of cloud space (512mb) so you can still access your saves when you are offline. Also, you can only move save data over, so that 512 seems to go a long way.

Now that's what I call a sex-box. Am I right?

MannAlive is full of shit. Period. I'm also in the preview, and the only 'ads' are in the bottom right corner of each 'tab'. The rest of the so called ads are deals and info on new dlc or movies, etc.

@KaneRobot said:

With the new dash, when you start your console you can click 1 button and start your game. That by itself is enough to praise in this update.

Is that true? Forgive me, but I know nearly nothing about this new update. If it's true that this new dash starts on My Xbox instead of the Spotlight, I'll be one happy camper. I couldn't care less about ads on the dashboard, but starting on the Spotlight section has been an annoyance for a long time.

Too bad my 360 died a few weeks ago and is now in a landfill.

@upwarDBound: @upwarDBound said:

@Chavtheworld said:

@Klaimore said:

Could storage about time, and wow remember the faceplates for your old Xbox that was something.

My old Xbox? The original Xbox was just black as far as I remember.

And green. Don't forget the green.

there were also a blue, a clear green, a clear crystal and a super rare white special edition.

Can't wait to see what new features they hide behind the paywall.

@KaneRobot: I can understand where you're coming from, but saying that there's no option but to have ads is untrue. A good majority of the XBL fee is pure profit for Microsoft, yet because people just deal with the ads being there, we're also getting MS additional free money.

While it is highly unlikely to have the ads go away at this point due to complacency, had more people been more vocal about the issues with it over the history of the console, it's possibly they wouldn't have gotten to the point they're at today.

There is no reason why the interface needs ads. If you want to show ads, show it specifically in the store or a specific "what's new" panel, like the XMB on the PS3. At least Sony got that part right.

@Video_Game_King: Yeah it works the same as if you were moving the save file from the hard drive to a USB stick or memory unit.

The people bitching about the ads are people that will never be happy until there are zero ads at all. While that would be nice, it's sadly unrealistic at this point. Microsoft thinks we should have to see ads even though we pay for this service, so we do.

The new dashboard is significantly better than the current one, both on an ad basis and overall functionality basis. Much less clutter and scrolling to get to what you're after, and that's all that matters. Yes, each "section" has one ad in the middle that scrolls through several different images. SO WHAT. It's better than having your fucking XBox default to a ROW of stuff that is half ads like it does now and sticking other random ads in your other rows. With the new dash, when you start your console you can click 1 button and start your game. That by itself is enough to praise in this update.

This is a significant step towards a better dashboard, stop complaining about it.

Nice, hope it keeps the minimal look.

@EJStyleS: With it being a Beta that you are probably not supposed to talk about they are probably just using base images for content that is out because a limited amount of people see it. When it's launched officially I am sure they will be different if not then you would be 100% correct.

There has to be some inside joke about that pic, or it could just be that's a 6 year old picture of a 360. Whatever

Saves can be transferred in the same manner as before when moving say hard drive to usb stick all the same rules apply. ie some can be copied some have to be moved. But the system does keep a synced cache save on your hard drive as well as the cloud.

Personally hate the new dash board the ad's are bullshit the UI is something horrible, but i love the cloud saves and being able to have my profile on more than one 360 at a time. Other than that i think this is designed for house wives that use kinect

@kerikxi: Oh, I love the boobs, I just don't go to video game websites to see some. They don't have to be in everything, imagine boob shaped sliced bread? Wait, maybe that's a bad example...

I don't see the funny side because I don't find the image itself funny, and there wasn't any funny remarks about the image in the story. I think I'm allowed to voice my concerns and wariness.

@mnzy: I wrote posts 138 times is how I did it. I don't comment on things that I can't add something to or I don't find interesting. You'll have to tell me your secret for getting to 2,713 posts.

@Rawrz:

So does that mean saves can be transferred to the cloud?

@Video_Game_King: All of them id imagine. When you put it in a game and it pops up which storage device to save to, if you have cloud saving enabled then you could choose to save to there.

@ptys said:

For a company that claims it's all about the open user experience with Windows, Microsoft really know how to run a fully locked system with Xbox. Would be nice to see some customisable themes with the next update.

A few weeks ago I just figured out how to set my own custom background. I was so happy with myself. And then i saw that the bottom half was covered up with the stupid white fade overshadowed by stupid boxes.

*Sigh*

Well, at least I know the date.

Didn't you guys agree to an NDA when you signed up for the preview program?

Edit: I see DarthB beat me to it, but come on.

@theodacourt said:

Paris Hilton on an 360 isn't funny, just sad. And I'm sad that, apparently, the most appropriate image for this story is a picture of a near naked girl. There are other websites for that stuff. If your audience finds it hilarious then I guess you should keep doing it though I suppose, I just don't want to be a part of it.

How did you make it to 138 posts on this site?

Also, I'm really liking the new dashboard, the ads are totally fine. I'm in Europe, though.

@MannAlive said:

If you love ads, you'll LOVE the new dashboard. Each page has one tiny button for content you want to access, and the rest of the screen is ads. There are like 8 tabs, but without the ads, the stuff you actually want would fit on a single page.

yeah the ad situation can only get worse. What an eyesore.

@theodacourt said:

Paris Hilton on an 360 isn't funny, just sad. And I'm sad that, apparently, the most appropriate image for this story is a picture of a near naked girl. There are other websites for that stuff. If your audience finds it hilarious then I guess you should keep doing it though I suppose, I just don't want to be a part of it.

Uptight much?

Paris Hilton on an 360 isn't funny, just sad. And I'm sad that, apparently, the most appropriate image for this story is a picture of a near naked girl. There are other websites for that stuff. If your audience finds it hilarious then I guess you should keep doing it though I suppose, I just don't want to be a part of it.

There are ads. Everywhere. They scroll on a carousel so there are more ads on each page. On each page there are between 5 and 8 tiles. On pages with 5 tiles (including 'home'), 3 are ads, including the large central carousel. On 'video', there are 7 tiles. 4 are ads and 1 is MS-created video content, Inside Xbox. On each page, only the tiles along the far left side of the screen provide user functionality. The rest are adverts. I am sad as nearly none of these ads are (currently) promoting great offers, obscure Indie games or uncovering unique Live content. Instead they are for Gears 3, Skyrim, Halo, Kinect Disneyland, Kung Fu Panda 2 and MW3. Instead I am told I can buy Green Lantern for 1770 points. Please, Microsoft, you could use these for GOOD.

I'm in the program! Have I turned on my 360 in months? No. Have I decided to turn it on and download the update? No. Do I care? No.

I'm interested by this 'beacons for coordinating multiplayer games' - wonder what that means?

For a company that claims it's all about the open user experience with Windows, Microsoft really know how to run a fully locked system with Xbox. Would be nice to see some customisable themes with the next update.

Will this be everywhere, or will it release first in the US?

@AgnosticJesus said:

@ICryCauseImEmo: Finding Paris Hilton ugly makes you gay? Her face is nasty, her tits are worse, and her personality and attitude suck as much dick as she did in "One Night in Paris". What's that say about you and your taste in women bro?

If i'm not mistaken it states that I enjoy the female body while you enjoy the male body?