The Xbox 360 November '06 Fall Update is heading your way

Hello everyone,

Wow, only 5 months have passed since we first posted about the Spring update. The release process never seems to slow down but as tired as we all are, I’m still excited to be talking about our third major update to our system software for Xbox 360. Later tonight (or early in the morning depending on your location) the November ’06 update will go live and with it you will get to see the work we’ve put in over the last 5 months.

Coming out of Spring we looked really hard at all the feedback each of you provided. We are always listening to our Product Support people. We dissected the replies from Major Nelson’s blog and of course we review the feedback from the Xbox.com forums. In addition we are all gamers, and we are passionate about making our product better. This will be the third evolution of our system software and with it I’m super proud of what we’re delivering. I’m hoping that you guys will be too.

Back in my original post from June I explained the concept of ‘Your Games, Your Friends and Your Lifestyle’. This is still something we pivot around in our planning for Xbox 360 and it provides a good framework to talk about some of the changes we’ve made with this release.

For Your Games, we invested heavily in enabling new experiences. The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel is an awesome accessory and we worked around the clock to make sure that there was support in the system for this cool new experience. Wireless is where it’s at in the Next-Gen and this is why we’re excited to also provide support for the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset as well. People loved not being tethered to the console with their controllers before, now they can be totally wire free when online with their friends using the new Wireless Headset. And they can be wireless to their console when tearing up the laps using the new wheel.

Here on the 360 Team we all love Xbox Live Arcade and from all the downloads of games we know you do as well. The Arcade team did an amazing job in improving their part of the dashboard this release. Being able to auto-download new titles….seeing your friends scores from the Arcade page….improving the enumeration speeds, are all part of the improvements in this area. We’re really proud of how well Arcade has done since launch but now we get to look forward to the games you guys may create via XNA Express. We worked closely with the XNA team to ensure support was in this release for developing your own games and running them on a retail Xbox 360 console. I’ve seen some of the really cool games being developed on XNA Express that have just blown me away. Enthusiasts and hobbyists around the world have been anxious to develop games on a next-gen console, and now they can. 

For Your Lifestyle , we decided to focus heavily on video with this release. One of the ‘loudest’ feedback items we heard over and over was around not being able to stream videos unless you had a Windows Media Center Edition PC. I can’t even begin to count how many conspiracy theories there were around why this limitation was in place. With this update we can now dispel all those theories. We are now streaming videos from your XP / Vista PC and you can even play them back from USB 2.0 drives or data discs if you’d like. I know we are going to get a lot of feedback on the codec support we provided with this release. Let me save everyone the trouble….we know that WMV is not the only video format out there….we know that people want more choices…. and we know folks will want other codecs like H.264 / Mpeg4 / Divx / etc. Our approach from launch day last year is that we listen to constructive feedback and while I can’t promise anything for the future, I can promise that we will listen and will improve our system software over time. Some things are just not doable because of legal or licensing issues, but where possible we really try to drive new digital entertainment experiences for your lifestyle. Additional codec support is already something we’re thinking of for the future.

In addition to the streaming video support, we spent a huge amount of time getting the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player support baked into the system. I’ve been playing movies on my final production HD DVD unit and I’m amazed at the picture quality and interactive features built into the HD DVD movies. I hope everyone else gets a chance to the player out. Once you’ve gone HD, you just can’t go back!

We also worked closely with our co-workers in Zune to make sure the experience with a Zune device is handled really well on the Xbox 360. We expect that streaming videos, music and pictures will be popular with folks and I look forward to increasing the support between the two devices. Also with the Zune software on your PC you can stream AAC encoded files to your Xbox 360, something that wasn’t possible prior to this release.

With this release out the door, we’ll take a step back, collect our breaths and start to get ready for the next one. Post your feedback because we love to hear about how you’d improve and make this system better. We believe that incredible software and world class services are what make us stand out in this next generation. Your feedback guides us on what to improve or add.

Now it’s time to find some time for in-depth ‘product testing’ on some of the new games coming out. I’ve had a chance to play the final version of Gears of War and Viva Pinata, and both of them are amazing. I’m really looking forward to Rainbow Six: Vegas, as I had a chance to meet the dev team and help them integrate the Xbox Live Vision into the game about 11 months ago.

Thanks everyone,

Daryl Welsh (GT: IndieGames)

Below is the full feature list of changes with this release.

NEW FEATURES

• HD 1080p video mode support over VGA and component.
• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player support.
• Stream WMV video from a Windows-based PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
• Play video from storage devices such as USB Flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
• Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
• Xbox 360 Wireless Headset support, including battery level indicator in the Xbox Guide.
• Video support for 50-Hz HDTV modes (DVD and HD DVD only).
• Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel support.
• Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
• Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express (separate download and subscription required.)
• Stream music, pictures, and video from a Zune device.
• Stream AAC (non-DRM) Music from Zune software

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

Xbox Live Arcade

· Lightning-fast enumeration and listing of all Xbox Live Arcade games on the console.

· Find games quickly with two new sort options: Recently Played and By Category.

· Have all new Xbox Live Arcade games at the ready with auto-downloads. Auto-downloads optionally adds newly released trial versions of games to active downloads when you enter Xbox Live Arcade.

· View full achievement info in Xbox Live Arcade, including icons, achievement point details, and descriptions.

· Friends leaderboard: Compare yourself with friends and view leaderboard details right from the Xbox Dashboard.

· Tell a friend: Send a message to a friend about your newest favorite Xbox Live Arcade game.

DVD Player

• • Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.
  • Improved support for audio streams on incorrectly authored DVDs.
  • Better handling of unreadable discs.
  • Updated countdown timer.
  • Xbox 360 HD DVD Player support.
  • Added zoom support for non-anamorphic content.

Video Player

· Improved support for extended all-black scenes in WMV content.

· Added support for Windows Media Video 9 Advanced profile video.

· Screen saver now becomes active when videos are paused.

· Now shares UI and player controls with DVD player.

· Improved video playback while downloading from Xbox Live.

· Added skip controls (forward approx. 30 seconds, back approx. 7 seconds).

· Improved messaging around unplayable video content.

· Added time elapsed and time remaining displays.

· Improved playback of high bit-rate HD content on fragmented hard drives.

· Improved visual quality of video playback.

· Added selectable display modes: default and letterbox zoom.

Localization

· New locale setting for China.

· Improved German translations in console settings.

· Improved German translations in Memory area.

· Improved Japanese translations in Family Settings.

· Added localized text for all supported languages in Pictures area.

· Improved Spanish translations in camera effects.

· Improved locale-specific decimal denominators.

· Added localization support for title menu and main menu in the DVD player.

· Added localization support for “Attempting to Read Media” system message.

·

Memory Area

· Added support for Xbox 360 HD DVD Player content..

· Added new page for viewing content size by category.

Other System Improvements

· Updated support for new Daylight Saving changes coming in 2007.

· Improved support for games to better handle host migration in multi-player matches.

· Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support for changing room lighting while zooming.

· Background-downloaded videos appear in video area

· Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support while using VGA.

· Playing photo slideshows from PC now maintains picture folder hierarchy.

· Improved user experience when playing and deleting videos from the Games or Media areas.

· Improved handling of invalid characters during Xbox Live signup.

· Better handling of watermarks in gamer cards.

· Improved text for Windows Media Connect..

· Improved UI performance in Windows Media Center.

· Improved connection support for Buffalo WZR-G108 wireless router when using Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter.

· Redownload of deleted Xbox Live Arcade Games no longer re-enumerates all games on the Xbox Live Arcade page.

· Improved visual display of text in themes.

· Improved support for CD playback after signing up for Xbox Live and losing network connectivity.

· Improved support for long names of items Memory area.

· Improved handling of gamer pictures downloaded from Xbox Live.

· Improved background download notifications when downloading many small items from Xbox Live.

· Improved support for custom backgrounds after returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the Account Management area.

· Improved network reliability between Windows Media Center on Windows Vista and Xbox 360 consoles using Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter.

· Improved voice chat quality in Xbox Dashboard and in-game chats.

· Improved messaging when failing to connect to Windows Media Center.

· Improved USB keyboard support when using a USB hub.

· Improved consistency of user experience when deleting various types of content.

· Improved handling of low storage space for background downloads.

· Improved handling of picture streaming from attached digital cameras over MTP protocol.

· Improved error messaging for optional iPod support download when storage devices are full.

· Improved handling of multi-key repeating for USB keyboards.

· Expanded Family Settings to include support for blocking unrated DVDs and videos.

· Added ability to clear space from storage devices in download areas.

· Added support for low-speed and full-speed USB keyboards.

· Improved caps lock behavior for USB keyboards.

· Improved look and feel for Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade.

· Added redeem code option to Xbox Live signup.

· Removed system message at the start of new downloads. Messages will be displayed for completed items.

· Added support for CCV credit card validation field in Xbox Live Marketplace purchase areas.

· Updated “More Information” instructions in the Xbox Dashboard for connecting an Xbox 360 console to a Windows-based PC to stream digital media content.

· Added auto-scroll to long text descriptions in Xbox Dashboard UI.

· Improved support for DVD insertion while playing a video file.

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  GREAT JOB!!! As a software developer I know how many late nights, missed romantic evenings and general eyeball fuzziness any major release creates and you guys have done a rockstar job!  A few things... First, You stole all my thunder as I was about to ask about codecs but hey, I think WMV 9 is actually a pretty darn good looking. Second, thanks for the few MCE enhancements I noticed in the list.  The original reason I bought an XBox back in the day was so I could use it as an extender and seeing continued support warms my wee heart. Lastly, I'm looking forward to seeing the Zune in action and how it interacts with the 360.  I dream of being able to use the Zune as a form of memory card as well as down downloading video content from the Marketplace, via the 360, and transfer it to a Zune for viewing and then replaying on a friend's 360.  Not too much to ask, is it? grin

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  For those that use XB Stream to stream their podcasts over to the 360, version 1.4 is now out - which supports Video streaming :) You can get it over at www.xbstream.com.   Btw great job Xbox Team, one suggestion is could you please add in 1440x900 resolution for VGA?  I ask this because it's a common resolution that widescreen monitors use for 19-21" monitors.

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  I would like too to dump my standalone DVD player and use X360 as "center of my living room" device, but xvid and divx just ARE 'defacto' standard functionality in standalone DVD players and without it X360 is lacking. If standalone players manage to include xvid & divx feature why not X360? I am even willing to PAY money for that feature!! 10-15€/$ should take care of licensing fees & some...

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  I think it's very nice that you publish such an extensive changelog. It's really appreciated. I just wonder why you are pushing USB keyboards like this :) Perhaps a preparation for something coming soon?

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  Im also bit dissapointed that still no support for other codecs. One question, on my XP MCE I have to look after codecs that are installed so that playback through windows media player is able to play Divx etc. Is it possible for MCE to send the codec it would use to play a file locally to the 360 for that session so that the 360 is able to play more than just WMV?

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  Format choice? This is one area in wich the xbox 360 fails badly. Even the cheapest DVD players on the market has got the ability to play DIVX, XVID,AVI ext.ext.... why not the Xbox 360??? In my opinion the xbox 360 will never be the full media center entertainment hub without these formats! This is very disapointing to know that these format will never be used because of DRM issues. (Contol control control!!!)

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  Nice update.  As a 50Hz-lovin' aussie, I'm particularly happy about the 50Hz HDTV support (at least for [HD-]DVD).  Does anyone know if this support extends to MCE - upsampling the 50Hz TV signal to the 60Hz XBox HDTV out is the only downside to an otherwise awesome product!

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Good update, but I can't set 1920x1080 on my CRT 19" screen on the 360 (my screen goes black), whereas I can set it in Windows XP, from 60Hz to 75Hz. My screen is a ViewSonic E92f+SB UltraBrite, and can support up to 2048*1536@60Hz, so it's the 360 that send the wrong signal. Thanks :)

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  ok glad to see support for video streaming but only wmv, is not enough. mpg and asf is a small update that can be added to the 360. ok it's not divx or xvid but it is better than nothing. so a small update to support 2 extra codecs doesn't sound like a problem..

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  I just got my 360 from repair (I had to because of the 3 red rings of death problem) and I downloaded the update and boom Error 71 Contact MS Support. I called and they told me that several people had already called for that and it happened the same way, after downloading this update... Now I have to send my 360 again for repair, another month... P.D. No, my 360 wasn't modified or with a modified firmware...

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  BTW if you havent noticed many people have said they'd be willing to PAY for the divx codec on the 360! And i'm one of them proper AVI/Divx support and i'll drop down 400-800 points for it no problemo as long as it works and its mine forever im happy! So why not contact the divx team and start licensing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  All I want is 4-way chat. Its not asking for too much

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/14201 "The image, video and music formats included in the features of the PS3 are similar with the formats supported by the PSP. In the video category, Sony has implemented PS3 support for MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 SP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.265 formats. As regarding audio, the included formats are: AAC, Wav, MP3 and ATRAC. JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF are the image formats supported by the PS3." At least match the competition ;)

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Sounds good, but the number one feature I hear from friends is the support for streaming other format   After that, next item is IE on the 360

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  I think if the xbox team takes a better, closer look at major nelsons website after 500+ post about 3 red lights the codecs support, and the multi video/voice chat. I think the team had the chance to put the functions build in if they delayed the update i don't mind to wait a extra month. Now some people are very disapointed about some features not build in this update

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Chris, You can view RSS feeds, and listen/view podcast/vidcasts on your Xbox 360 with XB Stream - www.xbstream.com.  While it is not a MS product, it still works :)  

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  I  just wanted to share my thoughts on the update.  First, video streaming is a good start.  To enhance the experience, I would suggest adding more zooming options.  A 720 x 480 video shows up with black bars on the sides, as well as the top and bottom on my HDTV.  This should not be the case.  Bars on the top and bottom are tolerable, but there is no reason for bars on the side.  Media Center has 4 zooming options, which makes it easier to view 16:9 content.  Perhaps, this should be added to the 360. Next, fast-forward and rewind controls are definitely needed for the music player.  In fact, a lot needs to be done to the music player, including adding cover art for albums.   It appears to me that the marketplace menu hierarchy is completely in shambles.  It may need to be completely redone.  There is too much redundancy and excessive button presses for simple activities, such as finding new game trailers.   As for new ideas, integration with the Zune marketplace would give us access to premium content.  A way to download music and music videos with our points would truly turn the 360 into a media hub.  

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  DAK ATTACK, I've had to send my unit in 2 times already, but each time I received the exact same unit back.  Likely they only send you a refurbished unit if there is a major hardware problem.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  I was hoping you guys were going to fix the dashboard advertisement bug. I created my account when I was 17, and I'm 21 now, so because I'm flagged as having a "minor account" I can't view the advertisements on the dashboard. If anyone is also experiencing this issue feel free to vent at the Xbox forums. Maybe they'll decide to fix this issue. http://forums.xbox.com/16/1875409/ShowPost.aspx#1875409 I personally think the best solution is to control whether a user can view the ads or not via the family settings blade.

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2006
  Thanks for the link. I'm glad I'm not the only one having this issue I will definitely post on that thread.

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2006
  I absolutely love the update, but I was wondering one thing.... is the team still working on backwards compatibility?

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2006
  thanks for bricking my 360. PS3 is now the way to go.

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2006
  ARRGH! Guess who just spent 5 hours re-encoding a H.264 file to MPEG2, because the outdated FAQ on the official XBox.com site claims that it is one of the supported formats for streaming. Well, it is, but only if I install Media Centre, and not WMV11. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Furthermore, my encoding program only encodes WMV9 in an AVI wrapper, and not directly to .wmv, so that won't work either. I'm pretty annoyed right now, for what seems to be a purely political decision.

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2006
  Thank you for the update. Nice to see that things are continuously improving. Keep up the good work! However, divx/xvid support is still lacking. Even cheap dvd players has this now. Shurly, the mighty Xbox 360 should be able to to this?

• Anonymous
  November 11, 2006
  I really hope you can help us HD CRT owners who suffer from horrible black levels on HD videos and games under 720p or 1080i. (although most games have brightness sliders) the xbox live videos and HD-DVD unit do NOT!

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2006
  Umm Nice updates, but no improved chat rooms, You can still only talk to one person at a time in the dash board, we need like public and private rooms, for meetings, and multiple person chat. come on, halo 2 can do it, why can't the dashboard?!?!!

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2006
  > Video support for 50-Hz HDTV modes (DVD and HD DVD only). Any sign of supporting 50Hz when in Media Centre mode? The 60/50 convertion makes the 360 unusable unless you like juddering!

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 22, 2006
  Please, Please, Please - Xvid and Divx - I too have to keep my DVD player as it supports these formats - How nice would it be to just have my xbox in the lounge - I too wouldn't mind paying £10 - £15 to have the ability to play these formats

• Anonymous
  December 29, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2007
  Hello! A few things I would like in a future update: 50Hz compatibility with the VGA cable. Auto switching between PAL-50 and PAL-60 so I don't have to change cables and TV mode just to access the PAL setting. The ability to choose what notifications you want to see, e.g. enable/disable online/offline ones, enable/disable game invites, enable/disable chat invites, etc, so I could turn online/offline ones off, but still see game invites. See the title of the disc on the dashboard's tray image when there's a disc in the DVD and HD DVD tray, instead of just "Play game" or "Play HD DVD". Assign a spare controller button to an open/close tray function so that when a disc's in either the DVD or HD DVD tray you can select the relevant icon and eject it with said button. Not essential, but a nice to have. That's all I can think of for now, so other than that, keep up the good work!

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2007
  Hello Everyone! Coming shortly is our December 2007 System Update , one where we've added a lot of new

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2008
  Hello everyone, Wow, only 5 months have passed since we first posted about the Spring update. The release process never seems to slow down but as tired as we all are, I’m still excited to be talking about our third major update to our system software