Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update due next week, Microsoft tells all

We've been hearing quite a bit about next week's Fall Dashboard Update for the 360, but Microsoft's finally ready to spill all of the beans. Obviously, the biggest update is the "Xbox Originals" downloadable Xbox games, but other improvements include enhanced online profiles, increased social networking, beefed up parental controls, improved menus, and our personal favorite: DivX support. As stated before, Xbox Original games, like Halo 1 and Fable, will be going for 1200 MS points (about $15), which is roughly comparable with your local game store's bargain bin. Also on the fiscal side of things, certain titles on Xbox Live Arcade are getting permanent price drops, akin to "Platinum Hits" of retail titles. As for DivX, Microsoft was a little vague when speaking with Joystiq about it, but it sounds like XviD is in play as well, which is just double fun. It's all hitting as a free download on December 4th, starting at 2AM PST.

[Via Joystiq]

[brad @ Nov 30th 2007 1:15PM]

finally Divx....but where the heck is the 16:10 widescreen monitor support!???

[Temple @ Nov 30th 2007 1:24PM]

Not so much "Divx(tm)" as Mpeg 4 part 2 ASP. Doesn't seem they have the official Divx implementation looking at the press release; regardless it doesn't matter being that Divx as well as Xvid should be playable.

[Temple @ Nov 30th 2007 1:24PM]

Not so much "Divx(tm)" as Mpeg 4 part 2 ASP. Doesn't seem they have the official Divx implementation looking at the press release; regardless it doesn't matter being that Divx as well as Xvid should be playable.

[Printice @ Nov 30th 2007 9:32PM]

16:10 is for 1680x1050 monitors etc.

[AlexP @ Dec 1st 2007 1:24PM]

Yes, and some people play on their large monitors.

[CDN Crockett @ Nov 30th 2007 1:17PM]

Can't wait for the 4th!

[Flashpoint @ Nov 30th 2007 1:18PM]

#1 Why is there no way to disable auto-login of MSN Messenger?

#2 When will Xbox360 get the Web Browser that it deserves so it can be off-gaming, as entertaining as Wii and PS3

#3 When will I be able to add more than 100 friends cause my list is stuffed.

#4 When will I be able to GROUP friends

#5 Why can't we also have an ENEMIES list. It just seeems wrong talking trash to people and then placing them on my friend's list only because I wanna beat up on them at some later juncture.

#6 Is there a way MS couuld add a "double tap" feature for the XBOX Guide button so that one accidental tap didn't bring up the laggy, slow assed guide menu causing me to get killed while I'm playing Call of Duty 4?

[Covert @ Nov 30th 2007 1:35PM]

@Flashpoint:

You can already disable auto sign-in for Messenger. When logged in
to your account, go to Xbox guide, go to the "Community" section (at
the top, with your picture and gamerscore), and go to Auto Sign-In.
You can choose to disable it from here.

Your other points are pretty valid.

I'm going to love the Divx and Xvid support, if it works well. I had Transcode360 working fine until I switched to 64-bit Vista and I'd love to be able to natively stream some useful video content again.

[Mike @ Nov 30th 2007 1:59PM]

There is an enemies list. It's called: leave feedback. Once you tell XBL that you don't want to play with a particular player ever again, you don't play with that player ever again.

I suggest that you learn a little bit more about what your console is capable of before throwing it under the bus.

[zgafford @ Nov 30th 2007 8:51PM]

Mike,

If you would have actually read Flashpoint's comment, he stated he wanted an enemies list so he CAN play those people again.

Before you "suggest" some learn about something before posting I suggest you learn to read before replying to a post.

[srw985 @ Nov 30th 2007 2:17PM]

@Mike thats not what he means

A "friendly" enemies list for the people you add to your friends list so you can remember to kick there ass

[BrettB @ Nov 30th 2007 2:19PM]

He's saying he doesn't like them, hence he wants to beat up on them at a later time. Hence an enemies list so the two don't get confused.

[edleob @ Nov 30th 2007 2:23PM]

I wish I could throw you under a bus, man. Read that comment again. He suggested an "enemies list" for rivals you want to play again.

I think that is a bitchin' idea too by the way. There's something to be said for repeatedly playing someone you want to kick the crap out of and share some healthly trash talk with.

[Samssf @ Nov 30th 2007 2:26PM]

Uh, Mike, did you even read his entire comment? He wants an enemies list so that he CAN play with those players again, because he wants to beat up on them. I suggest you read before you criticize.

[NiVRaM @ Nov 30th 2007 2:29PM]

The 100 friend limit isn't going anywhere. Major Nelson basically said it comes down to hardware limitations. The 360 was only built to keep track of 100 friends, and thats pretty reasonable given how resource intensive it probably is to keep track of 100 friends and what they're doing. To be honest, I wouldn't want them to raise the cap, as it'd probably just bogg the system down.

[J @ Nov 30th 2007 2:53PM]

Still no clan support? But we get a lame built in myspace! Score!

*Oh by the way I was being sarcastic!*

[a @ Nov 30th 2007 4:11PM]

Dude, your "Enemies list" idea is freakin' genius.... it could be pre-populated with people who own you repeatedly on servers, or you could manually add people wish to antagonize!

[Discosis @ Nov 30th 2007 4:35PM]

I can't see MS putting in something called "enemies".

"Rivals", however ... that would be awesome.

[joe @ Nov 30th 2007 5:10PM]

I don't think there will ever be a web browser for XBOX360. I would add this to your list.

#7 When will I be able to use a plain USB keyboard instead of having to use the annoying on screen keyboard

[Chris @ Nov 30th 2007 5:45PM]

...... You already can use a USB keyboard. I've tried it with USB wired and my USB wireless keyboards both work.

And- why would I want an internet browser on the 360? I can't really justify it.

[Marcus @ Dec 1st 2007 6:33AM]

You could call it a "Frenemies" list...

[Neeko @ Nov 30th 2007 1:19PM]

OMG DIVX DIVX DIVX....i am sold. I can now finally get rid of my MEDIAPORTAL and MCE2005 setup. My xbox is now the center of my media collection. Time to start reorganizing my videos...


MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[michael @ Nov 30th 2007 4:44PM]

Ok, maybe I'm such a non-techie, but what exactly is the significance of DivX?

Can anyone tell me. I hear some people go crazy about support for it, but how is it any better than any of the other formats out there, like MP3, WMV, WMA, AAC, AVI, etc. Like how is it any more important than the other formats?

Can someone please describe in their own way? I would appreciate that. Thanks.

[TJF @ Nov 30th 2007 5:21PM]

Divx (and xvid) are both important because it allows people to take certain videos that they download or encode on their own and play it on their 360. Divx and Xvid are both great formats because you can compress a video file and reduce the size immensely while still having high quality video/audio to watch. It doesn't hurt that almost everyone uses the file format to encode downloadable video.

MP3 is the most popular audio format in the world. Everything you named off is just a different format for either audio, video or both brought to light by different companies (i.e. wmv = Microsoft, .mov = Apple).

[michael @ Nov 30th 2007 9:35PM]

@TJF:

Good explanation.

But I have a few more, if you're up to it.

If it's so great, why don't major companies support it? Like Microsoft, Apple, and other digital media companies?

And is it really that better than the other formats?

Thanks.

[TJF @ Nov 30th 2007 10:42PM]

If it's so great, why don't major companies support it? Like Microsoft, Apple, and other digital media companies?

Quite simply, it's all about control, licensing fees and brand recognition. Divx and xvid are more commonly used as the format of choice for tv shows and movies where compression and quality are both key (torrent networks). During the late 90s/early 2000s it was pretty typical to only have one or two choices to play a video (WMV or MOV) online but since then, it has grown a bit to include Macromedia Flash players which don't have the same quality (in my experience) but load much faster. All of the codecs were built out of necessity because the codecs available at the time did not meet the needs of the market. A similar comparison can be drawn with the rapid growth of Mozilla's Firefox when Internet Explorer was the "only" choice. The internet evolves so rapidly that the old codecs and programs get intermingled with the new ones which is why you still see some websites (especially online business software sites) that only work with Internet Explorer despite so many people using Firefox.

That all being said, we live in a great era now because open source has never been so mainstream. Now that open source is out there you will see a lot of great, free improvements to the programs you already have. Take for example some of the add-ons for Firefox like Ad-block and Cooliris' Previews.

[TestSubject86 @ Dec 1st 2007 1:48AM]

Divx and Xvid offer similar compression ratios for encoding video files and have been the best choice for the size/quality compromise you have to make when compressing video. The big difference is that DivX is commercial and Xvid is open source. Xvid is the most popular format for file sharing and there are more xvid encodes floating round the net than any other format.

The big successors will he H.264/x.264 since they have better compression ratios than both DivX and Xvid even though it takes about twice the cpu power to encode/decode.

So that being said, exclusion of the most popular video codec on the web was a glaring oversight by MS if they wanted to convey the XBOX360 as a media server (which that didn't, they wanted you to buy a media center PC and an XBOX360).

[Patuxentbball @ Nov 30th 2007 1:19PM]

The Xbox originals are a bit pointless by now, with everyone but Nintendo pushing HIDEF HIGHRES NEXTGEN, why retreat back to SD lastgen games. Not saying that this is a bad idea, I still love some of the first games, but from the point of view of the PR department of MS and Sony, this is kind of a 180. Although MS is promoting backwards compatibility even more, Sony is going to have to step up to this one.

[disciple83 @ Nov 30th 2007 1:31PM]

because some games are worth going back for because of their replay value. Games like Psychonauts are tremendously underrated, while Ninja Gaiden was so good and difficult that I got pissed and quit, and never got to finish the game. Just because a game isn't hi-def doesn't mean in the slightest that it isn't worth playing.

[petecantu @ Nov 30th 2007 2:49PM]

"The Xbox originals are a bit pointless by now, with everyone but Nintendo pushing HIDEF HIGHRES NEXTGEN, why retreat back to SD lastgen games." These games have been enhanced or whatever to play at 720p/1080i.

[Dster @ Nov 30th 2007 1:22PM]

Any chance this update will let me fast forward or rewind within audio tracks?

[Todd @ Nov 30th 2007 1:24PM]

What happened to the IPTV update that was supposed to drop this Fall? Nobody seems to be talking about that anymore.

[Dster @ Nov 30th 2007 1:28PM]

Deets on .avi compatibility:

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

"**1. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for AVI?

Xbox 360 supports the following for AVI:

· File Extensions: .avi, .divx

· Containers: AVI

· Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile

· Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

· Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3

· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information."

[Big Sam @ Nov 30th 2007 1:36PM]

Also:
"Since we only support Mpeg-4 compatible codec implementations, we will not be able to play video files older than DivX® 5.0"

[Jozef_woods @ Nov 30th 2007 1:34PM]

Xbox Originals are not pointless. I, for one, am looking forward to reliving my youth (Ok, maybe a few years ago, but it was still fun), with all the games I missed out on/lost/traded in/lent to a friend and never got back/etc. I have always said that, simply because a game may no longer be top of the field in looks, does not discount it from the field altogether!

[holycow @ Nov 30th 2007 1:50PM]

Nice.. even though i like PS3 more.. having DIVX and XVID support is always good news! Good Job MS!

[sycks @ Nov 30th 2007 2:21PM]

Like Brent below stated the Playstation 3 will have Divx also.

[sam @ Nov 30th 2007 1:54PM]

shame they only support 1024*768 files (720p), vc-1 support is for 1080p on the 360. lets hope they add x264 720p/1080p .mkv files in the next release then this will be a complete media centre which it intended to do.

[Brad @ Nov 30th 2007 1:56PM]

Will I be able to search my media library for songs yet? Or how 'bout just jumping to a specific letter?

[crispy @ Nov 30th 2007 1:56PM]

Damn I gonna need a bigger laptop

[crispy @ Nov 30th 2007 1:56PM]

Damn I gonna need a bigger harddrive

[Brent @ Nov 30th 2007 2:07PM]

Don't forget PS3 is getting divx soon as well. No date has been given but I think this may force their hand.

[Jon @ Nov 30th 2007 4:37PM]

Cool! I wonder if they'll get some good games soon too! Or maybe a network that downloads content faster than a 14.4 baud connection from the 80s!

I have a PS3 by the way, so I'm not a hater. Just a realist.

[Brent @ Nov 30th 2007 5:01PM]

Jon, I've got both and I prefer PS3 as a media center. True, 360 has PS3 beat as far as games go. Additionally, I've never had any problems downloading from the PSN. I am, however, on my 3rd 360 so I may be a little biased against MS.

[srw985 @ Nov 30th 2007 2:18PM]

Are the XBOX originals US only or international like they should be?

[tiuk @ Nov 30th 2007 2:21PM]

Awesome. If implementation works well, I'll be able to put away my XBMC box.

[Bryan T @ Nov 30th 2007 2:27PM]

I could care less for Divx, horray for finally recognizing that I'm an adult.

[Kurt @ Nov 30th 2007 3:19PM]

COULDN'T!!!!!!!

If you could care less then that means you do care.

People who say "I could care less" annoy me. Think about it if you could care less then you must care because caring less would mean that you care less then you did.

Couldn't care less means there is no lower point of caring available for you. Whatever said item is it is at the bottom of the care list because it is impossible to care less since you COULDN'T care less

[Bryan T @ Nov 30th 2007 3:23PM]

I do care though Kurt, just not as much as most people!

What I COULDN'T CARE LESS for is Xbox originals.

[ben @ Nov 30th 2007 2:33PM]

with divx support i might buy a second box now! can't wait to try it out... Now if only i could stream video from a stand-alone network drive... anyone figure that part out yet, let me know...

my set-up... i have a laptop running xp sp 2 with zune software and wmp11... i have a 250gb hd setup on my linksys storage link router with videos... i mapped a network drive to my extHD so i could set up shared folders from my laptop.... I can see the videos on my xbox but can't play any of them... (i know the vids work because i also tried the files running from my local laptop drive)....

help would be greatly appreciated!!!