Xbox Live update preview program now rolling out

Xbox 360's resident spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb wants you to know that the Xbox Live update preview program is now officially a go, with the first wave of registered participants getting automatically prompted to update upon sign-in (you should also receive an email, but apparently they're behind on the notifications). More people are said to be getting the update "in the coming days," so don't lose hope yet -- not that waiting for Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm integration, and 1080p instant-on streaming should cause ultimate despair, but we digress. The only thing you don't get is the Halo Waypoint preview, which doesn't join the preview fun until next week.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

[Veetzs Posted Oct 23rd 2009 12:37AM]

Anyone can get in.
They just give priority to gold members.

[Veetzs Posted Oct 23rd 2009 12:39AM]

Which is a bummer, Because I'm silver. :(

[aopolis Posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:10AM]

Is the 1080p - 720p difference really going to be visible? I rented the HD version of I Love You, Man on the Xbox Live Marketplace and assumed it was 1080p... then I went back after I saw that the Zune HD outputs in 720p...and the movie was actually in 720p! Fooled me, it looked like a regular HD show or movie on cable tv...

Would the 1080p give more of a difference in movies with tons of action and/or special effects? I'm viewing on a 40 inch so I should be able to see a difference, right? Otherwise they should give an option to view in 720p if it would be cheaper since it would likely be less data, right?

[aopolis Posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:20AM]

Is Oct. 30th the confirmed release for the update? If so, I bet the Zune apps might be avail. then too.. I'd rather tweet and FB on my Zune anyway.. even thought I do have PC wherever my Zune has wifi (only at home.. no wifi in this stupid town) then on Xbox... feels silly to have the chatpad keyboard.. like having a pc keyboard. Twitter seems like it should only be used on mobile devices (phones and Zunes). Hey MS, why not send me a Zune preview update? hehehe #ZuneTweet or #ZuneHDTweet

[Evi1d33d Posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:27AM]

From the reports it looks like homemade HDDs are not blocked in this update.

[CodeRed Posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:51AM]

"Homemade" HDDs are not going to be blocked, only 3rd party unlicensed memory cards.

[cloud858rk Posted Oct 23rd 2009 2:13AM]

I'm in! :D

[rabyburns Posted Oct 23rd 2009 2:50AM]

i got it, i don't think facebook is done that well on it, twitter looks better. however the last.fm might be good but no playing ingame?? so whats teh point?

[rabyburns Posted Oct 23rd 2009 6:21AM]

WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS SPOTIFY ON THE XBOX!

[abvmoose Posted Oct 23rd 2009 10:43AM]

Anyone have insight if some of these services will be limited for Europeans?
I have a hard time beliving we in Europe will get the 1080p streaming service.

[yoyojam55 Posted Oct 23rd 2009 12:27PM]

I was in on the last preview program earlier this year, does that mean I'm in this too?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 25th 2009 2:58PM]

Very good article mate. One that is very interesting to me as I had a book for Facebook Statuses published this year entitled 'is: The Phenomenon of the Facebook Status' (www.theisbook.com). I wrote this book whilst traveling around the globe and I found Facebook Statuses to be very useful to tell what people what people at home were up to at a glance.

Something that you and some of your readers may be very interested in is the Facebook Status Generator to help on days when the creative pool is not so deep, so have a look and let me know what you think:

http://www.theisbook.com/status-generator/

Looking forward to reading more of your stuff mate.