Gamers have come a long way since the biannual Xbox Live dashboard updates, now supporting everything from Kinect to Netflix, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft isn’t above more innovation. In fact, at this past E3, the publisher announced a pretty substantial overhaul for the dashboard that includes support for Bing searches and a whole slew of media services.
Even more exciting than the dashboard update itself is the fact that sources are now pointing towards a firm release date, that is right around the corner.
According to CVG, Microsoft is targeting November 25th for the Xbox Live Dashboard update, which will also require a new version of Silverlight. Among the aforementioned new services like Bing is support for cable and premium outlets like HBOGo to provide their content. Essentially, with this new Dashboard, gamers will be able to access not only their game content much faster and easier, but a whole new set of TV shows, movies and music, and for free no less.
While the previous dashboard update did provide a substantial boost to areas like downloadable games, it was still sub-par as far as usability goes. Our hope is this new update will bring some much-needed organization to the dashboard as well as some exciting new features.
Microsoft has yet to confirm the November 25th release date, so it’s best to treat this news as pure rumor for now. But, with a November target, Microsoft might also be looking at unveiling a new SKU in time for the Holiday season, or maybe even a price drop. If Microsoft does pick either column A or column B this could very well be the last Xbox 360 console iteration gamers see before the unveiling of the Xbox 720 some time next year.
Regardless, we’re really excited for a fresh coat of paint on our Xbox Live dashboards, and to fool around with Bing search.
Which of the new Xbox Live dashboard features are you most excited about tooling around with? Are there any features that are still on your wish list?
Source: CVG