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Microsoft's Major Nelson in a chat

Windows Live Messenger in Xbox 360 fashion

Achievement pop-ups will soon tell you more
Update for Xbox 360 set for week of May 7

Following the early pictures of the Xbox 360 controller with a QWERTY keypad attachment, Microsoft has officially let the cat out of the bag with the announcement of Windows Live Messenger integration into Xbox Live.

The new feature will be a part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update due to hit the week of May 7 and will allow gamers to text chat while playing games, listening to music or watching movies. Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox Live will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags.

“Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox LIVE has really become the largest social network on television," said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. "For our growing community of 6 million on Xbox LIVE, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox LIVE users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360."

While the QWERTY keypad attachment won’t be released until summer, Microsoft will officially support USB keyboards plugged into the Xbox 360 for the purpose of text chat. USB keyboards were previously unofficially supported for the purpose of sending messages and filling forms on Xbox Live.

The Spring Update will bring a plethora of other much requested features, such as Achievement pop-ups notifying the gamer of the name of the achievement and the value without the need to manually check the list. A new Xbox Live Marketplace “blade” will be added to better focus on downloadable game content, TV shows and movies.

Also great news for those who frequent the Xbox Live Video Marketplace is progressive download control letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded. Furthermore, extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

Updates to Xbox Live Arcade will allow owners to quickly see which games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. A new option in Auto Downloads will provide faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games.

Though not explicitly mentioned by Microsoft’s press release, members of the HD DVD add-on team have said that improvements such as DTS support and improved compatibility for HD DVD movies will be a part of an upcoming software update.

The Spring Update will be released the week of May 7 and will be easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox Live or on Xbox.com.

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Neat
By TheDrD on 4/9/2007 2:12:30 AM , Rating: 2
More Linkage between the 360 and desktop users




RE: Neat
By tuteja1986 on 4/9/2007 2:16:10 AM , Rating: 3
I want to see Microsoft release an update for divx and xvid support. That would be way better than IM support and also help greatly increase sale.


RE: Neat
By bubbacub616 on 4/9/2007 6:11:55 AM , Rating: 1
they are skanks and will never do that while wm9 lives


RE: Neat
By DCstewieG on 4/9/2007 2:54:50 PM , Rating: 3
The official Xbox site claims they're adding MPEG-4 video support, which is what Divx and Xvid are.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0408...


RE: Neat
By Mitch101 on 4/9/2007 9:48:07 AM , Rating: 2
It would be much easier to write an application that takes the divx file and converts it to wmv on the fly while streaming it to the x-box 360. As long as its not HD that could be done today.

The IODATA link player has a program like this already called WIZD.
http://wizd.sourceforge.net/features.htm

Essentially any format your PC understands can be streamed to the media player. The unfortunate part would be that HD formats would be too much to convert on the fly to stream currently. But PC's get faster and eventually should be able to maybe with a little help using GPU rendering.

Hmm I wonder if we had an SLI config and used one GPU to render the movie then use the CPU to snapshot it 24 times a second then utilized the second GPU to render it in WMV9 then streamed it over to the 360. Like I said would require a lot of power but future machines shouldnt have a problem doing it.


Browsing For Browser
By bldckstark on 4/9/2007 12:37:40 PM , Rating: 2
I REALLY want an internet browser for the 360. If they would add one, I might just become a fanboy of the 360. As it is, I like it a lot. It is a great machine that really does great things for my family. The downloadable games are the best for small kids, and I get good games on disk. We can watch movies, download HD content, etc., etc.. The PS3 may be just as good (you may read this as "better" if you are a PS3 fanboy") but I have had the 360 for a year, and I only had to pony up $200 to get a HD player.

Yes, this is only $200, because, as any business major will tell you the original $400 was a sunken cost. Meaning I already owned the 360, the money was gone and spent. Overall I only paid $200 for HD content because I was happy with the 360 before. This is the same argument that Microsoft makes about the cost. Sony sees it differently (although their corporate capital cost manager surely doesn't), and that is ok with me. As long as I can spend it incrementally I can afford it. I cannot however afford a $600 layout for the PS3. If the 360 was $600 I would not have one right now. When I bought the 360 I had $400 in X-Mas money, not $600. I shopped for things I wanted in the $400 range, and anything above that was not considered.

Now my boys birthday is next week. The Wii is getting rave reviews. I bought one at the exact same time my wife found one, so now we have two of them. Going to take one back if someone doesn't buy it from me soon (for cost, not profit).

Does that mean I have a Wii Wii60?




RE: Browsing For Browser
By darkpaw on 4/9/2007 4:58:42 PM , Rating: 2
Just wondering, but why would you want to browse the net using a console in the first place? The Wii has a web browser and its so friggen useless. Why browse the web on a low res screen without a mouse?

Even with the point and click controller for the Wii it sucks, on a regular controller geez. Not saying its wrong to ask for, just wondering why bother?


RE: Browsing For Browser
By Flunk on 4/10/2007 4:52:22 PM , Rating: 2
720p is as high resolution as many computer monitors and if they put in a web browsers why not support USB mice as well?


By x360crazy on 4/9/2007 8:05:55 PM , Rating: 2
So what difference would mpeg4 support be..Xvid can stream now or what? And does anybody know anything about the wireless adapter for the 360..i've got questions...




i'll never buy the xbox elite
By vikveer on 4/9/07, Rating: -1
RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By abhaxus on 4/9/2007 5:42:11 AM , Rating: 2
Since the vast majority of games for both the PS3 and the 360 are rendered internally at 720p and then scaled by the console it makes little difference if you have your console outputting at 720p or 1080p, whether it is the 360 or the ps3. The games will look the same. The few games on the PS3 that render at 1080p have fewer shaders and thus often look WORSE than the 720p titles. Outputting at 1080i is stupid for a video game console regardless of what type or the infamous ps3 bugs.

1080p output is completely irrelevant on the 360 and almost entirely irrelevant on the ps3 (except for bluray and hd-dvd).


RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By bubbacub616 on 4/9/2007 6:11:08 AM , Rating: 2
the raw 3d output of both consoles is pretty similar (see previous anandtech articles). What is disapointing is that neither system can run current pc games (e.g. oblivion etc.) at 60fps at 1920 x 1080, with no hope of being able to run 'tommorows' games. I think this is the first time that a generation of consoles have been released where the PC has superior capabilities from day 1. (e.g. when the playstation 1 came out it nailed my p120!)


RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By HDBanger on 4/9/07, Rating: -1
RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By Teletran1 on 4/9/2007 8:08:51 PM , Rating: 2
Who cares. The vast majority of good games are coming out for the consoles. Paying a few hundred dollars for a videogame console for the amount of games you can play is not that much. Especially when you pay more for just a videocard on your uber elite PC. Good luck playing a few very pretty FPS and RTS games and nothing really different.


RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By drebo on 4/9/2007 8:24:05 PM , Rating: 2
Marble Mania on the WII kicks ass.


By Diesel Donkey on 4/9/2007 10:54:56 PM , Rating: 2
I have a feeling that anything capable of playing a hardware hog like Oblivion at 1920x1080 and 60 fps is going to cost a fair amount more at this point than the $400 or $500 a 360 goes for. That kind of processing power is only available to those willing to lay down a bit more cash.


RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By Zelvek on 4/9/2007 11:52:12 PM , Rating: 2
Could you be more specific what hook ups were you using? What content (games/movies) were you using? I have had my 360 running at 1080p on my LCD since the update came out and have not experienced these problems?


RE: i'll never buy the xbox elite
By vikveer on 4/10/2007 8:00:58 AM , Rating: 2
i tried to play 'gears of war' and i couldn't even get it to start - so i called microsoft and they said they have had similar calls since the game came out and that for some reason a 'percentage' of xbox360's couldn't play it and advised me to take it back or wait for another update.

i then bought rainbow 6 - vegas - and played it but when the resolution is set high or there are too many people on the screen the whole thing slows down.

that is when i sent it away to be fixed - and they said that nothing was wrong with it and that it does slow down like that. they suggested that i get a harddrive as many games use the HD to improve the game performance by allocating some of the space for cache memory (or something like that). but they wouldn't promise me that it would run to playable speed even with the HD added on.

what i mean by slowed down is having to wait a sec or two for the screen to change - typically the next screen would be several steps or shots from the last. the sound also cuts out and i miss several seconds at a time of action. the sound is generally worse than the graphics - but i put up with that.

the situation does improve when i turn off the xbox and start again. so i did manage to get through most of the game - until i bought my PS3. there was no change when kept the xbox cool or well airated. i pulled out all the non-essential stuff - keyboard etc. i really wanted it to work - trust me.

not entirely sure what you mean by 'hook ups' - but i have updated the games and the xbox as much as i could. i tried using a component cable and a VGA cable - and to be honest the component cable was a little faster - but the resolution wasn't as good.

i am happy to be proved wrong as i have xbox360 sitting at home that i would like to play.

i should also apologise for my earlier outburst - i was acting a little mad, and kinda wanted a rant.

thanks

vik


By whalenapp81 on 4/11/2007 12:06:55 AM , Rating: 2
WOW,you guys got fucked, my 360 play just fine at 1080p over component cables, no slow down, no problems, my ps3 just sorta sits there folding, waiting for some more games to come out, and the wii, well drunken wii parties r fun as hell


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