The New New New Xbox Experience Halo4 Dash

[JP]

Just had a mess around before installing Forza 3.

Although I already had accounts for Twitter & Facebook I've never really used them for anything apart from getting photos from family & mates. I don't really understand the point in Twitter to be honest.

I've signed up to Last.FM now as it always sounded interesting but I'd never got around to trying it. I wouldn't be surprised to see it getting quite a bit of use from me over time.

As little as this social networking stuff interests me I do think that it's going to become more & more prevalent on consoles as we move on.

[robrymond]

Loving last.fm, especially videogame stuff.

[NekoFever]

Hmm, I got the email but no update as of yet? :S

Same here, but it's going out in waves. According to Major Nelson there's another load going out to people who are in the preview later today, which might end up being tomorrow our time.

[Family Fry]

Some more going out Midnight tonight apparently if aceybongos is to be believed.
If you have email try going to test xbox connection to force the update, worked with mine.

[Jebus]

I'm partially impressed by the update, certainly a lot more than last time around but some of the new features are themselves missing (I feel) key features.

For example :

Last.fm is missing the ability to pick a song, and play it which for me is a brilliant feature of the service on PC, just wanna hear a certain song...pick it, play it. On this, you are limited only to playing "Stations" which is okay, a nice way to play a random song from your library, but I'd love to be able to pick one single song and play it.

Twitter just seems all graphics over functionality, it looks pretty but navigating it isn't as easy as it feels like it should be. The website is simplicity itself, but it felt like I was having to (and this is a real staple of the 360 dash full stop) go through menus to get to things that are on the frontpage of the service normally.

Generally speaking I didn't like that when you are in a service such as twitter or last.fm you have to "quit to dash" to leave them, it feels more like you are using an "app" than an extension of the current dashboard.

Also, last.fm should be easier to find on the dash once installed for my money.

I guess that's a large-shaped list o' gripes, but it's nice to have the functionality, but it feels like because of the NXE style they've had their hands tied behind their backs with actually providing ease of access, which again, is not something the 360 dash does well anyway.

[JP]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but I couldn't see anything but isn't Sky supposed to be available today o the 360? I switched it on and couldn't find anything even though I had a Sky section up yesterday, has anybody been able to get it working yet?

EDIT:
Not sure I'm interested now I've found out the prices. You don't even get the free stuff for free.

Those without Sky subscriptions can subscribe for £15pm and for £19pm for sports channels. Twenty-four channels are currently on the Sky service.

[MJ]

The Facebook app is okay, but easier to use on a computer, and I can't be bothered to create an account for last.fm. I still can't see me using the Zune or Twitter apps either. Quite a pointless update for me, but at least Microsoft are continuing to bring new things to the 360.

[Robster]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but I couldn't see anything but isn't Sky supposed to be available today o the 360? I switched it on and couldn't find anything even though I had a Sky section up yesterday, has anybody been able to get it working yet?

EDIT:
Not sure I'm interested now I've found out the prices. You don't even get the free stuff for free.

It was mentioned on radio 1 they were experiencing problems with the service all day

[Brad]

The twitter stuff would be more useful if the 360 had a web browser do you could actually follow links that get tweeted.

[teddymeow]

Bloomin ' heck!!

I've been and done my weekly food shop and the update is still going!

[charlesr]

Mine did an update at lunchtime. Only took a couple of minutes. Can't see any extra features though, so no sure what the update was for.....

[Ish]

Likewise. Can't see anything new.

[ChrisF]

WPA2 support Charles.

[Flabio]

Yup, it's adding the support for the new wireless adaptor that uses 802.11n

[JP]

Has anybody else had an invitation to watch a couple of films on the Zune Marketplace?

It mentions that if I watch Benjamin Button on Saturday or State of Play on Sunday and then complete a questionaire that they'll give me 1200 points. It does say that you don't get the films for free though, I'm in work now so can't check but how much does it usually cost to rent a film?

I'm not really bothered about either film but I suppose if it costs less than 1200 points to rent one then I may as well leave it running in the background.

It also mentions something about being able to watch The Guild and 30 Rock for free as a part of a test.

How often do they send out this sort of stuff? It's a shame that they're not doing a free Sky trial as it seems to need it and there's a couple of things I wouldn't mind watching this weekend.