Oh the surprise. As usual, by one means or another, it always happens. Microsoft Japan are at fault this time, as they have blown the lid on some (not all) of the new features heading our way on the 4th December. And you thought it was just going to be crappy Facebook features?
Here’s a quick list of some new things, the last of which will delight almost everyone:
Top level of “Marketplace” has been reorganized and reduced to four categories: “Featured Content,” “What’s New,” “Game Store,” and “Video Store” (below top level, categories will be navigated by twist, just like the Game Library)
“Personal Profile” added to Gamer Profile; text field allowing approx. 500-1000 characters, providing space to publish name, nationality, region, and self introduction. (Further social networking tools to accompany ‘Friends of Friends’ functionality)
XBLA demos deleted from “Played Games” and Gamercard lists
All the original sources are Japanese so it’s not easy to make out what is going on, however there are some great shots of the new (Japanese) layout as well as evidence of the Xbox Originals pages.
There’s a new, twisting layout on the way to make browsing the Dashboard just that tad bit easier. The “Game” blade is being re-worked, removing the “Xbox Live Arcade” part, and replacing it with a “Games Library” tab. Opening up said tab, you can peruse all your XBLA games, demos and your recently played games, all navigated via the “twist” motion, as witnessed on the Video Marketplace (something new for Europeans then). It’s a bar that runs along the top in a horizontal fashion with different categories for the content.
Note the twisty bit at the top
The Marketplace too sees a shift in design, again following the “twist” theme, with the categories “Recommended Content”, “What’s New”, “Game Store”, and “Video Store”. Does this mean the Video Marketplace goes live at the same time as the update for Europeans? No, not at all, so let’s forget about that for now.
The main delight for many is indeed the removal of the trials for XBLA games. 360 gamers have long been crying out for it, and there was no need for it in the first place, so this is certainly a nice treat. Do bear in mind that this isn’t all that will be appearing, we are expecting more, however it’s likely that the update’s changelog will only be revealed next week when the update goes Live. Hang in there, it’s not that long to wait.
![[IMG]](http://files.xboxic.com/xbox-360-hardware/fall-update-2007/live12.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://files.xboxic.com/xbox-360-hardware/fall-update-2007/live07.jpg)
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