Read here for the details on what's included in the update. I love it! I think that should be obvious by now. The previous update was very good, and considering the timing of this one, Microsoft really needed to deliver. And deliver they did. Most of the stuff such as HD-DVD support and 1080p don't matter to me. WMV streaming is what is making me smile.
Fortunately I have a whole load of WMV files on my computer, so this morning I upgraded the dash and watched some MMA and Base Jumping videos on my tv. The 360 is still not as versatile as an Xbox with XBMC as the only format supported is WMV, but it's slowly getting there. Also, the 360 can handle HD content whereas the normal Xbox can't play HD without doing a significant hardware mod.
For great WMV content, I suggest
GameTrailers and
The 1up Show.
There's still one big problem that I have with video playback, and I know it's a minor thing, but it's
really annoying. The fact that you have to press A
twice to play every video, and the B button
twice to exit it. It's absolutely ridiculous. I select the video from the list, press A, and then I'm offered 2 choices "play" and "delete". The number of times I'm going to choose
play instead of
delete is like 1000 to one, so WHY the heck are they given equal importance? It's ridiculous. What's even worse, is with streaming content there is no
delete option, so you're taken to another page where your only choice is to press
play. Great UI design there folks, ya right.
If you look at Sony's GamerDay presentation skip ahead to 4:20 mark where they demonstrate the video playback functionality. Now that is a slick interface, moving between the video and the list instantaneously. Of course right now the PS3 doesn't support video streaming so Microsoft has some lead time to differentiate their service.
The other really cool feature that this update introduced is the ability to setup automatic downloads of Xbox Live Arcade games. It's like an RSS reader for Arcade titles, so now I can just go to the Arcade section and see what new games there are. Of course, Arcade titles are released so seldomnly that it's not that big of a deal, hopefully Microsoft is working on that area.
