Spring is the time for renewal, but leave it to Microsoft to go with the fall. However, it has become somewhat of a tradition for the company to give the Xbox 360 a major update in the latter part of the year now. Microsoft unveiled the majority of the changes at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, and they're quite large. The user interface will take on the new Metro UI that has been popping up all over the company's products, and there are more than a few changes under the hood to go along with it. Other new notable additions include beacons, cloud saves, Bing search, and unified Kinect functionality.
On the media end of things, the Xbox 360 will be able to play live broadcast TV in the US and the company is forging partnerships with Sky, Canal+, and Foxtel to air broadcasts from the UK, France, and Australia, respectively.
Metro UI
The new user interface looks similar to Microsoft's Windows 8 preview, which is in turn influenced by the Windows Phone 7 interface. Large tiles slide from left to right and convey multiple pieces of information, showing popular TV shows and games in one centered tile. Small slivers of the tiles peek in from either side of the screen, giving you an indication that there is something further ahead and behind.
A key change is actual browsing speed. The new UI is very responsive and quick to render. It's also completely integrated with the Kinect. You will no longer have to launch a separate UI to enable Kinect functions. Almost all of the dashboard will be navigable via the Kinect as well. Quickplay also gets a minor update. It won't just launch your most recent game anymore. The tool's functionality now extends to any application you've been using frequently on the console.
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