Xbox 360: New Year, New Dash, New Features

In recent years we’ve become used to seeing the latest and greatest games running alongside a shiny new 360 dashboard. In fact, I’ve become so accustomed to seeing one every E3 that I almost expect it. This year’s show pulled no punches.

Using the Metro UI, made famous in Windows Phone 7 and Zune products, the new dash looks to line the 360 up with the upcoming Windows 8, as well as the rest of the Microsoft family. I’m a fan of the Swiss-inspired user interface and judging by these screens, it carries across well on the console, giving the dashboard a refreshing but familiar look and feel.

Also carried over from the Microsoft product line is Bing, which brings search to the 360 in a big way. Using Kinect’s voice recognition, finding games, movies and music on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and your console has never been easier.

What if you could find your favorite games, music, movies and TV shows, just with the sound of your voice? The solution: voice search with Bing on Xbox 360. Bing on Xbox searches Netflix, Hulu Plus and ESPN, as well as music, video and Xbox LIVE Marketplace to find exactly the entertainment you want to enjoy. With Bing on Xbox and Kinect for Xbox 360, you can effortlessly find the games, movies, TV shows, sports and music you want. You say it, Xbox finds it.

Microsoft have also cosied up with YouTube and plans to have the video service running on the 360 later this year.

Available fall 2011, YouTube on Xbox LIVE will deliver access to great Web original content from around the world, including the latest videos, gaming tips and more.

While the news of YouTube coming to Xbox Live is exciting, I’m less excited about its implementation. Like other services on Xbox Live, I fear they’ll only be accessible outside of games. I won’t go into this now but expect more on this in an upcoming post.

As the years tick on it’s undeniable that Microsoft have turned the Xbox 360 into the ultimate entertainment device, and I believe they’ll continue to do so if they keep striking up great partnerships, as they’ve been doing. The new dashboard launches this fall.