Here's details of the update from IGN.com
Xbox Originals -- While this one was announced a few weeks ago, that
doesn't take away from its magnitude. On the first day the update is available
you'll be able to download Halo, Fable, Crimson Skies, Psychonauts, Fuzion
Frenzy, and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex each for 1200 Microsoft Points
(US$15) on December 4. Plenty more backwards-compatible titles are in the
works.
Xbox Live Blade -- The first thing that you'll notice when you fire up your
console with the update installed is that the Live Blade has been reorganized a
bit. Messages and friends have been consolidated into one menu item to make room
for Inside Xbox, a new section that acts much like an RSS feed of content from
Xbox.com. There you'll find things like videos, pictures, news items, The Major
Nelson Minute, and pretty much whatever else the folks at Microsoft want to add
to it.
Marketplace Blade -- The hub for marketplace content has clearly received
the most attention when compared to the rest of the blades. Gone is the old set
of six gaudy buttons and in its place is a much more concise package. Now you'll
see four prominent options: There's Spotlight, New Arrivals, Game Store and
Video Store. Spotlight points out the hottest items that have been added to
Marketplace. Be it demos, videos, movies, arcade, whatever it is, you'll find
Xbox Live's most popular offerings there. New Arrivals is arranged similarly
only there you'll find the newest content, rather than the most popular. Game
Store and Video Store house all of their respective content types, be it demos
and Xbox Originals in the Game Store or TV Shows in the Video Store. It should
be noted that the Video Store can also be located on the Media Blade.
Xbox Live Arcade Hits --Gamers have been wondering why XBLA games rarely
see price drops. Well, this is your new bargain bin, ladies and gents. This one
is essentially Platinum Hits for Xbox Live Arcade games. Bankshot Billiards 2
and Lumines Live can be found here for 800 MP (US$10) with Marble Blast Ultra,
Small Arms, and Zuma Deluxe dropped to 400 MP (US$5).
Profile Expansion -- The oddest addition, and likely one that nobody saw
coming, is the biographical additions to the profile page. Now while editing
your online persona you can add in any name you like, as well as any location;
city and state, and a short bio about yourself. We were able to create the
oh-so-mature name of "s3cks with elephants" without a problem so we're sure to
see plenty of inappropriate and fake titles out there once the update drops.
Sure, that kind of defeats the purpose (the intention is to have a proper name
to go with someone's Gamertag), but it's too much fun making up obnoxious fake
names not to give it a try.
Enhanced Video Codec Support -- This addition will please the majority of
the video streaming Xbox 360 community. MPEG4 Part 2 support which, in layman's
terms, opens up DivX, Xvid, and Nero Digital compatible videos to being sent
through your Xbox 360 from your PC and onto your TV. What kind of content that
is, well, Microsoft had no comment on that.
Movie Previews -- Another exciting addition for the video and movie
enthusiasts of the world is the movie preview which can be accessed by simply
clicking on any piece of marketplace video media for purchase. Whether it was
movies or TV shows, every one that we clicked on had a short preview available
that played after a short buffering sequence. Who knew that Bad Girls from Mars
was worth renting?
Parental Controls -- The only item on the list for the parents of the world
to hang their hats on is the new Family Timer. For Mom and Dads out there who
feel like their children are sitting inside too long playing that blasted Xbox
360, Microsoft has given you the ability to set daily or weekly limits on the
amount of time the system can be turned on. Play for a second longer and the
system will shut down.
The Little Things -- There were two nuances that we saw while tooling
around that were worth mentioning as an aside to the main features listed above.
First, there's a snazzy new fade to black that happens when you turn the system
off. The Xbox 360 used to pop off instantly, and while it may be a small change,
we do like the gentler power-down procedure in comparison. Second, and this is
an even smaller detail, some of the Guide's menu items, such as your friends
list, now expand and contract depending on where you're scrolling. Essentially
it makes the gamertag you've landed on more prominently featured on the screen.
Again, it is small, but it's an improvement nonetheless.
