We've got the new Xbox 360 dashboard, still in beta, running on some of our Xbox 360s at Kotaku. The update will be coming to all 360 owners later this fall. Let's talk features. Updated with a longer video tour.
The dashboard update is slated for November. Presentation is lighter. Fonts are changed. We'll have video shortly to show you this, though the biggest tweak — the ability to navigate the dashboard with voice commands and hand waves using the Kinect sensor — is something we couldn't test. We lack Kinects.
Over the course of the day we'll be able to share videos with you highlighting some of the new features:
-An improved Netflix app.
-An improved Zune Music marketplace that gives you a second way to turn the 360 into a stereo.
-Tweaked Avatars
-ESPN integration
-New parental controls
And a few other odds and ends.
The big change you'll see right away is that the tilted-window iTunes coverflow-style presentation of the dashboard has been changed. The boxes that contain icons showing your games, your Achievements, ads, videos and everythin else in the dashboard, are now all flat rectangles presented on horizontal and vertical flat rows. No more tilt, no more angles. The presentation is literally more straight-forward.
We want to show you all this in action, so keep an eye on Kotaku throughout the day as we bring you videos of the new dashboard in action.