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The Xbox 360's Fall update isn't available to consumers until November 19, but that doesn't mean you can't learn all about it right now. Thanks to early access to the beta program, I've messed around with the new Zune music channel, ESPN 3 integration, and improved Netflix application. I figured I'd share the most-interesting aspects with you via a two-page image gallery. Come on, let's go look at some pictures!
New system boot screen
The first thing I noticed was a snazzy new boot screen. It's swirly and purty, so if you're into that sort of thing you'll be quite pleased.
Hit the jump for the rest of the grand tour.
Mo bettah Netflix
People have been asking for the ability to search Netflix since before the original application launched. Several years later, we can finally do just that. My first search was for Jim Carrey (he used to be funny), but it seems that you can only search for movie titles. This made me sad, but I quickly recovered and began to search for movies with the word "Monster" in the title.
I found a movie about monsters, but it totally wasn't scary at all. I didn't cry once! It did look nice, though.
New Zune Music Channel
I thought there was some sort of Zune stuff before, but I never paid any attention to it. According to the PR email, this is new, so I took a look.
Like Netflix, the Zune application is subscriber based, so if you don't pony up $14.99 a month for the Zune service, it's of no use to you. You can by music videos as a non-subscriber, so, yeah, there's that. The whole subscribing thing is a little confusing. Microsoft gave me a three month Zune pass, so I used it to search for some Eminem. And I found him!
One cool thing about listening to music via this application is that it puts snazzy pictures up on the screen while the music plays. Perhaps a picture of Katy Perry would have been better here. Sorry.
See ESPN 3 and the dashboard's new look on page two.
ESPN 3
If you get your Internet service though one of these providers (sorry Time-Warner!) and you live in the United States, you can watch a number of sports on ESPN 3.
The interface is very slick. As you scroll over highlighted events, they'll begin to play in just a few seconds. Here's Panda hitting a ball into the San Francisco Bay.
There's a staggering number of sports and leagues available to watch. You can watch a number of professional soccer leagues, Canadian football, drag-racing, rugby, golf, tennis, and much more. Even poker, but we can all agree that it's not a sport, right?
You can watch live games as well as view previously-played games on demand. If you pick a game that's already finished, you can fast-forward through it, which is cool.
During a live game you can place your vote on who you think will win the game. It's not anything amazing, but it's kind of neat.
New dashboard look
I was a big fan of the 3D-ish box covers, so I'm sad to see that they've been replaced with flat box art. It's not a big deal, but it's worth pointing out. In defense of the new display method, it does seem to be a bit smoother, and it shows more items on the screen at once.
That wraps up the grand tour of the 360's Fall update. I found it to be pretty cool, though it doesn't seem to have any value for people who aren't Gold subscribers. Even if you are Gold, you'll need the right ISP, Netflix, and a Zune subscription to enjoy most of the new features.
What do you think about the update?