Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Xbox 360 August Update is Live!

The wait is over, the new August Xbox Live Update has arrived! There had been a lot of excitement brewing in regards to the features the new update would boast.

If you have been living under a rock, read the preview of the update here.

I logged into my account this morning and was immediately prompted to download the update. It only took about thirty seconds and I was on my way. A thing I noticed which was not mentioned in previews during the days leading up to the update was a little message that displays below the download bar to indicate the estimated time remaining. Yes, I know those can be annoying, especially when downloading files on the computer or moving files from your hard drive to a external storage device (or vice-versa). "Mommy, it says two minutes left." You go and grab a quick snack from the fridge... "Mommy it says three hours left." Three hours pass... "Mommy, it still says thirty minutes left"... then those thirty minutes precede to drag out for over an hour. Alright, that was an exaggeration, but well at least in my experience while downloading stuff off the marketplace today, the estimated time remaining indicator was pretty accurate.

I swapped my Avatar's clothes for the all black tux, which incidentally, was free, and has been on the Avatar since it debuted. But of the new things available, a COG Soldier, Star Wars Storm Trooper, or USMC full body outfit would cost you 400 Microsoft Points a piece ($5 USD). Quite expensive, but I admit they did look cool. I couldn't resist shelling out 160 Microsoft Points ($2 USD) for the new soccer ball prop that was available. Among the other things available were new clothing and shoes from Quiksilver, Adidas, and 'in game brands' such as Halo and Bioshock.

My Xbox Live Avatar



The new game rating feature is also active in the marketplace, and no surprise that Halo 2 is among one of the more popular titles. Although in my opinion, the GoD (Games on Demand) prices are a bit too steep for games that can be found at GameStop or on eBay for a third of the price. I have yet to try out the Netflix feature, but it looks very interesting. I dished out a few party invites and everything seemed very streamlined and easy to use. I also noticed a nice big '2' next to my gamertag, which means I've been using Xbox Live Gold for two full years, and soon to be three this fall.

Well folks, that's all for today. If you haven't signed in to XBL today, your missing out on some cool new stuff. I suggest you hurry over to your Xbox 360 and download the new Update. I definitely wasn't disappointed.

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