Starting December 6th Xbox 360 owners will be able to download the new New Xbox Experience when Microsoft finally releases its Fall Update for the console. Completely revamping the user interface for the second time in the console’s life-cycle, the new menu system fuses a few of the previous additions (most notably the Avatar system) with the Metro UI that was designed for the new Windows Phone 7 platform.
This is no coincidence, as Microsoft also revealed the Metro UI as the inspiration for the upcoming Windows 8 OS earlier this year. Metro as a style focuses primarily on large, clear lettering and a tile based UI that forgoes bulk and flair to focus on the content itself. Bringing this design style to the Xbox is just next step in creating a unified UI for all of Microsoft’s products and is a good indication of what the new Start Menu will look like when Windows 8 launches.
In addition to the visual overhaul, the Fall Update will further cement the Xbox 360 as a multimedia device to dominate the living room by providing easy access to a plethora of free video content provided through YouTube, Crackle and Dailymotion. There a few paid services available as well, such Rogers on Demand and Microsoft’s own Zune service in addition the already accessible Netflix. Microsoft also promises to release more channel partners over the coming months as it continues to grow the service. The new UI fully supports Kinect control and provides a Bing powered voice search that will scan through all the associated applications to find whatever media content you are looking for.
Rounding out the upgrades, Xbox Live profiles are now going to be stored in the cloud. Instead of having your profile and game saves stored locally on the hard drive, you can now easily access that data from a friend’s Xbox or on a new console if you happen to be one of the many people upgrading to the slimmer models introduced last year. Look for more updates from Microsoft soon as the company as hinted at a greater expansion of services for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in the future.
