First things first: The
Halo 3 beta runs May 16 to June 6 - so plan your vacation time accordingly. The week of May 7, Microsoft will deliver its next Xbox 360 dashboard update, which adds:
- Instant messaging via Windows Live Messenger - and if you're wondering how you can easily text and play at the same time, there will also be the long-rumored, finally confirmed mini-keyboard controller accessory (pictured)
- A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade to promote all of the stuff you can download and buy
- Detailed achievement alerts with names and point values
- New Xbox Live Arcade features to entice friends to buy, er, try downloadable games, compare achievements and boast when they beat down your high score
- An option for console shutdown after completing your active downloads
- The name of the game in your console tray
- Marketplace video playback while the file is still downloading, plus aspect ratios choices (Auto, Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native), chapters and bookmarks
- Official support for MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264 and Windows Media protected videos (not just unprotected WMVs)
- Suggested deletions to aid in clearing hard drive space if a download exceeds current capacity
In other news, there's a
Gears of War auto-update that closes several exploits, adds a new Annex multiplayer game mode (basically, capture and hold), balances other multiplayer modes and improves VGA monitor support so 1280x720 displays as 720p widescreen. Oh, remember how Epic Games wanted to offer all future Gears map downloads for free? Well, Microsoft put huge pressure of them to charge for new content, so they've compromised and plan to offer them for cash first and make them free later - a la
Halo 2. Speaking of which, if you don't buy the new Halo 2 maps hitting April 24, you will miss out on "the majority of the playlists offered in matchmaking," according to Bungie...
