The new Xbox 360 dashboard, due to be released sometime before the end of the year, will be called Twist Control, with a new menu setup that involves channel hopping and 'Beacons' for checking what games others are playing.
The new Xbox 360 dashboard, due to be released sometime before the end of the year, will be called Twist Control, with a new menu setup that involves channel hopping. Xbox Live product marketing manager Robin Burrowes showed the new system to Eurogamer, which reports that channels are displayed at the top of the screen and can be flicked through to find specific content using the Xbox 360 controller. Voice and motion control can also be used to flick through these channels via the Kinect hardware. "Hopefully it's easy to browse," Burrowes explained of the new design. "It's intuitive in terms of the way the surfing experience will actually work." Users will also be able to find a new 'Beacons' feature in the 'Social channel', allowing you to show other players exactly what you're doing and playing via Xbox Live and Facebook -- these Beacons can then be used to alert players if their friends are online and ready to play a specific game. "That's been a little bit of a barrier," Burrowes said. "The core community have been saying to us, 'I'm doing this one activity but I really want to play Call of Duty with my mates when I've got four or five of them online at the same time.'" "People are still text messaging each other and sending messages on other platforms. This is an easier way to do it." More Facebook features are also planned, with the ability to 'like' Xbox games, and cloud storage will be available. "Hopefully the new dash will show this service proposition goes beyond gaming," Burrowes explained. "We'll never lose our focus on that gaming audience." "In fact, developing the investment infrastructure to develop programs like cloud storage and Facebook posting and the beacons, are three examples of continuing to invest in that space."
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