Xbox Live Prepares For Major Fall Update With Downtime

Microsoft will take Xbox live offline for up to 24 hours on September 29, including the service's multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery features, in preparation for a major fall update dubbed the "New Xbox Experience." According to Xbox Live programming director Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb, who posted about the update on his blog, both Xbox Live and the "My Xbox" section of Xbox.com will be unavailable during the maintenance period. The remainder of Xbox.com and its forums will be available with limited interruptions, though the latter will not allow users to publish posts. Unveiled at Microsoft's E3 press conference, the "New Xbox Experience" will include a redesigned dashboard, Mii-like 3D avatars, 'Live Parties' allowing 8-player chat groups, Xbox Live Primetime (a title in which users can "star in their own game shows"), and other community features. Hyrb emphasized, "When the service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update. That will happen later this fall." Microsoft has yet to announce a firm date for the major update's release.