May ’07 Dash update is now available

I am happy to announce that the May 2007 Dashboard update has now been officially released and is in process of being rolled out across the LIVE service. For many of you, the next time you sign in to Xbox LIVE, you will be prompted to receive the update. A couple of things to keep in mind over the next few hours as the update is deployed:

  • You’ll be prompted to accept the update when you sign into Xbox Live sometime in the next few hours. You will only receive the prompt for the update upon sign in. You won’t get it in middle of a game.
  • Regardless of what you have heard, it’s not geographically based. No one area of the world will get it before another. 
  • If you log out and then back in again, this won’t force the update…it will only anger people on your friends list who will see you sign in, then out, then in, then out …
  • Be patient, everyone will eventually receive the update

In addition to the LIVE Messenger integration feature in the new Dashboard, you’ll also see:

  • New achievement pop-up with name and score value
  • New Marketplace blade places content all in one place
  • Friends playing now feature at Xbox LIVE Arcade 
  • Console can be set to turn off after downloads to save energy.

I want to say something about the last bullet point. What this means is that you can queue up your downloads and turn your console ‘off.’ When you turn it off during a download, you are actually switching your Xbox 360 into low power mode and the power light will blink very slowly as it continues downloading. After all the downloads are complete, the blinking light will stop and the console will automatically turn itself completely off. Downloads done.

Here is the press release that outlines the rest of the new features.

Once you download the update and have had some time to play around with the new features, which one is your favorite?

Edit: Xbox.com now has some videoes and additional information posted

Edit: I am seeing reports of some users who are experiencing difficulty downloading the newly released update for the Xbox 360 dashboard.  If you are experiencing this issue, please perform the following procedure.

From the dash;

1. Navigate to the System blade
2. Select ‘Network Settings’
3. Select ‘Test Xbox Live Connection’
4. Apply Autoupdate when prompted.

If you continue to experience issues downloading the update for the Xbox 360 dashboard, please contact Xbox Customer Support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX.