October 19th 2010 1:30 pm PT

Changes coming to Xbox.com

 

 

Tomorrow, Xbox.com will be getting a massive facelift and I want to give you a preview of what you can expect.  In addition to support for the 9 new Xbox LIVE regions that will happen next month, Xbox.com will get a brand new look as well as some new features.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

Browser based Avatar editor: Edit your avatar and preview avatar items before purchase

Combined views for messages, friend and game requests

Improved notification of your account subscription

Leverage Family Reports to understand what your family is doing and how they are using LIVE

Play web games with your Xbox LIVE friends on the web or on Windows Phone 7

Marketplace: More powerful search and more intuitive ways to browse and filter

 

Those are just a few of the changes, starting tomorrow you’ll be able to explore the entire thing yourself. Until then, I’ve uploaded a few screen shots to get hold you over until then.

 

Note:

In order to prepare for these changes, starting at 0500 ET/0200 PT/0900 GMT on October 20th (tomorrow) Xbox.com and the Xbox forums will be offline and unavailable for a short period of time. When it returns, you’ll see the new site.

 

The Xbox LIVE service is not affected by this upgrade and will remain available during this time.

 

Update: The upgrade is in progress. Until it is complete, you may see some slowness, error pages (and maybe more) on Xbox.com. Thanks for your patience while the team finishes the upgrade.

 

Edit: Once the update is complete, drop by the Xbox.com forums and let us know what you think

 

Xbox.com By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2010/10/19/changes-coming-to-xbox-com/

Newer Comments →
  • GamingTailor

    Thanks. Loved what I saw on the Preview.

  • Dorwrath

    Looks great !

  • TaintedAssasin

    looks very nice, in line with the new dashboard

  • MartyTno1

    Nice, very neat and clean. Are the Xbox forums receiving the same treatment, Major?

  • Vegivo

    Sweet!i cant wait :)

  • Glenn ZA

    Way to go! Exciting news… only one problem.
    -
    I am not at home or near my Xbox to get to see these updates.
    Will see them on Sunday only.
    -
    Plus being one of those 9 countries coming on board with Xbox LIVE next month (10th November) we as South African gamers are feeling highly excited!

  • ShadowMonkey987

    That Avatar Update on the site is going to be a great feature.. Guess it would take a while to update on to your console (like gold does if you subscribe to it)

  • rogXue

    why does it have to be so….white….

    I love the functionality but the look is going to burn my retinas out of my skull!

  • HazyCloud

    Hey this looks really similar to…*checks NDA* Never mind. This new look is awesome. I haven’t seen anything like it.

  • Glenn ZA

    Whoops ignore previous comment. :$
    Miss-read :D

  • makinmagic3

    Nice update,

    Hopefully the UK Gamer Of The Month changes … been the same person for atleast 6-7 months

  • hydroxyde

    Friends list looks horrible. Lots more scrolling to look at what your friends are doing, assuming you can’t shrink that giant gamerpic that’s making each row so big.
    Block and remove (destructive functions) look quite big compared to things like Send Message that you probably want to do more frequently. Small words, but for some reason you put a huge button next to them.
    Message center looks OK, except for the “Mark as read” being right in the middle of two destructive functions.

    Looks OK overall. Could have used more thought on those buttons, IMO.
    Also, I spied the Reach DLC being listed in your pics.

  • Enkeixpress

    Nice

  • CrazyCake

    Cool update, sharing what you brought w/ facebook friends surprised this wasn’t there when facebook first came to xbox lol otherwise sweet update.

  • Capp00

    Any chance there will be a way to hide all the Kinect and Avatar pics/banners that seem to be on every single page?
    Also, will there be a way to have a simple friends list again? I like to just be able to quickly load the page and see everyone that is playing. Going by your screenshot, only the top 3-4 players online show up without having to scroll past the banner ads.

    The only problem I have with the whole thing is, those of us that are completely annoyed by the entire Avatar thing, are now over-inundated by it with no way to hide it.

  • Zacabeb

    Spiffy.

  • Kinectamaniac

    Thanks for the heads-up Major Nelson!

    Sorry, I gave ya crap about the Top Ten Activity list recently…I didn’t realize you were sick…hope you’re feeling better!

  • xMort

    Does it mean by any chance that users from new regions can use their debit cards to purchase Microsoft points starting tomorrow?

  • Z4M0

    so, it’s just about the website… don’t use it that much but well any improvements are welcome.
    .
    BTW NEW AVATARS = POINTLESS, EYESORE (neither realistic nor toons, just a warped version of the former cute toon-ish avatars just to fit kiinect needs).
    .
    The more kinect I met higher my hate for it. And I’ve tested it already. To date it just changes stuff for worse, hope that will be different in the near future.

  • Goodeye84

    I like it, and don’t like it. It is very very clean, the soon to be old Xbox.com was too busy, but it does feel a tad “Kiddish” but then again with the Kinect market you are looking for (Heck I’m even buying kinect) this is probably a smart move.

  • IRB

    You don’t show the tenure number anywhere on the new design either, only on the console.
    Was there any point in adding that number then?

    Otherwise, the “new look” looks great.

  • ShaggyB

    please tell me that theme previews are available with this update. (if not tell me they are on the next dashboard update.)

  • MJGAMING

    What types of web games are we talking about! Getting excited now!

  • Parelbox

    Will this time work with Saafari ? Or microsoft still believes IE is the only browser used ?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Web_browser_usage_share.svg

  • PAT2K9

    It looks good, but (as said above) it would be nice if we could see the tenure on the site.

  • Vice Destroyer

    I wish that I could view Flickr at work. Now I am going to be completely chomping at the bits for a preview I can’t view until I get home and can’t use until tomorrow.

    Infamy, infamy. They all have it in for me.

  • chiruno99

    I’m, impressed. I’ll take advantages of the features ofcourse, as long as anything new comes with an immidiate pricetag.

  • Kinectamaniac

    @Major Nelson

    PAT2K9 made me think of something I’ve always wanted to know. Will there ever be “Tenure Rewards”???

  • pyr0lyZer

    Me likey…

  • BlazeHedgehog

    Remove the Silverlight stuff and I’ll be happy to use Xbox.com more. Asking me to install not-Flash just to view some screenshots makes me rage.

  • MangledRex

    Its going to take some getting used to… boo@change!

  • Spargo CXVII

    I regard with favor, this upgrade.

  • CapNJunkie

    I like it, I like it.

    P.S. Also time for a majornelson.com facelift!

  • II EV0L 0NE II

    Looks awesome…

  • DUDI1969

    GREAT! looking forward to see it… :-D

  • murph17

    Really nice. But for the love of god…GIVE US THEME PREVIEWS!!

  • Master Devwi

    I love the new look! It’s much cleaner and simpler. I can’t wait to try it out tomorrow.!

  • Drue J

    Will there be achievements for the web based games????!!!!

  • Mike Kelehan

    So will the web games be equivalent to Windows Phone 7 games, allowing us to purchase smaller games and earn achievements?

  • WinVI2006

    Awesome work! I am curious about the web games though. What are they? Are you talking about games written in Silverlight or something like that? Other than that question, I have to say, I am very impressed! You are following in the tradition of Windows 7 and providing a very nice, clean, and functional piece of Software. I love it! :D

  • LV54Spacemonkey

    Is there gonna be a version of xbox live that doesn’t require silverlight to view properly? I’m on a smelly old power PC mac which can’t run silverlight. I know I need a new PC but is it so hard to have a lower quality version of the site that doesn’t need it?

  • Anonymous

    I dont know why but i always find a girls’ avatar atractive?!?!

  • Anonymous

    One thing: i dont like how my family could know what i’m playing. i have games my mom doesn’t want in the house. Can we disable this feat?

  • Kenjuan

    Likely a stupid question, but… what’s a “game request”?

  • The Brit

    Will these changes also fix the fact that not all of the achievements show up on xbox.com as being unlocked?

    for example I have 20 fifa 11 achievements unlocked but only 16 show on the web site.

  • Muzzymate

    I wonder if this will break my iPhone app’s (360Live) ability to browse my friends list, messages, etc.

  • X Cel007

    I sort of agree with Hydroxide in terms of the emphasis on the destructive functions of the remove and block buttons. I’m sure that in the near future, we may see some tweaks to the friends GUI if there are some accidental blocks/removals (of course I’m sure you’ll get a modal box confirm those actions).

    Speaking as a web designer/programmer, I like the overall cleanliness of the design. It’s very nice and rebrands xbox.com similarly to how the Xbox brand has been rebranded recently. However I think the site design is taking a step backwards (talking about design aesthetics). It looks like we’re moving backwards from a web 2.0 look (subtle gradients, drop shadows, rounded corners) to a more web 1.0 look (solid color blocks, square corners, etc.). I appreciate the white space, the lack of clutter, and the spartan (no pun intended) nature of the design, but I think aesthetically it’s a generational step backwards. But I’m fairly certain that it’ll retain web 2.0 functionality that has been slowly integrated into the current (and soon-to-be previous) design (eg, AJAX/AHAH calls on actions, modal/pop-up boxes, etc.).

    But this is coming from looking at thumbnail screenshots. When I get the chance to play with the live site I may think otherwise about the design.

    Good job, guys. I love smart UX changes.

  • xZ3XYxGR4NDP4x

    Now bringing the modern look the the website I see ;)

  • xZ3XYxGR4NDP4x

    to*

  • EveofLight

    Loving that you can edit your avatar on site, I had a feeling they were going to do that ^_^.

    I hope there is a way to delete multiple messages in the message center..just in case you have a whole bunch and don’t want to go into them individually to erase.

    Im liking it :)

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