October 12th 2011 12:00 pm PT

Xbox LIVE Public Preview Program *UPDATED*

Update: Registration is now closed. See the note at the bottom of this post for details

At E3 we announced the new Xbox LIVE dashboard which will deliver intuitive navigation, increased responsiveness and improved engagement with Xbox experiences – all beginning this holiday. Now that our work on the dashboard is almost complete, we are announcing an open call for all Xbox LIVE members to register to participate in a preview program to help us test the system. This is an important program as we continually strive to ensure the reliability of a service that reaches tens of millions globally. We could not do so without the ongoing help of our great community. 

Once this program is kicked off, an update will be pushed to your console that will contain select dashboard features, including:

    •    New design for integrated Kinect and controller navigation
    •    New Beacons to play online with friends
    •    Deeper Facebook integration
    •    New Cloud Storage for Game Saves and Xbox LIVE Profile

Other features and entertainment partner apps may come into view during the program period.

Note: A console in the program is expected to remain fully compatible with standard retail consoles not in the program. (e.g. party chat will function)

For those familiar with previous registrations for our program, we have a new model for registering your consoles this year.  The new model is a more automated process that should make it easier for you.  We will not ask you to type in your console information upon initial registration; once you are approved to participate in the program, look for details on our portal about how to register your console.

Click here for the initial register for the Public Preview.

The latest information will be available to you via the www.connect.microsoft.com/xboxliveupdate program portal.


UPDATE: Thank you for your interest in the Xbox LIVE Update Preview Program! Sorry, at this time we are no longer accepting registrations for the program as we have reached our target audience volume. Please be on the lookout for additional opportunities in the future to participate in Xbox LIVE Update Preview programs. For those of you that have successfully completed registration we will be reaching out to you once we are ready to take you through the next steps – within the next 2 weeks. You can check on your status my referring to your Connect Dashboard page and the icon in the upper right corner.

Preview, Xbox 360, Xbox Live By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2011/10/12/xbox-live-public-preview-program/

← Older Comments
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1020632276 Kévin Valentin

    The subscribtion of the Xbox 360 is automatic or manual ? When can I subcribe my Xbox 360 ?

  • http://www.facebook.com/lphkrazed John Greene

    anyone get a email yet ?

    • http://www.facebook.com/robert.vogt3 Robert L Vogt

      nope :(

  • http://twitter.com/Marquise_518 Marquise

    when is it goin 2 be released 2 us and how do we know if we got accepted

    • Arseny Kravchenko

      when – within the next two weeks as stated in the post above
      how – an email will be received with confirmation, if accepted

  • NAJEE WILKERSON

    hi major nelson how came i dont hv the up date i dont sign up

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OOEDYYP3TEDFDWUIS6DRL2DCGM S

      For those of you that have successfully completed registration we will be reaching out to you once we are ready to take you through the next steps – within the next 2 weeks. You can check on your status my referring to your Connect Dashboard page and the icon in the upper right corner.

  • http://techlivegen.com Xbox Live Code

    i Love U

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506431441 Jason Scarpelli

    What are you talking about “status in the right hand corner”? The right hand corner only shows Home, Dashboard, Directory, Help, Sign out and my Xbox gamertag.

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      Yup, I don’t get it too :/

      • Arseny Kravchenko

        Please see third comment page, I wrote a comment related to that

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506431441 Jason Scarpelli

          Ok I see. Thanks.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000242502639 Greg Kinney

          I dont get it..?

  • http://www.facebook.com/Knu2Lav Knut Olav Gleditsch

    Quote Arseny Kravchenko: If you have (will have) any pending actions that you need to do in any connection, that you are part of. you will see an icon of a pending actions in your Connect Dashboard. Currently (related to the Xbox LIVE Update Preview Program) there are no actions pending from the participants (of this program), so no such icon is shown there.

  • Johnny Kelly

    How u known if u got in

    • Patrick Norris

      Microsoft will send the applicants a e-mail in the next weeks. If you are pick you will have to fill out your system information.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Ranger1991 Colin Hoover

    DAMN IT!! I MISSED ANOTHER ONE.

    • http://twitter.com/DragonSpartan53 DragonSpartan53

      i know how u feel. ive missed it every year!

    • Patrick Norris

      It okay you’ll still get the update a month later. Cheer up and drink some Dr. Pepper.

  • Anonymous

    I already have the live tv with att on the xbox

  • http://www.facebook.com/KaneOutcast Kane Hardman

    I never miss a single one till now and why cause they only had the sign up for a couple of days!
    I was meant to get an email from microsoft when there be another 1 i never got it

  • http://twitter.com/WinDevPreview WindowsDeveloperPrev

    The beta program starts within 2 weeks or less. They are currently prepairing everything. This is the normal process for all beta programs I have been in so far. Be patient, give it a week or more.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ziad-BrAun-Ahmad/100000650184668 Ziad BrAun Ahmad

    do you sign up for the beta or the full dashboard? pls answer

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      For beta, full dashboard will be available in November 2011.

  • http://www.facebook.com/robert.vogt3 Robert L Vogt

    Any one get in the beta yet?

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      Nope, still nothing. Maybe tomorrow, or the next day (more likely tuesday, previous updates has been released that day).

      • http://www.facebook.com/robert.vogt3 Robert L Vogt

        i hope i get in i put on the survey that i didnt have a knecit

      • Arseny Kravchenko

        Yeah. It cannot be a Sunday, which is today. It’s a weekend, and most employees are at home and unable to manage the program.

        • http://www.facebook.com/Hunwarrior Adler Daniel

          ohh they can manage the program remotely with no problem and they need only few clicks to push out the Beta. i think its because in case of issues from MS side is more easy to solve it if there is more technical people near by and from Customer side if there is some problem the customer support should be available and as i know support not reachable at weekend.

          • Arseny Kravchenko

            yes, as they aren’t just manage it on Connect, they review all the nominations manually and need to work on the xboxcom site
            side too, with getting all the gamertags provided in the beta survey to the person responsible for managing the usergroups on the forums, to be included in the group that has permissions to view and post in the preview forums section….

          • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

            Btw, Major is away from Microsoft. When he comes back, it’ll be probably released.

          • Arseny Kravchenko

            Marian, I know (via his Twitter). He is not the only one who manage the beta ;)

          • http://twitter.com/Goodeye Ken C

            Hey is just the one that passes on the news about it (he has said so in the past on his show)

    • Josh Dorgu

      Yeah I got in. They told me on Friday

      • Arseny Kravchenko

        Looks like they started to review the registered participants a day after registration was closed. Some received the acceptance mail on Friday, and the rest are pushed on queue to next week (that starts tomorrow).

        • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

          Finally :) ! Can’t wait

    • Zug Zug

      nope! still waiting!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joel-Gyamfi/100000426002112 Joel Gyamfi

    will xbl ever be free?????

    • http://www.facebook.com/lphkrazed John Greene

      no thats why they have sliver account for free live 

  • http://www.facebook.com/dshilala Dustin Shilala

    Are we going to have Hulu Plus and Netflix still?

    • http://twitter.com/khodson98 Kevin

      Always

  • http://twitter.com/khodson98 Kevin

    Can i still get in the update I missed it?

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      If you want to be in beta, it’s too late, but you will receive an update on November 2011 :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/PFitz61491 Peter Carl Fitzgerald

    I got accepted to be one of the Testers, no word on when it actually starts but I have full access to the connect website for testers. I can’t give out any other information, as I had to sign an agreement to not give details, and I’m a man of my word. (And don’t want to be banned from future projects. Lol.)

    • http://twitter.com/Jmkanz Jacob

      Did you get an email?

  • http://twitter.com/geraldhans90 Gerald Hans

    Hi there, when will the notification mail being sent out to let you know whether you got accepted to be as the beta testers?

    • Arseny Kravchenko

      See below. The queue is being reviewed manually.

      • http://twitter.com/geraldhans90 Gerald Hans

        Thank u for your reply. Hoping to get the email soon :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/WannabeActor16 Paul Steven Briffett

    I haven’t got an email yet :( Hopefully I get one soon because I really want to be a beta tester.

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      It’s almost 3 a.m in US. Just give them few more hours ;)

      • http://www.facebook.com/WannabeActor16 Paul Steven Briffett

        it’s 4:00pm in the UK and I still haven’t got one :(

        • http://twitter.com/SeanWKC Sean Wong

          me too..

        • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

          It’s 8 a.m in US, all we can do, is wait :(

  • Jeroen Roumen

    Sure hope I get picked, is it certain you get picked if you entered before it closed?

  • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

    I asked @XboxSupport on Twitter, and it seems everyone will get the update.

    • Jeroen Roumen

      do you have a link to the tweet?

      • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

        Here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/jatoskopie – it’s my Twitter (I don’t know how to find direct link, I don’t use Twitter very often ;P). So, I think everyone who got this “congratulations” message is in.
        Btw., accidentally typed “that” in a tweet, should be “thank” ;D.

        • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

          Just found this, on Twitter: “If you successfully signed up you will be a part of the program ^JG”. If you don’t believe me, put that whole sentence in Twitter searching-thingy ;D.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1387824383 Danny DeSimone

    I was accepted. This will be my fourth year testing! 

  • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

    When I try to access “Connect” page for the preview, it says, it doesn’t exist and I don’t have permission to visit it. Maybe I just have to wait, dunno :/.

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      Now it’s okay, that was my fault. I “like” to break things, haha ;D.

      • Arseny Kravchenko

        Things??? I’d assume the console itself, that you plan to test the preview on, is an exception to this? It is still a ‘thing’ after all, and can be broken too :D :D

        • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

          I will try not to break anything, but yeah… we’ll see. haha :)

  • Anonymous

    Am I in if it says the following on my Connect page?

    “Welcome to the Xbox LIVE Update Preview Program. As a valued member of
    the program, we’re excited to have you here and look forward to your
    active involvement in this installment of the Xbox Preview Program.”

    I never got an e-mail saying I was accepted. Guess I have to wait?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1387824383 Danny DeSimone

      You’re in, I havent received my email either. I always check the connect site first since they always update it before the email gets sent out. Congrats!

      • http://facebook.com/LordXaero Jeremy Boos

        Thanks for the heads up man! Can’t wait.

    • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

      @XboxSupport claims, that everyone who participates will be accepted. But I’m not sure anymore about this, my “Connect” site says it doesn’t exist… I’m confused, again. :P

      • http://twitter.com/Jatoskopie Marian

        Oh, my bad. “Connect” works fine :D

  • Anonymous

    I had the same issue with “Microsoft connect”
    I sent the error code to them, but then it just fixed itself.

    • http://www.facebook.com/Hunwarrior Adler Daniel

      ok i see there was problem for everyone .. :) thats mean at least they do something in the background ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brogan-Stiers/100000464626893 Brogan Stiers

    How do I know if I was accepted? When I go to the Connect site all I get is “We
    are looking forward to your active participation in the program and
    hope that you will check back in here on a regular basis to stay
    informed and involved with the latest updates happening in the program.”. I haven’t got an e-mail yet from them either. 

    • Anonymous

      I’m with u there.. I want a email!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1387824383 Danny DeSimone

      click on dashboard at the top of the page. Then click on xbox live update. if it says this you’re in:

      Welcome to the Xbox LIVE Update Program!We are looking forward to your active participation in the program and hope that you will check back in here on a regular basis to stay informed and involved with the latest updates happening in the program.  To access the latest information available for the program click on the links in the left-hand navigation bar or the specific content links below. 

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brogan-Stiers/100000464626893 Brogan Stiers

        That’s what message I am getting. So I guess I am in?

        • Anonymous

          It’s taking ages.

  • Anonymous

    What’s taking so long?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Mares/1483470457 Mark Mares

      They have to check the applicants one by one manually.

  • Anonymous

    Where are the emails? Hurry up!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Mares/1483470457 Mark Mares

      Give them time. Patience is a virtue.

  • Anonymous

    I’m waiting for MY email where IS MY email?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Mares/1483470457 Mark Mares

      Patience grasshopper.

  • Anonymous

    I want my email right now, i demand it!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Mares/1483470457 Mark Mares

      I know how you feel.

    • Arseny Kravchenko

      You must be patient. Because the queue is being reviewed manually, it is taking time to review it all. You may not and cannot force it to be faster and you cannot demand it. When your application will be ready, you will receive it. But such behavior, that you show now is reducing your chances to be accepted EVER.

  • jamie holmewood

    I have Applied and it coming up with 
    Welcome to the Xbox LIVE Update Program!We are looking forward to your active participation in the program and hope that you will check back in here on a regular basis to stay informed and involved with the latest updates happening in the program.  To access the latest information available for the program click on the links in the left-hand navigation bar or the specific content links belowdoes this mean im in and im waiting for an email.. and If someone didnt Apply would it show that message??????

  • http://www.facebook.com/lphkrazed John Greene

    please if there is a mod please lock this thankyou

  • Anonymous

    cant wait

← Older Comments
search
Latest Podcast
Show 476

see more

Twitter Feed

see more
Blog Archive
RSS Feeds
Helpful Links
Ads