Xbox 360 Possibly Getting "Spring Update" Next Week

[admin]

Leaked presentation slides reveal that the Xbox 360 is about to get its next major update on May 19, dubbed the "Spring Update". The Xbox 360 dashboard often gets a major update around this time of the year, hence the term "Spring Update", but this latest update may not add as much as gamers will hope for.

The major feature in this update, and the only "user facing" new feature, appears to be PayPal supported, tentatively linked to Microsoft's recent purchase of Skype (both Skype and PayPal used to be owned by eBay). Gamers will be able to use PayPal to pay for all their gaming services in the future.

The update will also make the 360 support the latest version of the Xbox Game Disc Format, which will allow developers access up to 1GB of extra storage for games on the existing dual-layer DVDs used by the 360.

Not included in the update is Avatar Kinect, which is launching separately on May 27. Microsoft also recently launched Hulu Plus for the Xbox 360, and before that, Netflix Kinect support.

[admin]

There are reports that the update is bricking a small number of consoles (mostly older 60GB Xbox 360 Pro's), but that's actually slightly inaccurate as the update causing this problem is an earlier update as confirmed by Major Nelson, not the "Spring Update". Microsoft are doing the right thing and replacing the bricked consoles with new ones, and proactively contacting those with affected consoles (they can tell from the Xbox Live error messages, which consoles are affected).

It does contrast with how Sony handles the infamous disc read error problem, which some also attribute to an issue with firmware updates, as well as the YLOD affected consoles, especially after the console's warranty has ended (ie. "give us $150 please!").

Microsoft assures people that the "Spring Update" should not affect consoles, thanks to rigorous testing.