The news we reported earlier last night is now live according to a recent tweet made by Major Nelson exactly 14 minutes ago. Go check if you like. Per our previous post, there’s no update required.  The Major’s tweet along with details from his supporting post are below.

First the Tweet:

The new features coming to Xbox LIVE are now available. Details here: http://bit.ly/ohSaY Commence #Xboxtweet

And here are the details from his post on majornelson.com:

New Xbox 360 features now available (Twitter, Facebook, Zune Video and Last.FM)

We’ve just released the latest new features for your Xbox 360. In case you’ve been off the grid for the past few months and don’t know what is in this update, allow me to give you the some of the highlights: Facebook, Zune Video, Twitter and Last.FM. Here is how to find ‘em: Facebook and Twitter will appear automatically on your dashboard in the new My Community channel, Zune Video is in the Video Channel and Last.FM will be found under the Music Channel.

Assuming you have the latest Xbox 360 system update from Xbox LIVE, these new features will automatically appear sometime over the next few hours. Availability of these features will vary by region.

Remember, if you are under 18, you’ll have to wait a little longer for some of these features.

There you have it. I’m off to check it out right now. Let me know what you think of the update in the comments section below after you get a chance to mess around with it yourself.

Major Nelson tweet reporting for duty, sir. Latest tweet intelligence reveals that the Xbox 360 addition of Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm (due to be available tomorrow) will not require an update. The new features will instead be magically inserted into your console via tiny underpaid mice while you sleep. The Major’s exact words below.

“When we turn on the new features tomorrow they’ll just appear! No need for a system update.”

There you have it. So, whatever you do, don’t kill any rodents tonight.

Okay, so maybe he didn’t mention the porn streaming part, but in a recent Tweet, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson announced the following:

“We just hit a new #XboxLIVE record: Over TWO MILLION people connected to the service at once.”

I think all two million of us should sign off and sign back on at the same exact moment as a way of expressing our gratitude. Seriously though, two million is a very big and impressive number. In monetary form, it’s double the amount of an infamous Dr. Evil ransom. Measured in inches, it’s almost as big as my fully erect …

Congratulations Microsoft.

Major Nelson let loose on his latest podcast that the upcoming Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 will be entirely optional.  Well, you’ll most likely still have to download it, but you can continue to use the old blades system and even forgo the new Miis Avatars and stick with your Gamerpic.  Oh, and you can do it all in game.

Here are the words straight from the Major’s mouth:

“The Dashboard as you know it today, in other words the ‘blades’; Games, Live, Media and System, We’ve taken those blades and moved them to the Guide. Every single function that you can do today in the Dashboard you are going to be able to do in the New Xbox Experience in the Guide.

When you press the Guide button on the Xbox 360 controller, the new Guide will come up and you’re going to be able to do everything in there. You’re going to be able to contextually browse Marketplace, did you know that? So when you have Gears of War 2 of Halo 3 in there you’re going to be able to go straight to that section. And if you don’t like the avatars, they’re not required. You can use your Gamer Pictures.”

Yay!  Microsoft is doing one of the things that I actually like about them: they’re giving me options.  Now they just need to release a Blu-Ray player, and everyone will be happy.

Source: Play.tm

Ripten’s own Andrew Podolsky reported on the upcoming “new Xbox Live Experience” in his Microsoft Press Conference coverage, but now we have more details via Major Nelson.

You’ll be able to copy your games from the disc and play directly from the hard drive, reducing load times. However, you’ll still need the disc in the drive to ensure that you’re not a dirty thief.

You’ll be able to access Xbox Live Marketplace through Xbox.com and purchase things over the web and then automatically download them to your console. I’m not sure I see the point in this, however, as I presume you’d still have to turn on your console to download what you’ve purchased, so why not just purchase it from your console?

The dashboard blades are going to be built right into the guide, which means you can access them whenever you want, even if you’re playing a game. You can also bring up a list of all of your recently played games and launch them from there, but I assume you’ll still have to insert the disc (see a few paragraphs up).

The new Live Party system has got me really excited. You can now add up to eight people in private chat, which is something I’ve felt they’ve needed for a while. Also, because of their new Netflix feature, you can get together with up to eight friends and all watch a movie. However, it’s not all great. You can also share your own personal slideshow, making it harder to escape your annoying relatives that just got back from vacation with a metric ton of photos.

Xbox Live Primetime is another thing that sounds interesting. Some of the games featured on Primetime will include real prizes and even live hosts. For anyone who’s wanted to participate in a game show without leaving the couch or showing your face on TV, this is for you.

Avatars are making their way to Xbox Live and according to Andrew, they look a lot like Miis. It’s good to see Microsoft finally jumping on the bandwagon, but it’s more of an “about time” then an “alright!”

Finally, they’re adding support for 16X10 over VGA or HDMI and support for 1440×900 or 1680×1050.

According to Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten, more details are coming over the next few months.

Source: Major Nelson

According to a certain Nelson’s twitter profile, a conspicuous update hints at a special mid-week podcast, something that may turn out to be a major announcement from Microsoft’s gaming division. Conveniently enough, it’s happening right before GDC.

Coincidence? I think not. If you look at this podcast’s track record, every time there’s a mid-week show, something semi-big to big has happened: Elite announcement, extended 3-year warranty for RRoD, and the cheeky Peter Moore bailing out on MS for EA.

Let’s just hope the Major isn’t yanking our chain.

Source: Major Nelson

Five new Rockband songs hit Xbox Live today but won’t be hitting the Playstation Network until next week. It looks like Christmas is going to be a little merrier for Xbox fans.

The two songs I’m most excited about are Move Along and Dirty Little Secret by rock/punk band The All-American Rejects. While I personally would like to see Swing, Swing show up as DLC, Move Along and Dirty Little Secret are both very good songs. It’s worth noting that these are the original songs performed by The All-American Rejects.

Alternative rock band 30 Seconds to Mars contributes to the mix with their songs The Kill and Attack. I’d never actually heard of any of their stuff until I checked it out because of the DLC and now I’m thinking that these songs might be worth picking up as well. Like with The All-American Rejects songs, these are the originals.

The last song is a cover of Song With a Mission by the Swedish New Wave band The Sounds. For those that haven’t heard of The Sounds, the band’s lead singer, Maja Ivarsson sang with Cobra Starship for Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) for the Samuel L. Jackson film of the same name.

All the songs are available individually for 80 Microsoft Points.

Via Major Nelson

Just in time for Christmas, the Xbox Live team has launched their new gift points system. Now you have something to give that special someone who won’t pry his lazy butt out of his gaming chair.

The new gift points feature is currently in its beta stage and for the time being is only available in the US (sorry Steen). Another downfall of this current testing phase is that you must know the recipient’s Windows Live ID in order to send them points. Major Nelson has requested the ability to send points based on someone’s Gamertag, something that the development team has said that they’ll work on in the future.

It’s new and it’s very rough, but at least they can combat Nintendo’s Wii Gifting now. This is especially helpful for me, because I have a few friends on Xbox Live that I’d like to get gifts for, but I don’t like them enough to actually go to the post office and mail a package. You can buy points through Major Nelson’s site, or you go here to buy them directly from the Microsoft site. Simply buy points like normal and then check that they’re for a friend, not yourself, and enter your friend’s Windows Live ID. Easy as delicious Christmas cake.