Today
Joystiq says that Engadget Japan says that Microsoft Japan says the following features will also be part of the Fall update:
Quote:
The most significant addition is the reorganization of the "games" blade (pictured above), which now features the "Game Library" (in place of "Xbox Live Arcade"), in addition to the old "Achievements" and "Played Games" sections.
When opened, the Game Library is nearly identical to the current XBLA menu, with a vertically-scrolling games list and an info box appearing for the highlighted game [Famitsu image]. New, however, is a horizontal sorting menu, broken down by filters like "All Games," "Arcade," "Demos," and "Recent Downloads." (This new horizontal and vertical organization is not unlike Sony's XMB design -- Microsoft calls it "twist" navigation, the same UI used for Zune.)
Additional Fall Update features:- Top level of "marketplace" has been reorganized and reduced to four categories: "Featured Content," "What's New," "Game Store," and "Video Store" (below top level, categories will be navigated by twist, just like the Game Library)
- "Personal Profile" added to Gamer Profile; text field allowing approx. 500-1000 characters, providing space to publish name, nationality, region, and self introduction. (Further social networking tools to accompany 'Friends of Friends' functionality)
- XBLA demos deleted from "Played Games" and Gamercard lists
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I know a tidier Marketplace has been requested for a while now and lots of people have complained about the latter point, having their Gamercard filled with demos of games they tried out but didn't think were worth buying. It all sounds plausible enough to be genuine but the language barrier prevents me from knowing for sure.
These additional social networking-style features are interesting. Not for me personally because I have no interest in that sort of thing, but for Microsoft in general. Xbox Live has a lot of members and it seems they could almost be trying to build it up into a Trojan horse social networking site, perhaps with greater integration into Windows Live Spaces further down the line.