360 Fall Update Confirmed for Dec 4th.

[Queasy]

Major Nelson

It was just confirmed that the Fall Dashboard update will be released next Tuesday, December 4th. One of the new features that will be part of the release is ?Friends of Friends.? With this new features, you?ll be able to browse the friends list of anyone on your Xbox LIVE friends list and send anyone on your friends list a friends request. We?re also adding a ?Friends List? setting in the Dashboard* and on Xbox.com to allow you to control who can see your friends list.

-Everyone (only available to members 18 and older)
-Friends only (available to members 13 and older)
-Blocked (available to all members, and automatic for anyone under the age of 13)

It?s important to mention that when the dashboard update is released, the new default setting will be Everyone (assuming you are of age). For those members that not want to share their friend list, we?ve added a page on Xbox.com that is available today where you can modify this setting as you see fit. If you want to keep your friends list private, you can sign into Xbox.com now at www.xbox.com/fof and change the setting to Blocked (if you so desire.) This gives you a full week to decide which setting you would like for this new feature.

If you want to fully embrace the new feature, you don?t need to thing except wait for the update next week.

[Read the press release on Xbox.com]

*This setting will appear in the dash next week with the update.

Edit: No this is not the only feature for the fall update. There are more, but this is all that is being released at this time (along with the previously announced Xbox Originals) I also clarified that you have to be over 18 to have this set to everyone when it launches next week.

Nelson added another edit in regards to child accounts not acting right after the individual turns 18.

Edit: Regarding those who have child accounts but who are now over 18..we are very aware of this and we are working on the technology to properly 'graduate' your account (the official term.) We'll have details on this very soon

Edit: more features leaked. Thanks Modeps. Link

Additional Fall Update features:

* Top level of "marketplace" has been reorganized and reduced to four categories: "Recommended 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

Note: This feature set is by no means complete, and we should expect to see variations in and additions to the North American update, which will be made available on Dec. 4th.

 

[Modeps]

cool. and well thought out letting everyone know a week ahead of time that by default, everyone can see everyone.

<3

 

[bucwylde23]

Should have seen this coming after the Zune social site launched. It immediately showed your friends list to everyone, just like this is supposed to. I had to change the exact setting on the zune site to hide it.

Hopefully there is a lot more coming....

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

meh I hope that isn't the highlight.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
meh I hope that isn't the highlight.

Ditto.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
meh I hope that isn't the highlight.

Ditto.

Its a nice touch.. but not something groundbreaking. I'm just happy that they're improving everything. Hopefully they'll improve dashboard response, as well as maybe adding friend list groupings. I have a feeling that the big feature is Originals though... which is neat, but basically pointless for me without achievements or enhancements.

 

[randay]

shouldnt it be blocked by default? hasnt microsoft learned anything.

 

[Queasy]

Well, there's still more to come. I imagine it will be a drip drip of more information over the next week with maybe a big bang.

No this is not the only feature for the fall update. There are more, but this is all that is being released at this time

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
meh I hope that isn't the highlight.

Ditto.

Its a nice touch.. but not something groundbreaking. I'm just happy that they're improving everything. Hopefully they'll improve dashboard response, as well as maybe adding friend list groupings. I have a feeling that the big feature is Originals though... which is neat, but basically pointless for me without achievements or enhancements.

Yes, spruced up originals would have been awesome, not to mention it logically follows from what they've been doing with XBLA for the most part. Also, I'd rather be able to create a private chat 'room' with more than one friend than be able to see my friend's friends.

 

[holden j caufield]

lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

And why does every feature announcement have to be "the big thing" or nothing else? Can't it just be "useful"?

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

And why does every feature announcement have to be "the big thing" or nothing else? Can't it just be "useful"?

The only real reason they're probably announcing this early is because people need to act on it, not because its a highlight. Originals, yes that's a highlight, but like you said Queasy, this is just a useful feature so I can browse my friends friends and see if I've got everyone I should.

 

[hdeck]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

that's the only thing mentioned in the article, thus people assume it must be the biggest part of the update.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: hdeck

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

that's the only thing mentioned in the article, thus people assume it must be the biggest part of the update.

You know what happens when you assume, right?

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: hdeck

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
lol this is the big thing? How about Divx or Xvid support?

Where does it say that this is "the big thing" ?

that's the only thing mentioned in the article, thus people assume it must be the biggest part of the update.

You know what happens when you assume, right?

magic faeries appear beside you and hump your leg?

 

[randay]

Im going to guess that 99% of xbox owners out there will not take advantage of this going online and turning on blocking feature thingy. they probably wont even notice this change until some wierdo that they dont know starts interacting with them out of the blue. this feature should really be set to blocked by default.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: randay
shouldnt it be blocked by default? hasnt microsoft learned anything.

Does Myspace block it by default? Does Facebook? MS is trying to encourage networking here, if they made it blocked by default many people would never change the setting, even if they don't care about their "privacy" (not that your list of friends on XBL is really something you'd need to keep private).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: randay
Im going to guess that 99% of xbox owners out there will not take advantage of this going online and turning on blocking feature thingy. they probably wont even notice this change until some wierdo that they dont know starts interacting with them out of the blue. this feature should really be set to blocked by default.

I don't understand why people say this should be blocked by default. Should I really care who views my friends list? It's not like I'm someone important who will give away some important person's gamertag by keeping my list public.

It's a nice feature and just another bullet point for the service, but those saying it should be blocked by default are making a bigger deal of it than it is.

 

[randay]

yeah i guess it only really matters for parents of young children who play xbox, i can see how its a non-issue for everyone here, guess im just playing devils advocate.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: randay
yeah i guess it only really matters for parents of young children who play xbox, i can see how its a non-issue for everyone here, guess im just playing devils advocate.

Although I can't think of any significant negative implications, I'm inclined to agree with randay about erring on the side of privacy.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't see the big deal with having it public by default. Just don't friend anybody you don't know... just like on myspace/facebook. There's nothing personal you can find out from it anyway so I don't see any problems.

 

[Modeps]

I'm pretty sure Facebook is private by default, and Myspace is open. Sochl is private by default (friends only). Not that I compare, but hey, its pretty open in terms of what is the norm.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I would like MS to fix their whole Windows Live ID system so that once you become an adult (over 18) there exists some method of turning your account into a standard account. After the spring update and I was locked out of using the Windows Live Messenger they told me to wait for the Fall Update. In the interim the new Zune software won't allow my account to subscribe to explicit podcasts. Needless to say if it isn't fixed with this update I will be pissed.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian
I would like MS to fix their whole Windows Live ID system so that once you become an adult (over 18) there exists some method of turning your account into a standard account. After the spring update and I was locked out of using the Windows Live Messenger they told me to wait for the Fall Update. In the interim the new Zune software won't allow my account to subscribe to explicit podcasts. Needless to say if it isn't fixed with this update I will be pissed.

Nelson amended the post I linked to with this:

Edit: Regarding those who have child accounts but who are now over 18..we are very aware of this and we are working on the technology to properly 'graduate' your account (the official term.) We'll have details on this very soon