Sign up for the Xbox Live Preview Program

[Queasy]

Details at Major Nelson

I am happy to announce that we?re doing an Xbox LIVE Update Preview program for upcoming features such as Zune, Facebook and Twitter. Much like we have done in the past, you?ll need to visit the Microsoft Connect site from this link and sign in with your Windows LIVE ID that is connected to your Xbox LIVE Gamertag.

Once you do that, you need to fill out the "Xbox LIVE Update Preview Sign Up" survey in order to be considered for receiving the Preview System Update. We're asking a few questions about where you live, your home network, ISP connection and a few other pieces of information. We are looking for a good cross-section of our members in order to get the best feedback we can.
The Xbox team will then review all of the applications and if you?re selected we?ll send you an email notifying you of your acceptance in the program. A couple of points before you head off to register:

* We?re looking for multiple thousands of participants, so your chances of making it in are good
* This opportunity is open to all Xbox LIVE Members in regions where Xbox LIVE is available
* Just completing the survey does not automatically get you access to the Preview Program. We?ll be making final selections from the completed surveys and send you an email if you are selected.
* While both Xbox LIVE Gold and Silver members can sign up, Priority will be given to Gold members in the selection process.

For additional details and specific requirements, head to Xbox.com.

If you are accepted, you'll hear from us in about a week. Make sure your information on Connect is updated with a current email address so we can email you if you are accepted.

Sign up for the Xbox LIVE Update Preview Program

 

[erwos]

I actually got in pretty quick this time, so hoping I might get in the first round testing.

 

[mugs]

I filled out the survey and clicked submit, and it just reloaded the page with no confirmation... that's odd.

Edit: I filled it out again and got a confirmation screen

 

[bucwylde23]

Thanks, signed up.

 

[Dari]

Does the XBOX 360 have a web browser? Twitter would be useless without that.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: Dari
Does the XBOX 360 have a web browser? Twitter would be useless without that.

Twitter is just viewing simple text and people linking to other people's text, with a few pics and maybe a video or two thrown in. None of that would be difficult to manage in a simple client. Its certainly not anymore difficult than Facebook. In fact, I think Twitter is great for this medium (you're not going to want to type a long message on a 360 controller, and think of all the incomprehensible messages the 13 year old Xbox Live bigots can post).

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17

Originally posted by: Dari
Does the XBOX 360 have a web browser? Twitter would be useless without that.

Twitter is just viewing simple text and people linking to other people's text, with a few pics and maybe a video or two thrown in. None of that would be difficult to manage in a simple client. Its certainly not anymore difficult than Facebook. In fact, I think Twitter is great for this medium (you're not going to want to type a long message on a 360 controller, and think of all the incomprehensible messages the 13 year old Xbox Live bigots can post).

Yep. You don't need a web browser. Just an app which is all that is being added here. Same with Facebook and Last.fm.

 

[Dari]

So twitter doesn't have links? What about facebook? I don't have or use either and I definitely don't have an XBOX 360 that is why I'm asking. But I'm used to hearing about twitter.com and facebook.com so I'd assume a browser would be helpful.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Dari
So twitter doesn't have links? What about facebook? I don't have or use either and I definitely don't have an XBOX 360 that is why I'm asking. But I'm used to hearing about twitter.com and facebook.com so I'd assume a browser would be helpful.

Occasionally. Mostly it is just straight text. Facebook will occasionally have video or pics in a post.

Haven't heard how it will handle links. Guess we will find out Friday when the invites start going out.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Dari
So twitter doesn't have links? What about facebook? I don't have or use either and I definitely don't have an XBOX 360 that is why I'm asking. But I'm used to hearing about twitter.com and facebook.com so I'd assume a browser would be helpful.

This is just my opinion, but while links are certainly part of a social network's communication options , they're not really the main draw of it... it's usually more for contacting friends and seeing what they're up to. The lack of links isn't going to make FB or Twitter on the 360 any more or less useful in a significant way, methinks. Besides, given the current state of the art in embedded browsers, I doubt a lot of those links would even render correctly to begin with... maybe next generation.

 

[R Nilla]

Preview Program emails are supposed to go out on Friday.


Giant Bomb has a quick look at the update.

Honestly it is pretty weak. Not that I'm excited about using Facebook or Twitter on my 360 to begin with, but from what I've seen it looks underwhelming. Although being able to see which of your Facebook friends are currently on Xbox Live could be useful, I suppose.

Last.fm integration is neat, I guess, but it would be more impressive if you could run it in the background while playing games or browsing the dashboard. Instant-on 1080p streaming is nice but I'm never going to pay ~$4-$6 to rent one digital movie, especially when I have Netflix HD streaming on the same machine.

 

[R Nilla]

Got the update about an hour ago. Like I said before, not much to see here. Then again, I'm not a big facebook updater or tweeter.

 

[bucwylde23]

I think the interfaces are really cool, but I just wish it could be integrated so tweets/facebook updates can be done mid-game. Most of the time that i'm on my xbox i'm playing games not just dicking around in the menus.
Overall though it's a welcome addition. The zune videos on demand work great.

 

[mugs]

Huh... I thought the twitter/facebook integration would involve something like posting things like achievements on your facebook/twitter feed. About the only useful thing I saw in that video (didn't watch the whole thing) was the facebook feature that lets you find your facebook friends on Xbox Live. I saw they also have a feature that lets you find your Xbox Live friends on Facebook; hopefully there are privacy settings that you can adjust there, because I have a lot of ATers on my XBL buddy list, and I don't really want you guys to be finding me on Facebook.

I don't really see myself using the Facebook/Twitter apps other than the find a friend feature. If I'm gaming upstairs my Xbox is next to my computer, and if I'm gaming downstairs I probably have my phone with me.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: mugs
Huh... I thought the twitter/facebook integration would involve something like posting things like achievements on your facebook/twitter feed. About the only useful thing I saw in that video (didn't watch the whole thing) was the facebook feature that lets you find your facebook friends on Xbox Live. I saw they also have a feature that lets you find your Xbox Live friends on Facebook; hopefully there are privacy settings that you can adjust there, because I have a lot of ATers on my XBL buddy list, and I don't really want you guys to be finding me on Facebook.

I don't really see myself using the Facebook/Twitter apps other than the find a friend feature. If I'm gaming upstairs my Xbox is next to my computer, and if I'm gaming downstairs I probably have my phone with me.

The first thing you do when you set up facebook on the 360 is the privacy settings. You can choose whether to show your Facebook names to your friends list.

I think the showing achievements in your facebook status is something to be coming at a later date.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
I think the showing achievements in your facebook status is something to be coming at a later date.

That could become incredibly annoying. Uncharted 2 originally had twitter integration (and still does) but they've disabled it for now because apparently it was too annoying when only a select few were playing advanced copies. That was just one game. I can't imagine what Facebook or Twitter would be like when millions of people are spamming out their latest achievements or XBL presence as their status.

I know they showed off the ability to upload screenshots to Facebook from Tiger Woods (at E3?)--that's a neat feature. But ultimately I'm sure 99.9% of my Facebook friends don't give a shit about my Xbox Live activity.

 

[erwos]

I feel like if it gave me the OPTION of posting a particular achievement to Facebook or Twitter, I might respond favorably to that. I'd respond even more favorably if only my friends with 360s saw it, too. If I beat a game on the hardest difficulty level, dammit, I do want to share that.

Doing it automatically... yes, that would be annoying.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: erwos
Doing it automatically... yes, that would be annoying.

I still maintain that it would be annoying even if you choose what updates get pushed out. But at least Facebook has the ability for users to ignore all updates from a specific application so hopefully people could opt out of Xbox Live messages.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: erwos
Doing it automatically... yes, that would be annoying.

I still maintain that it would be annoying even if you choose what updates get pushed out. But at least Facebook has the ability for users to ignore all updates from a specific application so hopefully people could opt out of Xbox Live messages.

Yeah, but that situation isn't any worse than what Facebook already offers. To me, that makes it far more acceptable. There is a certain amount of annoyance built into having spammy friends...

I'm kinda shocked that last.fm doesn't work as background music... that really makes it far less useful as a service. Bandwidth problems from trying to stream, I suppose.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: erwos
Doing it automatically... yes, that would be annoying.

I still maintain that it would be annoying even if you choose what updates get pushed out. But at least Facebook has the ability for users to ignore all updates from a specific application so hopefully people could opt out of Xbox Live messages.

Facebook also collapses multiple similar entries that occur within a short period of time, so only the most recent appears and you have to click to see the rest. Not sure what their criteria are for doing that.

 

[bucwylde23]

I agree that it would be annoying to have a facebook message every time you got an achievement. If they do implement that I'd probably turn it off. No one cares about my achievements on facebook since most of them don't play video games.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
The first thing you do when you set up facebook on the 360 is the privacy settings. You can choose whether to show your Facebook names to your friends list.

Here's the thing... I don't care if my facebook friends find my Xbox Live gamertag (actually I'd prefer that) because I know all of them in real life. I don't want my Xbox Live "friends" to find my Facebook account, because I don't know most of them in real life. But there's only one privacy setting that covers both. I guess I'll submit feedback to MS; I think a lot of people would feel similarly.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: chrisg22
The first thing you do when you set up facebook on the 360 is the privacy settings. You can choose whether to show your Facebook names to your friends list.

Here's the thing... I don't care if my facebook friends find my Xbox Live gamertag (actually I'd prefer that) because I know all of them in real life. I don't want my Xbox Live "friends" to find my Facebook account, because I don't know most of them in real life. But there's only one privacy setting that covers both. I guess I'll submit feedback to MS; I think a lot of people would feel similarly.

I feel the same way. I disabled it for now. My FB friends are people I've know since childhood or are close family members. My Xbox Live friends are a mixture of family, friends and colleagues. I'd like to be able to block some of my Live friends from seeing my FB content.

 

[biggestmuff]

How does everyone like the NXE preview? I've never messed with Last.FM. I've used Pandora before, so I'm familiar with the concept. It loads fast and works well. I skipped through several songs and was never told that I'd have to wait a while in order to skip. Pandora has that and I dislike it. I don't know how much I'd use it. When I set up my own channel, I ended up picking out a band that I like...who's entire catalog resides on my music server and I can get to via our home network and my Xbox. 🙂 I guess I'd use Last.FM to discover more music or just select one of the 'style' channels and listed to it in the background while doing stuff around the house.

What's the deal with the 1080P Instant On? Is that a new feature of Netflix? I thought it was, but I loaded Netflix, selected an HD movie and it took the same duration to begin playing.

The Facebook integration is cool. I like being able to browse photos from my friends on the large screen. However, the picture quality was lacking. I have a 61" display so that my be the cause. No real complaints about the application.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
What's the deal with the 1080P Instant On? Is that a new feature of Netflix? I thought it was, but I loaded Netflix, selected an HD movie and it took the same duration to begin playing.

The 1080P Instant on only applies to the Zune Video Marketplace which, iirc, replaces XBLVM.