Hardware Geeks

Microsoft’s own Major Nelson blog has detailed additional features that will be included in the upcoming dashboard update for the Xbox 360.  Apparently this is only the beginning and additional details about features will be revealed in the coming months leading up to the fall release.  Read on for highlights of some notable features.

A big feature is that games on disc will be able to be offloaded and stored onto the hard drive for play.  This will reduce load times as well as noise levels since the drive won’t be spinning.  The disc will still need to be in the drive however, to verify that you indeed own the game.  This new feature along with the recently upgraded hard drive size for the Xbox 360, might be a way for the console to compensate for its lack of a high-density medium, such as Blu-ray as seen on the PS3.

Another new feature is that the Xbox Live Marketplace will be accessible from computers.  This will allow you to browse and purchase content from the Marketplace and have them automatically downloaded to your Xbox 360.

One notable feature is that the Xbox 360 will be getting support for 16:10 resolutions via VGA or HDMI.  The resolutions 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050 will be supported.  This is particularly beneficial for people who play their Xbox 360s on computer monitors, since it will eliminate stretching and/or black bars due to resolution differences from standard HDTVs.

Post Tags: microsoft  xbox 360  e3 

Next entry: Watch/Download Microsoft's E3 Press Conference Previous entry: PS3 loses Final Fantasy XIII exclusivity