Just a quicdk updte on the November dashboard update from majornelson.com:

An updated version of the Fall Update is now available on Xbox Live which has elminated issues relating to new or refurbished consoles failing after applying the Fall Update. Users who have already applied the Fall Update and are seeing an error message should call their local Xbox Support telephone number. If you already have the update, you will not be prompted for another update.

Well looks like MS have messed things up a bit with the November Xbox Live update. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment but it is looking like anyone with a brand new Xbox 360 will have major problems installing the new update. People attempting to do so are getting a System Error E71 on the dashboard, basically meaning that they can’t use their Xbox.

MS are reported to be on the case and are advising people not to apply the update, and a patch should be ready in a day or two to fix the problem. In the meantime, if you are having the problem, it has been suggeste that you try the following (although I haven’t done this myself so don’t hold me responsible for anthing that goes wrong). If in doubt, just wait for the patch.

Option 1
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Option 2
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Remove your harddisk
- Add your harddisk to your console
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Option 3
- Turn your console off
- Disconnect all the cables
- Remove your harddisk
- Remove your poweradapter from the wall-socket
- Wait 60 seconds
- Connect your poweradapter to the wall-socket
- Add your harddisk to your console
- Connect the cables
- Turn your console on

Further details can be found at:

http://www.xboxic.com/news/1897
and
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showpost.php?p=8310370&postcount=210

Some time today (Tuesday, October 31), Microsoft will be launching a major update of the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live. This update will be automatically applied the next time you login to Xbox Live. The update will include the following features:

New Features

• HD 1080p video mode support over VGA and component cables.
• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player support.
• Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
• Play video from storage devices such as USB flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
• Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
• Xbox 360 Wireless Headset support, including battery level indicator in the Xbox Guide.
• Video support for 50 Hz HDTV modes (DVD and HD DVD only).
• Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel support.
• Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
• Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express (separate download and subscription required.)
• Stream music, pictures and video from a Zune device.

Xbox Live Arcade

• Lightning-fast enumeration and listing of all Xbox Live® Arcade games on the console.
• Find games quickly with two new sort options: Recently Played and By Category.
• Have all new Xbox Live Arcade games at the ready with auto downloads. Auto downloads optionally adds newly released trial versions of games to active downloads when you enter Xbox Live Arcade.
• View full achievement info in Xbox Live Arcade, including icons, achievement point details, and descriptions.
• Friends leaderboard: Compare yourself with friends and view leaderboard details right from the Xbox dashboard.
• Tell a friend: Send a message to a friend about your newest favorite Xbox Live Arcade game.

DVD Player

• Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.
• Improved support for audio streams on incorrectly authored DVDs.
• Better handling of unreadable discs.
• Updated count-down timer.
• HD DVD player support.
• Added zoom support for non-anamorphic content.
• Added support to Family Settings to block Unrated Content

Video Player

• Improved support for extended all black scenes in WMV content.
• Added support for Windows Media Video 9 Advanced profile video.
• Screen saver now becomes active when videos are paused.
• Now shares UI and player controls with DVD player.
• Improved video playback while downloading from Xbox Live.
• Added skip controls (forward approx. 30 seconds, back approx. 7 seconds).
• Improved messaging around unplayable video content.
• Added time elapsed and time remaining displays.
• Improved playback of high bit-rate HD content on fragmented hard drives.
• Improved visual quality of video playback.
• Added selectable display modes: default and letterbox zoom.

Localization

• New locale setting for China.
• Improved German translations in console settings.
• Improved German translations in memory area.
• Improved Japanese translations in Family Settings.
• Added localized text for all supported languages in pictures area.
• Improved Spanish translations in camera effects.
• Improved locale-specific decimal denominators.
• Added localization support for title menu and main menu in the DVD player.
• Added localization support for “Attempting to Read Media” system message.

Memory Area

• Added support for Xbox 360 HD DVD Player content.
• Added new page for viewing content size by category.

Other System Improvements

• Updated support for new Daylight Savings changes coming in 2007.
• Improved support for games to better handle host migration in multi-player matches.
• Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support for changing room lighting while zooming.
• Background downloaded videos appear in video area.
• Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support while using VGA.
• Playing photo slideshows from PC now maintains picture folder hierarchy.
• Improved user experience when playing and deleting videos from the Games or Media areas.
• Improved handling of invalid characters during Xbox Live signup.
• Better handling of watermarks in gamer cards.
• Improved text for Windows Media Connect.
• Improved UI performance in Media Center Extender.
• Improved connection support for Buffalo WZR-G108 wireless router when using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
• Redownload of deleted Arcade Games no longer re-enumerates all games on the Arcade page.
• Improved visual display of text in themes.
• Improved support for CD playback after signing up for Xbox Live and losing network connectivity.
• Improved support for long names of items memory area.
• Improved handling of gamer pictures downloaded from Xbox Live.
• Improved background download notifications when downloading many small items from Xbox Live.
• Improved support for custom backgrounds after returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the Account Management area.
• Improved network reliability between Windows Media Center Extender on Windows Vista and Xbox 360 consoles using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
• Improved voice chat quality in Xbox Dashboard and in-game chats.
• Improved messaging when failing to connect to Windows Media Center Extender.
• Improved USB keyboard support when using a USB hub.
• Improved consistency of user experience when deleting various types of content.
• Improved handling of low storage space for background downloads.
• Improved handling of Picture streaming from attached Digital Cameras over MTP protocol.
• Improved error messaging for optional iPod support download when storage devices are full.
• Improved handling of multi-key repeating for USB keyboards.
• Expanded Family Settings to include support for blocking unrated DVDs and videos.
• Added ability to clear space from storage devices in download areas.
• Added support for low-speed and full-speed USB keyboards.
• Improved CapsLock behavior for USB keyboards.
• Improved look and feel in Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade areas.
• Added redeem code option to Xbox Live signup.
• Removed system message at the start of new downloads. Messages will be displayed for completed items.
• Added support for CCV credit card validation field in Xbox Live Marketplace purchase areas.
• Updated “More Information” instructions in the Xbox Dashboard for connecting an Xbox 360 console to a Windows PC to stream digital media content.
• Added auto-scroll to long text descriptions in Xbox Dashboard UI.
• Improved support for DVD insertion while playing a video file.

This weeks top Xbox Live games.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games

1. Splinter Cell Double Agent
2. Call of Duty 2
3. Tony Hawk’s Project 8 Demo
4. Ghost Recon 3
5. Madden NFL 07
6. Saints Row
7. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8. Final Fantasy XI
9. S.C.D.A. Online Demo
10. BFMC

Top Xbox Live Arcade Titles (Full Versions)

1. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
2. LUMINES LIVE!
3. UNO
4. DOOM
5. DIG DUG
6. Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting
7. Texas Hold ‘em
8. Geometry Wars Evolved
9. PAC-MAN
10. Marble Blast Ultra

Original Xbox Top Live Games

1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: MC
3. Madden NFL 07
4. Counter-Strike
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6. Rainbow Six 3 BA
7. Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
8. Splinter Cell Chaos
9. Forza Motorsport
10. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

Source: majornelson.com

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas demo is now available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Team Rainbow makes its next-generation hardware debut in the most dramatic installment of the renowned first-person shooter franchise to date. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas, Rainbow operatives take to the chaotic streets of Las Vegas as an escalating terrorist siege in Sin City threatens to take world terrorism to new, uncontrollable heights.
 
The future of global security hangs in the balance as you battle to defend classic Vegas locations and environments like Fremont Street, the Strip, and world-famous casinos. Experience Las Vegas like never before, through revolutionary next-generation technology as you work against the clock to keep one of the world’s most recognizable cities from utter devastation.

Please note that this demo is not available in the US or Canada.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is now available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is available in all Xbox Live regions and costs 800 points.

Prepare for the fight of your life! Enter the world of ULTIMATE Mortal Kombat 3 and discover 22 playable characters, classic fatalities, brutalities, friendships, and babalities with tons of environments, and multiplayer Kombat Mode as you fight to defeat Shao Kahn! FINISH HIM!!!

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 demo is now available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Reengineered from the ground up for Xbox 360, Tony Hawk’s Project 8 will give gamers the ultimate skateboarding experience. Project 8continues the definitive skating series with ultra-realistic graphics, enhanced physics, and new super-responsive controls that put you in complete control of every trick and bail.

Face off against some of the world’s top pro skaters and feel the intensity and pressure of true life competitions. Build your career as the world’s top skater, and establish your home town as a skating destination. With non-stop skating action in a free-roaming, living environment, Tony Hawk’s Project 8incorporates the series’ most popular features, all enhanced for next-gen technology.

Some exciting news for Oblivion fans, Knights of the Nine content will be available for download and retail on 21st November. The download will include both extra quests and a new faction.

Bethesda Softworks today announced plans to make its new Knights of the Nine content for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion available for the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows via download and a new retail Windows product. Knights of the Nine will be available through Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 and www.OblivionDownloads.com on November 21st.

Knights of the Nine will also be available as a Windows boxed product at retail on the 21st. The retail version of Knights of the Nine is a compilation that will include all the other Oblivion downloadable content released to date: Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard’s Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrunes’ Razor, and Spell Tomes. Bethesda Softworks will publish and distribute Knights of the Nine at retail directly in North America and through a co-publisher arrangement with Ubisoft in Europe.

“We’re pleased to bring this new content to Xbox 360 and to Windows gamers who have been so supportive of Oblivion,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To date, the response to our new downloadable content has been terrific – it’s easily the most popular downloadable content on Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 and has been very popular for Windows as well – and we think the opportunity to enjoy an entirely new faction and quests is something our fans will be eager to try.”

Knights of the Nine features an all-new faction and quests for noble characters and answers many of the questions surrounding the Ayleid ruins found throughout Oblivion. Players can join a new faction and found their own order of holy knights – leading them into battle against a sorcerer-king and his demonic minions while exploring massive dungeons and searching for legendary relics – the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader. 

Once the Xbox Live maintanance period is over Lumines Live! should be available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Lumines Live! is available in all Xbox Live regions and costs 1200 points.

Frenetic puzzle action! Dazzling background videos! A fresh installment to the original blockbuster puzzle series has landed on Xbox Live® Arcade – Lumines Live! Harnessing the power of the Xbox 360, Lumines Live! is a deeply rich and totally cool gaming experience, enhanced with vibrant music and newly designed skins that you can custom-select while playing in Skin Edit mode. Lumines Live! even features full multiplayer mode on Xbox Live, unleashing the world of leaderboards, achievements, gamer scores, online competitive modes, and more. The base pack for Lumines Live! comes equipped with almost a dozen skins. Expand the Lumines Live! experience with additional downloadable content via Xbox Live Marketplace, including new puzzles, skins, and music – such as music videos performed by artists like Madonna – all offered through the Artist Pack.

This weeks top Xbox Live games.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games

1. Call of Duty 2
2. Saints Row
3. Madden NFL 07
4. Ghost Recon 3
5. Test Drive Unlimited
6. UNO
7. Oblivion
8. BFMC
9. DEAD RISING
10. FIFA 07 DEMO

Top Xbox Live Arcade Titles (Full Versions)

1. DOOM
2. UNO
3. Texas Hold ‘em
4. TotemBall
5. Hexic HD
6. DIG DUG
7. Geometry Wars Evolved
8. Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting
9. PAC-MAN
10. Marble Blast Ultra

Original Xbox Top Live Games

1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: MC
3. Madden NFL 07
4. Counter-Strike
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6. Splinter Cell Chaos
7. Rainbow Six 3 BA
8. Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
9. Forza Motorsport
10. Rainbow Six 3

Source: majornelson.com