Microsoft Preps Xbox Live Users for New Social, Video Features

Microsoft is adding some new social and streaming video features to Xbox.com and the software giant is bracing Xbox Live users for what looks to be a fairly significant navigation revamp which includes the elimination of "My Xbox."

"In the coming days, the familiar 'My Xbox' section of Xbox.com is going away," Microsoft's Denny Atkin told Xbox Live members in an official Xbox.com blog post this week. "Fear not: It's being replaced with a significant update that will make it even easier to see what your friends are doing on Xbox Live."

Replacing My Xbox will be a new section called "Social,"Belstaff which adds access to Microsoft's new Beacons feature, a tool that lets users tag games they want to play with other Xbox 360 gamers as well as serving as social networking platform for friends on Xbox Live.

Beacons is part of Microsoft's next big Xbox 360 dashboard update. Moncler Spaccio Other new stuff coming down the pike includes access to the Zune video catalog, which will allow Xbox Live users to use their browser to buy movies and television shows.

"Social" basically replaces "My Xbox". To help folks get used to the change in the navigation menu,Sito Ufficiale Moncler Microsoft will be dropping users onto the new Social page when they sign into Xbox.com.

The first thing users will see when they visit the new Social page is a group of Microsoft's new "Metro" tiles at the top, which will be populated with links to Marketplace previews, Xbox Live events, new releases, Gamer Spotlight, and more, Atkin writes.

Avatars retain their pride of place on the page, but they'll be surrounded by links to tasks like profile viewing, a "Friends Activity" column that shows users what their friends are up to—games they've played recently and which of them are playing them at the moment,Belstaff Outlet plus a list of games a user has loaded and how many of their friends are playing that game.

At the top of the screen, there's an "Activity" button that takes users to Xbox Live's new Activity page. This is where Beacon comes in—users can tick off up to three games they want to play with others here and also customize the request, for example, by setting a time to play.

Microsoft has also revamped its Messages section and users will now be able to visit their friends' profiles to check on their Beacon activity, according to Atkin.