Level Up has gone hands-on with the next Xbox 360 dashboard update arriving on November 27. While the
last update sped up the interface and added more avatar functionality, this boasts several new social networking and media features, including the much-awaited
Facebook and Twitter options, as well as last.fm and the Zune Marketplace.
The update adds two new areas to the dashboard. It adds a 'Music Marketplace', which hosts the last.fm application and track pack links for
Guitar Hero and
Rock Band, while 'My Community' houses Facebook and Twitter (American users have many more options here, including updates from various news corporations). Meanwhile, Zune is nestled in the 'Movie Marketplace'.
Facebook: The most eagerly-awaited function is perhaps the most cumbersome to use. Status updates each take up a panel, and profile images take a second to load while flicking through friends, which make navigating overall slower than it needs to be. There are options for news feeds (in Home), updating your profile, friends and photos. Viewing images from albums looks great on a HD television, and you can sync your Facebook and Xbox Live contacts together to find new friends on each service. While we won't recommend it as a replacement over other web or mobile portals, the last two features provide enough reasons to use the service on a console.
Twitter: While Facebook adopts the standard panel interface from the dashboard, Twitter has it's own layout, with a list and bottom corner icons for updates and trending topics, and cute clouds floating in the background. It's like using Twitter in a browser as opposed to an application: twitpic and outside links obviously don't work, and trending topics are readily available. Updating your status causes your avatar to jig on the spot, and you have to manually update your feed by pressing the Y button.
last.fm: This is a more streamlined version of the service, showing popular and recommended stations, your library (with a blown up avatar represented on the panels), tagging and specified gamer stations. Listening to a station takes you to a slideshow of images from the selected band, and it continues to play as you navigate the menus of the application. Unfortunately, it doesn't play outside of the service (so don’t expect music on the dashboard or games, for now at least) but is ideal for those that want free, streaming music coming from your television.
Zune Marketplace: Now you can finally stream 1080p media with full 5.1 surround support, with movies to rent and previews to watch, as well as a selection of independent films. Strangely, it's contained in its own bubble, with the existing marketplace and this one in separate locations. Our guess is that only Gold members can use this service fully.
All services will be fully available to Gold subscribers, while Silver members will have certain restrictions (last.fm use is limited each month, for example). Each application requires a 7MB download (aside from Twitter), which is ideal for those Arcade users who don't want some of these functions, and all are compatible with the clip-on keypad and USB keyboards. Some of the applications, notably Facebook and last.fm, were a little sluggish when moving between panels, but these should be ironed out by the time it's released late next month.
The update will be available for all Xbox Live users on November 17. Are you looking forward to it? Add a comment in the space below! 
