Xbox Live’s director of programming, Larry Hryb (aka @majornelson) recently tweeted a few messages to his 343k followers saying the following:

FYI: The timing for Xbox 360 dashboard update has been slightly delayed. I’ll have a status update later today

As you can see he is very vague about the situation, therefore we don’t know whether there was just a very minor issue with the update or something more serious. Since posting this tweet he has gone on to say that he won’t have additional details until later today, that said the moment he has new information he will share it on Twitter.

We aren’t going to delve into what the cause of this delay is, but we are seriously hoping that Microsoft’s new dashboard roll out has not ran into major problems, when we hear more on the situation we will keen you posted, so keep checking Product-Reviews for all of the latest news.

Now that you have a wait on your hands you should perhaps find some other things to do to keep you entertained, here’s some suggestions: Firstly if you are a Battlefield 3 fan you should watch the brand new Battlefield 3 Wake Island trailer, still got time on your hands? PC gamers could always install the Skyrim HD retexture mod, PES 2012 gamers should find out all about the upcoming patch and finally why not find out about the faster boot time which the new Xbox 360 dashboard will bring to your console.

Still got time on your hands? Why not check out Engadget’s detailed review of the new Xbox 360 dash.

Leave us a comment below when the update finally hits your console and whether you run into any problem, at 3.30pm UK time it still hadn’t hit my 360.

More About: Major Nelson, microsoft, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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Prior to the update I used to find sending messages and game invites a bit laggy, however things seem a lot smoother now, there is no longer a delay before receiving the “Game Invite Sent” confirmation message, also writing text messages was a lot easier and it felt as if I was composing the message a lot faster than before.

I particularly like the new way that you could see if Xbox Live friends are online, before it wasn’t a huge problem, however now there is a new red or green icon signifying this.

A lot of people are complaining that the new simplified UI makes the dashboard look less mature than the last, however I feel that the minimalistic look great and allows you to see important information more easily.

I like the new Game Marketplace despite it not being a great deal different, the faster UI makes browsing a lot quicker and I think in the long run people won’t take so long finding the content that they are after.

The only thing I do not really like is the new font used when you receive notifications on your screen, such as a friend signing in, sending you a message or inviting you to a game.

What are your favorite/least favorite changes to the dashboard?

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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I thought I would contact Xbox Support regarding the issue, to be honest I didn’t expect a reply, however they replied within 15 minutes, and it is good news.

You can see the reply below, as you can see it is probably the result of a huge amount of traffic and will repopulate itself over time, so if your list is blank it will probably be sorted pretty soon.

I had a little search around and it seems as if people are reporting that their friends lists have now reappeared a few hours after installing the update, has yours?

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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The most common problem seems to occur when people begin downloading the update, apparently a lot of people start downloading the update, however after a few minutes it fails and says that there is a connection problem.

There has been no official statement from Microsoft, however I suspect that this is a server-related problem caused by the huge demand, some users have tried installing the update multiples times and it still fails, whilst others suggested it worked after a few attempts.

My suggestion is to turn off your router for 5 minutes and retry the update, the update worked fine for me 9 hours ago when there wasn’t as much demand, so it should be a problem which resolves over time.

Have you experienced the connection problems? If so, what did you do to resolve this?

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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Love or hate Microsoft you have to praise them for a well rolled-out update, I have trawled around the web for problems associated with the new update and I have found next to nothing, which is especially good given that a certain competing console manufacturer seems to brick a small percentage of consoles with every firmware update they release.

The only minor problems I found were related to downloading ESPN and poor frames per second with Netflix since installing the update, have you experienced any problems with the update? If so, let us know in the comments section below.

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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Obviously in terms of functionality the new dashboard is going to be a hit, however we are more interested in things like sending messages to friends, inviting friends to games, party chat and the general look and performance of the new dash.

I managed to get some hands-on time with the new dashboard earlier today and I was pretty impressed, there didn’t seem to be that spit-second of lag you get when inviting friends to games (which was a problem with the last dash) and in my opinion the new UI had a much better look and feel than any previous versions.

Feel free to answer the poll question below, also if you have a strong opinion on this subject share your thoughts in the comments section.

[poll id="266"]

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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The update is not being rolled out in certain regions first, so pretty much everyone should be able to download the update now, I am currently in the UK and have received the update, the download was very quick and installation took less than a minute .Once installed the first thing you notice is a new splash screen (we have embedded a couple of images below), when you sign in to Xbox Live you have a new terms of usage that you have to agree.

We will now list the new feature this update brings, however if you want a fully detailed breakdown we suggest that you check out MajorNelson’s post here.

The new update brings ESPN on Xbox LIVE, Zune Music, Netflix Search, improved voice chat quality, a new Avatar spin wheel option which suggests Gamertags when your choice is already taken, an improved and easy to use QWERTY keyboard in the dashboard, an improved Xbox LIVE Marketplace UI, better wireless networking functionality, improved sign-in / sign-out capabilities, a new feature which allows you and others to see the games which you complete 100% and finally updated family settings and family programming capabilities.

Check out the source link below to see full details, have you received the update yet?

Source: MajorNelson

More About: Xbox 360, XBOX 360 Dashboard, xbox live

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