The latest update for Xbox Live came in late December of 2007 featuring Xbox Originals and brought Video Marketplace outside the US for the first time. The social aspect of Xbox Live was also expanded with the ability to view your friend’s friends list, and the option to create a short biography for yourself for anyone to read. The Fall update brought a lot of new and exciting features, perhaps the most important was the global explosion of the use of Xbox Live’s Video Marketplace.
But as good as this update was… Xbox Live is still far from perfect. The following is a list of essential and non-essential features we at SliceGaming hope Microsoft includes in the 2008 Spring update.
There is little doubt most games will soon adopt an A-hole button, similar to that of Halo 3, but even so, a separate area to converse with your friends would be greatly valued. One-on-one chat is decent enough, and you do have the ability to be in multiple one-on-one chats at once, but that just doesn’t justify Xbox Live and its hefty price tag. Group Chat is a feature that has been asked of Microsoft since the beginning of these semi-annual updates and it’s about time something actually happens. Although one would assume it is a simple feature and would be easy for the Xbox Live team to implement, clearly something is going on behind the scenes. Whether its just being delayed, or they’re making group chat + much more, it’s a simple feature that has been wanted by the community for years and its about time Microsoft stepped up.
Essentially just a reorganized friends list, another feature we at SliceGaming would like to see is Unified Clan Support. More of a separate, intimate friends list, clan support would fit perfectly with Xbox Live’s close-knit community and a lot of online games are just begging for this type of support. In Halo 2 there were clans and that had some success, but I don’t mean each game should have different clans. A clan system which can be accessible from the dashboard and would support all games is what we’re looking for. It may seem a little complicated, and because some people stand by their games forever and always, even though they’re the same type of game (i.e. Call of Duty 4 vs. Halo 3) the option to join multiple clans may have to be looked into. This is a major feature and would be very hard to do (especially if Microsoft were to include already released games), but it is just another one of those features that a service such as Xbox Live should offer.
Now even though this would be directly copying its competitor, an internet browser would be another great feature for Xbox Live. Sony’s Playstation Network has basic web browser and as great of an idea as it is, it’s very restricted and is in dire need of sort from of expansion. And with Microsoft being the creators of the most used internet browser on earth, one must assume it is only a matter of time. Internet Explorer’s quality is very subjective, however there’s no denying the experience Microsoft has in this department and is one of the few areas their console can and should greatly exceed other consoles. Some may argue the usefulness of a feature like this, but just imagine talking to your clan in group chat while watching a YouTube video together…
There are also many, many smaller features that could really benefit Live. For example, increasing your friends list beyond 100 people, I have never reached this limit but because I am so close to the limit it makes me cautious when accepting/rejecting friend requests. Also, it is quite irritating when trying to add someone to your list only to be stopped by a message saying they have reached their limit. The expansion of Video Marketplace in other territories is another minor feature that would benefit already satisfied Live customers. Where I am, there are currently 50 movies available, in sharp contrast to hundreds that are available on the American Video Marketplace. A reorganization of the dashboard would also be great, but since these usually do more harm than good…Microsoft may want to think about just leaving it as is, for once.
Previous updates have brought things such as the inclusion of Microsoft’s Messenger service, and personal public profiles; will the streak be kept alive if one or more of the above features is included in the next update?
Any features you think are missing? Why not discuss it in our forums.
