Newsflash:

Xbox Live Update: Inside Scoop

At the beginning of May an update was quietly completed for Xbox Live.

If you’ve read about this upgrade (formerly codenamed Tsunami), you might be wondering where all the fabulous features are. Well, they’re in there, you just can’t see ‘em all yet. We built in a ton of gaming goodness, and right now, there are a lot of game developers working their pasty little fingers to the bone on using these features in their new games. But, you won’t be able to see them, use them, and love them until the games currently in development are spinning in your Xbox video game system. But, when you do, baby, you’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without ‘em!

But, don’t despair. You’ve got a couple of cool new features that you can use right now. You know how much fun it would be to add some trash talk to a Friend Request? Well, now, you’ve got the option to attach a 15-second voice message to it! Go ahead, try it … we’ll wait for ya.

Back already? Kicks butt, doesn’t it? Well, we’ve got another little addition up our sleeves. You can now get Xbox Live Alerts to Messenger or Email to tell you when your friends get on line, or to get news about the latest downloads. How cool is that?

Here’s the deal on when features will be available:

• Voice Messaging with Friend Requests: Available now. Read more about it.
• Xbox Live Alerts: Available now. Read more about it.
• In-Game Voice Messaging: Available when games that support it hit shelves.
• Teams: Available when games that support it hit shelves.
• Competitions: Available when games that support it hit shelves.
• Title-Managed Online Storage: When games that support it hit shelves.
• Diagnosing Xbox Live Connections with the Xbox Dashboard: Available now. Read more about it.

Stay tuned to Xbox.com for more details. We’re just as excited about it as you are!