10 Things You Didn't Know About
Xbox 360
Published August 31, 2007
Hello, class. My name is Professor Elle, and I'll be your instructor for Xbox 201: Unknown Xbox. In this section, I'll be covering a few Xbox 360™ features you may not know about. Let's begin.
Online Status
We'll start with an easy one, online status. Your online status shows up when people look at your Gamer Profile. You can be online, away, busy, or offline. Your status is usually online when you sign in, and away if your console is idle for a while.
To set your online status manually, hit the Guide button, select Personal Settings, Online Status. Choose one of the following:
- Online. Appear online to others. This is the default setting. In other players' friends lists, it'll also show your activity (for example, the game you're playing).
- Away. Appear away to others. The word "Away" appears next to your Gamertag in friends lists.
- Busy. Show a busy flag. The word "Busy" appears in friends lists. This setting will also suppress message and invite notifications.
- Appear Offline. Show your status as offline. This is indistinguishable from a true offline state. You drop down to the bottom portion of people's friends lists, which displays the last time you were in an online (or away, or busy) state.
No matter what you choose, your online activity will always show your current game or activity, unless you change your privacy settings. Online status is also temporary. The next time you turn on your console and sign in, you'll show up as online, unless you manually set your online status again.
Black Level
If you find that your display is too dark or too light during games, try adjusting the black level of your display. In the Xbox Dashboard, on the System blade, select Console Settings, Display, Black Level. Since all TVs are different, you may have to play around a little with the settings to find the best setting.
The easiest way to IM.
Instant Messaging
This one got a lot of attention with the May update, but I thought it was time for a refresher. Xbox 360 is now integrated with Windows Live Messenger, and you can send messages to your contacts directly from your console. You can use the virtual keyboard or plug in a USB keyboard to chat, but the best way is to snap on the chatpad from the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit and let your thumbs fly.
On the Xbox Live blade or in the Xbox Guide, select Chat and IM, then flip to the Messenger tab. If you've never used Messenger on Xbox 360, it'll guide you through a quick setup process, and you can chat your little heart out.
Auto Sign-in
When you first create a Gamer Profile on a new console, you're automatically set to sign in every time you start up the console. This is actually something you can turn on and off. If you want to stop signing in automatically, or have stopped and want to start again, in the Xbox Dashboard or Xbox Guide, select your Gamercard, then select Auto Sign-In.
Privacy Settings
How you appear to the world and what you see online is totally up to you. Allow only your friends to send messages. Block everyone from seeing what games you played. It's all in your hands.
To change your privacy settings, in the Xbox Dashboard or Xbox Guide, select your Gamercard, then select Edit Gamer Profile, Privacy Settings. Most settings can be set to Everyone, Friends Only, or Blocked.
- Voice and Text: Decide who can send messages and chat in voice and text.
- Video: Block or allow video from people on their Xbox LIVE Vision cameras.
- Gamer Profile: Decide who can see your profile info (like motto).
- Online Status: Decide who can see your current online activity. (Blocked people see you as offline.)
- Played Games: Decide who can see the games you've played and achievements you've earned.
- Member Content: Restrict your access to user-generated content.
- Xbox Marketing: Opt in or out of marketing messages from Microsoft and Xbox.
- Partner Marketing: Opt in or out of marketing messages from third-party companies.
For child accounts, privacy settings are controlled by Family Settings. On the System blade, select Family Settings, Xbox Live Controls.
Startup
If you're annoyed by the fact that your game always starts up automatically when you turn on the console, have I got good news for you. There is a setting that'll bypass the game and go straight to the Xbox Dashboard when you power up.
On the System blade of the Xbox Dashboard, select Console Settings, Startup. You'll be confronted with three settings. Disc is the default. With that, your console will start whatever game is in the disc tray. Xbox Dashboard will always "boot to dash." And, if you primarily use your console as a Media Center Extender, select Media Center and that will automatically start.
Media Center
Speaking of Media Center, yes, your Xbox 360 console is also a Media Center Extender. You can use your Xbox 360 to view music, video, and pictures from Windows Media Center on your PC if you have one of the following:
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Ultimate
To connect, on the Media blade of the Xbox Dashboard, select Media Center. It'll walk you through connecting to your PC. You can then use your console to play media just like you do on your PC.
Visualizations
This one's good for parties. Tucked away on the Media blade is a music player, complete with visualizations. With your MP3 player plugged in, or a CD in the drive, go to the Media blade and select Music. Cue up a few songs, then press X for a trippy full-screen visualization.
Now for the fun part: pick up a couple of controllers and start messing around. I know, huh? Each controller does something different.
Game Defaults
Here's one of my favorite obscure features. If the first thing you do in a shooter is go into the settings and invert the y-axis, or go into a racing game and set your transmission to manual, game defaults are for you. It's a group of settings in your profile that a game will pick up and set automatically, so you don't have to keep doing that in all your games.
To change your game defaults, in the Xbox Dashboard or Xbox Guide, select your Gamercard, then select Game Defaults. The defaults are:
- General: Difficulty, Primary Color, Secondary Color, Controller Sensitivity
- Action: Y-Axis, Movement, Auto-Aim, Auto-Center
- Racing: Transmission, Camera Angle, Brake Control, Accelerator Control
Game defaults are only picked up the first time you play a game, so if you change it after you've started a game, you'd still have to go into that game and change it manually. Also, the supported defaults vary by game.
HDTV
Why Professor Elle, of course Xbox 360 does HD! Why would that be in this article?
Well, let me tell you. We've found that many people who have an Xbox 360 console and an HDTV don't know how to set their display properly. The little switch on the component cable is automatically set to standard definition so that it'll work on any TV, but some people with HDTVs don't actually switch it. And, when they do, they don't always go into the display area and switch off of 480p.
So, students, when you get your HDTV, make sure you flip the switch on the cable. Then, once you're in the Xbox Dashboard, go to the System blade, then select Console Settings, Display, HDTV Settings and pick the best resolution for your TV. You'll be glad you did!
If you already knew this, you're at the head of the class. Now, go and share the knowledge. Class dismissed!
Article by Elle
