New Xbox 360 Dashboard Launches Today, App Schedule Revealed

Microsoft are finally introducing the new Xbox 360 dashboard to the world today, and Kinect users will finally have a fully integrated experience with nearly every screen allowing full voice and gesture navigation.

Of course this dashboard isn't just bringing a new look, it is introducing the new TV and Media applications, with over 40 coming worldwide over the next few months. Today's launch will see 10 new apps available to certain regions, and you can check out the full list of upcoming applications and their region availability below:

Dec. 6:
• EPIX. United States
• ESPN on Xbox LIVE. United States
• Hulu. Japan
• Hulu Plus. United States
• LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
• Netflix. Canada, United States
• Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
• Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
• Telefónica España – Movistar Imagenio. Spain
• TODAY (MSNBC). United States

Later in December:
• 4 on Demand (C4). United Kingdom
• ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Australia
• AlloCiné. France
• Filmstarts. Germany
• Sensacine. Spain
• Screenrush. United Kingdom
• Astral Media’s Disney XD (Astral Media). Canada
• blinkbox (Blinkbox). United Kingdom
• Crackle (Sony Pictures). Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
• Dailymotion. Available in 32 countries globally
• Demand 5 (Five). United Kingdom
• DIGI+ (CANAL+). Spain
• GolTV (Mediapro). Spain
• iHeartRadio (Clear Channel). United States
• Mediathek/ZDF (ZDF). Germany
• MSN. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom
• MSNBC.com. United States
• MUZU.TV. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
• ninemsn. Australia
• Real Sports (Maple Leaf Sports). Canada
• Rogers On Demand Online (Rogers Media). Canada
• SBS ON DEMAND. Australia
• TMZ (Warner Bros.). Canada, United States
• TVE (RTVE.es). Spain
• UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC). Canada, United States
• Verizon FiOS TV. United States
• VEVO. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
• Vudu (Wal-Mart). United States
• YouTube. Available in 24 countries globally

Early 2012:
• Antena 3 (Antena 3 de Televisión). Spain
• BBC (BBC). United Kingdom
• CinemaNow (Best Buy). United States
• HBO GO (HBO). United States
• MLB.TV (MLB Advanced Media). Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
• Telenovelas/Sports (Televisa). Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom
• Xfinity On Demand (Comcast). United States

All of the new apps, and updates to current apps such as Netflix, will be fully compatible with Kinect. Best of all they will be integrated with the dashboard's new Bing search, allowing users to search for media throughout all of Xbox 360's available applications and marketplaces using voice.

Voice itself will no longer be restricted to a paltry few regions, with a total of 13 different countries having access to voice control with the new update, including Australia and New Zealand.

And Windows Phone 7 owners will have access to the new companion app, which will let users control their Xbox with their phone as well as looks up complimentary data for the media streaming on their Xbox 360, such as information about a cast member in a movie.

The update should be available around 3pm GMT (10am US Eastern) (Update: Major Nelson has announced that there will be a slight delay). Check out the video walkthrough below!

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New Xbox 360 Dashboard Launching December 6

If you're jealous of all those beta users with early access to the new Xbox 360 dashboard, you don't have much longer to wait. Microsoft have announced that the dashboard update will launch for all Xbox 360 users on December 6th.

The new dashboard gets rid of the Kinect Hub, creating one unified interface for both controller and Kinect. Unlike the current dashboard, users will be able to access virtually anything, from their games library to the marketplace, using gestures and voice control.

The update will also introduce the new media apps such as YouTube, BBC iPlayer and HBO GO, something even beta users don't yet have access to.

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Vote for the Next Kinect Fun Labs Gadget plus Avatar Kinect News

Kinect Fun Labs has already launched with access to 4 gadgets and another, Sparkler, coming very soon. But it certainly doesn't end there. Kinect Fun Labs is the place for developers of all sizes -- from the lone guy in his bedroom to Microsoft's first party studios like Good Science -- to share their latest innovations. It is, to put it simply, the indie app store for Kinect users and developers.

And to kick off the next wave of titles, Microsoft have started an online election for people to vote for the next gadget to hit the labs, and they've chosen some of the best and most popular Kinect "hacks" that hit the web once Kinect was unofficially made available on the PC.

• Virtual Conductor allows players to control a piece of music; raising the volume and intensity of the strings, and changing the pitch all with the swing of an arms and a twist of the body.
• Kinect Body Art lets you loop a video feed, capturing you and your friends in 3D and superimposing the players into the next loop so that you can interact with multiple versions of yourself and others. Very trippy, I'm sure many users could get a lot of fun and experimentation out of this. Ever wanted to give yourself a high five? Then vote for this gadget!
• Hand Puppets was one of the first pieces of software to show up online when Kinect was made available for the PC by a third party, and it captured the imagination of many bedroom developers regarding the possibilities of Kinect. Ever done a shadow hand puppet on a wall? Well this brings that puppet to life, superimposing a real bird that corresponds and reacts to your hand movements.
• Digital Pin Art turns Kinect's depth image into, well, digital pin art. Turn yourself into a luminescent cloud of points and experiment with a holographic representation of yourself.
• Keyboard Anywhere lets you overlay a virtual piano on any surface, from your bedroom floor to your desk. Ever wanted to try that Big piano sequence? Now you can live your dreams. Very popular when revealed online quite a while back, this is an app we've long wanted to try on Kinect and it seems to resonate with others as well as it is leading the charge with over 100 votes more than the app currently in second place. Still a month of voting to go though!
• Music Visualizer turns you and your room into a music feedback device. Watch as the neon lines bounce and wobble to the beat. Sure to be a hit at any party, this gadget is currently sitting at second place so get voting if you want it to win.

You can watch videos for all of the gadgets here and vote by liking them on Facebook. Voting closes on July 6th, so you have plenty of time to get your vote in.

In other gadget news Microsoft have announced that Avatar Kinect will be hitting Kinect Fun Labs in July. And Relentless Software, the developers behind hit Playstation quiz game Buzz! have signed a deal with Microsoft to create gadgets for the Kinect Fun Lab. Their first will be called Music in Motion, although we have no information about when it might be available or what it might entail.

Check back for all of the latest news from E3, and the latest Kinect Fun Labs announcements!

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