Xbox fans have discovered that the Xbox 360 received a new update with changes to the console’s dashboard. The new Xbox 360 update comes almost a year after Microsoft shut down the console’s marketplace on July 29, 2024, greatly limiting access to a wealth of games from the seventh-generation console.
In August 2023, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 marketplace would shut down on the aforementioned July 2024 date, nearly 19 years after the console launched in 2005. The Xbox 360 greatly impacted gaming during the seventh generation, making online connectivity a vital feature for consoles going forward. Before the marketplace’s shutdown, players were able to access the storefront to buy digital copies of indie titles, Xbox Live Arcade titles, and full releases like Grand Theft Auto 4 and the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, just to name a few. Leading up to the storefront’s permanent shutdown, Microsoft and its third-party partners offered big discounts on digital Xbox 360 games, allowing players to buy any titles for cheap and build up their library. After the shutdown, players wanting to experience some of the Xbox 360’s greatest games will need to purchase them physically if they haven’t already downloaded the title before the shutdown.
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Reddit user trackwalker discovered that the Xbox 360 dashboard received an update on June 24, and other gamers in the US appear to be noticing the update arriving on their consoles as well. The dashboard update appears to fix the image-stretching issues that players experienced when navigating the Xbox 360’s UI. This issue mostly affected game thumbnails that appear when users insert a game disc into the Xbox 360. Although the dashboard update doesn’t appear to have made any other changes, many Xbox 360 gamers are pleased to see Microsoft continue to offer some support for the console, despite the Xbox 360 marketplace being inaccessible.
Xbox 360 Gamers in the US Receive a New Dashboard Update
Some Xbox 360 fans on Reddit are hoping that Microsoft doesn’t alter the console’s dashboard any further, as they believe the dashboard is now in its best state yet. Others are waiting for the update to reach their console, since it appears that the dashboard changes have only affected Xbox 360 consoles in the US thus far.
There have been rumors of an “Xbox Classics” backwards compatibility project involving a slew of Xbox 360 games, with consultation and support from the Xenia emulation team. However, insiders have refuted claims of the project being in the works, as Microsoft has its own dedicated team for emulation. Xenia also denied the claim, and there’s no indication, through leaks or notable sources, that Xbox Classics is an official project so far. At the very least, there are plenty of Xbox 360 games that players can enjoy on Xbox Series X|S consoles right now via backwards compatibility.
- Brand
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Microsoft
- Original Release Date
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November 22, 2005
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$299, £209, €299
- Weight
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7.7 lbs