Xbox LIVE to become like Facebook this Fall?
Microsoft is preparing another update for the Xbox 360 Dashboard right now in the hope of making it even easier for gamers to expand their Friends network on the Xbox LIVE service by letting them check out the Friends Lists of people already on their list.
Working rather like the feature on popular networking website Facebook, Microsoft is set to allow you to peruse at leisure the Friends Lists of those currently on your own Friends List. Basically the idea is to be able to search out those you might have forgotten about or lost contact with for whatever reason by checking out your mate’s list. But do you really want all and sundry nosing through your private list of friends? Sometimes adding people could purely be due to ‘clans’ or such like, rather than actually close friendships and subjecting people on your Friends List to them may not be ideal.
Here is what Microsoft has to say on the matter:
“Microsoft is making it even easier to expand your Friends network on Xbox LIVE, starting with the Fall Dashboard Update on December 4th. Members will now be able to check out the friends lists of fellow Xbox LIVE members right from the Dashboard. With this new feature, members can find old friends or connect with new ones within the community of more than 8 million people on Xbox LIVE around the globe and send messages and game invites, as well as compare games and Achievements.
“With the prevalence of social media websites such as MySpace and FaceBook, this type of capability has largely come to be expected from consumers as a means to relate in an online community. Xbox LIVE continually seeks new ways to better serve the expectations of its members, which often result in enhancements made available for free through the bi-annual Dashboard updates.
“When the Fall Dashboard update is distributed on December 4th, the new default setting on Xbox LIVE will be active enabling members to see the Friends lists of other Xbox LIVE members. Members who would like to keep their friends list private can take the following steps to change their settings beginning today:
Log in to www.xbox.com/fof and select one of the three options available for your Gamertag:
- Everyone (only available to members 18 and older)
- Friends only (available to members 13 and older)
- Blocked (available to all members, and automatic for anyone under the age of 13)
“Stay tuned for more information about the Xbox 360 Dashboard Update later this month.”
So thankfully it appears you can disable the feature if you want. But what are your thoughts on this impending update? Be sure to let us know by posting below…
Excellent…now everyone will be able to meet my mentally unstable friend who slits his wrists…
If I can get it linked to my myspace site or get my music on there I’m all for it (cos I am a blatent whore when it comes to shit like this). So your mate can then slit his wrists while listening to SMILER, then everyones a winner.
Blocked it right away.
Totally Pointless!!! Just give us the ability to have more than one person in a private chat already.
definately i mean its only been 2 years and its yet to be implemented
How about focusing on flipping games and promoting the console rather than all this teenybopper crap that everyone is sick to death of.
Agreed, 360norml. All this facebook crap is pointless, and I don’t want random people perusing my friends list…
I’ve set mine to friends only…
Just give us the ability to have more than one person in a private chat already. PLZZZ
Option… prepared to be blocked.
Thanks for that link, I blocked it just now.
i will officially block this, didnt even have to think twice, why would we wanna see somebody elses friends? if u want them as a friend, just request it, i think thats easier right?
you have just got to be confused about what this does.
And now it’s blocked. What a stupid idea. I hope everyone blocks it… probably not.
It’s great advertising for Microsoft & Xbox Live
I click the link and it just shows a grey page mentioning it - I dont get any options to block ??
going to block mine now i don’t like the idea of people browsing my freinds list
I see where they are trying to go with this but it seems like a half-assed attempt of FaceBook but they would really need about 20 more options to be considered cool. Now if they actually joined together with FaceBook…..
I hope this, the Xbox games, and the parental timer aren’t THE feautures of the update, I want Xvid support!
I hate facebook and Myspace as is…no way in hell I’m going to want similar features on my 360.
How can you know until you have seen every page?
Come and have a look, go on.
SMILER
c’mon y’all, i think you are giving face book and myspace a little too much credit here.
all that is being offered is the ability to scroll through someone else’s friends list. that is it right? that technology has been around for a couple years more than myspace or facebook. why the fuck do they get credit for it?
Not bothered about this at all, neither do i care who sees whos on my list, though for the safety of friends on my list (not wanting any fuckup who i end up in games with adding my friends, seeing as a good 80% of the Live population have the combined I.Q of a cabbage) i think i will put this to friends only. Yes.
Microsoft continues to disappoint with their half-assed “updates” brimming with useless and unwanted features. This is simply further justification that Microsoft is STEALING every penny they charge for xbox live service. (In case you were wondering, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ are both completely free). Someday, instead of continually butt-raping their customers, maybe Microsoft can actually give us what we want– full codec support, multiple-user private chats, and the ability to setup private servers via PC, among others in a very long list of overdue features.
So stupid. Blocked.
this feature isnt that bad of an idea, it seems like its an easy way to get around the problem of your friends list being maxed out at 100 people. the private party chat would be a nice toutch but what would be nicer would be fixing the nat settings so it wouldnt restrict people to who thay can play online with
oh that is a good point. i hate kicking people off my friends list, and with this, a friend of a friend would be almost as convenient.
although, along with most people, all i really care about is three person chat and divx.
and people should really be fixing their own damn nat settings. that’s how it works. if you HAVE a network, you should at least know how to maintain it properly. people who have strict or moderate nat should be all grouped together in one lobby where they constantly get robbed of kills because of lag, until they finally succumb to the call of the router, and dial the mother fucker in.
I’m dying to use this feature NOT!!! POINTLESS GOT ANYTHING ELSE UP YOUR SLEEVE MICRO?
theyre so hip
I like it, no complaints here, people who block are probably a little geeky