Instant Messaging for Xbox 360 Live

Gamers using the popular Xbox 360 console for online gaming received some good news today. Microsoft announced that a fun new feature would soon be available on Xbox Live and that is, instant messaging.

In today's announcement Microsoft said that the 'Windows Live Messenger' would be added to Xbox Live. This means that any gamer that has instant messenger will be able to chat live with other gamers while in a game with them.

The addition of live chat to the Xbox Live system will happen in May when a major update occurs, which is being called the 'Xbox 360 Spring Update'.

The May Xbox Live update will include a few other changes to the online gaming centre. Gamers will notice improvements to the Live Marketplace and easier to view alerts about achievements. The addition of 'Windows Live Messenger' will by far be the most anticipated of the updates for gamers. This new feature will add a new aspect of enjoyment for players.

Another neat feature of the update is that any messenger friends that also have Xbox Live gamer tag will be placed in a separate list from other Xbox Live friends. This will allow gamers to be able to know which friends have the chatting feature with ease. It will be possible to have up to six friends chats simultaneously occuring.

A few months after the chat feature is added to Xbox Live a special keyboard is set to be released. However, there is an alternative available for gamers until the special keyboard is available. It will be possible to use a computer keyboard that has a USB attachment to type messages to friends online. The special keyboard will attach directly to the Xbox controller.

One of the improvements to the Live Marketplace will make downloading much more appealing for gamers. Now gamers want to make large downloads of a number of files they will not have to worry about leaving their Xbox 360 console on unsupervised for an extended amount of time. Instead they can form a queue of downloads and then set a special setting that forces the Xbox 360 console into a power saving mode. The console will download all of the files and when complete it will shut itself down.

The 'Auto Download' feature will also be upgraded. It will have a setting that allows gamers to automatically download any new demos from the Xbox Arcade. This is a feature that is already available for downloading demos of new games.

Gamers should start seeing the option for the Xbox 360 Spring Update around May 7.

Sources
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6168769.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/microsoft-adds-messenger-to-xbox/2007/04/09/1175971005188.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-xbox9apr09,1,5552158.story?coll=la-headlines-technology