This blog post is part one of a three post series on the recent updates that Microsoft has put out on the Xbox 360 in the 2Q of 2011 (Dashboard Updates Summer 2011).
There is much discussion and confusion going on with the latest Xbox 360 Dashboard updates with Disc Read Errors, XGD3, and other updates like PayPal. I am here to clear some of it up and discuss the details (read: facts) of the updates. I am not here to spread rumors, lies, or put lipstick on a pig.
If you search on the words “XGD3”, “Xbox 360 Update” or “Xbox Firmware” you are going to be presented with a massive amount of information surrounding the latest updates. However, as you read through all the information it does not match up, even high quality sites like joystiq.com are spreading wrong information! I am going to attempt to shed some light and provide you with some exciting hardware facts.
The largest confusion is that there are three different updates currently associated with the Summer 2011 update and people are trying to jam them into one update which is just leading to confusion. Bloggers and reporters all over are talking about how the update is providing PayPal, new disc formats (which is not even been released to the general public yet) and producing disc read errors. WRONG! So very wrong.
Let us break down the three updates for you:
The latest Xbox 360 Dashboard update, as of this writing, went live on May 19th 2011 and will continue to be delivered to Xbox LIVE users around the world until May 30th 2011. The update brings several software updates that this blog is not going to dive into (PayPal and auto-standby). This update did not directly affect the DVD-ROM in any way or do anything to the disc format.
The second to latest update was open to public beta sign-ups on March 29th 2011. This update was to introduce a new disc format to the system through a firmware update. I am going to dive into this update into FULL detail in part 3 of this blog post. Some very interesting stuff surrounding this topic, make sure you hardware nuts read Part 3.
The public beta sign-ups closed shortly after opening up [source]. The project went live on April 9th 2011 and the public beta testers starting receiving their updates. As of this writing, the update is still not available to the general public and is still being tested. I have contacted one of these public beta testers and he told me the system runs fine and he notices no difference. Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb) confirms this in one of his blog posts and states that this update (the new disc format update) was heavily beta tested a crossed all Xbox 360 Models and no known compatibility issues exist [source]. He continues to say that the cause of the Disc Errors is from a previous update, which brings us to a third update.
This third update has the most people confused. I have contacted Major Nelson but he has no further information he wants to provide to me. However, after a few phone calls and talking to some of the nicest customer support people out there Dylan confirmed that the update that affected a small amount of consoles was indeed the FALL UPDATE of 2010 as I suspected, as Major Nelson lead to, and proving many bloggers and new reporters wrong. Part of the fall update included software updates (not the first and soon not to be the last) in the attempts to hinder and slow down piracy. However, in doing so some DVD-ROM drives could not handle the update and resulting in the read disc error. In my next blog I am going to dive into the details and can be found here.
So that’s it for the list of updates that Microsoft has gone through so far. The Kinect update is the next update that Microsoft is looking to release for the Dashboard Update for the Summer of 2011 but there has been no official date. Unofficially it would be tomorrow (May 27th 2011) but with it being that close and yet to be announced I don’t think it will happen.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!
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