How To Update Your XBOX 360

Advances in technology typically brings additional complexity, but until recently, video game machines have been designed to be similar to the "plug and chug" style of your DVD player or other home electronic device. These devices work one way out of the box, and continue to work that exact same way throughout the unit's operable life. However, new video game consoles, like Microsoft's XBOX 360, bear more similarities to computers than game machines past. In order to get the most out of your XBOX 360, you'll need to attain and install the latest updates.

Why Do I Need Updates?

Today's consoles do a lot more than game machines of the past. Sure, you can take a XBOX 360 game, throw it into any 360 console, and it will fire up whether or not the console has the latest updates. It's everything else that is constantly being tweaked through updates that make the 360 experience more compelling. For example, a month ago you couldn't stream WMV video from a networked PC, nor could you playback video from data CDs, DVDs, and flash drives, but all of these things are now possible through a recent update.

Updates can make gaming better, too. The latest 360 update adds support for 1080p televisions (if you have a capable TV), which until now hasn't been an option. Plus, anyone that owns original XBOX titles has undoubtedly gone through the "this game is not supported" headache, which stem from the limited list of backwards compatible games. If you've been hoping to play that original XBOX game on your 360, an update may just make it possible. To see an updated list of all backwards compatible titles, click here.

Depending on when you acquired your 360, there's plenty of new features and enhancements to make your 360 experience the best it can be. Here's a list of all enhancements in each major update:

• January 2006 Update
• Marketplace Update, April 12, 2006
• Spring 2006 Update
• August 2006 Backwards Compatibility Update
• November 2006 Xbox Live Update
• May 2007 Live! Update
• Fall 2007 Update

Read on to learn how to connect to XBOX Live! to download these new features and enhancements.

How To Get the Updates

For most gamers, keeping the XBOX 360 up to date is pretty easy, especially if they've taken advantage of the numerous online components through XBOX Live!. When a gamer is signed in to the Live! service, the system automatically checks for new updates. If one is available, you'll be prompted to update. Most updates take 3 to 5 minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection.

If you've never updated your console, but have access to a high speed internet connection, getting your updates through the web is pretty simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, Microsoft has made online updates unavailable to those who have not registered for the XBOX Live! service. Most folks that don't like or participate in online gaming wouldn't normally think of signing up for XBOX Live!.

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The Live! service has two levels of membership. The gold level allows you to play games online with others, an enhanced friends list, the online marketplace, and more, but is only available to those who subscribe monthly or purchase prepaid subscription packs. Getting a silver membership is free, and allows you to receive all system updates, but this also means you'll need to give some personal information to Microsoft. I've read through their terms of use and privacy statements pretty carefully, and even though it doesn't contain any major clauses that would cause me to be concerned, I would have appreciated an option to get online updates without having to give out my name, telephone number, and personal address.

You can sign up for an XBOX Live! account directly through the 360 dashboard. Instructions for doing so are located here. Once you've successfully created an account (which may take a few attempts if the service bombs out on you), you should be notified immediately that a new update is available.

Not everyone has high-speed Internet access, and those that don't participate in online gaming may not have their Internet access accessible from their living rooms. Yes, Microsoft offers a Wi-Fi bridge for the 360, but most folks are not going to cough up $100 bucks to download an update. Besides, that still wouldn't solve the problem for dial-up users.

Microsoft has made one update available as a direct download from Xbox.com, which allows you to play more original XBOX games on your 360. If you don't care about 1080p or any other feature that they've made available, you can download the update and burn it to a CD. To update your 360, just stick that CD into the drive. It's unfortunate that Microsoft doesn't make all updates available in this manner, which would benefit a great deal of users that own high-tech consoles, but have low-tech web connections.

If you're in the dial-up group, there are a few ways you can get the full updates to your system. One option is to grab your console and drag it to a friend or family member's house in order to download updates. It's certainly a pain, but fortunately major updates are few and far between.

If you're technically inclined, you can use a Windows 98SE, 2000, XP, or Vista computer to share your dial-up connection with your XBOX 360 via ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). It can be a little tricky to set up for the novice, but fortunately there's plenty of useful guides to walk you through the process. Updates will take a while to download this way, but it will prevent you from having to pack up your 360 and drag it to your neighbor's house just to download the latest updates.

Final Thoughts

On the surface, it may seem inconvenient to make the casual 360 owner jump through hoops to update a video game machine, but the move to an upgradeable platform will allow video game makers to adapt their existing technologies to ways that will improve your experience long after your initial purchase. Those who are up to date in the latest gaming hardware, but relics when it comes to computers and Internet access, will find updating their 360s much more inconvenient than those with ultrafast connections and whole house LAN. It's unfortunate that there's been less effort to provide system updates via alternative means to the Internet.

In the end, if you're always looking for ways to get more out of the gear you already own, these updates are a sure fire way to make your 360 investment seem better and better every day.

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