XBOX-HQ.COM - XBOX Live: New Features Unleashed Now!

Last month, when Xbox Live™ updated to include the ability to attach voice messages to friend requests, we were told more good stuff was on the way … Some of that good stuff has just arrrived.

With the new feature you will be able to get a game invite on your cell phone, as well as news about new games and downloads. How about being able to get the latest Xbox news and see which of your friends are signed into Xbox Live right in your MSN Messenger.

MSN Messenger Integration
If you’re already an IM aficionado, and if you live in the United States (sorry, Canada!) you’ll see a new Xbox tab along with the ones for shopping, games, news, travel and more. There you’ll find links to Xbox.com content on the latest games, downloads, articles, interviews, tournaments, and events—all updated weekly. If you hit the My Xbox Live tab up top—and you’re Gamertag linked—you’ll be able to see your Friends List along with links to My Live exclusive content.

Xbox Live Alerts
Canadians, you’re in luck! This new feature includes you. When you sign up for Xbox Live Alerts, you’ll be notified when your friends sign on to Xbox Live, when you get a friend request or game invite, and more. You will know when new downloads are available and when hot new games release. You can sign up for the alerts you want to receive.

How do you get these alerts? In the U.S. and Canada, you can get the latest news via a mobile phone or other device with MSN Mobile capabilities, via e-mail, or via MSN Messenger “toast” (that little box that pops up when your IM contacts sign on to Messenger).

Here’s what you need to sign up for Xbox Live Alerts:

A subscription to Xbox Live.
An Xbox.com profile.
A .NET Passport account.
A Gamertag linked to Xbox.com.
An account on MSN Alerts.

When you sign up for Xbox Live Alerts, you choose only the alerts that you want to receive—and you can always add or drop categories later. You can choose to get alerts about:

Game invites.
Friend requests.
Friends signed in.
Xbox Live service messages.
Downloadable content releases.
Game releases.
Xbox news and events.

Xbox Live has continually taken strides to be as innovative and fresh as possible. Here is an interesting statistic. Xbox Live will reach 1 million subscribers faster than TiVo, and even faster than AOL had reached their first million subscribers. Some other new features to look out for are complete game downloads. You will soon be able to download classic arcade and board games right to your xbox for offline play. Is this possibly a test product for MS in lieu of the new Phantom console coming to market? Only time will tell how elaborate the future game downloads will get. No fees have been scheduled for the upcoming game downloads, but one would venture to say that premium games would incur a premium price.

Source: xbox.com and G4 TV