14 DAY TRIAL // The traditional Xbox Live Spring dashboard update starts rolling out on May 19 and brings a variety of features, including support for the New Xbox 360 Game Disc as well as the ability to use the PayPal service to purchase things on Xbox Live.
Microsoft is getting ready to debut the Spring dashboard update for the Xbox 360 console later this month, according to a report from Joystiq, which says that the upgrade is set to start arriving on consoles on May 19.
At that time, the update is going to be released over the Internet to all Xbox 360 consoles around the world in six subsequent waves, to "ensure a high quality deployment."
The website claims that a lot of backend upgrades are going to be made to the console as well as to the Xbox Live online service.
Among them, the most important is support for the new Xbox 360 game disc format, codenamed XBG3, "that will be used in future game titles releasing in 2011," and "allows for additional storage space on a game disc, and provides additional layers of copy protection," according to the service update images obtained by the website.
The format is currently in testing as part of the Xbox 360 System Update preview program, with participants receiving copies of Halo: Reach on the new disc.
Another big feature that will be brought by the new Xbox Live 2011 Spring update is support for the PayPal service, which enables owners of the console to use the online payment system to buy content, ranging from small, downloadable games to full titles from the Games on Demand section of Xbox Live.
Contacted by Joystiq, Microsoft revealed that it had nothing to announce, so perhaps the spring update might not make its rumored release date of May 19.
Expect more details about the 2011 Spring update for the Xbox 360 dashboard and the Xbox Live online service in the following days.