Microsoft’s Major Nelson post on his blog that spring 2011 Xbox 360 update to the Dashboard was going live. The update brings the ability to buy any Xbox Live content using PayPal and thus avoid having to use a credit card. Its other core feature is support for a new disc format that gives about 1GB of space back while still improving the anti-piracy measures that had required all the extra data.
Energy saving is a minor new addition. If completely idle for an hour, the console will by default go into standby mode. Active downloads should still continue in this setting, and users can turn it off in the settings if they need the system active.
Gamers should already start seeing the update as part of a phased rollout. Microsoft is gradually pushing the release to all Xbox Live users over the course of the next two weeks. Gamers who get the update but have trouble with the new disc format on some of the oldest Xbox 360s may get a replacement system if they meet certain conditions.
