What to expect from next week's Xbox 360 Dashboard update?

The latest update to the Xbox 360 dashboard comes out next week (August 11), a few more details of what to expect have surfaced. More movies, more Avatar accessories, downloadable Xbox 360 games, etc. Looks to be good stuff for those of you who actually use the Dashboard.

First, movies. There’s more of them. Naturally. Not as much as your favorite BitTorrent site, but give Microsoft credit for trying. Besides, it’s hard to compete with free!

Second, Avatar stuff. There’s more clothes and accessories from “top brands” like adidas and Quicksilver. Steampunk clothes, clothes modeled after big games like BioShock 2, etc. I think it’s safe to say that my Avatar, Detective Bashyourbrainsin, is fine just the way he is.

Third, downloadable games, given the clever name of Games on Demand. These are full Xbox 360 games like Oblivion and Lego Star Wars and Assassin’s Creed. Twenty-one games will be available at launch.

Fourth, friend sorting. You know, sort your friends list by status, if they’re playing a game or watching a video, etc.

Netflix will also be given a bit of an update. The emphasis here is less of a reliance on a PC to get your queue going. The top 50 movies of each genre (comedy, drama, horror, etc.) will be selectable right from the Dashboard; go any deeper in the catalog and you’ll need to use a PC to queue.

So yeah, that’s it. I don’t really mess around with the Dashboard much, and I don’t do Netflix, so this update really won’t have too great an effect on me. My hard drive also only has like 2GB left on it, so I won’t be downloading any games either.