IT Preview

At their E3 press conference today, Microsoft unveiled a bevy of new features for the Xbox 360 dashboard. And thanks to the massive Intellisponse leak last month, it came as absolutely no surprise to anyone when they also confirmed Xbox 360 Avatars.

John Schappert, head of Xbox Live Services, came on stage to show off the new features, which he boldly claimed will "completely reinvent" the 360. Among them is what Microsoft is calling the "My Xbox" bar (because everything these days starts with either "i" or "My"), which Executive Editor Shane Bettenhausen described as a "Cross-Media Bar with Miis."

Those "Miis," of course, being Avatars. If you missed the leak last month, they're exactly what they sound like -- little characters you create to represent yourself (or whoever else you want to represent, we suppose), which are then featured in some way in the My Xbox bar, as well as eventually being playable in some games. The first game to use Avatars will be Scene It: Box Office Smash, the latest installment in the movies-based party game. Schappert noted that it'll be "very easy to include avatars in a game... plug and play." Avatars will also be used in what Microsoft calls a "Live Party," which players can create in a new community menu. Up to eight people can join a Live Party with their Avatars, where they can then interact with each other in a number of ways: chat, share photos, play games, and perhaps most exciting of all, watch movies with their friends through Microsoft's newly announced partnership with Netflix.

Also confirmed (and also previously revealed in the Intellisponse leaks) was Xbox Live Primetime, which will be a game show-type feature on Xbox Live. The first game playable through it will be 1 vs. 100 (no word on whether it'll feature the likeness of Bob Saget, but it better), which will also make use of Avatars. Xbox Live Primetime will be "the best of television and the best of games," says Schappert, and supposedly you'll even be able to win some sort of real prizes by playing.

All in all, it seems like Microsoft is attempting to reaffirm their lead when it comes to online community features, while at the same time going after Nintendo's Miis with the Avatars, as well as even taking on Sony's PlayStation Home to some extent with Live Party. So what do you think... is it all enough to keep Xbox Live the dominant online service this generation?

E3 2008 -- the game industry's biggest convention (arguably) -- is happening all this week! Check out E3.1UP.COM for news, previews, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more direct from the Los Angeles Convention Center.