Xbox Entertainment Range Boosted (Xbox 360) [E3 2012]

Microsoft announced a number of new content partners and new features which will be coming to the Xbox dashboard over the next year, yet again though if you're not in the US then you're getting next to nothing interesting. In fact getting nothing would probably have been preferable as now my dahboard is going to be full of even more adverts and content I really coulcn;t care less about. Internet Explorer is finally bring web browsing to the console and as usual Microsoft are doing things differently to the other console manufacturers by taking the approach that "keyboards don't belong in the living room." Through the use of Kinect voice functions and the new SmartGlass approach, you don't need to have a keyboard or be tied to the console with a wire, instead you can browse the web on your television using your tablet or phone to be able to scroll, select and type using on screen keyboards.

Bing search is gettign a boost with a feature that nobody asked for, you can now browse by genre, search "sports" for example and all sport content will appear.

Lastly some new partners providing content on the dashboard have been announce, but if you live in the UK like me then you're pretty much getting shafted yet again. Whilst the US get some new content from the likes of Nickelodeon, Paramount Movies, Comedy Central, live NHL and NBA and not to mention a slew of ESPN updates, including 24 hour streaming, we in the UK have to be contended with Absolute Radio, Napster and the AOL network. Seriously, who the hell uses Napster and AOL anymore? I feel like i've gone back in time to the late 90's.

Here's the full List of Partners;

• Absolute Radio -U.K.
• Ameba TV - Canada, U.S.
• BreakMedia - Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, U.K., U.S.
• Comedy Central Stand Up - U.S.
• Comoyo - Denmark, Norway, Sweden
• Corus Entertainment's Franklin the Turtle - Canada
• GameSpot TV - Australia, Canada, U.K., U.S.
• Headweb - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
• Indie Flix - U.S.
• Machinima - All Xbox LIVE markets
• Napster - Germany, U.K.
• Nickelodeon - U.S.
• Paramount Movies - U.S.
• Picturebox - U.K.
• Quickflix - Australia, New Zealand
• Rakuten ShowTime - Japan
• Revision3 - Canada, U.K., U.S.
• Rhapsody - U.S.
• RTL XL - Netherlands
• Slacker Radio - Canada, U.S.
• SnagFilms - U.S.
• Terra (Sunday TV) - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico
• The AOL On Network - Australia, Canada, Netherlands, U.K., U.S.
• The Weather Channel - U.S.
• The Whistle - U.S.
• TOU.TV - Canada
• TV3 - Spain
• Twitch TV - U.S.
• Univision - U.S.
• Wuaki - Spain
• Youzee - Spain