Microsoft starts up Xbox 360 spring update preview program
updated 03:15 pm EDT, Tue March 29, 2011
Xbox 360 spring 2011 update gets preview program
Microsoft hinted at plans for a 2011 version of its customary spring Xbox 360 update with sign-ups for its Xbox 360 System Update Preview Program. The new preview will be to help test an "updated Xbox 360 disc format" and, in a rarity, will give gamers a physical copy of software to try. The company didn't say what was changing or if anything else would be included in the spring update.
Those who get picked from the registrations will get a free copy of Halo: Reach as well as "other possible rewards."
Because of the physical nature of the preview, only US players are eligible to test where online-only tests had previously allowed other countries. Microsoft was emphatic that anyone with an Xbox Live account could sign up but also that it would favor those paying for a Gold membership were more likely to get in. The console maker hasn't said when it expected the preview to start or to give a timeframe for when the spring update would be pushed out to all users.
