By Joel Barish We knew already, but just in case We reported about the new Xbox 360 dashboard update a while ago, but now that it's been officially decreed, we figured it was worth mentioning again. The best new feature, in our humble opinion, is the new download manager. It features six queue slots so Xboxers will be able to multitask like nobody's business. Some more details, by way of Gamasutra: A number of changes have also been made to the main dashboard, with a new Media and Entertainment category being added to the Xbox Live Marketplace menu, creating a specific section for movie trailers, music videos and other non-games related content. The existing Game Demos category within the Marketplace can now be searched by genre and there are new sections for gamer pictures and game trailers.

Tops of the pops As the dust settles after the 12th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the winners have already emerged: Windows and Xbox gamers. Yesterday, the E3 Game Critics announced their nominees for the Best of E3 awards, and games on Microsoft’s platforms led this year’s nominations, garnering 52 nominations, more than half of those given. Specifically, Xbox 360 amassed more nominations than Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii combined with a total of 21, while the Windows platform led all platforms with 29 nominations. Additionally, leading the way with the most accolades of any title on the show floor, Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) and Epic Games’ Xbox 360 exclusive title “Gears of War” snagged a total of five nominations including Best of Show, Best Original Game, Best Action Game, Best Online Multiplayer Game and Best Console Game. “Gears of War,” the third-person tactical action/horror game, will be available for Xbox 360 gamers on Emergence Day 2006.

By Craig Schwartz Uno drops to ocho Major Nelson has posted the latest charts based on WW UU’s on Xbox Live. The man never giveth the exact numbers, but it's still fun to see where everything stands. Sadly, our favorite title to watch here at Xbox Today, Uno, has dropped two places to number eight. Where has the Uno love gone? In the immortal words of Whitney Houston, didn't we almost have it all? Here's the Xbox 360 Live chart for last week: Xbox 360 Top Live Games 1 Call of Duty 2 2 Ghost Recon 3 3 Oblivion 4 BFMC 5 Final Fantasy XI 6 PGR3 7 EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 8 UNO 9 Perfect Dark Zero 10 DEAD OR ALIVE 4 And here's the chart for original Xbox: Original Xbox Top Live Games 1 Halo 2 2 Battlefield 2: MC 3 Counter-Strike 4 Pro Evolution Soccer 5 5 Splinter Cell Chaos

By Nathan Bronfman Alas, no Halo 3 Bill Gates was interviewed by MTV yesterday and though he didn't have much in the way of news, he did say that there will be one hundred sixty Xbox 360 titles available by this Christmas. And he inferred that he had yet to play Halo 3, but that when it comes out, this game will be great. From the MTV interview:For now, he's focused on the home console, which is finally seeing its supply problems corrected. Atop the Roosevelt, he was expectedly bullish on the Xbox 360, even if he undercounts the system's 19 games released in 2005. "This will be an amazing Christmas," he said. "Last year, people were tantalized because they saw the high-definition sets, but not everybody could get their hands on an Xbox 360 and we only had about 10 titles out there. Here, we're going to have about 160."

By Joel Barish Bring it on! Bryan Adams once sang that reduced prices on select Xbox 360 games "cuts like a knife, but it feels so right." There is a slight chance that our memory is foggy and it was not, in fact, Xbox 360 games the man was singing about. There's nothing we like more here at Xbox Today than price drops. Since shelling out sixty bucks a pop for a game has become the norm for our beloved Xbox 360, we'll take any cuts we can get. Now comes word that there are some games that are getting cut down to a hair below $40, which is a 33% discount we'll take with open arms. From Gamespot:Electronic Arts has reduced the prices of the Xbox 360 launch titles Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, FIFA Soccer 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 at its official online store. All of those titles, as well as the more recently released Burnout Revenge, have been marked down to $39.95.