From the "who really cares?" file comes the news that Microsoft's free Xbox LIVE Silver membership is to be rebranded as Xbox LIVE Free Membership, with no actual changes made to the service itself.

As with all largely irrelevant announcements, the news was first spotted on Twitter, where European community manager Graham Boyd informed the world in 140 characters or less.

The 360's dashboard will likely change over the coming weeks to reflect the new standard, and as always, you'll still need a Gold account to play online or access secondary services available from the dash.

 

It's not hard to see why Microsoft would have a vested interest in the integration of social networking behemoths Twitter and Facebook to their gaming platforms. The real problem they've been facing is just exactly how to do it.

Twitter functions as you would expect, as you can update your tweets and check on everyone else's. It performs well enough and is easy to navigate. Facebook is pretty much the same but with the added benefit that you can also view photos. Being able to display the photos on your TV screen or watch them as a slide show is actually very cool. I could easily see myself having friends or family over and show them pictures from a recent holiday or weekend using this feature. You may also update your status, check your friend’s list, see basic information on people's profiles and leave comments.

Unfortunately both Facebook and Twitter suffer from the same problem on the Xbox - typing. Using the controller to type on the virtual keypad is slow and annoying. It would be far quicker for me to use my laptop or phone to quickly update my status or get out the latest tweet. So unless you have the attachable keypad for the controller or plan on plugging a keyboard into your Xbox I do not see many people updating their Facebook too often on the console. However, checking out photos is something I could imagine many people doing.

The Zune HD Movies On Demand feature is pretty cool, however not too competitively priced for older movies. This feature works similarly to the iTune’s rental service. It allows you to rent movies straight from your console and either download or stream them straight on your TV. This is pretty handy, especially if you are bored at home and feel like watching a random movie. You don't have to leave the house and it is easy to browse through the list of available movies, choose what you want, pay for it, and begin watching. I should mention that when you first download the movie you have 14 days to watch it. However, as soon as you start watching it, you only keep it for a further 24 hours. You may watch it as many times as you like within that time, but once that time is up, it is gone. So what this means is, you do not have to rush to start watching it as soon as you get it, but when you do press play it becomes a one-night rental.

In regards to pricing, old movies are NZ$6 (360 MS Points) and new movies are NZ$7 (420 MS Points).