When I came home with my shiny new Xbox 360 waaaaaay back in 2005, one of my favorite features of the console was the dashboard. The blades were an amazing leap from the clumsy interface of the original Xbox, offering all sorts of expanded control, options, and content that I didn’t even imagine in the previous generation’s hardware.

But nothing lasts forever, and after a few years of noble service, the Xbox 360 dashboard is really starting to show its age and, worse, its limitations. You can find hints of these shortcomings in Microsoft’s recent actions. The back-to-back May announcements of no Spring update and the delisting of selected Xbox Live Arcade titles suggested larger issues. Even the comments made by Microsoft executives on the topic were telling—like when Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten said of the decision not to offer a Spring dashboard update that they were instead:

“building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service.”

Or when Aaron Greenberg commented on the delisting of Xbox Live Arcade games:

“I think that we are not, I would say…happy with the ability to find and discover content as easily as we’d like for consumers to be able to do that.”

So, Microsoft acknowledges the problem. Is there a solution? I think so. Lots of them, actually. We’ve spent some time on our recent podcasts talking about the need for a dashboard 2.0. I decided to take it a step further, look at what exists currently, and suggest some ways to improve things—yes, for Microsoft—but primarily for Xbox 360 users.

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Update: We recorded the show a day early this week, and it wouldn’t be fair to select a winner a day before the stated deadline. So, you now have until our next episode—May 30th—to submit your entries (or refine the ones you’ve already submitted).

As mentioned in our latest episode, we’re giving away a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV for your platform of choice. All you have to do is share your best Tales from the G-string story with us. (For those who tune out when Sooch gets graphic, that means an anecdote of debauchery that takes place in a strip club, brothel, or other business of ill-repute.) You can submit them as a written story, an audio recording, a YouTube video—hell—we’ll accept an interpretive dance. Just keep in mind they’ll be judged by the man himself, so be creative and do your best to raise his eyebrows. Submit your entries to feedback@thefanboys.com by Friday, May 16th.

Good luck, perverts!

Looking to dip your toe into the shark-infested waters of 360 hardware? Already have a 360, but you want to roll, Sooch-style, with a console for every room of the house? Well, here’s your chance to win one in what has to be the easiest contest on the ‘net. (more…)

Anyone who’s played World of Warcraft knows the feeling of fascination—and embarrassment—that comes from typing the /played command to see just how much time you’ve frittered away slaying murlocs. Well, Xbox 360 owners have a similar source to see their shame laid bare.

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One of our favorite gaming podcasts (just check the links on the right side of our page) is celebrating their one year anniversary. Yeah, we started before them—but they’ve only recorded twice as many shows as we have. Seriously, an independent podcast recording 52 weeks without missing an episode? These cats are the iron men of internet nerd radio. So, congratulations to CJ, Greg, Phil, and Dave. And thanks for the entertainment.

You can check out their 52nd episode here (though I’d recommend you just hit the iTunes store and subscribe)

I snapped this at work with my iPhone:

If you were Sooch’s boss, you might contend that bringing in a Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360, hooking it up, and playing it during work would be the most disturbing thing about this image. But you’d be wrong.

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The bad news: We had to postpone the internet’s most-anticipated podcast because Sooch, in his own inimitable fashion, decided to camp outside a West Valley City Gamestop for four long days in anticipation of the McFarlane-designed Halo 3 controllers.

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That’s a whole shitload of podcasts, people. Give it up to the XBL Radio crew–Steve519, Rusty Ranchero, Mr. CarpalTunnel, The Other Guy, GUI J, and SilentCypher–for independently building a bustling gaming community, never missing a week, and putting on a hell of a show. Congrats, guys.

Of the myriad gaming message board memes, one of our absolute favorites has to be the obligatory Post Your Setup! thread. Before reaching its inevitably bloated 100-page state, it always begins the same way—ostensibly as an innnocent request to see everyone else’s gaming rig. In truth, it’s an open challenge to the ultimate tech pecker contest.

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Illustration “inspired” by one hilarious photo of the Penny Arcade chaps.

By all accounts, 2006 was a banner year for video games. Two brand-spankin’ new systems launched, existing consoles and handhelds started rolling out their second-generation titles and loads of new functionality, and, generally, the triple-A titles flowed like water. Yet, while everyone else is predictably compiling their “Best Darn Games of 2006″ lists, I’m struck by an entirely different development in gaming that was much more significant to me:

2006 was the year it became more fun for me to listen to people talk about games than it was to actually play them.

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