Microsoft managed to improve even further its already acclaimed Xbox Live interface, as well as bringing new features and games to its gaming console. The company impressed fans and critics alike, announcing bold initiatives to boost its gaming platform. The updates to the Xbox system are quite radical and they significantly revamp user experience.

The Xbox Live user interface will now be even friendlier, with top-level channels that resemble the menu structure of their Microsoft Windows Media Center: Spotlight, Games, My Xbox, Primetime, Community, and Videos. The traditional five-bladed menu structure is still accessible whenever you press the Guide button on the gamepad, which triggers a pop-up of the menu even while you are playing a game.

The list of improvements is too long to list here, but a few features stand out, such as customizable avatars which will be used in future games in MyXbox, new social networking features through the new Community channel, the Spotlight channel which focuses on whatever's hot at the moment on Xbox Live, and much more.

Also, Chris Satchell, chief technology officer at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Group, revealed new plans for the XNA Creators Club which will allow users to actively take part in the multibillion-dollar-a-year console gaming business.

Community games that have passed the peer-review system will be added to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, which means consumers will be able to purchase them for preset retail prices ranging from 200 to 800 Microsoft Points. Developers will allegedly receive 70 percent of the revenue generated by the games they’ve created.

Microsoft announced during E3 an exclusive partnership with Netflix Inc. that will give Xbox 360 users instant access to more than 10,000 feature films and television shows. Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix subscribers at no additional cost.