Microsoft has today unveiled a whole raft of new features heading to Xbox 360 in the coming months, which the corporation's executives no doubt hope will allow the console to stand up to the social networking and blu-Ray challenges in development for PlayStation 3.

First up is confirmation of a radical new-look dashboard, which will be heading to all Live-connected Xbox 360s in the Autumn. Microsoft must have finally realised that the current system is clunkier than a rusty jalopy, because the new interface looks like a icon-lite, 3D variant on Sony's XMB navigation, with slick contextual imagery and options including Xbox Live Party, Xbox Live Primetime, and a streaming service from Netflix.

"We're entering a new age in entertainment, and Xbox 360 is uniquely positioned to become the heart of the living room," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "The new Xbox experience offers more content than you can find from any device that connects to the television. That convergence of entertainment and gaming will bring new people and more families to the category, driving a record year for the games industry."

"This year more than any other, Xbox 360 has something for everyone - whether you love playing games with friends or are simply looking for the best in entertainment," Mattrick said.

The recently leaked Avatars have also been unveiled, though the rumoured 'My GamePad' seems to have been nothing more than a mock-up. Instead, gamers will be able to meet up with friends and their own avatars under a Community channel, with photo-sharing and eight-player Xbox Live Party functionality in the works.

Xbox Live Primetime is also set to launch in the next few months, bringing some of the biggest quiz show names to the Dashboard, including an Avatar-enabled version of Endemol's 1vs100. I guess those sneaky pub visits near TVG Towers to play the 'Deal or No Deal' quiz machine will be a thing of the past from now on. Xbox Live Primetime is scheduled to launch in North America, the UK, France, and Germany, and we hope it won't be too long until we get to beat the banker for ourselves too.

"Xbox LIVE is the world's fastest-growing online social network on TV," said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft. "We doubled our membership the past two years, growing from 3 million to 6 million, and then from 6 million to 12 million. And today, we are adding a new member every five seconds. With the best and broadest social entertainment experiences launching this fall, the future is limitless."

Additional content deals have been signed by Microsoft too, including NBC Universal in the US, together with MGM and Constantin for international markets (which includes the UK, we hope!) A deal with US-based online DVD rental store Netflix will also see free movie streaming for subscribers to the service, though we personally hope that some form of functionality will jump onto this side of the Atlantic too.