The Xbox 360′s next Xbox Live update is coming on August 11. Microsoft confirmed today the launch of the new Xbox Live Games On Demand service, which will launch with more than 30 games. Some examples include Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Mass Effect, and Sonic The Hedgehog.

The 11th also brings the introduction of Netflix party support, which allows multiple people to watch Netflix movies together. Also, the Avatar marketplace will launch, offering virtual versions of things like an RC Warthog from Halo.

Microsoft has unveiled a brand new wireless microphone today for use with the Xbox 360. It’s designed to be used with music games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, ,etc. It will have specific features to make gameplay a bit easier while you are breaking all of the glasses in your china cabinet and forcing the neighbors to scratch their ears off.

You won’t need any wires or adapters, since this mic takes advantage of the wireless console and even has motion sensors built in for added functionality. Plus, you get some pretty lights on the base.

EA sports and Pizza Hut are teaming up to delever a one-two combination to boxing fans. The chance to win a limited edition Fight Night Round 4 custom Xbox 360 console. It’s not just about a sweet looking console though.

The grand prize is a trip to Vegas to see a real championship fight. Boxing fans should love this. You might notice that they even included a little dried blood, which is a nice detail.

Third-party wireless guitar controllers for the Xbox 360 have been hard to come by, but Logitech is leading the charge with this new Guitar Hero-licensed controller that’s similar to its PS3 and PS2 offerings, except that its orange, and Xbox 360-compatible.

It features a wood neck, rosewood fingerboard, and metal frets just like the others, along with a touch-sensitive slider on the neck, strum bar and fret buttons that are “virtually silent,”. It also has a range of 30 feet.

Up until now, all we knew about Project Natal’s release date was that it wasn’t going to happen in 2009. Now we have word that it will be hitting store shelves in 2010. So says Steve Balmer, Company CEO.

He let word slip during his speech at The Executives Club of Chicago today that the Xbox 360 motion control interface will be coming in 2010. Now that could mean all the way in December of 2010 for all we know, but at least it’s not 2011.

Gears of War fans are sure to love this Xbox case mod. Maybe. It’s the work of one Tallerkamino, who designed and modded the Xbox case in honor of the game. How he did it is not clear.(Looks like he used mousepads and attached them to the console).

Then he obviously glued action figures onto the base. It’s a cool mod I guess, but I prefer the console to be entirely covered. It’s more of a diorama. But if you love Gears of War, I’m sure it will make you smile and brighten you day.

It’s slightly ironic that on the same day we get details about Microsoft’s Project Natal, which provides hands-free gaming, we get word of this awesome Halo 3 ODST limited edition controller. It’s the big M’s way of saying, “You don’t need controllers anymore, but we’d like to really still milk these things for all their worth.

The Halo 3: ODST-themed controller comes with the $99 collector’s version of the game. How can you resist? It’s a Halo themed controller, after all. Get ‘em while you can. Soon controllers will be a thing of the past…Not really.

Everyone at the ‘Brick is super excited about Microsoft’s Project Natal real time motion-capture accessory for the Xbox 360, but it’s going to be a while before we can actually play it. Until we can, this is the teaser video that was shown during this morning’s keynote.

The keynote promo video shows off many planned uses for the new peripheral, like voice and face recognition, video chatting, and all kinds of gameplay options where you can use your entire body. Color us impressed.

Here’s some more Microsoft news, in a day filled with Microsoft news. How does full Xbox Live games on demand sound? Awesome? I know. You, and me, can now download Mass Effect, Bioshock and others. And you can do so like a big boy, using a real credit card, not Xbox Live points. They will be coming in August.

It would be great if you could get every game, but sadly you can’t. It’s a mix of third-party stuff like Sonic, call of Duty 2, Crackdown, Bioshock Mass Effect and others. Whether games will be downloadable the day they’re released to retail is unclear. Also don’t expect to use your credit card direct just yet: “We’re not getting rid of the point system.”

At E3 today the big M announced a bunch of upgrades to Xbox Live. The biggest news is the relaunch of the video service, now Zune-branded with 1080p instant-on streaming content in 18 countries. XBL will also now integrate with Facebook, which is great news for all of you social butterflies out there. Your Facebook account can be linked to your Gamertag, and games will support Facebook Connect for sharing online content.

That’s not all. You’ll also be getting Twitter and Last.fm. Yes, these updates are huge. There’s more. Netflix users will now be able to browse the entire catalog instead of just loading their queue, and since Microsoft has gotten its Party Watch system down, you’ll be able to diss videos with your online friends.

The Xbox 360 motion controller is real. Today at E3, Microsoft unveiled the motion controller we’d been hearing about for awhile. The device is codenamed “Natal” and will allow for a very wide range of actions by using a group of sensors.

The accessory will even be capable of handling multiple users during single sessions. The demo Microsoft showed off at E3 included a skateboarding game and a family playing a racing game (tires were changed by the dad while the daughter handled the driving).

A Microsoft job listing seems to hint that the company is working both on the successor to the Xbox 360 and a massively multi-player online game (MMO) capable of hosting 300,000 players all at a time.

The advertisement reads: “Microsoft Games Studios is looking for experienced game developers to work on next generation Xbox platform titles and Windows games.” Specifically, Microsoft Game Studios is looking for: “an experienced server developer to help develop our server architecture. We are building an extremely high performance system to extend console games to the server in new ways; creating a completely new set of web services to support dynamic programming information of games and scheduling data.” And that’s not all, Microsoft is currently “building a backend capable of hosting a 300,000 player game in real-time with real money on the line (anti-cheating, etc).”

Sky and Microsoft are striking a deal that will see the Xbox 360 Console playing live broadcast TV. Xbox users will be able to upgrade to Sky channels this autumn in the UK and Ireland. Xbox owners would have access to sports and programs, and also be able to order movies on demand without a set-top box or satellite dish.

Existing Sky subscribers don’t have to worry. The company has hinted at reduced costs if they prefer to use the Xbox console. The line-up of channels and content available on the Xbox would be similar to the existing Sky Player service, available on PCs and Macs.

Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox 360 video game console has sold over 30 million units since the device was released several years go. Quite a milestone. Sales of the console have increased 28 percent this year alone, and over 20 million people are signed up to the Xbox Live network.

So what will Microsoft be showing off at E3 for the Xbox 360? We’ll have to wait and see, but likely we will be getting a look at the new motion-sensing camera, Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Xbox 360, and who knows what else? One thing is for sure, the Xbox 360 is kicking butt and taking names.

Here’s a rumor that we’d all like to see come true. A handheld portable that combines the Xbox 360 with the Zune. The project is codenamed “xYz,” and is said to feature a WVGA touchscreen. It will let you play music and movies on the device as well as the Xbox 360.

Team Xbox claims to have sources inside Microsoft who are working on just such a device. We’re talking about a connected handheld gaming system with sweet multimedia features. Obviously we want. But will it ever come to life?