Last Update: As of 5:56 AM EDT the new design and layout for Xbox.com is live.

Update: As of 5:02 AM EDT the Xbox.com site is offline for the update.

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Yesterday Xbox Lives Major Nelson announced a significant update to the Xbox.com website. It looks like this update is a step towards the release of Kinect for the Xbox 360 which is in two weeks on 04 Nov 2010.

What can you expect on the new site?

Well according to @MajorNelson?

Browser based Avatar editor: Edit your avatar and preview avatar items before purchase Combined views for messages, friend and game requests Improved notification of your account subscription Leverage Family Reports to understand what your family is doing and how they are using LIVE Play web games with your Xbox LIVE friends on the web or on Windows Phone 7 Marketplace: More powerful search and more intuitive ways to browse and filter

The new version of the website goes live today so you can visit Xbox.com and see the new layout. In order for the update to occur the site will be unavailable starting at 0500 EDT for a short period of time and then when it comes back up the new site will be live.

Here are some screenshots from Major Nelson’s flickr account showing off some of the new pages: