Report: 360 Avatar Store goes online next spring

On November 19, Microsoft will at long last roll out its highly promoted new look for the Xbox Live dashboard, what it calls the New Xbox Experience. Counted among the new features are an avatar-based community system, Netflix integration for online movie-watching in the US, and the ability to install games to the system's external storage device for faster loading times.

Microsoft is also promising a handful of features in the coming months that didn't make into the Xbox Live overhaul's November release, such as video-sharing and the community game show channel Xbox Live Primetime. Speaking to UK gaming site VideoGamer this week, Microsoft revealed one more feature in the offing is an Avatar Store, which it expects to release next spring.

The Avatar Store promises to make good on Microsoft's claim of a "limitless" number of new items that Xbox 360 gamers can use to deck out their digital personas.

"The plan of record will be to launch a more extensive Avatar Store from spring time onwards next year, and that store in theory would have branded content in there, game publisher IP stuff in there as well," said Robin Burrowes, Xbox Live product manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "There's a whole creative canvas for these things. Due to tight time lines there's nothing at launch as such, but our vision for these in the future is well and truly tied to game releases and us working with publishers very closely to encourage rewards from those games to be tied to your Avatar."

Burrowes went on to explain to VideoGamer that players will also be able to pick up "more animations, more customize capabilities in terms of emotions and features but then also as well wardrobe enhancements over the course of time, so fashion brands hopefully launching new ranges through Avatars being one route."

The Europe-centric Microsoft representative noted that a pricing model had not yet been established for the Avatar Store. Microsoft's US and Asia arms have not commented on this report as of press time.