Back in March, Microsoft effectively teased all of its Xbox Live subscribers by shutting down service for fourteen desperate hours.  Although many gamers hoped the time off was set aside for the much-anticipated Spring Update, most of the improvements made were “behind the scenes”.  Flash forward about six weeks, and the Spring Update is ready to finally blossom.  Features include Messenger compatibility, Achievement ease-of-use, and other silly bits to make life lazier.

The Spring Update will launch this morning, and feature some of the following additions:

The Queue: Although Live hardly resembles Nintendo’s Wii Opera browser, Microsoft is providing 360 owners with some multitasking functionality.  Users can now queue and download up to six HD items at one time, be they game demos, trailers, or even Xbox Live Arcade titles.  The real slickness to this addition is the ability to play games while this is all taking place, even online.  Lag to follow?

Energy Saver: It’s 3am and you’re pretty much wiped.  However, Bethesda has yet another set of armor for yet another mammal!  Rather than sit there as the progress bar slips into the night, simply program Live to shut the 360 down once it completes the download.  Sleep, my pretties.

Keyboard’s Cool: Although it’s entirely up for debate how well a keyboard might work on the Xbox 360 (or how fair its use is), the update now provides total USB support for such a peripheral.

Some other popular additions include compatibility with MSN Messenger (see who’s online, even chat with them), achievements that now tell you what you’ve just unlocked without visiting the hub, and promises that downloads and messaging features have been “improved”.

Of course, Microsoft fills out the remainder of its fizz-bang with exciting features like “Added support for South Africa-specific Family Settings” and the correcting of “Korean clock/date format”.

Most junkies will have noticed the update already with their morning coffee/tea/beer.  It took effect a few hours ago, at 5am EST.