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Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.

In an exclusive interview with Next Generation, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten announced the rather disappointing news that they will not be releasing a Spring update this year. This of course means that the rumored Spring update feature set that was leaked last week was complete bologna. Whitten says that instead of putting their resources into a Spring update, they decided to focus their energy into "building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service" (ahem, more reliability). But all is not lost in the land of updates, as Whitten confirmed Microsoft will be rolling out a change to their DRM policy in June that'll allow content owners to re-license XBLA and XBLM content to a single console. This move will make said content available when disconnected from Xbox Live.

Finally, we learn that the Xbox Live Arcade will get a metaphorical Spring cleaning as Microsoft plans to remove under-performing Arcade titles. Games that have been on the market for over six months, have a Metacritic average lower than 65% and a conversion rate below 6% will be targeted for de-listing. A move that Microsoft hopes will streamline the service and open it up to bigger and better things.

If history remains true the Xbox 360 Spring update should be on its way soon, but unlike previous updates we've heard nothing about new features. According to a tip sent to Joystiq regarding the spring update there are nearly 80 new features and tweaks possibly incoming for the Xbox 360.

The completely unconfirmed list can be found after the jump but we can tell you it includes some features we've dreamed for. Voice chat conferences for up to four people, an Inside Xbox Portal which includes news, entertainment, weather and various community features, downloading audio from feeds (such as the Xbox 360 Fancast, or other podcasts we guess), a DRM check for downloaded content which lists items that will not be accessible when disconnected from Xbox Live and a new (hopefully working) way to correct the DRM issue are some of the features on the list.

Other notable features include being able to delete games from your played games list if they list a gamerscore of zero (and zero obtained achievements) and the ability to save game data onto the hard drive for faster loading (presumably the way PS3 handles the feature).

The most interesting addition is the ability to calibrate motion sensor based peripherals again pushing the Wii-like controller rumor into the limelight.

Keep in mind that this all squarely falls under the category of "rumor" for the moment. We'll let you know as soon as we hear otherwise. Find the full list of (rumored) features after the break.

It's becoming increasingly difficult for us to shamble out of bed and avoid stubbing our toe on some unconfirmed list of Xbox 360 features, fixes, enhancements and/or tweaks meant for the system's Spring dashboard update. Though we usually avoid the ones promising "full compatibility with Metal Gear Solid 4" or "online racial slur filters," this latest one proved unavoidable. Thank you, dear tipster, for leaving a concrete block at the base of our bed.

You'll find the "incomplete" list of unconfirmed features after the break, though we'll draw your attention to two in particular. "Calibration options for motion sensor devices." That certainly brings to mind the numerous Newtonian rumors of a Microsoft waggle wand we've encountered over the last few weeks. As for allowing games to "store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading?" We'll go make a sandwich while you guys discuss.

Update: Microsoft says: "We don't comment on rumors or speculation, but what we can tell you is we've never seen this list before."