Xbox Live will be taken offline next Tuesday in order for Microsoft to prepare for Live features it recently announced at this year's E3

"On Tuesday, June 16th from 7:01AM UTC (12:01 AM PST) for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.)," wrote XBL boss Major Nelson.

"The remainder of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions."

The maintenence is to prepare for the raft of new XBL features announced at E3, including full game downloads, Sky TV, Last.fm compatibility, Facebook, Twitter, and user ratings.

However, Nelson wrote that none of the new features will be immediately available after the maintenance is over.

The XBL updates are expected to launch this autumn.