The Xbox Live Update - which brings new features to the console, including Internet Explorer - has started to roll out today. But eager gamers around the globe shouldn't hold their breath, as the release will be staggered from region to region, taking up to three weeks to complete in full.

Revealed by Xbox's Major Nelson on his blog, the "2012 Xbox Live Update" will be made available as a free download to around three million Xbox Live subscribers from today. "[It] will be a gradual deployment across subscribers and regions over the course of the next week," he said.

"Our initial deployment will reach approximately three million consoles worldwide, with additional users being updated over the course of a couple weeks. Don’t panic if you don’t see an immediate update, just keep checking back in."

Although the facility to use Internet Explorer to surf the web is included in the update, Nelson has also revealed that Xbox SmartGlass will not be part of the UI refresh until Windows 8 has launched on 26 October. From that date, users with compatible smartphones, tablets and PCs will be able to interact with their console in a number of interesting ways.

Pocket-lint tested SmartGlass at E3 in June, and it offers an intuitive second-screen experience to media viewing, internet browsing and games playing.

Other features coming with the update include a refreshed Xbox Dashboard, a new recommendations and ratings tool, "Pinning" - which allows you to add your favourite content to the homescreen, be it movie, game, TV show or more - and enhanced search functionality.

The new Xbox Music streaming service is also being rolled out to Xbox Live users globally from today until the Windows 8 launch on 26 October.

UPDATE: We've now played with the update in Pocket-lint Towers. Find out what we think of it in our Hands-on: Xbox 360 Dashboard Update (Fall 2012) review.