I'm excited about this peripheral. It should aid in setting up games and speed up communication between people that may be trying to get into games with one another. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to send a quick message on the 360 but decided not to because of the effort required. I'm hoping more THX'ers purchase this accessory as well.

It will cost $29.99 and comes with the chat pad attachment and a headset. Little known fact: Gamespot reports that you will also be able to connect your old original Xboxen headsets to the chatpad, so bust out that old Halo 2 in-ear set if you like.

How it works: You will be able to type messages faster through the standard "send message" Xbox Live blade, however an additional button on the chat pad will pop up a quick chat interface over whatever current game your playing. It is yet to be determined whether or not you will be able to hit the quick chat button and send a standard Xbox Live message to one of your friends. If you don't have the accessory it is most likely that you will be able to receive chat messages if your MSN account is synced, however you will have to reply through the standard blade. I would recommend everyone go and get an MSN Messenger account and sync it to your Xbox Live account. This is an easy process and there's plenty of tutorials online.

This is a huge improvement to the 360's current messaging and communication functionality. For only 30 bucks, I'd say it's well worth it.

Here's the official info from Xbox.com:
"Chatting with friends and family on Xbox LIVE® and Windows-based PCs is easy using the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. This device easily connects to any Xbox 360 controller and provides easy to use chat capabilities while maintaining gameplay functionality in one easy-to-hold device.