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The New Xbox Experience

SchizoidFreud

By SchizoidFreud,
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rahul Newbie

rahul

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As they said, graphic heavy games will run a bit somewhat smooth.

 

And besides, dvd and hard drive are both on Sata, its only the seek time on the dvd drive that is getting heavy right now.

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rahul Newbie

rahul

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There were two main reasons Microsoft decided to totally redo the Xbox 360 interface: 1) to make everything easier to find and 2) making it easier for the Xbox team to make changes to the system on the fly (instead of having to wait for semi-annual updates).

 

After spending a little hands on time with NXE, I’m pretty convinced they’ve succeeded with that first goal (time will tell with the second). A whole slew of navigation options make it easier to locate anything from a recently downloaded demo to a group of friends playing Call of Duty 4 that you can party with. The Spotlight channel highlights whatever’s new in any channel (movie trailers, content packs, demos, etc.) and the actual game library (gasp!) has a details page that will display all the stuff you’ve downloaded for it. You can even see stuff you haven’t downloaded, like if there’s a new map pack, and jump from the detail page directly to Marketplace to buy the content.

 

So no more frantically scrolling this way and that, trying to find the Alpha Protocol demo I just downloaded or figure out where they put the Fable 2 trailer. Even better, the game detail page displays box art, screen shots, streaming videos – the kind of stuff you normally have to go to a website to find. So maybe we won’t need a web browser with NXE (and if we do, they can apparently add one with a quick update that we don’t have to wait half a year for).

 

Kotaku

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rahul Newbie

rahul

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Avatar customization and NXE requires 256MB storage

Update 2: Some clarification. The release mentions that (at minimum) a 256MB memory card is required for the NXE and Avatar customization, BUT doesn't say how many MBs out of the 256MBs are needed for the update itself. Technically, the update could use up only 150MBs leaving 256MB memory card owners with some extra storage. What's guaranteed is that 64MB card owners or those who have no storage medium are out of NXE and Avatar luck.

 

Update: Upon further investigation, Microsoft's press materials state; "The New Xbox Experience is available this fall through a free download to anyone with an Xbox 360 system, a broadband connection and a storage device of either a hard drive or 256MB memory unit or larger." So, we guess the entire NXE update will require an additional 256MBs of storage and Avatar customization will be a part of the NXE package.

 

Ninja-snuck in towards the bottom of Microsoft's TGS08 press release (the one that talks up the New Xbox Experience), we spotted a curious disclaimer regarding Avatar customization and it requiring 256MB of HDD / memory unit storage.

 

Verbatim, the Avatar disclaimer reads "customizing avatars requires a 256 MB memory unit or greater" which really isn't that big of a deal, unless you are a Core or Arcade 360 owner. 256MB of storage would mean that Core owners are totally out of Avatar customization luck (though, we doubt they care) and Arcade owners would have to max out their bundled 256MB memory card. That means our Arcade friends would have to choose: Avatar customization or saving game progress. Decisions, decisions ...

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IMBender Newbie

IMBender

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How To Get Yourself Early Into the New Xbox Experience via the Preview Program

 

So who hasn’t been excited about the New Xbox Experience (NXE) coming November 19? With a spiffy new interface, animated avatar support, Live Party with up to 8 friends, Marketplace on the web, Netflix Instant Queue streaming and a whole truckload of features including the ability to copy our games to the HDD and finally, 16:10 widescreen support – the NXE is pretty much the closest an Xbox 360 aficionado can get to the Home / Mii experience without investing in hardware the other side of the fence.

 

But for all those people who just can’t really wait until the software update rolls out worldwide, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson – who had already teased a preview of the NXE for select readers in his podcast last week – has finally announced the New Xbox Experience (NXE) Preview Program. For all those that can’t figure it out for themselves, yes, you now have a chance to get your dirty paws on the NXE almost 20 days before the rest of the world!

 

All you’ve got to do to earn your chance to join the preview is to head on over to Major Nelson’s blog for the invitation code, which should lead you straight to Microsoft Connect here to take a little survey, where you can enter your Xbox 360’s Console ID (available under the System Info panel under Console Settings on the System blade) and if you manage to get yourself in, you should get your confirmation email on the 29th, followed by a spanking new dashboard when you sign on to Xbox LIVE this October 30.

 

For those of you wondering about what exactly would be there in the preview, considering features such as Primetime were recently scrapped for inclusion in a later update, here’s a partial list. A more complete list, along with a detailed FAQ should be going up on Major Nelson’s blog real soon.

 

<more>

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TRMNTR Grand Master

TRMNTR

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Impressions Of The New Xbox Experience On My Home Console

 

Posted by Stephen Totilo on 10/24/08 at 6:46 pm.

 

 

nxe-on-my-360.jpg

 

Earlier this week, Microsoft transmitted a beta version of the new Xbox 360 dashboard — the New Xbox Experience — to my home console. I'm not allowed to "review" it for another week or so, but I've been told I can share some impressions. So here are some initial impressions based on some dabbling I did this week during the few hours I was home in New York:

 

The transition to the NXE is easy: It took all of one minute to get the NXE on my machine. Another six minutes were required once I logged on to Xbox Live, further updating the NXE. I was prompted to edit an Avatar for myself, which seems to have cost me my old Gamerpic, but nothing else was lost in the transition. My friend's list, downloaded content and settings all carried over.

 

NXE is quick: Everything in the NXE loads really fast. No more hiccups and pauses in the system while it tries to display icons for Achievements or Marketplace content. The overall presentation is smooth.

 

More feasts for the eyes: There's a lot more visual information to take in. You've got images of the games your friends are playing propped up next to their avatars. You've got many more still and video promos for highlighted content and contests. I was browsing the Xbox 360 Marketplace and found that there were screenshots being displayed for any Arcade game I selected, which realy helped me ascertain what the game's all about. There are a lot of visuals to take in, and while it's too early for me to judge if it's all for the better, I can say that it's remarkable how all of these things are just … there .. for you to see. Nothing ever seems to be loading. It's all already waiting for you — or at least appears to be.

 

My 360 is finally quieter: I installed "Fable II" to my hard drive, a new feature available through the NXE for any game. The 6.8 GB installation of "Fable II" took 12 minutes and my system ran far more quietly once I booted up the game. I didn't have a chance to compare load times yet but the lack of any noise from a spinning disc drive is a great improvement. The game disc has to be in the system when playing an installed version. Opening the 360's disc drive during my session of "Fable II" re-booted my console. That's a small price to pay for being able to close my eyes and finally distinguish my Xbox 360 from my vacuum cleaner.

 

Spying on my friends is now an extra click away: My only disappointment with the service at first blush is that the thing I like doing the most when I power on — checking out my list of online friends to see what they're playing — is one or two clicks further away than it was on the original dashboard. Yes, I can easily select the NXE's new Friends option and flick through a hallway of avatars that represent my friends and display boxart of whatever game they're playing. I can spy on them that way. But I can only see four friends' avatars at a time. To get the old-school text list of all my friends, I have to press the 360 controller's Xbox Guide button, select the Friends' option from there and then select the list. It's not a big hassle and it is a sign of how the original dashboard functionality is retained in the Guide section. But it's also a demonstration of how, as some are concerned will be the case with PlayStation 3's "Home," that a more visually-oriented design can't always present information as efficiently as can something oriented on text.

 

I've been out of town for a few days, so I haven't had a chance to try some of the NXE's key features, such as the party system and the new Netflix integration and some small but interesting features I've read about in the promotional material. We'll have more on that next week.

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rahul Newbie

rahul

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whoever gets access here, please do a detailed walkthrough and hands on video..

you might even do an article about it for the GI blog...

unless Sam beats us to it and gets NXE access through his contacts at MS

:P

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