E308 • Breaking Down the ‘New Xbox Experience’
by: ~samuel w.
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There’s been a lot of talk lately on the state of the current Xbox 360 Dashboard as well as the Marketplace interface and how desperately it’s been needing an update. Marketplace content has been flooded and is now cluttered and very difficult to navigate, specifically when searching for content. Switching between blades and then menus isn’t as smooth as it can be and when directly compared to the Xross-Media Bar (Playstation 3), the Dashboard looks a generation behind simply in terms of functionality.
This update is coming at the right time, with the 360’s price drop and a solid lineup of games from here to mid-09, more and more gamers will be coming to the house that Microsoft built, and because of that many things other than just the interface had to be addressed and have been. Microsoft has a lot in store with this new iteration of the 360’s software and because of that there’s a lot of confusion as to how everything will work, what will and won’t carry over and some of the lesser known features.
So without any further talking, here’s the breakdown of the New Xbox Experience (NXE).
—>Breakdown After the Jump<—
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•NXE’s Interface Change
The most striking change you’ll notice immediately after your system has downloaded the update is the completely revamped interface. While the original 360’s dashboard was far from bad, it had issues which only got worse over time as new content clogged the menu’s and more and more features were added, requiring thicker and longer navigation just to access content. No where has this been more present than on Xbox Live Marketplace where navigating content can be tricky and even a hassle sometimes.
From what we can tell from our brief look at the new UI, a lot of these complaints and issues have been resolved in an intuitive interface that both adds functionality and a simple elegance to the console before online seen on the Playstation 3. The 360 has been transformed from a relatively primitive interface into something that you would expect to see on an Apple product rather than a game console. Living room presence typically means nothing when talking video game consoles but the word might hold a little more weight now that Microsoft has entered the arena.
• Avatars
Almost as noticeable as the entire interface’s change is the lack of a gamerpic and instead the inclusion of a small Avatar. These little guys are similar to Nintendo’s Mii’s and Playstation Home’s “guys” but with a little more customization than a Mii and a lot more personality than Playstation Home. Like Home’s “guys” (Seriously, what are we supposed to call them?), companies can put in clothing and items for your avatar based on achievements you gain in a game or for more promotional purposes. We’ve yet to see just how many items will be available at launch but seeing as gamerpics are some of the most popular ways for companies to market, expect a Cheetos shirt within a week of launch.
• Better Connectivity with Friends
Something a lot of people have been asking for in an Xbox Dashboard Update is a stronger focus on friend connectivity outside the games. The 360 paved the way for live game invites, messaging and voice chat all on a console but with Sony caught up in most of those regards, Microsoft in an attempt to stay ahead of the curb has included some exciting features in the NXE.
The first of which is the new party system, a way for friends to connect to each other in new ways outside of games. Up to 8 players can connect via voice chat, complete with a party leader who can then take the rest of the party through many of the features of the new NXE. A party can watch a movie together, listen to music, watch a slideshow from the party leader’s HDD or hop into a game (Player limits do play a factor so if your party is too big, no cigar). The interesting thing about it was the above mentioned ability to watch a movie together, as players can choose to comment on things happened on the screen as they happen, a very similar feature to the live chatting found in some HD-DVD releases.
It’s a lot more ambitious than most people were probably expecting, as most of us just wanted the ability to chat with more than one person. It’s cool to think about the possibilies to and implementations of a system that allows the player to get a group of 8 friends together in a chat and immediately move the party into watching a movie you just rented from…
• …Netflix
Xbox 360 is finally getting Netflix support and really, it’s about time. Xbox Live Marketplace’s movie rental service is great, reliable and relatively fast for the amount of data you’re receiving. But when in comparison to Netflix, the 360’s library of rentable movies is just embarassingly small. This ability to stream movies directly from Netflix (For subscribers only, obviously) at no extra charge is fantastic. As someone who uses Netflix almost weekly, it’s great to hear I don’t need to sit down in front of a computer to stream a movie, that I can now watch it as it was meant to be seen, on my TV. Netflix coming to 360 is just one more reminder that the system is so much more than a video game console and that it is now a multimedia entertainment package for the whole family.
• Other Features
Major Nelson posted a small artical on his blog about some lesser known features that will be included, many of which were not even talked about or even mentioned in the Microsoft Press Conference.
• Disc-less Game Launch: A feature that you would expect to see on the PS3 and not on the 360, the NXE brings with it support to rip your game disc onto your HDD to boot from there, thus enabling for faster load times, a lack of spinning (Great for noise consious people like myself) and less heat. Unfortunately you will not be able to play with the game still in the tray but if you’re like me and have a 120GB HDD and need something to fill it up, this can be a great option.
• Avatar Implementation: Much like the Mii system, Xbox Live Avatars will be implemented into future titles, right in the game, such as the just announced UNO Rush. No word on if it’s even possible to patch Avatar support into older games or if any developers have plans to.
• 16:10 & 1440×900/1680×1050 Support through HDMI/VGA: Something I know I’ve been asking for since day one is the support for TV’s/Monitors with the 16:10 aspect ratio as well as support for the 1680×1050 resolution through VGA. I often switch my 360 from my LCD TV to my LCD Monitor and since it runs at both the 16:10 ratio and the 1680×1050 resolution, I had to before downscale to 1280×768, which while fine, it’s still 720, it just wasn’t as clear as it could have been.
• Marketplace on the Web: Something I definitely wasn’t expecting is the ability to surf marketplace, browse content and even purchase and queue it for download all from Xbox.com.
• Redesigned Guide: Not leaving anything the same, Microsoft will also be redesigning the Xbox Guide. Instead of the screen filling blade that appeared, you will now be treated to a slick, whiteish-silver mini-blade interface in the middle of your interface, reminiscent of the old interface but heavily polished. This gives the player access to things such as Marketplace, Settings and much more in-depth game information. It will also serve as a functionality hub on the main home page for things like ejecting discs, connecting to live and quickly accessing marketplace and media content without scrolling through the main home page’s new interface.
• Q&A
A lot of questions are brought up whenever a company shows off a product, especially at a press conference where they can’t take all the time they’d want to, to show off every single feature. That’s what Q&A’s are for.
Question: Will my previously purchased dashboard content still work with the new update?
Answer: We haven’t seen it in motion but Microsoft has assured us that previously purchased dashboard themes will work with an optional “blade” system for your interface, letting you choose how you want your media to be displayed, whether or not via the NXE or a new, redesigned blade system. It has also been confirmed you can turn off Avatars and just use a static gamerpic, awesome for people like me who like to sport the Pimps at Sea pic.
Question: When will this update come out?
Answer: There is no cemented release date yet but Microsoft has said on numerous occassions it will be out this fall for sure.
Question: How customizable will the Avatars be?
Answer: They’re what you’d expect, giving you customization over physical features such as eyes, eye color, hair, hair color, shape of head, et cetera, as well as clothes. Some clothes will be more standard while others will be more exotic, so don’t be surprised by a Ryu Hayabusa or a Master Chief costume soon.
Question: What can’t you do in-game when using the Guide.
Answer: This question doesn’t have a definitive answer as we haven’t been told exactly but we know for sure all your content and every blade will be available to the player, you can browse marketplace, your media content, change settings, et cetera. What we don’t know is if certain aspects of the content will force you out of the game ala the Playstation 3’s in-game Xross-Media Bar. Stay tuned though.
Question: How we can get new content for our Avatar’s?
Answer: We do not know if the marketplace will have Avatar content that you can buy but we do know that you can gain new content by achieving certain things in games, almost like a second level to achievements.
Question: Will there be a new Achievement Unlocked sound?
Answer: STFU n00b.
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