A lot of things are riding on this UI redesign for Microsoft and the Xbox team, but more importantly it’s quelling the frustrations that many of us have had to deal with since the beginning of time. The blade interface was a good start, but it was frustrating at times and it certainly deterred me from perusing the Marketplace. Streaming via Netflix has been rumored for almost a year and that feature will finally be unlocked come November 19th. I still think the whole avatar feature is childish, but I was once asked whether or not I made characters in my own image (like in Madden or whatever), which promptly made me shut my mouth.
The Xbox and Microsoft teams began working on NXE this past spring and seeing what they’ve accomplished in such a short time is pretty amazing. Most will be content with the addition of Netflix, virtual parties and creating their own avatars, but I’m most excited by the fact that we no longer have to wait for the spring or fall updates to unlock new features.
Video after the jump. I’m no Doug Aamoth and I apologize in advance.
The Marketplace is no longer a never-ending maze. Everything you could ever want to purchase whether it’s a game related theme or new map pack is accessible from just about anywhere in the dashboard. You don’t have to go the Marketplace to do it. If your favorite game is Gears of War then you can see what’s available for download from your games library. It’s simple and more streamlined. Of course, you will be redirected to the Marketplace channel, but the point is that you don’t have to go there to begin with. You can also search for items in various ways, but the inclusion of an alphabetical search is key. I can finally redeem codes and/or purchase content from my computer without having to be at home. Everything begins to download once I turn on my Xbox and sign into Live.
The Party feature is also fairly neat for many reasons. The 8-way party chat is great because you don’t all have to be playing the same game in the same room at once. You can all be doing different things and still be connected. The Photo Party feature is perfect friends and family because you can all share photos at once. Photos can be uploaded to the party over your wireless network, USB drive and/or CD/DVD. I like being able to snag certains photos and bringing them back up to the forefront. Sometimes those embarrassing photos you don’t want people to see get uploaded. You can also upload screenshots or share new maps with your cronies if they’re too cheap to shell out for them. It’ll be interesting to see how this feature evolves through time.
The Netflix feature can be seen in the video demo and it’s pretty straightforward. HD streaming will begin on the 19th as well. Woohoo!
Lovers of the blade system should know that you can still access a variation of it by pressing the Guide Button. This is a quick way for gamers to jump from one area to another while they learn the new dashboard system. It also gives you vitals like controller battery life, your Gamerscore, who’s online, etc.
Ripping games to the hard drive has made a huge difference in my overall happiness because I no longer have to listen to the thunderous fans of my Xbox. The actual difference was measured at 7db (this figure came from MS). Games load a lot faster, but I wish I didn’t have to have the disc in the drive simply because I’m lazy and don’t want to swap out discs when my ADD kicks in.
The next addition may or may not have been mentioned, but you can delete zero score games that you or someone else played once on your account so that it doesn’t affect your Gamerscore.
I’m pretty stoked on the New Xbox Experience, but like some of my peers have said, “it’s just a UI.” But it’s a UI that makes the overall experience that much easier to navigate and it can be updated on the fly. And don’t worry about the servers crashing on the 19th, MS assures me that it won’t happen.
If there’s anything else that you guys want me to check out or film then leave a comment and I’ll be sure to get to it this week.
Thanks for this. I’ve been dying to know exactly how the Netflix interface looks/works, and none of the Microsoft-made promo videos were specific enough.
How do you rip the games to the XBOX hard drive? Is that going to be in the update?
It’s actually pretty easy, Chris. Probably something I should have saved for the video. When a new game is in the drive you just hit “Y” and “copy to hard drive.”
Wait so can you rip games now or not until it is updated?
Well I have put off buying a 360 for quite some time because most everything I can get on the 360 I can get on the PC without that monthly fee for Xbox Live…but I’ve gotten so addicted to Netflix lately that it may be worth it to invest in a 360 for HD games on a big screen and high quality streaming Netflix movies…curious…
check out playon, it has cbs/hulu/netflix streaming from your pc to your xbox 360 or ps3. I think the hulu stream was broken this weekend, but the software is still impressive
I am really excited they added a Netflix feature finally. Will the movies be available for download? Does anyone know?
This was a great video and review. I noticed that things seem to load quicker. I know I go to the marketplace there seems to be a loading issue where it can take a while to load content for a page…pain in the butt really.
So i have a lot to look forward to.
adding netflix is a really good idea…
This looks great but Netflix currently do not have rights to distribute streaming content internationally to countries outside of the US .. DOH!!!
that was cool … loving the avatar idea
Are the old themes compatible in some way with the new UI?
Yes they are. You won’t lose your old themes or gamer pics.
You can connect the Internet to your HDTV without buying an expensive box!
PCTVCables.com
Do you have a live vision camera? I wonder what the video chat interface looks like now and also how the interaction with the Windows Live Messenger works now, i.e. how are IMs displayed and is it now possible to do video or voice chat with the Windows Messenger.
Unfortunately I don’t.
Well, you could still start the video chat screen and also take a look how messages from a Windows Live messenger are being shown in the dashboard. Also if it works to start a voice chat from the windows live messenger to the XBox live messenger.
I haven’t seen that from anyone yet.
Well, you could still start the video chat screen and also take a look how messages from a Windows Live messenger are being shown in the dashboard. Also if it works to start a voice chat from the windows live messenger to the XBox live messenger.
I haven’t seen that from anyone yet.
Do you have a live vision camera? I wonder what the video chat interface looks like now and also how the interaction with the Windows Live Messenger works now, i.e. how are IMs displayed and is it now possible to do video or voice chat with the Windows Messenger.
How much are these going to cost around Chirstmas?
An Xbox? They won’t see another price drop for some time.
What i’m missing is the complete Options Menu. Is there a function for saying that my standard saving device is my Harddrive. This pisses me on since ever, choosing the same thing over and over double again saying Yes to one Question.
Where did I read about some console being around $150? If my memory serves me correctly…
that was cool..AND interesting
http://www.egitimbilgisi.tr.gg
Just a quick question, I was just wondering there was some talk about a feature a little while back about being able to place your gamerpicture on your avatars shirt or whatever. Was this ever included in the shipping build ? Thanks =]
I couldn’t find it in this build. It may be in the actual build that goes out in Nov.
The game rip tool will only play the game with the game disk inserted. it sucks b/c i was hoping that i could rent a game and keep it on my hard drive.
How do you install old theme on the new xbox live platform?
i really dont like the new xbox experience, with the way that you cant turn on your music without quitting your game and the whole interface seems like just a PS3 copycat, except upide-down.