The New Xbox Experience

By Oli Welsh Published 1 August, 2008

360, redesigned.

"For the first time ever, a console will be revolutionised through software." That's how Microsoft's Xbox Live, software and services boss John Schappert introduced his segment of the company's E3 press conference. That's how he raised the curtain on Xbox 360's new user interface, due to arrive via a free update to the console on Live and game discs in the autumn ("and not as a beta", one Microsoft representative told us, in a dig at Sony's PlayStation Home).

"Revolutionised through software." It's a very Microsoft thing to say; one of those rare instances when the company has allowed itself, in a statement about its Xbox business, to sound like a maker of computer operating systems. But that, of course, is exactly what has made Microsoft the richest company in the world, and Xbox 360's success certainly has more to do with its software and infrastructure - Xbox Live, in other words - than its capable but fault-prone hardware. If any of the console manufacturers can do this, surely Microsoft can.

As Schappert unveiled the features of the new front-end - 3D player avatars, a fully integrated party system, a live quiz game channel, streamed movies from Netflix in the US - it was easy to be impressed with how slick and comprehensive this revision looked. However, it was also easy to accuse Microsoft of merely reacting to its opponents' moves, of being not much more than a magpie: Nintendo's Miis and Wii Channels, Sony's XMB interface and many of Home's features seem to have been folded in to the redesign.

This, cynics would claim, is another example of Microsoft riding the coat-tails of more talented innovators, as those same cynics claim it has always done with Apple in the field of operating systems. Is the New Xbox Experience, as it's so blandly branded, no more than a desperate attempt to avoid being left behind? Or will it drive Schappert's revolution - take online gaming's greatest platform to the next level, transform a three-year-old machine into a brand new one and expand the Xbox audience into the bargain?

It started with a simple problem of navigation. Having originally expected Xbox Live Marketplace to carry hundreds of items Microsoft found itself hosting tens of thousands, and it was simply getting too hard to find stuff. The old blades system is only efficient if you know what you are seeking; browsing this burgeoning library is a nightmare. So the new interface is designed to highlight what's available and happening on Xbox Live, in the Marketplace and with your friends - as well as in a couple of other new areas - and to invite you to explore rather than head straight to your destination.

'The New Xbox Experience' Screenshot 1

Although shown against plain backgrounds, the new interface will work with existing themes and look "beautiful".

The primary tool for this is the My Xbox 360 channel, the first of the lateral, graphical menus that you're presented with when you turn the machine on. Your gamercard, the disc in the machine's tray, links to your personal game and media libraries, and the settings appear here. The design - a 3D flip-book of large, bold images against a pseudo-3D background - is the result of a final and long-overdue acknowledgement that pictures work better than text on a television, HD or no HD.

Next up on the vertical channel menu, Spotlight is the most blatant attempt to "bubble up content", as Microsoft put it. This will play host to news and advertising highlights for the Xbox service, much as the rolling advertisements for demos on the current interface already do. Of all of the new interface's features, this one seems most custom-designed for Microsoft's partners rather than its audience. But a coherent shop window in once place is still welcome, not least because it will help keep the other channels functional and free of advertisement.

The Community channel is one of the riskiest features in the new interface, and one of the hardest to judge because we weren't actually able to see it working on a networked machine. This will essentially be a heavily graphical representation of your friends list, showing animated Avatars telling you what they're playing, grouped together in their online parties. It's supposed to be lively and engaging and it certainly sounds it, but - perhaps - at the greatest cost to utility and easy-access information.

However, you can also look at the Community channel - and the Avatars and party system that go hand-in-hand with it - from another angle. From one side, it's an extremely elaborate menu. From another it's actually a radically streamlined, and arguably much more useful, version of what Sony is attempting with its ambitious user-interface-cum-virtual-world, Home.

'The New Xbox Experience' Screenshot 2

The interface will launch in the US and key European territories first; no word on Japan

Like Home, the new front-end will grant you an avatar to customise and express yourself with. Like Home, it will allow you to form parties and jump them instantaneously and in their entirety into any game, on Arcade or otherwise, bypassing the game's own lobby and party system completely. Like Home, you'll be able to watch streamed photo and video, including Netflix movies, synched to your entire party. Members of a party (maximum size to be determined, though we hear eight mentioned) can use voice chat together no matter what they're doing, including individual single-player gaming.

Without doubt the social features are completely seamless, cleverly engineered and very powerful. Of course, it hardly constitutes the genuinely massively multiplayer vision of a console's community that Home represents, and it doesn't give players the same "ownership" of virtual space. But in terms of tangible benefits to the console's user, they're almost all in Microsoft's new software, and in a much less cumbersome form that will be more palatable to more people.

The Rare-designed Avatars, it has to be said, are perhaps a little too palatable, a little too carefully focus-grouped. Blandly appealing, they capture neither the irrepressible silliness and charm of Miis nor the rather studied, realistic cool of Home avatars; they're very middle-of-the-road, very Microsoft. If they're to be embraced by families, casual gamers and Xbox's loyal hardcore alike, perhaps that's what's required - and in any event, the test of Avatars will be in their application, not their design.

"We don't pretend to have invented the concept of avatars," Schappert told us in conversation at E3, perhaps implying that Nintendo can't make the same claim either. In any event, Microsoft should be credited with looking a little further afield than Miis for inspiration. Downloadable accessories and clothing - whether purchased with Microsoft Points, doled out as Achievement rewards, or by developers as game promotions - are a very canny steal from the Asian free-gaming market pioneered by Nexon's MapleStory.

You can be sure that Microsoft will be more thorough in using Avatars, and encouraging third-parties to use them, than Nintendo has with its creations. The clearest example of this we currently know about is also, perhaps, the new interface's most exciting feature: the Primetime channel.

Schappert describes Primetime as the meeting point between gaming and TV; topical, social content, concentrating on quiz games at first, that changes on a daily schedule. Reality and quiz show giant Endemol - creator of the Big Brother phenomenon - is Microsoft's first partner in this venture, and will be bringing its 1 vs 100 format to the channel as a massively multiplayer online quiz game where the contestant, the host, the audience are all players, represented by their Avatars. Although there will be a jump-in mode, the main event will be daily quizzes held at a certain time of day; programmed, live entertainment, communally shared on a massive scale, just like TV.

Although it might have its genesis in the likes of Nintendo's Everybody Votes channel - and although similar concepts are already happening on TV, and starting to on the internet - Primetime is on another level entirely. It genuinely is the new kind of console gaming that Microsoft is billing it as, and it has enormous potential. We predict that this - not Scene It or Lips or You're In The Movies - is where Microsoft will finally make an impact on casual gaming. Localising it will be hard work, but Schappert promises that it will come to all the key European territories.

'The New Xbox Experience' Screenshot 3

The games channel is a huge improvement over its current arrangement.

The other channels are more predictable. There's no single Marketplace hub any more, the relevant sections being accessed through the Games and Videos channels. Games will give you access to your stored Arcade games and demos, and run features such as "The Major's Picks". Videos will play host to the streaming film service for Netflix subscribers, one of the most enticing aspects of the new front end but, sadly, one that has little chance of reaching 360 owners outside the US.

The update will grant the 360 with a couple of other notable new abilities: you'll be able to install all DVD games to the hard drive and play them from there, increasing loading speeds by some 30 per cent (and, presumably, cutting noise too), although you'll still need to insert the disc to play. The Marketplace will also have a presence on the web; you'll be able to browse and buy downloads there, which will be automatically queued up for download to your 360 when you turn it on (or fetched immediately, if you choose to leave it on).

The most confident touch of the whole thing, perhaps, is the revamped Guide. Pressing the Guide button at any point, during gameplay or otherwise, brings up a neat, condensed version of the original blade interface with the entire front-end functionality available. This is the old-fashioned menu-drilling quick fix for when you know exactly what you want, and should make navigating the machine tremendously fast. Microsoft has cut out steps in the interface wherever possible; for example, to change between Arcade games, you will no longer need to back all the way out of one then drill all the way back down to the next. You'll simply bring up the Guide and hot-swap, directly.

'The New Xbox Experience' Screenshot 4

Gamer pictures haven't been completely scrapped in favour of the Avatars - they'll still have a presence.

If any of the 360's established fanbase has its misgivings about the new face of the machine, the Guide should silence them. This update really will be all things to all men, and in terms of style and substance, form and functionality, Schappert is right - it will move the Xbox 360 further forward than any console has been moved in its lifespan before.

If there's a question mark, it's over Microsoft's vision of its machine as a casual and social gaming hub. Nintendo's success with the Wii stems from owning the living room, encouraging players to interact with each other in the same space. Microsoft's social engineering, by contrast, is purely virtual and wholly internet-focused. The vision of solitary users watching movies together in separate rooms, together alone, doesn't immediately suggest the expanded demographic that Microsoft is after.

Preaching to the unconverted that a software update really has made Xbox 360 a different beast will be a mighty PR challenge, too. But whether it brings in a whole new audience or not, the New Xbox Experience will subtly shift the battleground in console gaming away from the hardware arms race, and towards Schappert's precious software and services. And that is ground that Microsoft is a whole lot more comfortable on.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (172) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LazyDan #1 4 years ago

    I wannttt it :(

  • Santino #2 4 years ago

    i really like the look of the new interface and can't wait to get it, those mii-too's just look wrong though.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 11:41

  • brav0twozero #3 4 years ago

    Looks promising, I can see the appeal.

  • Psychotext #4 4 years ago

    I'm pretty open minded about this. There's a lot of features I want to get my hands on and a bunch of stuff that doesn't interest me at all.

    Progress is good though. =)

  • kungphu #5 4 years ago

    I like the interface, dont really care for the mii's though, I will just stick to my picture of Ryu thank you!

  • TheNinkyNonk #6 4 years ago

    I think we all acknowledge there's 'nothing new' in most other mediums, so what's the big deal with MS borrowing ideas, so long as it's done effectively? Why do consoles have to be 'original' when popular artists get away with not being? As long as the end user is happy, who cares?

  • Farzlepot #7 4 years ago

    I'm not a fan of the new interface. Maybe I'm just stubborn?

  • Tampolini #8 4 years ago

    Some promising ideas. Not particularly bothered about the avatars thing - can't really see the hook of it. But then I said the same thing about achievement points. :/

  • TheNinkyNonk #9 4 years ago

    I do, however, want to punch those avatars

  • woodnotes #10 4 years ago

    It'll be like getting a brand new console, sort of.

  • Apostle #11 4 years ago

    I wasn't a fan of the new look either, but I have to say it's growing on me and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

  • Widge #12 4 years ago

    Consoles have to be 'original' otherwise people go around comment pages on here BLEATING on about "oh yeahs but we did this first and betters"

  • mrpon #13 4 years ago

    Hmm, 360 has to be left on then for the automatic updates.

    Bummer.

  • agparrot #14 4 years ago

    My mate andybeta reckons, and I agree with him, that these new Avatars need a name that isn't so boring.

    He proposes, and I agree with him, 'douchebags', or 'my little douchebag' (MLDs).

    Anyone got any better ideas?

  • Widge #15 4 years ago

    badasses

  • Farzlepot #16 4 years ago

    "Anyone got any better ideas?"

    Microsoft Piis?
    Gits?
    MUM (My Ugly Mug)?
    Cashcows?
    Microsoft Bob! (http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob)

  • DFawkes #17 4 years ago

    I still hope it's optional, but I could live with it.

  • Madafunkola #18 4 years ago

    This may seem a little too twee, or a bit too Microsoft, but how about calling the avatars "Xbods", or to claim the name as our own "Xbots". lol

  • TheJuriel #19 4 years ago

    The avatars are still stupid and plain.

  • TripSkyway #20 4 years ago

    Great article, nice balanced view.

  • Farzlepot #21 4 years ago

    I'm liking Xbots!

  • Altrezia #22 4 years ago

    So, when does this happen?

  • agparrot #23 4 years ago

    I particularly like 'Cashcows', yes.

  • HolyJebus #24 4 years ago

    Not really a fan of the avatars either but then i don't really think they're aimed at people like us.

  • agparrot #25 4 years ago

    Xbots, yes, I love it.

    Server Engineered Xbots.

  • CannonAnBall #26 4 years ago

    The avatars look extremely camp. sorry.

  • TheJuriel #27 4 years ago

    Faster Guide and installing games to HD (goodbye jet engine noise!) are plenty to be joyful for, though, so I cannot wait for this.

  • agparrot #28 4 years ago

    So, when does this happen?

    This autumn, or 'fall' as they insist on calling it.

  • bad09 #29 4 years ago

    It's not the look, that's OK (ish), my problem with it is the casual rubbish they have decided to plaster all over MY dashboard when I didn't ask for it. I really have a problem with that.

    I bought a simple friends list not a whole page of laughing dancing Miis (avatars are REALLY pointless to me) and a console with no silly corporate sponsored quiz shows on my dashboard. Forcing it down my throat will only piss me off MS.

    People will no doubt reply saying it's avatars are optional which they aren't because people on your friends list will use them so they'll be plastered over the Community page.

    Others will no doubt say well just use the guide instead. Great idea, limit my use of a different interface from what I paid for anyway.

    Sorry MS went down in my book with the new "experience" use games to bring in all the casual crowd you want MS I don't care, don't mess with MY OWN console.

  • agparrot #30 4 years ago

    Faster Guide and installing games to HD (goodbye jet engine noise!) are plenty to be joyful for, though, so I cannot wait for this.

    Absolutely, I'm only ever playing 2 - 3 games *at a time* so should be able to manage a couple of installs for my most-played even on my 20Gb drive (I suspect I'll only be able to fit one at a time, however).

    the Faster Guide also sounds like it offers the option to bypass this new dashboard, for those who don't like it.

    I personally cannot wait to see all my friends bland avatars huddled in little game-playing groups. The 8UP voice chat is going to be very useful indeed for those of us with regular Live friends that we might want to chat with without having to actually join in a game. Thumbs up, in theory.

  • agparrot #31 4 years ago

    I just think that there's going to be a jarring disconnect between the family friendly mii-too's and the type of rowdy behaviour and attitude displayed by your average teen American 360 gamer.

    But presumably these people won't actually be on your friends list? They certainly aren't on mine.

  • RedPanda #32 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • bad09 #33 4 years ago

    @ WaxBrazillian

    I don't see your point?

    At the end of the day I was sold hardware to play my games on which is changing to something I do not like, mock me all you want but at the end of the day MS have changed their PRODUCT and as a consumer I am allowed not to like the end result and prefer the competitions optional approach to the casual market. Besides games don't come into it as I have PC and PS3 for anything on 360 TBH.

    I'm not alone it disliking it either......

  • agparrot #34 4 years ago

    My Little Douchebag
    He has his glad rags
    Look at him waving
    or is he just craving...

    ...a fix of some teamplay
    some internet 8-way?
    My little douchebag,
    won't ever be too sad

    with his friends in the new dash
    some people think it's gash
    but I'll download some clothes and
    dress him in robes fit for

    my little douchebag
    la la la la la la laaaa.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 12:21

  • miiiguel #35 4 years ago

    Some of my Live buddies are complaining about this beeing too childish, but it's very funny when I hear then over the headset, all of those have that reaaaaly high-pitched voiced common of 15 years' old.

    I, an old guy, can't wait, it is really like having a new console.

  • andywilkie35 #36 4 years ago

    this is gonna be great

  • Garulon #37 4 years ago

    "Others will no doubt say well just use the guide instead. Great idea, limit my use of a different interface from what I paid for anyway. "

    You paid for the 360 dashboard? Man, that GameStation employee really saw you coming didn't they "well you need a dashboard as well of course, that'll be a tenner"

  • bioreit #38 4 years ago

    Multi-person chat is the one thing that I've been waiting for since I got my 360. Now we can have impromptu, informal clan matches on CoD4 and other games, where my friends and I can talk *only* with each other, without having to listen to the drivel of mid-west farm boys, or annoying the crap out of the other players with our drivel.

    The installing games to hdd will be quite cool - especially for the Orange Box. Would be nice if they could let you install the files onto a Windows Home Server, though - for those of us with more than one 360, it could get to be a pain. Then all you have to do is cart the disc to whicever console you want to play on. Not sure how it would cope with multiple copies of the same game, mind...

    Also, really disappointed about Netflix. Either get it to Europe, or allow us to purchase TV shows/films and stream them to the party - would mean that I could watch new episodes of Lost with my sister in Thailand and her husband in Laos, at the same time. Seems like an excellent evolutionary step beyond current webcam comms and one that would garner a lot of good PR for Microsoft - think of how many disparate familiy and friendship groups there are these days and how happy they would be to do typically homey things like watch a TV show together, regardless of separation distance. Allow in-picture Live Vision support so you can see your friends and relatives and the 360 could become ubiquitous just for that feature alone.

  • Daymare #39 4 years ago

    I hope we'll be able to have a non-cutish, custom, limited-edition avatars, like Xenomorph, Predator, Pinhead, Gordon Freeman, Dante, Optimus Prime and so on and so on and so on. All this avatar thing *could* be quite cool in a geekish sort of way:)
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 12:21

  • agparrot #40 4 years ago

    I bet the Douchebag Online Customisation Tool allows you to have a douchebag who isn't smiling, anyway.

    I'd personally love a downloadable Hitman Baldy-and-Barcode hat, too.

  • Arwin #41 4 years ago

    I think the most important aspect of this update should be that it's better suited to different resolutions and aspect ratios. I also really like 16:10 support. 360's VGA support notwithstanding, for some reason my (1680x1050) Samsung accepts 1080p over DVI and shows it very well so that my PS3 actually works better on my Computer LCD than the 360 (also have a living room LCD though).

    I think that it is basically a good thing, though I don't like the looks that much just yet, and I must say the Miis are downright jarring, really don't like those for some reason.

    There's a rumor going on apparently that Home will also be viewable in 2D eventually? Anyway, it'll be interesting to see where this is going and how well it will work. Right now, I still have more faith in Home.

  • agparrot #42 4 years ago

    Perhaps My Little Douchebags.

    MyLDs for short.

    I just can't decide.

  • Dizzy #43 4 years ago

    TBH.. for me it is just an interface that I use just a few seconds before I start a game :)

    I understand that MS is going for the "casual" market and I like the new features that will be integrated in the Live SDK. The interface in itself is not something I hate or love. It is just a frontend but it makes sense to include "avatars", everybody on the Internet has a strange urge to personalize himself (look at all the stupid pictures and sigs that are used) so I guess it could be a very good idea. As long as the GUI allows me to play games quickly and find content I have no problem with it.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 12:35

  • miiiguel #44 4 years ago

    yeah...WaxBrazillian, it's stupid to think like this, I mean, a person is a person, but I (so far) have had the best moments with UK/US natives. Most French/Italians I met are too cocky. PT's are too young and can't seem to be able to concentrate their atention for long (I'm bored..., let's play this... no..., let's play that... no! lets'...)

    Anyway, plz don't take this personally, it's my experience so far.

  • Weezer #45 4 years ago

    The thought of installng Mass Effect to HD and playing it from there... brilliant! Would almost eliminate texture pop-in and loads during planetary exploration. This feature has me wanting the update more than anything.

  • bioreit #46 4 years ago

    @ agparrot

    "the Douchebag Online Customisation Tool"

    Methinks you mean 'Douchebag Interactive Creation Kit'. It's all about the acronyms.

    Agree with Dizzy - you don't spend your time in the interface, just as you don't spend hours just looking at an OS. It's a means to an end and I suspect most people will hate it when it first hits, then get used to it before forgetting that it was ever different in the first place.

  • AceMaCool #47 4 years ago

    The Mii things could be cool if there ends up being loads of crazy costumes for them; perhaps new ones for every game like with the old gamer pictures. In their 'vanilla' format, however, they look horribly twee.

  • Sid-Nice #48 4 years ago

    @WaxBrazillian,

    I agree; I've had many a great Xbox Live gaming session ruined by moronic drunk British gamers shouting racial abuse to our American brothers. In my experience I've found the Canadian gamers to be the best and sensible North Americans gamers are nice people; but I do despise the irritating loud obnoxious Americans and the screaming kids.

  • ccfb #49 4 years ago

    "Once you turn on the XBOX, nobody will be able to tell it apart from the Wii."

    Except games on the 360 look good and it has a controller that works.

  • Prodigy_BE #50 4 years ago

    The whole Nintendo Mii look of them little folks is probably the best example of a company that doesn't know which direction to take. They did what any short sighted company would do. Look at the biggest player, and copy what they're doing.

    A shame really, because MS started out in the console biz as the innovator, with Xbox Live.
    But then again, when you're in first, it becomes a lot harder to stay ahead.

    I'm not saying its a bad idea, but is just doesn't feel like something that belongs in the Xbox world.

  • Benno #51 4 years ago

    Looks awesome

  • anomagnus #52 4 years ago

    couldn't give a shit about it, its an interface, its like getting exciting about your cars dashboard

  • bad09 #53 4 years ago

    @ WaxBrazillian

    Why moan, well I happen to be an 360 owner so maybe, just maybe, I'm allowed to voice my view (on the COMMENTS page) on what is happening to the machine and the applications going on to it (whether it is in line with your own view or not).

    A more important question should be why are you so bothered about me not liking the new dash?





  • agparrot #54 4 years ago

    @bioreit

    Methinks you mean 'Douchebag Interactive Creation Kit'. It's all about the acronyms.

    I was going for DOCTor or DOCTer but I ran out of creative energy for more letters.

  • asphaltcowboy #55 4 years ago

    "Once you turn on the XBOX, nobody will be able to tell it apart from the Wii."

    With the exception that it won't be anything like the Wii...

  • DjFlex52 #56 4 years ago

    I'm not saying its a bad idea, but is just doesn't feel like something that belongs in the Xbox world.

    @Prodigy_BE

    Oh really? I remember when the internet was in an castastrophic uproar because Ninty changed the name from Revolution to the Wii.
    It just didn't feel right.
    Well, it does now.
    Give it some time. This new Xbox experience is going to belong whether you like it or not just like the name, Wii ;)
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 12:59

  • bad09 #57 4 years ago

    @ WaxBrazillian

    You right I don't care about your dash, but your OWN view on it is allowed i think!

    I'm used to freedom of speech, sorry if that upsets you so...

  • Widge #58 4 years ago

    I don't get this "I just want it to play games. This is just a games machine." mentality though, christ give me all the features please I say! I can choose not to subscribe to them if I want, but hell if they're there I can use them if I want to. I love the ideal of all in one boxes that do shed loads of stuff...

  • sneetch #59 4 years ago

    @Weezer

    Ooooh, yeah. It would be worth it for Mass Effect. Also for JRPGs like Lost Odyssey where the game loads before each battle. Suddenly the idea of copying your games to the disk isn't so pointless to me.

    As for the new Dashboard; it's optional (for given values of optional) according to Larry Hyrb http://play.tm/story/1985 6. By which I think he means you can just continue to use your current gamer pics and just use the guide in the same way as the old blades so the fancy rotatey interface is there but you don't use it.

    My only problem with the new Dashboard is the greyness of it all. I'm sure it's customisable but why did they pick grey? Why not... well, why not just about any other colour? Except beige that is.

  • Fab4 #60 4 years ago

    I want my avatar to be a man gazing off into the distance and pointing.

  • Widge #61 4 years ago

    I wonder, if the 360 had shipped with HDDs as standard... would Lost Oddesey and Mass Effect inflicted a compulsory install to lessen the issues you have discovered.

    I find the loading a bugger on a PC! Still much better than KOTOR1 days!

  • BobsUncle #62 4 years ago

    @bad09 - "they have decided to plaster all over MY dashboard when I didn't ask for it."

    Technically speaking, you don't own the dashboard as it's software. You own the hardware but you only own a Licence to use software. Hence why you're not allowed to copy it. ;-)

  • BobsUncle #63 4 years ago

    Widge, Good point, Mass Effect will be awesome from the HDD. Oh, now I need to buy an Elite. :'-(

  • bad09 #64 4 years ago

    @ BobsUncle

    Got me there ;)

    (still think it's poo poo!)

  • bongofury #65 4 years ago

    I think the new look dash is a good idea, I have never ever been put off using a console beacuase the front end is ugly or useless (original xbox is a case in point), its all about the games.

    The 360 blades interface has been really good but it does take a little while to get used to my wife hasn't got a clue about it (probably a good thing!).

    there's no point whining about something that improves functionality coming for free, all the babies crying that microsoft didn't ask them if they liked it, and complaining that its being rammed down their throats are just plain wrong!

  • Widge #66 4 years ago

    Generally, people do not like change, so this to be expected really...

  • Darren #67 4 years ago

    I'm really pleased that Microsoft have revamped the current workmanlike but functional dashboard. The new one looks ten times better even without having used it and mimics Microsoft's own Windows Media Centre U.I. which itself inspired Sony's XMB, which is currently my favourite console interface. Come autumn though and it looks like the XMB may get relegated to second place! :)

    One of the big things that annoys me about the current dashboard is the way the machine defaults to the Xbox LIVE blade rather than the Games one like it does on the PS3 (clearly Sony know you turn on your console to play games!). Nice to hear that Microsoft are changing this so the most used features are readily accessible as soon as you turn on the machine.

    Although the Avatars are clearly a Mii-too rip-off, I like the look of them, they add a fun element to the interface and are actually more obvious than the Wii's own Miis which are hidden away in a Channel.

    I suspect they'll be a few a teething issues with this update given that it's such a radical overhaul but it's so refreshing to see a console's user interface completely change both in terms of design and usability from the one it launched with. I can't wait to try it myself.

  • MaxiSleep #68 4 years ago

    This will revolutionize the launching of apps on the Xbox 360.

    Could we revolutionize something usefull next time?

  • JonesW #69 4 years ago

    Is the HD DVD drive integrated into all this new-fangled-update-shinyness? I still use mine quite a lot. if so, can I install the movies to the HDD to stop the noise?

  • citizenHUNTER #70 4 years ago

    The HD installs will be great though I'll need to buy a 120 gig HD now but I'm not too bothered cos I feel like I needed one anyway. Also, the greatest thing to me is the 16:10 monitor support since I spent a small fortune (for me) on a monitor primarily to use with my Xbox to find I had to stretch the image to get the proper aspect ratio (and thus lose a bit of the sides of the full image my Xbox is sending). Now I'll have native resolution and hopefully when I play HDDVD's the 360 will downscale from 1080p only slightly for my monitor so it might look even better now than it already does. It looks good but I don't think my monitor scales the 720p input very well, at native res it should be pin point sharp the way it is when I connect my PC. Fantastic.

    The avatars they are showing us are a bit bland but I'm sure they'll have lots of personalisation features, new clothes etcetera. They probably will be cheeky and charge a small amount of pointage to get cooler things but in the end I imagine them being very varied and not all looking like they stepped out of the Stepford Wives. In time people will get unnaturally attached to their Avatars and in the end they will be a great way to distinguish your friends rather than just some dead text or a picture icon (where many people on LIVE use the same icons anyway..)

  • paulf #71 4 years ago

    @bad09 you can keep the old dashboard layout anyway i think, thus restoring your 'choice'

    playing off hdd will be good and less noisy, and hopefully finding games will be a lot quicker - could take or leave the mii copies, lets see what its like once it's released

  • Darren #72 4 years ago

    /wonders if the HDD install will speed up the long loading times in SBK 08

  • bad09 #73 4 years ago

    @ paulf

    Cheers dude, so far I hadn't heard that, definitely a good thing, I'll put up with the old dash if it means I'm avatar and quiz show free :)

  • Al_Swearengen #74 4 years ago

    Soooooo so happy about the party chat system. I'm always on a private chat when playing FPS games so I don't have to listen to some 9 year old homophobe yell into his mic. So the more friendly voices I can have in that chat the better.

    I like the look of the new interface. Feels very clean. And I have to say I'm surprised avatars weren't apart of the 360 interface from day one given J. Allard's love of Neil Stephen's Snow Crash and all things metaverse...

  • bunglebonce #75 4 years ago

    I can't stand the look of the avatars, but the new interface on the whole looks pretty good.

  • reality_cheque #76 4 years ago

    My god, such a load of whiny arseholes on here. I can see why people in the comment section are looked down on by the forumites...

    The ol' ignore button is getting quite a workout today... I predict less than 5 people left after the culling.

  • reality_cheque #77 4 years ago

    @MrPon - you can either queue up downloads for next time you turn your console on, or start them downloading right away IF you xbox is powered up at the time. It doesn't have to be to queue them up, but funnily enough it does need power to actually do the downloading :p

  • peterfll #78 4 years ago

    The existing interface wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so slow. Looking at your game library takes ages to load. So my main concern for this new one (which is going to be visually richer?) is it will be even slower.

    And we don't need that!

  • reality_cheque #79 4 years ago

    @sneetch: it's only grey if you don't have a theme selected.

    FFS, can people not read entire articles, or do they just look at the pretty pictures and then leap straight into bitch mode?

  • Feanor #80 4 years ago

    The Avatars are horrible looking.

  • BartonFink #81 4 years ago

    Looks great - really looking forward to this update.

  • stoopidgreg #82 4 years ago

    i'm really looking forward to playing with this. it's a brilliant move, and one that should have been there from the start, to install games to the HD. the DVD drive noise is unbearable for an audiophile like me and 30% faster load times will make a huge difference and may be a major selling point to people who are torn between getting a 360 and a PS3.

  • illusiondance #83 4 years ago

    i have'nt read all the posts so pardon me if this is repeating another point but - dont the Mii too's look ill?
    its that badly judged green glow thats been applied i think.
    ..and yes, they do look very camp. but hell, macrosoft are probably trying to counter the extreme machismo of GoW.

  • Capn #84 4 years ago

    Looks nice. I can't see how it would be a bad thing; It won't effect your gaming.
    Plus, it's kinda wrong that i'm excited about making my little avatar, I hope that clothes are gained from Achievement points and specific achievements; I don't fancy dishing out money on each item.

  • MilkYMoO #85 4 years ago

    I'm very happy with the dashboard the way it is now. Its so simple to use, its nearly perfect in my opinion. Since this update is free, I wont complain.

  • septimus #86 4 years ago

    It really is XBOX Wii60 now. Ah well.

  • Widge #87 4 years ago

    Well apart from BLIG on his crusade.

  • HyperShadow #88 4 years ago

    Is it wrong of me, no matter how interesting it looks, to be completely bricking it to the fact that this is a massive firmware upgrade and thus a huge chance of millions of bricked Xboxs because of it?

  • Dizzy #89 4 years ago

    "Its funny how 360 articles don't get trolled by PS3 owners.. "

    Never noticed that...

    "and lets face it anything that makes the shitbox quieter is a bonus"

    Oh wait...

  • miiiguel #90 4 years ago

    @Vanmunt :
    Funny this thing: "Its funny how 360 articles don't get trolled by PS3 owners.. guess it goes to show what sort of demigraphic owns each console."

    and in the *same post* :
    "and lets face it anything that makes the shitbox quieter is a bonus"


    And I could post *at least* 200 blig_dudes posts, since he only posts how MS is doomed beeing outsold, and greedy and evil and stuff, but you all know that.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 15:04

  • nedgip #91 4 years ago

    Whens this coming out then?

  • miiiguel #92 4 years ago

    look what I found in this thread: "UK XBOX Sales up 40%"

    "Vanmunt
    19-Mar-08 09:36:52 XBOX 360 is the biggest pile of shit made crap to be released ever on a fool hardy public... Try playing Lost Odysse with lengthy FMV and boss fights to only constantly crash, lock up, freeze and not read disc... It came very close to being thrown out of the window on Monday.

    All you PS3 knockers, I suggest actually buying one instead of constantly knocking something you do not own or know bugger all about. 6 months on and not one crash, freeze or lock up.
    ignore poster


    ignore poster "


    What demographic are you ?
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 15:10

  • miiiguel #93 4 years ago

    the diference is that I don't claim that I'm a better person because I use a 360. Tiny diference.

  • Strac #94 4 years ago

    vanmunt, you have to admit that your shitbox post was a rather double-standard flame post, right? you could as well have cut&pasted the mgs4 review thread really...

    anyway, ignoring the silliness, I must admit I like it. But then I also like the idea of Lips and if i would buy a ps3 (next to my xbox360 and wii) it would be for LBP and SingStar... Hmmm but I also like chainsawing people in GOW ;)

  • miiiguel #95 4 years ago

    The thing is, I refuse to agree with the fact that a person that uses box "X" is more/less that person that uses box "Y". I also don't do insults, sorry.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 15:25

  • ronuds #96 4 years ago

    lol @ miiguel

    You caught Vanmaunt out and now he's scrambling to try and insult you. Classic! lol

    And the avatars have potential, but I'd like to be able to do more to it than change a shirt or put on a hat. How about some cool stuff like Master Chief armor or something like that? So far, though, I don't see that being an option.



  • paulf #97 4 years ago

    @bad09 a little searching and i found <a href = "http://xboxfocus.com/news/618-using-new-d ashboard-optionable/index.html">this quote from major nelson</a> that talks about not wanting to use the new dash

  • GamerG #98 4 years ago

    LOL @ Vanmunt what a troll/tool

    totally found out!

  • amcd28 #99 4 years ago

    @ miiguel

    Isn't grade A generally considered the best? If so, I'd be flattered that someone classified me as the number one in the penis stakes...

    In other news, I look forward to the HDD installs as my HDMI premium 360 is bloody noisy, though the wife doesn't think so.

    Oh, and I think the avatars are flaps. I was embarrassed making a Mii at a friend's house. Even after severalty four beers....

  • bad09 #100 4 years ago

    @ paulf

    Ah, you got me excited thinking I could avoid it completely! Basically it means tough f you want to avoid the new "experience" you must use the guide all the time if you want to.

    Ah well PS3 gets the media now (except HD DVD of course!) so I'm on the dash less anyway, but still far from the point.....
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 15:45

  • sneetch #101 4 years ago

    @reality_cheque
    "@sneetch: it's only grey if you don't have a theme selected.

    FFS, can people not read entire articles, or do they just look at the pretty pictures and then leap straight into bitch mode? "

    FFS can't you read an entire post or do you just pick up on a keyword and then leap straight into bitch mode?

    For a start, I wasn't bitching; I was talking about the default background, wondering why they picked grey over "friendlier" colours. Mind you, in general people on the net seem to have more and more difficulty differentiating between bitching and simply expressing an opinion.

    As for reading the article, it doesn't go into details on this at all; it simply mentions in a caption that the new look and feel supports current themes. That I already know however in the screenshots I've seen so far the themes picture simply replaces the "sky" but the "ground" remain the same shade of grey. As I said, I'm sure that it's customisable, but it's still seems an odd choice to use grey as the default.

    Edit: clarification
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 15:47

  • pogothemonkey #102 4 years ago

    tch these m$ii's look like a bunch of divs to me.

  • Ryze #103 4 years ago

    Redesign / shrink the Elite console and add integrate a Blu-Ray option by the end of the year, Microsoft.

    An add-on drive for existing owners will also help.

    You know it makes sense.

  • knocker #104 4 years ago

    Grey is a good bet as a default. You need something fairly high contrast and yet neutral to avoid leaving people with poor eyesight, colour blindness etc completely fucked. (has spent the day writing a DDA paper for user interfaces)

  • miiiguel #105 4 years ago

    ^ that's a good idea, the blu-ray add on. Don't mind about its size though.

    About the grey on the dashboard background as a default, it might not be the most interresting colour but it is the most functional. Some (actual) themes have other colours and it becomes hard(er) to read.
    Edited by 2 at 01/08/08 @ 15:52

  • knocker #106 4 years ago

    "For the first time ever, a console will be revolutionised through software."

    No - that was (IMO) the XBMC.

    Still better than anything you lot came up with.

  • BobsUncle #107 4 years ago

    @hyperShadow

    No, not bothered at all. Never had any problem doing a dashboard update, and they generally only take a few seconds/minutes. If it was my PS3 on the other hand...

  • Widge #108 4 years ago

    A quiet, non-breaky, good upscaling, wifi media centre, bluray 360 would be a very good machine in my book. Plus perhaps a slightly less PC Enthusiast case design to it too.
    And I mean quiet quiet, not PS3 "quiet" (which is still too loud sometimes)

  • sneetch #109 4 years ago

    @Vanmunt
    "I wasn't going to respond anymore, being a grown adult and all... however, being found out for being able to afford a PS3 and a shitbox I am completly gutted."

    I believe they were referring more to the apparent hypocrisy of your two statements; "360 articles don't get trolled by PS3 owners" proposing that PS3 owners are somehow superior to 360 owners because of that and then following it with a reference to the 360 as a "the shitbox".

    I'm sure that this apparent inconsistency can be reasonably be explained due to the Jeckyll and Hyde like struggle that owning both a PS3 and a 360 is bound to cause in the human brain. I mean you have the mild mannered PS3 owner who is civil to all and kind to small animals locked in the same mind as the evil, maniacal Xbox 360 owner, I'm sure it's enough to drive anyone quite mad! In fact, I think your restraint is to be applauded.

  • BobsUncle #110 4 years ago

    Who say's it's incomplete? You mean like the last PS3 firmware update that broke people's consoles?

    So Sony take longer, put more effort in, and still fuck up. Brilliant
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 16:20

  • sneetch #111 4 years ago

    @knocker & miiiguel

    Fair enough, that I can go for, grey makes perfect sense if you put it like that.

  • BobsUncle #112 4 years ago

    Didn't break mine either. But the problem was bad enough that the update was pulled.

    The point was that you 're accusing MS of something that Sony are equally guilty of.

  • penhalion #113 4 years ago

    @evilfoxhound

    The avatar thing screams of MS's policy on rushing things out before the competition (Sony's Home) is released. Kind of like what they did with the actual console.

    How so? Avatars have been in development for a while now. It isn't Microsofts fault that home has been delayed for over a year now. Microsoft do 2 updates per year on their dashboard and have done since launch. There were two whole dash up[dates before the PS3 even came out. Perhaps you should be more angry at Sony for NOT releasing Home rather than Microsoft for beating them to the punch while not even entering the race!

  • miiiguel #114 4 years ago

    I would say that the funny thing is that MS is beeing accused of rushing and screwing up something that it isn't out yet. It's getting weirder and weirder.

    I mean, I'm starting to realize that some of my fellow video-gamers gave up on thinking Sony can improve, what matters now is proving others are bad (worse).
    Edited by 2 at 01/08/08 @ 16:44

  • BobsUncle #115 4 years ago

    "I'm not saying that the Avatars are broken, just that they seem rushed/un-polished, if you know what I mean."

    Basically, you don't like the way they look so you think they are unfinished.

    Personally I just think they look a bit shit and gay.

  • miiiguel #116 4 years ago

    oh I do..., believe me I do :)

    What I don't do is emotional relationships with companies. They sell me product and I use it. I also like discuss those with here, during work hours, in the most frindly way (as much as a not so good english allows me) and trying not to judge other fellows personal life as much as I can.

    In my 30 years of existence it's been working, haven't been stabbed yet. ;) (well disregard the fact Sony said I had to live with my PSP's dead pixels, because... you know "live with it... sir", end quote).


    multi-edits: shittier english than usual ;)
    Edited by 2 at 01/08/08 @ 17:03

  • cyber_nicco #117 4 years ago

    I'm not sure if it can be considered "stealing" from Home, as I bet it's out first, anyway. ;)

  • ps3owner #118 4 years ago

    so now that you are able to install your games on your harddrive does that mean you all have to "upgrade" to the 60GB version on offer now... since you are not able to purchase 3rd party HDD's.

    isn't that a tad expensive?

    ok, I do know that you DON'T HAVE TO install it, but it would keep the noise levels down. just wondering. Is there no hack available to get around this ?

  • BobsUncle #119 4 years ago

    You don't get 60000+ gamerpoints by never playing games.

  • ronuds #120 4 years ago

    ^^ Why can't we install games on the 20gb HDD?

  • miiiguel #121 4 years ago

    I'm sending evil's post to my gf right now! lol!

  • ps3owner #122 4 years ago

    @ronuds

    sure, but 20GB isn't alot now is it? if you want to download content as well...

  • BobsUncle #123 4 years ago

    @ps3owner - if you clear all the shit (demos and movies) off your 20GB drive you should be able to manage 10-12gb free, which is enough for one game.

    I guess you could install your favourite/current one and play others from disc. Then when you get a new fav delete and reinstall.

  • ronuds #124 4 years ago

    Well, you can fit 1 or 2 games at a time on the 20gb. You'd just have to do a lot of deleting and reinstalling if you played a lot of different games at once.

  • ps3owner #125 4 years ago

    @ronuds

    that's my point. It's a bit annoying to keep "clearing" stuff of your disk just to be able to install new things. Of course you are not forced to do it since you can always leave the disk in and just play from it.

    at least you have a choice there, compared to the Mii thing ;)

  • BobsUncle #126 4 years ago

    It would depend on game size, but remember the max free space on a 20 gb HDD is only 13 gb. So 2 small ones max. I think GRAW was 9 gb, as an example.

  • ps3owner #127 4 years ago

    what are the other 7GB used for?!

  • ronuds #128 4 years ago

    According to Major Nelson, it only takes 5 minutes or so to install a full game onto your HDD, so it's not THAT big of a hassle to install and delete a lot.

    Not as opposed to the 10-20 minute mandatory installs you have with the PS3. :p

  • Scimarad #129 4 years ago

    The new look is growing on me but they (AND Sony) can keep the avatars.

  • ps3owner #130 4 years ago

    I can't actually remember a 10-20 minute install, but if you say so. It's probably down to the lightning fast read/write speed. still I'd get pissed off after a while with installing uninstalling. I don't have to do that on my setup. 500 GB ;)

  • miiiguel #131 4 years ago

    I got give it to ps3owner, despite his ultra-fanboyish nick he does the PS3-thing in a healthy and clever way.

  • effinwooly #132 4 years ago

    looks great !......

  • sneetch #133 4 years ago

    @evilfoxhound
    "I've played every major PS3 game and none of them have taken that long. About 6 minutes was the most for me.

    Don't believe everything you read on the net. "

    Wasn't it Devil May Cry 4 that had a 20 minute install on PS3? That always seemed like an insane number to me and is normally what people refer to.

  • bad09 #134 4 years ago

    I dunno GT5p took a long time to install if I remember, so did the update for it.

    Personally I do think MS are doing it to nudge sales of the bigger drives TBH, 20gb is far too small for such a feature to be important. I know it's something I can't use unless I upgrade that's for sure.

  • ronuds #135 4 years ago

    So I shouldn't believe this:

    [link url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=18 1491
    ]http://ww w.computerandvideogames.com/art...[/link]

    "Capcom US has responded to CVG's report yesterday that PS3 Devil May Cry 4 forces gamers to sit through a mandatory 21 minute install time - with little improvement to load times there after.

    Just to be sure, we timed the 5GB install process (which you can't opt-out of) on our PS3 retail version and it clocked in at 21 minutes, 41 seconds."

    Or...this:

    [link url=http://news.softpe dia.com/news/Another-Title-to-Join-DMC-4-039-s-PS3-Install-B ench-78394.shtml
    ]http://ne ws.softpedia.com/news/Another-T...[/link]

    "According to ps3fanboy.com, they had a hands-on preview for Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds and it was not the final retail version of the game. But it had a mandatory (no, not optional) 5GB install time that took as long as the DMC4 install time. And the poor lads didn't even have a sandwich..."

    Or.......this:

    [link url=http://www.ps3vault.com/mgs4-install-times-revealed-2870
    ]http://ww w.ps3vault.com/mgs4-install-tim...[/link]

    "Periodic installations will occur as you play through each act of the story. Below are the specific install times below for each segment of the title.

    Start-up: 8 Minutes
    Act 2: 3 Minutes
    Act 3: 3 Minutes
    Act 4: 2 Minutes
    Act 5: 1 Minute"

    And I found that in less search time than it takes for 1 PS3 game to be installed. :p

    Just kidding! Well, sort've...

  • ronuds #136 4 years ago

    Well, you say I shouldn't believe what I read on the net, so I'm choosing not to believe you on this one. :p

  • cyber_nicco #137 4 years ago

    "I want my avatar to be a man gazing off into the distance and pointing. "

    I want my avatar to be a man gazing at your avatar and pointing.

    :)

  • bad09 #138 4 years ago

    @ evilfoxhound

    Speak for yourself! My poor full 40gb (only a few months old!) believes installs are evil! :)

    So does my wallet who will cough up for the bigger drive....

    No wonder Sony made it so easy to replace the drive ;)
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 18:06

  • ronuds #139 4 years ago

    It was "ps3owner" who started complaining about install times.

    Anyway, I don't particularly care. I don't agree that installs are a great thing because consoles are not PC's and thus should be have different standards. I just know people with PS3's and they don't refute the load times, so the fact you were was a little baffling to me.

    Maybe you have a nuclear PS3 or something?

  • bad09 #140 4 years ago

    @ evilfoxhound

    Cheers dude, although if I've got to do it I'm gonna go whole hog and go for 320gb (is that still the max for PS3?) I've seen some for as little as 60 quid on Ebay

  • Khanivor #141 4 years ago

    evil - you think forcing people to wait at least five minutes to play the game they just bought is the best thing to have ever happened to consoles? Better than 3D? Better than analogue sticks? Better than the arrival of the PlayStation?

    Tool.

  • Chufty #142 4 years ago

    take online gaming's greatest platform to the next level

    Erm, PC.

  • miiiguel #143 4 years ago

    I would never go McGuyver with a "closed system" as a console. What I find great about consoles is the possibity of getting home fall on the sofa and press "on". I think no one should try to fool themselfs by saying PS3 has the best solution for this issue. It's not. The mandatory installs are not the best solution, and if the Blu-Ray player was faster you wouldn't be forced to.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 18:29

  • bad09 #144 4 years ago

    "Don't worry, the maximum is 2 terabytes. I have a friend who has a 850GB HDD in his PS3."

    Wow, I guess my info is out of date! I may go 500gb, no more though, gotta think of cost :)

  • Khanivor #145 4 years ago

    Well shit evil, you got me there with such a devastating comeback. Good thing I was sitting down.

    My excuse was I was drunk when I bought it. Unless you're drunk 24/7 there's no excuse for the toss you spout on these pages.

  • miiiguel #146 4 years ago

    bad: I would consider its speed too, you might end up with a slower storage device than the crawling Blu.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 18:52

  • bad09 #147 4 years ago

    @ miiiguel

    Christ I didn't think of that, cheers man! I think I must do a bit of research before I buy just to be sure I do it right!

  • smelly #148 4 years ago

    I think microsoft need to go back to the drawing board.

    Those looks NOTHING LIKE the miis they were trying to copy...

  • Widge #149 4 years ago

    If you are able to install games on your hard drive with the benefit of loading times and less pop up, you are going to sit and do so most likely... regardless of whether it is mandatory or not, unless you plan on not doing it out of spite.

    As I mentioned earlier, if the base 360 platform had started with a HDD, would we have seen the likes of Mass Effect etc come with mandatory installs to give the game a boost?

  • pockets #150 4 years ago

    So is this a September Autumn, or a November Autumn?

  • ronuds #151 4 years ago

    @ Widge

    The solution is for developers not to create such labor-intensive games which cause long load times and the like. Instead, they're all grappling to have the best graphics, the best this, the best that and the gamers end up paying for it because we end up with games that require more power than a console has to offer.

    Being able to load an entire game onto your HDD shouldn't even have to be a thought in our heads. We own consoles, which have locked specs, so why am I having to figure out whether load times are better this way or that? They should be the same regardless, and they should be short at that. Every console generation up to now has been able to deal without Hard Drives, so I'd say we're going backwards and not forwards by requiring HDD installs and the like.

  • Darren #152 4 years ago

    evilfoxhound - "This is off topic, but miiiguel, you spend so much time here, I wonder if you actualy ever play games at all LOL You have 3000+ posts."

    miiiguel is on my Friend's list and I can vouch that he DOES play games and is actually one of the few I know who plays all his game's to near completion. By that I mean the full 1,000-1,250 Achievement Points... his Gamer Card score is an impressive 60,000+!!! :o

  • Darren #153 4 years ago

    @sneetch - I've got DMC4 for the PS3 and, yes, it does have a mandatory 20-24 minute HDD install. If evilfoxhound is claiming that it's nowhere that length then either the stop watch he was using is slow or he's plain lying. The lengthy HDD install was widely reported across the internet and mentioned in many of the reviews. ;)

  • ronuds #154 4 years ago

    @ Darren

    We're not supposed to believe what we read on the internet, though. Instead, we should put our trust in evilfoxhound. ;)

  • bad09 #155 4 years ago

    Darren had me curious about miiiguel's Gamer card. That's some impressive s**t! I rarely play for all the points as my card will prove :)

    (still quite proud of my 13,000 though!)

  • SilentScream #156 4 years ago

    However, it was also easy to accuse Microsoft of merely reacting to its opponents' moves, of being not much more than a magpie: Nintendo's Miis and Wii Channels, Sony's XMB interface and many of Home's features seem to have been folded in to the redesign.

    This, cynics would claim, is another example of Microsoft riding the coat-tails of more talented innovators, as those same cynics claim it has always done with Apple in the field of operating systems. Is the New Xbox Experience, as it's so blandly branded, no more than a desperate attempt to avoid being left behind?

    Not a "could it be that..", it's true, they just copied everyone elses own designs... Just pure lazy, unimaginative, and stealing as usual

  • yagisencho #157 4 years ago

    This couldn't come a moment too soon for me. I find myself constantly fumbling around the current blades-based interface.

    Not much chance I'll benefit from the DVD installs though without first upgrading to a 120gb drive. =/

  • #158 4 years ago

    Well i hate the look of it, stinks of casual but guess Ill get used to it in the end. Still prefer the PS3`s interface. That is one slick Ui.

  • IronCladChicken #159 4 years ago

    @WaxBrazillian
    "i have met many good and brilliant players from all nationalities which has made my XBL experience a good one and made the big world feel that bit smaller and humble "

    I think I just threw-up a little

  • Widge #160 4 years ago

    @Ronuds

    Fair enough, I suppose if you come from a console purist perspective, installs are irksome. I don't mind personally, and can see both systems becoming install machines. I guess Mr Nintendo got it right as far as being a pure console goes, whereas the other two seem to be heading towards multimedia lifestyle devices.

    I'm not too fussed, I like a box that can do all...

  • The-Bodybuilder #161 4 years ago

    Don't mind the new look, the blades have become cumbersom anyways.
    Are people so sad and bored that they get hysterical over a new UI? Seriously, IT'S JUST A BLOODY UI, WHAT'S THE BIG FREAKIN DEAL? Last time I remembered, I bought my x360 for games. As for the mii-toos, meh. I don't care for them. I'm not gonna dance for joy, and I'm not gonna become hysterical over them.

    As for the installs, I do have a bit of an issue with that. It don't hate them per se (unless they are mandetory), I just hate the idea that my beloved console gaming is becoming more and more like PC gaming. The fact that I didn't have to waffle with anything, just insert and play, was why I became a console gamer.

  • bioreit #162 4 years ago

    @ evilfoxhound

    Before you get your knickers fully in a twist and do yourself some injury, I just wanted to interject and posit the idea that maybe the difference between your experiences and those of the 'vocal net minority' might be down to you using a non-standard hdd?

    I mean, I would hazard a guess that you wouldn't have just bought any old 2.5" for your PS3, but would have researched a decent model for a good price, yesno? So maybe your DMC4 install was speedy due to using a very good, user-installed drive, whereas the slow install speeds posted on the Internet are people either using stock hdds, or people who bought slower drives and fitted them themselves.

    Just a thought.

  • BIGYIN #163 4 years ago

    If them anatomically incorrect Avatars come anywhere near my XBOX I'm gonna smash it up and buy a PS3. If I've gotta have bloody annoying Paperclip-like Avatars on my desktop then they better look more like naked bitches.

  • LukeFX #164 4 years ago

    The need you to be able to change outfits for the avatars and dress em in game character stuff,

    I want my dude in a halo suit or dressed up as sam fisher etc

  • SeesThroughAll #165 4 years ago

    "If them anatomically incorrect Avatars come anywhere near my XBOX"...

    *sigh*

    It's optional...

  • Zappa #166 4 years ago

    Looks like a kiddy XMB.

    And what is so nice about the in game guide?,XMB shows your custom icons in game.

  • BIGYIN #167 4 years ago

    Hey 'SeesThroughAll', I bet your good fun at parties!

  • timberwolf #168 4 years ago

    *rasp* an extremely elaborate menu... how clever.

  • Vandrius #169 4 years ago

    mii-too is total FTL.

    If they'd just done a re-design with some new features, great, but they tipped me into saying "idiots" when they decided it'd be a good idea to add stupid looking mii-toos.

  • Slipstream #170 4 years ago

    The Rare-designed Avatars, it has to be said, are perhaps a little too palatable, a little too carefully focus-grouped. Blandly appealing, they capture neither the irrepressible silliness and charm of Miis nor the rather studied, realistic cool of Home avatars; they're very middle-of-the-road, very Microsoft.

    Totally agree, I have thought this since this was announced. Hopefully when this is launced, Skin tones, hair, expressions and clothing will allow for more unique customisation.

  • sadakos_fury #171 4 years ago

    People like collecting action figures right?
    So maybe if they made these yawn-inducing avatars insanely customisable as well as giving away models of characters from games / movies / whatevers as rewards or something, they might become worthwhile.
    But right now, no sale.

  • dryden555 #172 4 years ago

    could care less about the avatars == they look a bit childish