We’re less than a week away from Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience (NXE) update that drops on Nov. 19th and as much as I’m looking forward to it (as some one that hates the blade interface), the closer it gets and the more impressions I read from folks that got into it early, I have to wonder… is the update mostly fixes to problems and non-gaming features? But wait, isn’t gaming Microsoft’s primary focus? I could have sworn that’s what they told us all last year…
Let’s summarize the key points to the upgrade very briefly. Netflix streaming, replacing the blade interface with something more glitzy, hard drive installs for games, 3D avatars, and the party system. Of those features, honestly, only the party system should really be of big interest to gamers. You know, those gamers that shouldn’t worry about non-gaming functions. The gamers Microsoft targeted so strongly last year when Blu-ray beat HD-DVD and the PS3 had the undisputed upper hand in terms of physical media movie playback.
Let’s continue with the media playback topic since we’re already there. Does anyone else find it ironic how much buzz the Netflix streaming functionality is getting? I halfway wonder if someone, somewhere within Microsoft, is panicking right now; concerned they may have just slit the throat of their movie sales on Xbox Live Video Marketplace. You can buy a movie or two per month via XBLVM or you can subscribe to Netflix and stream unlimited movies for the same amount of money. Also take into account the number of deals Netflix has been signing with other companies. Microsoft may have a contract that keeps Sony from signing on, but clearly it’s not a Microsoft exclusive deal because a TON of other hardware devices can do what the 360 will be able to do and they don’t require Xbox Live Gold memberships to do it. LG has announced Blu-ray players with Netflix streaming and Tivo recently announced a deal regarding its HD DVRs having a Netflix streaming option. Not to mention Netflix supporting Macs in addition to Windows PCs. Rather than the Xbox 360 getting this really cool new feature, I think the public is being exposed to this really neat new feature and our impression of its relatively close relationship to Microsoft and the 360 will soon fade as Netflix streaming becomes much more common on non-360 devices.
Replacing the dated blade interface is something that I’ve been anxiously awaiting since I knew they were working on it. I make to attempt to hide the fact I’ve never cared for the blade interface from an aesthetic standpoint and as they piled more and more content into the marketplace, from a functionality aspect the blade interface’s limitations were made very clear. I always was irritated by the fact that the blades are animated but not animated smoothly. It looks “janky” to see them stutter in and I never understood why they left them animated at all, I’d rather see a static overlay just “pop” up. I really do like the look of the new interface and even the “mini-blades” seem to be an improvement over the traditional blades. I could do without the avatars being right there in the interface, but I’ll give it a chance before I outright hate on it.
The hard drive installs seem almost laughable and points out several problems with the system. In theory, sure, I’d love hard drive installs. I love buying the downloadable versions of PS3 games to have easy access to the game from a menu rather than getting up to swap discs. The 360’s plan doesn’t address that problem because you still need to put the game disc in for validation purposes. On top of that, you’re reliant on the 360’s relatively small and extremely expensive hard drive space. Even the 120GB drive isn’t big enough to just go installing all your games on. Add to that the fact that hard drive installs don’t make an enormous difference in loading times and you might find yourself wondering why you’d install games to the HD at all.
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As long as it runs faster and my XBLA and demos load faster, I will be happy.
Same here. From a gamers standpoint: As long as it makes the games I play better, that’s fine.
They are also attempting to appeal to the “casual” market with the avatars and such. Not for hardcore gamers.
I feel like I’m getting a little Christmas gift early from Microsoft. I’m shocked that for once I may be the target gamer that they are shooting for. I’d be willing to pay for this kinda upgrade. I wasn’t an ‘Xbox’ fanboy, but on the 19th I may try to change my last name to 360. I already have the perfect honeymoon place. And for real I took the 19th thru the 22nd off of work to soak everything up, and catch up on gaming.
Comming from someone who has the NXE, it does run much faster and things like the guide load and run much faster and smoother. Also I noticed that load times in Gears 2 has significantly decreased.
looks like an identity crisis to me. Wasn’t 360 for the hardcore non-wii’ers? It was never intended for casual gamers. I wonder how many hardcore “cool” gamers who will be pissed off about the avatars saying “hello, welcome to the xbox” every time you boot, and seing them everywheeere. Hope there is a “off-button” for them.
The party function seems awesome though, if you need it. and the Blade-interface really needed the facelift, but not with Mii*whops*, Avatars…
I still see the installing your games to your hard drive just a ploy to get people to buy their ridiculously priced Hard drives.
I see what you did there, Microsoft :p
There is no netflixs in England, and I don’t hear the drive when I’m gaming, I’m too involved in my games to notice it.
I don’t mind the blade interface, however the large lists are annoying to navigate, and i have no problems with game load times, never felt a game took to long, and I play a lot of games.
And finally the party system is good, but I usually only play with one or two friends at a time as most aren’t on at the same time.
But in the end, its free (well, depends how you look at it…) and new so i will enjoy exploring it and seeing what i can offer me over the old system!
Personally, I’m absolutely stoked for the Netflix HD streaming. Keyword being HD. I’m one of those audio/videophiles who absolutely hates watching anything that isn’t HD so for me the Watch It Now Netflix player on my computer looked like crap. I’m really looking forward to seeing just how HD these new streams are and also the increased size of the library. And since I’m already a Netflix blu-ray subscriber I feel like this is free gift from Microsoft and Netflix.
I’m also excited for the group chat option. There have been SO many times I’ve wanted to create a 3 or 4 way chat with friends on XBL. Not only that but it makes the 360 the perfect option for playing Wii games online with chat.
Other than that I’m not really concerned about anything else. I didn’t mind the blades so I’m meh towards the new layout and avatars are just stupid and pointless as Nintendo has shown us.
I forgot to throw my 2 cents in on the HDD installs.
Yeah it seems kind of gimmicky, but I will definitely be using it. I can tell you right now the first game I put on there will Rock Band 2, because that is the game that always gets played when I have friends over so it will be extremely nice to have really quick load times between songs.
Also, if you’re like me, you usually play through one game at a time so what I plan on doing is when I get a new game that I know will take me awhile to play through, I’ll install it so that load times are faster and noise is quieter and when I’m done with that game I’ll delete it and install the next one.
It may seem stupid to do, but at least it’s not mandatory installs like on the PS3
@Rothbart
you picked a very unfortunate name for your avatar as seen in the NXE pic, lol
i’m a ps3 owner i have to say i am jealous of the potential HD netflix streaming, however the recent flash support and sites like hulu are filling the void fairly well, and that will only improve. plus mediamall claims future netflix support.
Great reverse spin job. I hope you didnt get dizzy.
Sounds like the first draft was dony on Sony letterhead.
I too am looking forward to take full advantage of my netflix subscription. I will admit I didn’t even think about your Video Marketplace point Rothbart. Something to think about though.
The avatars dont really do anything for me , But when people say the are useless cause its NOT like PS Home where you can do stuff , I just giggle inside.
I cant wait for the party system, as a avid gamer who does play with a specific group almost weekly, this will be a welcome upgrade.
As with the Harddrive installs , I will reserve judgment till its in my hands and can see how well it works.
So IMO it’s a all around good thing. Worthy of being excited for.
@jeff: Lono provided the NXE screen, that’s not MY account. LOL
I fall into Rothbart’s category. I’m a Silver member with no Netflix membership. I think that the update will reinvigorate my system. My wife, a gamer in her youth, thinks the avatars are a shameless Wii ripoff. Like Yousty, I will install/delete games as I play them so as to keep my HD clean and gaming experience quiet.
lol, sony fanboys writing about Xbox features and the article comes across with a negative slant.
Wow,
a PS3 Fanboy complains about the 360 system?Wanna talk about the PS3 menu?
Or even better:HOME
@Lukas Heinzel: I _do_ prefer the XMB to the current Dashboard… hands down. Also, if you want to drag Home into it, compared to what I’ve seen of the avatar usage on the 360, I _would_ choose Home over it.
@codespace: Oh how easy it is to just dismiss things as “sony fanboy” without taking what’s said into account. How about addressing the points in the article? You’re free to disagree, but state WHY you disagree… that’s actually… useful.
What a waste of writing, you spent the whole time criticizing all the features saying that it won’t help many core gamers. Then you criticize the last feature saying it focuses on the core gamer which is somehow a bad thing. You need to get that stick out of your ass Rothbart, this is just a free update. I know you hate microsoft and praise sony daily, but do you write articles about every sony update and say why they’re so terrible and how every feature is worthless?
Just wanted to add that I still love you Roth, you’re a great writer but I just think you’re being way to negative in this post.
I’m excited for the update for two reasons.
The blade interface ran fine a long time ago, but as features were added it became far more laggy. Hopefully the new interface will run more quickly. Right now it takes too long to open up my Friend List and select and friend and open up the keyboard to type a message. There’s just too much delay between each press of the A button before the next screen shows up. I want this to be addressed.
The second reason I’m excited is because I play on my PC monitor, and the new update *FINALLY* adds more VGA scaling resolutions so I can set the Xbox to scale to my native resolution of 1440×900. My monitor is just terrible at scaling, while the Xbox does it smoothly, so finally my games won’t have jagged lines across the screen.
this article just seems overtly negative and not very constructive IMO.
I mean the real draw to HDD installs is making the 360 quieter. Loading times wasnt a HUGE with the 360, so im sure thats not the reason they gave the option.
Netflix wont compete with XBLVM simply cause XBLVM is more like PPV (newer movies) while netflix is like cable (older classics, atleast a year old)
Download The Beta Update Srsly