We’ve had some time to look through the New Xbox Experience (aka Fall Update 08) for the Xbox 360. There are some goods, bads and oddities about the latest updated firmware and thought it was a good time to share.
The most important feature we’ve found with the new console software is the addition of Netflix. The ability to play software in the “Instant Queue” is excellent, fast and done with high quality. If you have children this may be one of the must-have product features; add a ton of family movies to the Netflix Instant Queue and your children will have hours of entertainment.
We’re not telling you to sit the children in front of the TV for ten hours, but it proves to be a great way to get quality entertainment without bombarding them with commercials telling them to tell you they need new stuff. This is especially true around the holidays where kids are watching more commercials than actual episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants.
We were a non-Netflix household and recently bought into their second tier program so we can watch instant shows and get one DVD at a time. The NXE has up-sold at least one new Netflix customer, great job Microsoft!
Avatars are another “feature” to the new console software and it all seems very Wii like. Months ago we were kidding about how they’re cloning some features of the Wii but in reality, it’s more a clone than we thought. The sound track while creating your Avatar feels almost ripped from the Wii in terms of cute settling sounds and silly uplifting music. This isn’t your dad’s console anymore Timmy.
The outfits to dress your Mii, oops, avatar in are very limited and you’ll no doubt see a lot of sameness in dress and overall look to the avatars. But, now Microsoft is showing us how to differentiate ourselves by purchasing virtual items to make our avatars cooler. For 250 Microsoft points you can now buy a Ninja Blade theme pack which includes wallpapers and avatar items. Yay. No, seriously, we’re supposed to buy this crap?
The NXE also supports a full system re-design, out with the blades in with the… Cover Flow? The NXE now acts more like iTunes, the iPod and the Apple OS X more than ever. You’ll breeze through your game list, NetFlix Queue, Friends List and other features as if it were Cover Flow album art. Cool in some ways, frustrating in others.
In some ways, item lists are the fastest and easiest ways to view things. For instance, prior to NXE you could tell who was online in your friends list within a few seconds. Now, with NXE you’ll troll through your friends list four-by-four flying through the “art” of your friends avatars hanging out next to a “room” mimicking the game they’re playing. Cute, no doubt, but not an effective way to see who is online.
The in-game console pop-up windows are much cleaner and easier to browse using a mini-blade style approach to finding information. This new re-design allows you to get more from your console interface while in-game than ever before.
The one neglected feature, in my humble opinion, is the “spit and polish” of the new interface. They took some aspects of OS X and some aspects of Wii and mixed them together to make organizational changes, some good and some bad. However, the interface is very flat, drab and boring. There is no real glossy shine to anything, very little in textures for backdrops and windows fixtures and very anti-vista like when it comes down to drop shadows and beauty. A little more glamor, gloss and reflective surfaces would have made the interface look a bit more next-generation in terms of cool factor.
Overall, it is what it is. You may like it, hate it or just learn to live with it. Some features will be easier to browse around while others will require a bit more work. We’ve noticed about a 10 to 12 second pause between shopping screens for add-ons, arcade game downloads and such, hopefully that will change in the coming weeks. It stands out as a bit different from the competitors, in some aspects, while paying tribute to some of the cooler features of other products.
The Netflix addition is the best part of NXE, but that could have come available without a full user interface redesign. Your thoughts?
Eidos was founded in 1990 and has been the king of its own destiny since its inception. As part of Square-Enix, Eidos and its destiny were called into question, would they continue to run the show or would they become one with Square-Enix. Square-Enix has come out to say they’ll be leaving Eidos to themselves and allow creativity to flow between the companies.
😀 so our best wishes came true! Paul got a job!
Last think I remember playing is Wolfenstein (the 2009 one) using an analogue controller. I can’t possible imagine how somebody can be good at shooting using a controller.
Oni – it’s actually a pretty good game. Game mechanics are ok, but … you can’t quite go for a strategy that avoids hand to hand combat. The blend is ok, but you don’t get a choice. You use guns to weed out enemies from a distance, but you will eventually end up snapping enemy necks because you quickly run out of ammo.
@Games Industry Biz eulogizes Wii U, states it suffered “death by apathy”
100% with Jonah. The issue the list of available games, so you’d better make it easy for third party developers.
@XBox One:
– external HDD: so, apparently being able to upgrade things yourself is a good thing … who would have thunk it 😛 … obviously not people using PCs … or people developing for PCs.
– always online: no. Just … no. I’m not going to buy a console anyway, but I can tell you that the ‘always online’ is a major no-no for me. And most likely for others as well. And I think it applies for both games and consoles.
So yes, Microsoft would better give up on that.
@Microsoft’s Greenberg: E3 presentation will be “all about the games”
Fingers crossed. Microsoft knows that the game library is crucial if they want to sell the console.
To Pawel Predki, who loves old-fashioned point-and-click adventure games – here’s a free one:
http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/23208/free-game-spotlight-adventure-island
Thanks for the link, Jonah. I’m downloading it now so I’ll try playing through it this week. The screenshots look worse than the first Broken Sword but that’s not really what I care about in games like that 😉
@Xbox One
I watched the conference live and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’m pretty convinced now that Microsoft is following the path of wanting to be the only necessary multimedia box in the living room with game playing functionality only one, not the most important, of its abilities. They focused on some stuff that if it works, it will only work or make sense in the USA (integration with cable set top boxes, live NFL fantasy league integration). Seems to me like MS is really targeting the online, connected, richer part of the USA as their primary consumers. As a gamer from Europe, I didn’t feel like a proper recipient of the message they were delivering during the conference.
@Xbox One games during E3
MS said they would announce 15 exclusives during E3. I wonder how many of those will be amazing Kinect 2.0 titles. Quantum Break looked exciting. I wonder how they’re going to tie the gameplay in with the live action stuff. Or was it just the trailer?
@Used game fees (or lack thereof)
Until they tell us what will really happen, it’s really hard to say anything. I’ve read and heard conflicting stories on that. I don’t really buy used games and I’ve only ever sold one of my own. I like to have the option of going back to play them and digital-only distribution does not satisfy me.
I understand that it’s not the hardware manufacturer but rather the software publishers that are pushing this issue so it seems clear to me that whatever Microsoft does, if anything, Sony will also have to do. Let’s wait and see because there’s too many rumors floating around.
By the way, you can already preorder both new consoles via the German Amazon for 599 Euro each. The fact that the price for both of them is the same makes me think it’s just Amazon trying to get some early orders in and it’s not a ‘leak’. 600 Euro is around $780 so the price is waaay too high.
Last, but not least, congrats to Paul for getting a job!
@OH-NO
I played it a few years back. I hated it. It had an interesting fighting mechanic which was useless when someone pulled a gun at you. It was a pain even with God Mode, as the level design was crap and checkpoints were few and far between. It also suffered from the sindrome of westerne’s trying to make an east game.
@Nintendo
Everyone has been teetering around this for a year but someone finally came out and said it. Nintendo has a zombie disease that every developer is afraid to catch. I agree with Jonah. Being backward does not mean anything. Lots of publishers jumped onto Wii because it was cheap and easy to develop for. Lots of them are jumping onto iOS for the same reason. In regard Wii U, it was not killed by the consumer but by Nintendo itself. They thought that people will just buy the console because it’s Nintendo; no software needed. It’s a pity they didn’t learn their lesson after the 3DS launch fiasco.
@Xbox What?
I was complaining about the PS4 presentation but I take my words back. Xbox presentation was a classic much ado about nothing. I could shitstorm on this topic for hours but since I am a true gamer, I will reserve my judgement until I see some proper games. Bottom line: Meh. At the moment I am indifferent between a PS4 or a Xbox (I refuse to say the “ONE”). Or to put it into a perspective: a choice between a high powered Facebook or a digital set top box.
@Kerbal Xbox Rocket Science Game Verification Process
I have been following this topic for weeks and I still have no idea how it works. Some say it will tax game stores, others say it will tax the consumer. Maybe both. Oh well. Now that I am employed money is not that much of an issue as it was when I was 15. That said, it all depends how much an individual piece of software costs.
@USABox
I am with Pavel on this one. The Xbox seems like a good idea if you live in America. But it will loose half it’s functionality once outside. It really depends on how Microsoft integrates it in other countries. UK and Western Europe will have its own services but what about the rest of the world where digital cabling is not so widespread? Is there going to be a pure gaming edition of Xbox or is it just going to be aimed at 1st World countries only? Quote Microsoft: “I am sorry but you cannot play our console because you are too poor. Come back when you are White Middle Class American Male.”
@Halo 2
Don’t know what’s Jordan’s problem with Halo 2? It was a very good experience. And what’s Jonah’s problem with Skyrim? Why is everyone hammering my favourite games? I know that tastes in gaming are opinion based but I would just like you to know that you are all wrong. Those games are good because I said so.
@Arthur’s refusal to say ‘Xbox One’
Imagine what will happen when hordes of moms go their local electronics store and ask for an Xbox One and the person in the store asks which one they have in mind. The original Xbox or Xbox One. Oh, the confusion that will follow…