The New Xbox Live Experience!
So I sat at work all of yesterday just waiting to rush home so I can download and check out the new Xbox Live experience! It took 6 minutes to download and install. 6 minutes is a long time when you’re overly excited, so I went to make a cup of tea to calm myself down. I did take pictures of the whole process I went through, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a media reader in the house that’ll work with a Compact Flash card so alas, poor reader, there are not any funky Skylark pictures to enjoy!
I spent a good 45 minutes “experiencing” the new XBL interface, trying to see what was new, what had been given a face lift and what had disappeared. Aside from the obvious visual changes (and the addition of the Wii-like avatars), there isn’t MUCH to really sing about. The only new features that I personally see (I don’t get Netflix, for example) – Are the party rooms and the option to rip your game to your hard drive. Both really useful and user-friendly changes, it looks like Microsoft really did know what us gamers were looking for.
My only issues were constant freezing. I had my poor screen freeze on me no less than 4 times last night while in a large party chat. I found that it only froze when viewing the “Friends” page with all the new avatars. I’m sure this is just because it’s a new system and no doubt we’ll see another update within a week or so to get rid of this bug.
With the XBL changes only coming into play yesterday, I wanted to get in there quick and grab people’s initial feelings and thoughts on the new Xbox Live Experience. I got quite mixed feedback, some enjoying the new changes, some feeling as though they weren’t much to write home about. Have a quick read of the following gamer’s opinions and feel free to add your own into the mix!
“New XBL – indifferent. hasn’t revolutionised anything. just added needless bells and whistles.” – mutster101
“It really, really wishes it was made by Nintendo. I knew the avatar thing would be a rip off of ‘Mii’, but it even has the same backing music.” – Shin00bie
“I have to say the new interface is a surprise it is easy to navigate and all the new functions work as advertised. Great job Microsoft.” – Sshevie
“I like the new avatar/party idea… It’s only the first night so of course there are a few bugs – had a few party’s crash, one during some Left4Dead which wasn’t fun – my avatar is cool beans though so big smiles..” – Doc Brown976
“It looks better, its faster, saving games to HDD is great and may let my 5th Xbox survive longer than 6 months. My themes that I paid for are now a waste of money, I can only see half of them. The little ‘Wii’ people are pathetic, but everyone who thinks they are pathetic has spent time changing their clothes and trying to make them look cool (myself included). Oh and the party chat is great and can be exploited in team games like Gears of War 2!” – DAVO660
“First impression was like ‘Wow, it’s brilliant’, but looking through it all. All I can say is why did they rush to put it out before it was completed. Plus I hope we can have new clothing & stuff like animals for our avatars or a program to make own!” – Da Raging Husky
“After using the NXE for a week now i must say overall i am impressed with the new look. The only negative I can find is that the achievements tab that showed your score and total score is missing. A small gripe as i can see it on the website.” – UnholiestHojo
I’ll be writing a follow up in the next couple of weeks to see how the same bunch of people feel the same the new interface after they’ve had a chance to get used to it, so be sure to check back!
I wasn’t excited, I didn’t need any changes and I defenitely didn’t want the bugs that would come with it especially XBL downtime but the week leading up to NXE seemed to be terrible so I knew they were shifting to NXE and started really wanting it as I knew thats where all the hosting resources were going, than I jumped in to my friends list and saw all of your avatars and now I say “AWESOME” the avatars are very fun and very customizable, all my friends I have seen IRL look very much like their avatars or their personalities (if they invented a crazy avatar) and those I don’t see IRL well they seem to suite them, I say over all great move M$.
I hate the new NXE. I don’t want to spend time making an avatar. If I wanted an avatar, I’d buy a Wii. Which I have. And have made a total of 3 avatars and kind of hate myself for spending that time now. And I’m sure new clothes and hair styles will now be a way for M$ to make some more money by charging points for them.
All my themes are now crap, so I’m glad I didn’t buy any. I tried out the themes and it cuts everything off.
I also hate that I can’t see more than one friend at a time. I like being able to see my whole list of friends and not scroll through each one.
To me, I didn’t want it and it shouldn’t have been a mandatory download.
i think it’s mostly poop.
the rip off of the wii thing is really, really lame. i don’t care about my stupid avatar. give me a bigger friends list and clans!
i hate scrolling through my friends list. this is really, really stupid. with extra stupid sauce on top. i have like 96 friends, that takes forever to look at all of them! >_>;;
i also agree with the themes. my halo one looked awesome, but now it looks like crap so i changed it to something else (i’m glad i didn’t buy any themes now.)
i’m sure i’ll get use to it over time, it is easier to read with the darker background, but that’s really the only thing i like.
I wasn’t excited at first but now I enjoy it.. of course, besides the CONSTANT FREEZING!! At first it only froze while viewing friend’s parties.. then it started freezing during when I’d play music. It would randomly give me error codes at first too.. So idk.
I don’t like my avatar or any one else’s for that matter, they look nothing like them. The avatars need a BIG UPGRADE. No purple hair? Wtf.. and you can’t change clothes colors?? My Mii looks more like me than the Xbox Avy.. T_T
We’ll grow used to it, I hope..
i’ve also had problems with my screen freezing.. and I do think xbox ripped off the Wii’s Mii idea and that is lame… makes me wonder if bill gates really did steal the idea of xbox from someone else.,.
its a shame if xbox can’t be more creative than that.. I think the new experience is another way for xbox to milk money from its customers.. b/c u know new clothes ect. will cost microsoft points and they are going to start nickle and diming their loyal customers >:(
I’m indifferent to NXE. Don’t love, but don’t hate it. As long as the console continues to play games and allows me access to online multi-player, then I couldn’t care less. I have no access to Netflix, but that’s understandable due to distribution rights. However, having read this article (no idea if links are allowed in comments, I guess I’ll know in a minute http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/21/stop-wasting-money-video-games-and-energy-efficiency.html) on console energy consumption, I’m okay with my DVD player.
It’s very … visual. Lots of swishing sounds, and snazzy graphics, but lacks substance.
I was particularly annoyed that I had to create an avatar before I was able to move into exploring the rest of the new update. I had no option of skipping that.
I also experience freezing. Sad face.
Oh, and RiotMonster, you can actually get multi-colour hair for your avatar.
1. Go to the “Change My Features” section of the Avatar customizer.
2. Highlight (don’t click) the “Hairstyles” tile in the “My Features” area.
3. Wait. After one minute the “Hairstyles” tile will spin.
And there ya go. Haircolours unlocked!
I think it sucks. It’s all style and no substance! And it doesn’t always allow you to find things as easily as before, in fact it’s so difficult now just to find something. It’s like buying a cell phone that takes pictures, has a full keyboard, plays streaming video but gets shitty reception and tons of lost calls. Why buy something that can do everything but what you actually fucking want and need it for?
LISTEN TO ME BILL GATES! If I wanted a Wii, I’d have bought a fucking Wii! SO FUCK YOU!
I really liked your blog!