We've seen the New Xbox Experience twice this year, at E3 2008 where Microsoft first announced the update and later at a press briefing in San Francisco. We got the opportunity to install the New Xbox Experience on a console here in the GameSpot offices three weeks before the update's official launch on November 19. We've already written about most of the new features in past previews but we can now post screenshots of everything now that Microsoft PR isn't controlling the flow of pictures.
The new dashboard interface expands out to take advantage of high-resolution displays, and menus now display more information through graphics rather than through text.
Games and movies show up with full box cover art instead of nondescript text listings.
The new menu system is a little disorienting at first when we tried to overcome years of trained menu navigation, but we got accustomed to the new menus after a few sessions. It also helped that the new Xbox Guide is a miniaturized version of the old bladed menus. Whenever we got lost, we pulled up the Guide like a trusted map.
It might take some exploration, but you'll find everything eventually.
Players can select and customize their own virtual avatars. The system randomly generates several starting models to choose from, and you can further customize your avatar from there.Character customization options include physical features such as height, weight, hairstyle, and hair color. Adjustable facial features include eyes, eyebrows, mouth, lips, facial hair, and even make-up.
The customization menu offers several clothing and accessory options and you can also save several outfits to make it easier to swap looks.
Take a gamer pic of your avatar after you finish. Use the analog sticks and left bumper to strike a pose.
We didn't have access to the fancy 2.0 Themes we've seen in past screenshots, but the default Xbox 360 theme looks pretty nice.
Microsoft also wants to make it easier for players to socialize with friends on the console. Xbox Live parties allow players to join up to 7 of their friends in a group with shared chat.Groups can participate in activities such as a Photo Party where party members can upload photos in real time for everyone to enjoy.
The update also includes the debut of the Community Games channel where Xbox Live users can download games developed by the XNA developer community. We only saw three games in the channel this week: Culture, Netters, and Net Rumble but we expect that list to grow rapidly at launch.
Our preview build allowed us to download games to the console hard disk. The transfer process took less than 10 minutes for The Orange Box. The primary benefits are decreased load times and less noise from the optical drive.The Netflix channel was also fully functional in the update. The channel allows Xbox Live Gold subscribers that also have Netflix subscriptions to stream Netflix video content directly to the Xbox 360. The available content is limited to whatever is saved in your "instant queue," so you won't be able to watch regular DVD movies or television shows unless they have a streaming instant play option in Netflix.
We found the free Netflix application in the video marketplace. During the installation process, the program generated an activation code that we entered into the Netflix Website to associate our Netflix rental account with the Xbox Live profile. The channel will display all the items you have in you instant queue on the Netflix Website. New items added to the list from the Web page show up in the Xbox 360 channel seconds later.
We were pleasantly surprised by how much content was actually available in the Netflix instant watch catalog, particularly current television shows. Older movies such as Bad Boys were only available in standard definition, but newer television shows such as Heroes and 30 Rock both streamed in HD, or as high-definition as streaming Netflix content can get. The frame rates in HD were satisfactory, but we did notice some choppiness and ghosting artifacts in scenes with fast-moving action.
Overall the New Xbox Experience looks polished and we look forward to its official November 19 launch. The Primetime channel won't be ready then, but it should appear as an update in 2009.
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