ThunderPeel2001

NXE impressions?

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Installed it. Accepted the new EULA.

Black screen. It stayed black.

Rebooted. Hooray, it worked! Made an avatar. Then got error messages each time it had to access game information from the server.

VERDICT:

2 brainhams out of 6

"Fans of the console operation system genre might want to give this a try. Others: steer clear."

"Mind-blowing." - IGN

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Yeah, I've had mine for a day or so now.

Creating an avatar was fun, but once I finished, I quickly discovered that there's nothing you can do with them. What's the point? The Wii at least has "Mii Parade" and let's me pick them up and compare others. With NXE, you create an avatar and...that's it! I guess it's supposed to show up in all those casual games I'm not buying? Also, the avatars are even *more* blatant a rip-off of the Miis than I thought. Scrolling through the "eyes," I noticed several options that seemed *exactly* like eye options for the Miis.

The interface in general is prettier, but also consists mostly of advertising for videos and crap. It's also not any easier to navigate than the blades. In fact, it seems like the exact same features of the previous interface were re-implemented in an almost identical manner. I still can't see any consistency with regard to where things are placed and why. You can rotate through the panels easily, but selecting a panel sometimes brings up an entirely new set of panels, and sometimes opens a giant window in the middle of the screen! Sometimes you press "A" to play the game in the drive, and sometimes you press "Y." It seems to replicate everything I didn't like about the blades, but makes the whole process prettier.

As for new features...there aren't many, at least for poor Silver account holders like myself. The feature-set is largely identical to the previous one. I was hoping comparing achievements would be easier - it'd be nice to just compare achievements in *one* game with all my friends at once.

I was able to install Fallout 3 to my hard drive, though. The installation process took about eight minutes, and now there's no whirring sound from my DVD drive when I play! Hooray! On the other hand, it takes up 6 GB. The price of silence...

:tmeh:

Interface is prettier but just as awkward, Hard drive installs are cool, and Avatars are currently under-utilized.

Okay, I'm done talking about this.

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HD installs?!? Does it work for any game?? HFG! This could rock!

Yes, but you still need to put the disc in to play it. The only real benefits are shorter load times and less disc drive usage.

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Why are all the avatars standing like that? I don't stand like that. I don't know anyone who does. It infuriates me.

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I really like the new interface and new look , but NXE keeps on making my console freeze when I go to my friend's list. The avatar creation is indeed very nice and it would be awesome if you could actually use it with something as lobotomy42 said.

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They probably tried retrofitting the completely new and released today avatars into already released games like Gears of War and Table Tennis, but then decided that this would only be possible with games that haven't been released yet.

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I don't like it. It's too bloated and slow. I'm hoping that, at least, it improves the Marketplace UI and makes it easy to scroll through/browse, but all that shit is timing out on me now so I don't know how it is. The avatar/new friends list stuff is retarded though. I just want a list of which friends are online and what they're playing. It's really bloody hard to easily see this now. It's there in the guide but I want to see that stuff right when I boot up.

On the plus side: system level parties. :tup:

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Welllll, it's different...?

Oh, and now I have to wait for that horizontal scroll animation to finish for each item I go through in the menus. It used to be instantaneous with the old text-only menus. Yay for innovation. :deranged:

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Don't like it one bit, detest the avatars, and is it me or does it take longer to boot up your 360?

I'm thankful that if you have an existing profile it doesn't make it obligatory to have an avatar.

In the process of removing everyone has one too.

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Yeah I feel they ramped up the sexiness and fucked up the usability of it. It's not as easy of It kind of reminds me of "the new Hotmail." That's why I'm still using the Gmail.

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As a relatively new 360 owner who never really got used to the old (really overcrowded and haphazard feeling, in my opinion) blade system, I'm loving the new Xbox UI.

I like that all of the downloadable and streaming content has finally been spread out and given room to breathe, instead of trying to wedge it all into the "marketplace" blade. "Platform exclusives" may be dead in the traditional sense with this console generation, but good online content and a great online experience are a true platform exclusive of the 360. PSN is slowly catching up, but in my opinion the 360 is still unmatched from both a user experience and a development standpoint. You can tell that with the original 360 UI, and even with the modifications they made over time to try and make the marketplace work, the original blade interface was clearly designed before anyone could anticipate how successful XBLA, Xbox Originals, downloadable video, and DLC would be. By the end, that one blade felt so hilariously lopsided in its importance relative to the other blades, it was kind of ridiculous. Good to see them spreading that love around and putting more online content front and center where people can see it, without having to dig two tiers into the marketplace blade.

Also it was great to see how not-hidden the XNA content was. I should probably play some of it!

I'm loving having Netflix streaming built in as well. If they somehow go insane and add support for hulu.com (unlikely given how MS seems to enjoy selling me single overpriced TV episodes instead of running them for free, ad supported) I could probably pitch half of the stuff connected to my TV and not miss it.

The avatars are nothing special, and their tendency to try and only allow you to "look good" (as in, stylishly dressed, all facial features well proportioned and positioned, etc) instead of "look real" (in the style of Miis, which let you mush your facial features around in so many potentially real and idealistically unappealing ways) is disappointing to me... But, in the grand scheme of everything else going on in the NXE stuff -- the hugely improved focus in online content, a spotlight for indie and community generated content with XNA and better XBLA presentation, netflix streaming, loading games onto the hard disk, overall more expansion-friendly UI which will hopefully alleviate shit like the horribly cramped marketplace blade in the future -- the relative lameness of avatars isn't that big a deal. It's the most superficial and most easily ignored facet of the whole thing.

My one complaint about the whole thing, I think, is the new "half a screen-width per friend" friends list ... pretty weak. I wouldn't surprise me if they offered an alternative view mode in the near future, though, given that the friends presentation is at the top of so many peoples' list of issues with the new UI.

Don't like it one bit, detest the avatars, and is it me or does it take longer to boot up your 360?

I'm thankful that if you have an existing profile it doesn't make it obligatory to have an avatar.

In the process of removing everyone has one too.

Slashdot called, it wants your comment back. Sheesh. You're actually deleting anyone on your friends list who uses an avatar? Glad I'm not your friend! Were you making the little "nuh uh uh, don't go there" triple snap of your fingers while deleting each of them, for offending you with their avatar?

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I'm with Jake; the new UI is a definite improvement. It's now light, open and visually attractive to actually look at over and over again--nothing like the bland, tabulated 'blades' layout, which I certainly won't miss one bit.

Another superb piece of visualisation is your games list in My Profile. Flipping through all the games I've played and seeing at a glance all the key stats (Gamerpoints earned, achievements, medals) is really nice and such a leap beyond the old 'blade' interface.

For everyone who hates the new friends list, one thing that isn't immediate about it is that if a friend is playing a game, you'll see all his friends who he's playing with standing around him. It's really, really smart and a brilliant piece of information visualisation.

Personally, I think the avatars are great! The single best thing about the update for me was flipping through my friends list last night and seeing how people visualised themselves. It's fascinating and a lot more fun than that pathetic 120x120 pixel smudge people had before. Massive improvement and definitely more engaging quite some margin.

For those interested, "heeeeere's Wrestle!"

avatar-body.png

The nicest avatar-related surprise of all, for me, was that Microsoft included a wedding ring accessory. :tup:

Edited by Wrestlevania
Hot linked to my Xbox.com avatar image, instead of a static 3rd party-hosted file.

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I'm with Wrestle and Jake -- I LOVE the new interface! :tup:

I'm still getting to grips with it, but I think it's a massive improvement so far. Only bad bits: It was still pretty slow at downloading information about games (cost and whatnot), which was annoying, but it could have been because so many people were downloading the update yesterday (fingers crossed). The friends list (which I do actually like) froze on me at one point, but it came back, thankfully.

I'm not completely sure how much easier it's going to be to find the information I want quickly: New Arcade games, who's online, comparing achievements, news -- but it does seem like it's going to be much more efficient once I get used to it. I certainly hope so.

Damn, I'm seriously loving this update!

Plus I can't wait to try the new HD installs... faster loading? Quieter disc access? Yes, please! (Looks like I finally have that excuse to buy a 120GB HD - Rock Band, Guitar Hero II and GTA all loading faster between "levels"? I NEED this!)

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I really noticed the speed increase in Mirror's Edge after installing it to the hd.

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You look like Justin Timberlake? :mock:

Ha! You'll have no objections from Mrs V about that I shouldn't wonder...

I really noticed the speed increase in Mirror's Edge after installing it to the hd.

Fallout 3 was definitely faster overall by about 30-40% in my view. No idea, technically, how much faster it really is (there's a list online somewhere), but it's nice not to have the disc whirring up all the time.

Also, it could just be my imagination but the game looked slightly sharper too. Early testers have reported that the HD installs almost completely eliminate texture streaming in certain games, which might be in effect here. Or I might need to take these rose-tinted NXE glasses off my avatar... :shifty:

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I'm not enjoying this "experience" after a quick go. Don't have Netflix or a hard drive larger than the original 20 GB one, so the streaming and installs don't quite apply to me. The avatars seem horribly standardized, without the ability to even move around individual parts or recolor clothing, although the thought that must have went into naming each part is absolutely hilarious. The UI itself seems haphazard at best, with elements coming from and scrolling in directions that don't seem standardized between menu choices. Oh and Microsoft wants me to pay money for the privilege of removing that fugly gray stage unaesthetically imposed over half of my beautiful free Psychonauts background? :fart:

I do like that they're actually adding XNA games now. Hopefully some of the good XNA games actually bubble up past the peer approval gatekeeper. Anyone have any recommendations?

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As an outsider I've looked upon the update rather enviously - but then I'm one of those people who'll install a new operating system just because it's different and end up gawping at all the new features. It looks nice anyway.

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I like the interface a lot. The coverflow-esque stuff is great because scrolling through huge text lists one by one when looking for new games or whatever was such a huge pain. The new interface already enticed me to download a demo and download an XBLA trial that I had overlooked before.

This whole thing is, in theory, great. I just wish it would stop giving me all these error messages when opening a new info tab thingie. :tmeh:

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I'm a tad on the fence. I don't feel that strongly either way about Avatars. Mine's a decent enough approximation of me, but aside from settling a bit of curiosity as to what certain people on my friends list look like, I don't really see the point. On the other hand, the interface itself is very nice to have. Like the XMB if it were made more visually appealing. Very slick, very useful, very nice. Unfortunately, I can't really evaluate the online yet as the 10 or so minutes I had to fool around with it yesterday after installing the system was overwhelmed and kept timing out on me.

As for the installs, I would love to do that for so many games, but due to my having a 20GB HDD, I only have 3 gigs of space on my drive. I'd need to upgrade first, and MS has made the price for doing so so prohibitive that I can't justify it just for that. Ditto for the Netflix. Crackdown, GTA IV, Saints Row, pretty much anything with a big open world I would absolutely love to install and reduce the wear on my system, but I can't. Poo.

Oh, and for posterity's sake:

avatar-body.png

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Good to see them spreading that love around and putting more online content front and center where people can see it, without having to dig two tiers into the marketplace blade.

As a counterpoint...if you're one of those people, like me, who thinks that 90% of the "marketplace" is a scam, then this change just seems like a way to fit even more advertising onto the screen at once.

Another superb piece of visualisation is your games list in My Profile. Flipping through all the games I've played and seeing at a glance all the key stats (Gamerpoints earned, achievements, medals) is really nice and such a leap beyond the old 'blade' interface.

...Except that the games list only shows your XBLA games and whatever game happens to be in the drive. (This was also true in blades, and was an equally dumb decision then.)

Oh! I found something to do with your avatar: On any screen where your avatar is visible, move the right stick around. Not only will your avatar turn his head to match, but you can also get your avatar to make at least three different funny faces, and dance a merry jig. Nice touch!

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