GameGirl

The new Xbox Experience is here and most of you have already made your avatars and started Live Parties. We have been playing around with it since it was first available for download. Some of us had it early and some of us even woke up early just to get our hands on it. So we have played it, played with it and played on it....here's our thoughts and feelings on the new Xbox Experience.




Navie:


I have to say I am not a fan of the NXE. I mean, the old blades version always worked fine for me, and why fix what isn't broken? I was forced to download the patch today, which was negative points in my book as it was precious moments in between me and Fallout 3. However, I did decide once it was installed to give the Mii... errr, avatar creation system a go.

Number 1: No girly clothing.
Number 2: No way in hell am I paying real money for virtual clothes.
Number 3: no amount of playing with it got my Mii... God, did it again.... AVATAR! to look anything like me.

Then, it took several ADD minutes to find where to start up Fallout 3. Then, it crashed my system at a crucial moment in my gaming. Overall, the NXE looks and feels like the Wii interface, and I still dont see any point in replacing what worked fine in the first place.


Nikole:


The NXE is something we've all been waiting for since it was announced at E3. Now that it's finally here there are mixed feelings about it in the blogosphere. The general conses is that the avatars are unnecessary. They don't really add to the gaming experience, but they certainly don't take anything away. I have to agree, I did make one, took me 15 seconds. My biggest complaints about the avatars are one: you have to have one, and two: there just aren't enough options for the girls. Every single girl on my friends list was wearing the same sandals. There also wasn't a long enough hair option. I will give props where props are due though, they had an elf ear option, +2 cool points.

The Avatars might be the first thing you mention when talking about the NXE, but it's certainly not all there is. The entire dashboard is different. There are new "blades" that allow the gaming experience to be a much bigger media experience. I have 25 people on my XBL friends list now, 11 of them are watching netflix. Netflix is something to get excited about, I certainly am. This feature allows you to stream movies, and tv shows instantly through your xbox. This makes my xbox by far the most used media device in the house. I have to wonder however, how will so many people using their xbox's for more than just gaming affect the mortality rate of the machine. As you all know, the Xbox 360 isn't short of flaws, it's biggest being the far too common RROD syndrome. Microsoft has taken plenty of heat in the past in regards to this problem, are they ready for what is sure to be an influx on the problem? I know I am using my xbox more and more, I doubt anyone else is any different. Is Microsoft prepared for this? I can't imagine they didn't see this as a foreseeable problem so I hope they have procedures for it. Assuming everything goes well and I stay RROD free I will be continuing to play my xbox daily, if not several times a day.

There are many other features about the NXE that I like and dislike. All of them minor and don't really affect the real reason I have an xbox, to play games. All in all, I think the NXE, regardless of where you stand, is something you will get used to and learn to like. I was so used to the old interface that the new interface intimidates me, the same can be said for the new Facebook interface. I hated it, joined groups against it, but now I'm used to it and don't really remember what the old one was like. NXE will be the same way, we will all get used it, accept it, like it and more importantly know it like the back of our hands. Sure change is scary, but no nearly as scary as some of the Avatars my friends have made. Yes, this upgrade is trying to appeal to a more casual market, and no I'm not that casual market, but as long as I can just click 'play' and go about my business I'm fine. I like the NXE, it's fresh, fun and is making me lazier than ever.

Raychul:


I must admit, at first I hated the new NXE, I absolutely hated everything about it. I am still not a fan of it by any means, but I am getting used to it and I think the design is rather clean and fresh looking. It does take a bit of getting used to, but once you play around with it a lot, you find that the placement of everything just makes sense. I do, however, find myself hitting the Dashboard button and getting around by using that interface more often, probably because it works and looks a lot like the classic Xbox Live Dashboard.

The Goods:

I really do enjoy how easy it is to get around in the new Dashboard, it is visually pleasing and the new options are quite exciting. I love the Neflix add-on, I have had a Netflix account for years and I am thrilled about being able to watch movies when I want them and not always having to wait for the DVD to come through the mail.

I am also really enjoying the avatar games, A Kingdom for Keflings in particular. I think this avenue of games could be fun and an interesting switch up from normal XBLA games. At the same time, it does feel very Mii-ish and cheap. The Community Games section is really exciting though, and shows a lot of promise already.

The last thing I am liking about the new update is the Party option. You can get a group of friends together and now jump from game to game without having to re-invite them every time a new game is started. However, I am hearing a lot of people are having issues with this option with their systems locking up completely whenever they try to start, join or leave a party. Hopefully this will be fixed soon because this is a great idea.

Oh, and one other small and silly change that I love is, when I go to read about what a new map pack includes or what a games demo is about, the text on the right can now be scrolled through...no more waiting! Yay!

The Bads:

The avatars. If anyone hates anything about the NXE, it's the avatars. This was Microsoft's way of making their interface more family friendly and I think they should have just left that for Nintendo to do. The avatar's are cheap and ridiculous looking. I know they plan on giving us more clothes and style options every two weeks, but still, it's not something I wanted on my Xbox 360. I hate the fact that I was forced into making this cheesy cartoon me and I think we are all grown-ups and would have rather not been forced to play dress up with dolls.

The other thing I do not like is it seems the new update just made everything into HUGE ads. I have a hard time telling the difference between a new ad or a new available arcade game. I hate that as soon as I boot up my 360 the front page of the NXE is all ads. I would rather it boot up to show my page with my online friends and messages. With the original Live Dashboard, the ads were well placed and they were not distracting me from the actual games. I feel like the new Dashboard is overrun with ads and actually makes the real games harder to find.

Overall, I agree with Navie, why fix something that wasn't broken. I also agree with Nikole, the NXE doesn't affect the reason I turned on my Xbox in the first place...to play games. I do however think it makes it a bit harder to get to those games because the ads are all in my face, but as long as I can still do what I came to do, than I am happy.