I know, I drank the cool aid, right? Blame Microsoft, not squishy, impressionable me. They’re the ones who made it so cool. The New Xbox Experience, which launches to the public on Wednesday, is more than a new interface for the 360. Actually, the new interface is probably the least exciting part of the release. I’ve had the update since last week. Here are the two things that have been rocking my world so far:
1) The new, absolutely adorable avatars. They’ve got a lot more detail than Miis or even the characters in MySims — plus, whatever you do to them, they come out looking like awesome vinyl toys. Seriously, I would order these things in a second.
2) Netflix in Video Marketplace. Now that you can stream Netflix content directly to your Xbox 360, I may never have a life again. No, not all Netflix titles are available — only around 14,000 — but if you’re like me all you need to know is that includes every single episode of Law and Order: SVU. Seriously though, new titles are being added to the library all the time, and the ease with which you can start watching DVD quality videos is downright awesome. Forget scrounging around on Chinese sites for crap movie rips. This shit is instantaneous.
I do wish the avatars had more integration, but for now I’m content with cuteness and instant gratification. Let me know what you think when you get your update Wednesday!
Bonnie Ruberg is a sex, technology, and video games journalist who contributes regularly to publications like The Economist, Forbes, and The Village Voice. By day she's also a comparative literature PhD student at UC Berkeley, where she studies French, English, gender, sexuality, surrealism and perversion. You can reach her at [her first name and last name, all one big word] AT gmail DOT com.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
first you can’t change the colour of your clothing.
Second, no Netflix in europe as Europe never had Netflix.
and holyshit I made my pencil go airborne in a simple hand movement that accidently made my paper wave(drawing Llamas for homework)
November 19th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
On top of that, it seems a couple thousand Columbia Pictures titles got pulled from the list last night — which seriously sucks!
November 19th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
and on top of that I think that the range of clothing available right now is rather meagre and hope that it will increase WITHOUT expenses. I also dont know where the heck I can change my background as the graffiti just does not fit the bright green tabs and the gray underground.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:18 am
The NXE is okay – the way you interface with the system is practically the same only that it uses the gimmicky ’3D’ system of tab browsing like Vista and Leopard. I like the overall graphic look and sound though…. but it’s only really a big deal in the US which is the only market MS ever seems to focus on. Getting a little sick of them touting all these ‘great’ features when there’s only one market they apply to…. i’m sure their sales would be better in the EU and Japan if they actually put some effort into their system in these territories.
The thing i like the best is the ability to actually post a picture of your avatar. I noticed you used a picture in your post but these
avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatar-body.png
avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatar-l.png
avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatar-s.png
will allow you to post your actual avatar or chosen gamer ‘pic’.
<img=avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/Duoae/avatar-body.png
November 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Heh, well…. that didn’t work out :) Could do with an edit button on here as i don’t know which commands to use :)
avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/Duoae/avatar-body.png