new-xbox-experience
Latest
New Xbox Experience to streamline Games Store
As the fall update and accompanying New Xbox Experience creep ever closer to our purring, anticipatory 360s, further details about the renovated dashboard continue to surface -- the latest of these is a sneak peek at how the Games Store will function under the NXE, courtesy of Xbox community site Gamerscore Blog.To put it simply, the new Games Store will provide every game with its own comprehensive page, complete with tabs displaying screenshots, trailers, information about the title, and all available downloads pertaining to the game. If that made little to no sense, they've got a more detailed rundown on Gamerscore Blog -- but it finally seems like we won't have to search through an ocean of DLC to find those Bomberman: Act Zero gamerpics we've been coveting for oh-so-long.
New Xbox Experience: A look at the new XBLM
Gamerscore Blog has posted another update regarding the New Xbox Experience, and this time we get a look at the newly revamped Games Store. When browsing the Games Store in the NXE, each game entry will now list every single download available for that game, handily organized into different sections (previews, gamerpics, DLC, etc). In addition to this, each game listing will also include screenshots and the "back of the box" descriptions you'd find at a retail store. So, basically, you can find out whatever you need about a specific game in a single place on Xbox Live Marketplace. What a novel idea.Check out screens of the new Games Store interface in the gallery below.%Gallery-33577%
Netflix adds Starz and more to streaming library
In preparation for the Fall release of the Netflix streaming enabled New Xbox Experience, Netflix just announced that they're adding additional content to their streaming library including a boatload of content from Starz.Come this Fall, Netflix will add an additional 2,500 pieces of content for streaming (that's 30,000 pieces of content in total), including movies from Starz Play like Spider-Man 3, Ratatouille, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Superbad, and No Country for Old Men. You'll need an unlimited subscription plan to have access to all the Netflix goodies when the NXE releases and, just to whet your appetite, 1,000 hunks of new content are available TODAY with the other 1,500 being added by the time the NXE launches. Happy days!
Xbox.com shifts friends list back to single page
During the Xbox Live service maintenance yesterday Xbox.com dropped off and back on Planet Internet. While we were aware the update to Xbox Live was simply back end additions in preparation of the next dashboard, the NXE, few people expected a major complaint would be addressed for Microsoft's Xbox site. During the Xbox.com redesign a few months ago Microsoft decided to separate friends through multiple pages instead of keeping the Friends List to one long list. Well, by popular demand, the separated friends pages have been removed and everyone you know and game with is on the same page when you log into your account on Xbox.com. It's a small change but we're happy. What changes would you like to see on Xbox.com come time for the New Xbox Experience?
New Xbox Experience site adds interactive demo
Are you on the fence about the upcoming changes to the Xbox 360 dashboard? Apprehensive about the unceremonious subtraction of your beloved blades? Perhaps it would be wise to check out an interactive demo of the New Xbox Experience (or, as the hip kids are calling it, the NXE) that was recently added to Xbox.com. You can get a good idea of what the new layout will look like -- though you'll have to wait until the NXE lands on your 360 before trying your hand at breathing life into your cartoonish, digital representation.
Xbox.com sports interactive dashboard preview, the NXE
The NXE (New Xbox Experience) is the upcoming Xbox 360 dashboard update, first revealed to gamers at E3 2008. Designed to be usable and intuitive for everyone under your roof regardless of gaming cred, the NXE is a complete revamp of the Xbox 360 dash we know and love. Still on the fence about the new update? Xbox.com now sports an interactive preview of the New Xbox Experience the way it will be presented when it finally launches later this year. Also you should remember that Xbox Live will be down for 24-hours beginning at 12:01AM PT on September 29 to prepare for the service update -- meaning the new dashboard isn't going to be made available just yet.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
New Xbox Experience: 'Friends Channel' and 'Themes 2.0' screens, details
click to enlarge Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog crew has delivered another in its series of glimpses inside the forthcoming New Xbox Experience. This week's update – sadly sans-video – focuses in on the Friends Channel and what MS is calling "Themes 2.0" – 3D UI make-overs that extend beyond simple wallpaper by bringing themed elements into the interface itself.It's fitting that both NXE elements are in the spotlight together, since one (the themes) directly affects the other (the friends list). You can browse the latest batch of related screens in the gallery below, and read some insider highlights of how this changes the Xbox Experience at the Gamerscore Blog. %Gallery-32833%
NXE: A look at Themes 2.0 and the Friends Channel
Digging even deeper into the New Xbox Experience, today the Gamerscore Blog crew is showing off the NXE's "Themes 2.0" and the super special "Friend Channel". Complete with silly Avatars and other shenanigans. You can view a bunch of today's newly released NXE screenshots in the gallery below (sorry, no video goodness this week) and read about how dashboard themes will work in the new dashboard as well as how you'll connect with your friends. We're loving the 3D effects that the new themes utilize, but are still torn regarding the Avatar friends visualizations. Oh well. Make the jump to read, click the screenshots below and get NXE informed.%Gallery-32827%
360 dashboard ad claims NXE releases in Nov.
An eagle-eyed tipster just informed and sent picture proof to our Joystiq pals that the New Xbox Experience dashboard update will be releasing sometime in November. Or so says a Rock Band 2 / Stride ad that's featured on the 360's dash. As one can see in the photographic proof above, the dash ad tells us to "Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November!" With this new information we have to ask ourselves, can this dash ad be trusted? Will we experience a NXE in November? What shall we eat for lunch? Microsoft has been contacted and we patiently wait for answers to these hard hitting questions.
Dashboard ad: New Xbox Experience coming in November [update]
As good as Microsoft may be at keeping secrets, the irascible dashboard just can't seem to keep its e-mouth shut. Reader Dusty just learned this first hand when a dashboard ad for an upcoming Rock Band 2 event proclaimed "Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November!"Now, the common man would think "Hey, I bet the New Xbox Experience is coming in November." But we savvy bloggers have learned that, often as not, the dashboard is just making crap up. We'll do a bit of digging and see what we can find.[Update: Just got this from Microsoft: We're happy to see the excitement around the New Xbox Experience, but we haven't announced a specific release date. The New Xbox Experience will be released before the end of the year, and we will have more details soon!]%Gallery-27601%
PSA: Xbox Live down Sept. 29 to prep NXE
Freeze! Not so fast. Step away from the calendar. That's right, put the marker down. September 29th is not the day your new Mii-er-crosoft Avatar will be delivered to your dashboard. It's not as easy as ringing up the storks, you know. Making Avatars and all those other newfangled Xbox experiments take time. It's like a delicate dance. No, that's not right. It's like a service-wide blackout. Monday, September 29th, 12:01 am to 11:59 pm PST to be exact.So you sit and you wait, or you go get some fresh air -- or you do what we do: Play offline. And then it's Tuesday, and, well, you may be surprised to find the same old Xbox experience on your console. After all that, you wonder? Uh-huh. That's it? Yep, for now. But, but -- the new New? "That will happen later this Fall," Major assures.
Video: Creating an Xbox 360 Avatar
Xbox Live's Major Nelson has posted a new video, showing just how we'll go about creating tiny, polygonal and considerably more handsome versions of ourselves when the New Xbox Experience (that's fancy for "dashboard update") arrives this Fall. If you've been wondering how you'll outfit your Avatar with virtua-threads or which button elicits a burp (yes, really), peer past the break. Of course, if you're the impatient type and just want to get back to your space mareenz, you can skip the whole process by simply selecting a random Avatar. Just don't blame us if you wind up as Shane Kim.%Gallery-27601%
Video: A look at the NXE's Avatars
Just as they did with the games played section of the New Xbox Experience, Gamerscore Blog (with help from Major Nelson) just posted a new video demoing Avatars. You know, those overly cute, adorable and quite controversial Mii inspired characters. The Avatar demo (embedded after the break) confirms the button options that were leaked a while back and that the long rumored Avatar burping feature will be included. Just watch the vid ... you'll see. We also want to point out that the NXE transition effects are super duper sexy! Watch closely at the beginning to spot the sleek menu transitions. Delicious!
New Xbox Experience: 'Games Played' changes detailed
click to enlarge Microsoft's own Gamerscore Blog is kicking off what it hopes will be a weekly series of New Xbox Experience primers leading up to the new dash's "late fall" release. For the first installment, the crew chose to focus on the newly revamped Games Played tracker, and what exactly makes it worthy of being part of a new experience.As it's explained, selecting your Gamercard now displays a series of subsequent Games Played "slides" behind it, which you can fan through. The first card focuses on every game you've ever fired up on your console. It displays your current Gamerscore and the maximum possible Gamerscore you could hope to earn by unlocking every Achievement in every game you've played. Similarly, it displays the current number of Achievements you've unlocked out of the total number available in all the games you've played.Subsequent slides focus specifically on single games, with similar Gamerscore and Achievement tallies just for them. Your most recent Achievements in each game are also displayed. The Gamerscore team says that if you've played 500 games, there will be 500 individual Games Played slides; let's hope there's an equally clever system for quickly sorting through them all.%Gallery-27601%
First look at games played in New Xbox Experience
Gamerscore Blog has posted an update regarding how games played are viewed in the New Xbox Experience. In the screenshot above, you can see that The traditional Gamercard and options are in the front, while all the games played on a profile fan off to the right. Every game played on a given profile will have its own card (three cards for the three games played in this example) that displays the achievements earned so far. Also included on each card are two progress bars that display how many points and achievements you've earned versus the total amount available (that's going to make us feel a lot better about our gamerscore). Pretty decent additions if you ask us.This is part one of a series of posts that Gamerscore Blog will be doing on the New Xbox Experience as it gets closer to launch. Rest assured we'll keep our eyes open for future updates. Check out a hi-res version of the screenshot in the gallery below.%Gallery-31800%
The most common Fall update questions answered
If you're totally clueless in regards to all the "New Xbox Experience" talk, confused to no end and just want some of your basic questions answered, then TechRadar's "everything you need to know" article is just for you. Have New Xbox Experience n00b questions like "what is it?", "why is this happening?", "what's an Avatar" or (our favorite) "what if I don't want the new dashboard?" Then their helpful guide can help and give you easy to digest answers. We'll even give you a freebie: Even if you don't want the new dashboard, you're out of luck, because it's one of those mandatory Live updates. Then again, why wouldn't you want it and all of its hotness?
Rare: Avatar development started pre-Mii
Rare, developer of Microsoft's Avatars, explains that any similarity between its creations and Nintendo's Miis is purely coincidental. In an interview with Eurogamer, the company's art director, Lee Musgrave, states that Rare was working with the idea of Avatars (not necessarily for the New Xbox Experience) before Miis were part of the gaming landscape. Microsoft apparently liked the idea enough to make it part of its dashboard overhaul.Musgrave makes it clear that Microsoft didn't show up one day and ask for a counter to the Mii. He claims there were many questions about what form the Avatars should take (animals, Spore-like creatures, ultra-realistic humans), but they eventually landed on something that had "approachability." Apparently, Nintendo agrees.
Rumorong: G4 says massive 360 'relaunch' event not happening
You just knew that Monday's rumor of a televised "relaunch" for Xbox 360 planned for September 25 on G4 was too good to be true. Although, with everything its sheer madness (hey, we called it!) promised – the New Xbox Experience release; new, free Xbox Classics; huge exclusives revealed – it was one rumor everyone (well, make that "everyone with an Xbox 360 or lack of console favoritism") very much wanted to become fact. Alas, not this time. G4 has flat-out denied plans for any such event – let alone one lasting five hours – with X-Play host Adam Sessler making the rumor (and internet rumors in general) the subject of his latest "Sessler's Soapbox" rant, which you can watch after the break. That is, if your will to continue hasn't been utterly crushed by the busting of this nigh-legendary hoax.[Via X3F]
New Xbox Experience relaunch was lies, all lies
Earlier in the week, rumor spread quickly across the internets regarding Microsoft's supposed plans to hold a five hour long New Xbox Experience relaunch event aired on G4 TV. An event that would celebrate the rollout of the Fall update, usher in free games, new game announcements and excitement galore. Well, that was total balderdash. Fake, fake, fake! G4's own Adam Sessler confirmed the fact that the network and Microsoft have no plans for an event later this month, going as far as to dedicate his latest episode of "Sessler's Soapbox" to the topic specifically (vid after the break). Sessler not only denies the baseless (but totally awesome) rumor, but goes on to discuss politics and how irresponsible the media can be by not investigating or looking for answers. Damn the media. We always disliked those media folks.
Rumor: The five-hour Xbox 360 relaunch Sept. 25
VGChartz is running a megaton rumor about the launch of the new Xbox 360 dashboard. It has our curiosity piqued because of its creativity and sheer audacity. The story goes that Microsoft will have a five-hour televised countdown beginning September 25 at 7PM Eastern leading to the New Xbox Experience and the software-based relaunch of the console at midnight.Allegedly, G4 will cover the event exclusively and Live members will be able to stream it. The rumor gets even bigger by saying that three new components of the NXE will be unveiled when the update happens at midnight. First is a partnership with Sirius Radio, allowing users to access the satellite radio station for a "modest monthly fee." Then there's the music store page -- think iTunes, except on your Xbox. Finally, there's the "mad lib" page, though nobody seems to know what the _______ it is.Sending this whole thing into overdrive, the source claims Microsoft will announce 12 new titles "exclusive or first" on the 360, including Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, a new Conker game and two new Halo titles. Also, six free original Xbox games will be available to download, with Halo being one of them.The whole thing sounds like madness (and fanboy conjecture), but given the Xbox 360's slipping sales, a mega-event relaunch might just be the reset button the company needs for the console best-known to general consumers for the RRoD. The whole rumor isn't even that insane when we recall how Microsoft went all-out for the first Xbox 360 launch and, if Microsoft execs are to be believed, this is "an entirely new Xbox" made possible by "the magic of software."[Via X3F]%Gallery-27601%
