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TGS 08: New Xbox Experience hits November 19 worldwide
Microsoft has just announced that the New Xbox Experience will release worldwide on November 19. Originally announced during E3 2008, the New Xbox Experience rethinks the way the Xbox 360 dashboard works in nearly every conceivable way. Adding features such as Avatars, the ability to install games to a hard drive and better organization for content, the NXE has been at the forefront of nearly every Microsoft event since it was first revealed. The worldwide release will hit in 26 countries and will be localized in 11 different languages. We anticipate November 19 will be a busy day to sign into Xbox Live.%Gallery-33577%
New Xbox Experience coming Nov. 19
var digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/08/new-xbox-experience-coming-nov-19/'; Finally on Nov. 19, you can kiss that old Xbox experience goodbye as you welcome the shiny New Xbox Experience, and all the Avatars, group chatting and other new features it brings in tow. That's worldwide, by the way.We're hearing this and a lot more in our TGS 2008 Microsoft press briefing liveblog. Come join us. Gallery: New Xbox Experience
Scene It? Box Office Smash lands in retail Oct. 28
Microsoft has announced that Scene It! Box Office Smash will be hitting retail on October 28, which will likely serve as a saving grace for the Joystiq staffers who had no idea what else to do for Halloween. The game will cost $40 by itself or $60 in a bundle with four Big Button pad controllers. Truth be told, we had a lot of fun with the first game, Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action! And any game that draws sketches of construction workers playing with dolls meets our approval.Also of note, Box Office Smash! is being touted as "the first game to debut with the New Xbox Experience's player Avatars," which can be used as your in-game character. We don't think this is an indication that the New Xbox Experience is coming out this month, as there are likely placeholders available, but it certainly raises an eyeybrow.%Gallery-33895%
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: 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%
Microsoft releases its PAX schedule: Gears 2, Halo Wars, New Xbox Experience
Microsoft has released their partial game schedule for the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, and it's chock full of Gears of War 2, Halo Wars, and the New Xbox Experience ... experience. Sure there's plenty of other stuff happening at their booth as well, but we're drooling over these three right now, fetch the bibs. Hopefully those "TBA" slots mean there's going to be some surprises from Bungie someone, which will really kick our saliva glands into high gear.If you're going to be at PAX, be sure and stop by for some hands-on time with these titles, and then search out one of your favorite Joystiq bloggers to pal around with. We'll be the ones with the plastic spit-shields on to keep the precious electronics dry.Pictured: our inner child at the Microsoft PAX booth, via Gamerscoreblog's Flickr feed.
New Xbox Experience game installation caught on video
We don't know how it happened, but the New Xbox Experience interface has been leaked to the webs and is, bit by bit, making its way to us in video format. One of the more interesting new features is the ability to install games to your console's hard drive. On display in this video: the installation (spoiler alert: it takes a while!), checking the memory footprint (spoiler alert: it's a whole DVD!), and launching the game (spoiler alert: you still need the disc in the drive!). Crap, we've spoiled the entire thing for you. If you can muster any interest in the video now, you'll find it after the break.[Via X3F]
Xbox 360 Avatars only in 'E' titles
Those among us who were less than thrilled at Microsoft's Mii Too avatars being integrated into the 360 dashboard had one modicum of comfort: That some day we would be able to find the overly-cutesy house they lived in in Grand Theft Auto V and murder them with a baseball bat ... until they died from it.Sadly, it appears we won't be getting that chance. Speaking at Microsoft's Gamefest event, Xbox Live GM Eric Kilgore [/irony] said, "the final guide we have this year is to think of them in an 'E10' context. That doesn't mean it won't change – but this fall they won't be able to blow each other's heads off." Their heads don't explode, and our hearts break. We hope you're happy now, Microsoft.
Microsoft contemplating for-pay Avatar accessories
In an interview with VentureBeat, Xbox Live chief John Schappert confirmed that Microsoft is looking at the possibility of charging users for accessories that can be used to customize their Avatars. When asked about such plans, Schappert replied, "That may be in the future." But what about the near-term? "We want to launch these with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall," he said.Given the precedent set early on with for-pay customization items such as gamer pics, the fact that MS might charge for more "exotic" Avatar extras certainly doesn't surprise us. We also wouldn't be surprised to see free accessories created to promote upcoming games, films, and events, much in the way promotional game pics and themes are currently offered. So, that Spartan armor helmet? It'll be, oh, 100. But that totally radical Mountain Dew Extreme Sports Action Experience billboard hat is on the house.
