The New Xbox Experience
So November 19 came, and with it came by far the Xbox 360's most significant firmware update yet. The update took two minutes to download and another six to install. Not bad, considering the magnitude of the change. Firstly, everything looks different. There has been an effort to merge functionality with aesthetics in a way that clearly steals from Apple, from increased menu responsiveness to cover-flow. Then there's the ability to create Mii-like avatars, which is a fine distraction for those who choose to persue it. It took about 20 minutes to create one and I think mine resembles it's creator more than most of what I'm seeing on my friends list so far. I haven't tried the "party" feature yet, but I like the idea of being able to group-up in a way that integrates voice chat, media and games. There are some other great tweaks lurking under the hood for audio and videophiles, some of which I don't fully understand, but the guys on AVforums seem to really appreciate.
To me, the two biggest features are as follows:
-The NetFlix app. which lets you link your Netflix account to your 360 and stream the HD/SD movies that subscribers can already watch from a computer. This is a killer app.
-Installing and running full games on the hard drive will take some of the burden off the optical drive at the expense of the hard drive. Since a 360's harddrive is more easily replaced than its disc drive, I think this a great way to increase the life of your console. Also, people are reporting that their systems run cooler and quieter when running games off the harddrive. Games that stream data will see no load-times performance increase, while games not optimized for disc usage will load quicker if running off the hard drive. Of course, you still need the disc in the tray to play the game... for now.
One website had the insight to point out that massive interface and feature overhauls like this usually don't show up until we have a new console generation, so NXE in many ways makes the 360 feel like a new box.
I'll post more as appropriate, but I'd like to hear your impressions of NXE and it's features.
To me, the two biggest features are as follows:
-The NetFlix app. which lets you link your Netflix account to your 360 and stream the HD/SD movies that subscribers can already watch from a computer. This is a killer app.
-Installing and running full games on the hard drive will take some of the burden off the optical drive at the expense of the hard drive. Since a 360's harddrive is more easily replaced than its disc drive, I think this a great way to increase the life of your console. Also, people are reporting that their systems run cooler and quieter when running games off the harddrive. Games that stream data will see no load-times performance increase, while games not optimized for disc usage will load quicker if running off the hard drive. Of course, you still need the disc in the tray to play the game... for now.
One website had the insight to point out that massive interface and feature overhauls like this usually don't show up until we have a new console generation, so NXE in many ways makes the 360 feel like a new box.
I'll post more as appropriate, but I'd like to hear your impressions of NXE and it's features.