The other big Hoo-Ha for the new Xbox Experience are avatars. A more sophisticated version of Nintendo’s Miis, Xbox’s avatars are nothing short of delightful. Creating my first avatar induced a child-like sense of “wow”. Microsoft developer Rare Software has done a stellar job of injecting personality and charm into these adorable online representations. A friend of mine who absolutely has no interest in video games whatsoever was completely enamored when we created an avatar for her. “I can see we people spend all their time in these things” was her response.
By creating a more modern Ipod like navigation system and introducing Netflix capability and super-cute avatars, Microsoft is looking to reach out to the more casual gamer. The new Xbox Experience coupled with a $199.00 price point will do exactly that. The world economy is severely recessed and with people looking for a way to enjoy themselves, this could prove to be the fatal salvo in the war between Microsoft and Sony for your gaming dollar.
I totally agree with you about the Arcade model being a bad deal. The thing is that the $199 price point is going to bring in a huge amount of people. Xbox sales have nearly doubled in markets they weren't doing so well in since the price drops.
Also, you actually will be able to bring your avatars into games with you (not every game). Games such "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" are out right now and feature avatar integration.
Dowloaded it this morning. It is definitely sexier and easier to navigate than the previous system. I especially enjoyed creating my avatar. I'll have to get my wife to make one for herself. Sure it's a take off from the Miis but who cares. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. And Microsoft of course did it better. It will be fun to keep customizing your avatar's appearance as more clothing and accesories are released. Hopefully some stuff will be attached to achievements and such so you can show them off on your avatar. And you will be able to use the avatars in games designed for it. So far all I've heard of is the new Scene It and the live game shows like 1 vs 100 once that feature is released next spring. But I'm sure it's something many more games will start to incorporate.
You are right Josh, I had forgotten about the Avatars being used for certain games. Although I don't think Smarther than a 5th grader counts :) I just downloaded the NXE, I saw like 4 or 5 games being Avatar friendly.
NXE is pretty nice, downloaded and installed quickly. I might have till Christmas to get Xbox live and tryout Netflix. I hope they bring more tons of more stuff for Avatar customization. I wanted to make my Joker avatar and they don't have a green hair option, nor can I put make up on my dude. Damn it!!
I just installed Fallout 3 to the hard drive, and the Xbox didn't make as much noise, so that's good.
I just downloaded Fallout 3 to my hard drive today too Hanso! Yeah, it's nice to cut the db level down and I don't worry about heat as much either.
I dowloaded Fable 2 to the HD last night and it was so sweet not to hear the disc spinning so much. I never thought the noise was that loud but now that it's gone I realize it was really noisy. I'm going to get some fans for my component rack soon so that should cut down on noise even more. I got nervous for a second though when halfway through the download it gave me an error. But I just had to clean the disc a little and it went fine.
Hi ddiaz, no Netflix in Canada? For some reason that strikes me as strange. In reference to your comment about the 360s life cycle, I feel like we're just maybe hitting the middle point of the 360. I actually think it's going to be a couple more years before we start seriously hearing about the next next gen. Especially with the economy the way it is. There's no way people are going to be willing to make a leap to another 400 dollar system. Oops, oh, Ps3 anyone?
I have a netflix account and I love the fact that I can watch a movie anytime I want as long as it's on netflix. They just need to update the list of old movies that they carry. I also put Oblivion on my harddrive last night (120 gig HD) and it's a great feature to have. As for Sony, they suck anyway and have always thought so. All you have to do is look at their online service for the PS3 and you will see one of the reasons that I make that statement.
I was playing Halo the other day after I updated and bungie is getting a notice. To some it up shortly it said that having online games installed on your hard drive may effect the way the game performs. Probably just online stuff. might be able to check the exact wording at www.bungie.net as for me I have a small hard drive on my xbox so I wont be doing much of that. Sucks that the Xbox is built so shittty and now they are trying to conform to the systems limitations. I tried adding some movies to my netflix and A LOT of them said not available on xbox viewing right now. So way to get everyone wet, oh well this is microsoft were talking about here. Game on Maniacs
Yes, I've seen Sony's online service, it's free so that's always nice.
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I can't wait to get home and download the new update for Xbox. Thought about getting in late to work today so I could do it early in the morning.
Anyway, this is not the final nail in Sony's coffin because the $199 price for the Xbox Arcade Model isn't a good deal. It's got no hard drive, the only thing they give you is a 512mb memory stick so you can save your games. In fact, Xbox had to give some extra memory sticks away if I'm not mistaken so anyone that bought the Arcade Model could be able to update to the New Xbox Experience. Stay away from the Arcade Model!! Unless you are gonna get a seperate hard drive for it.
I got the 60G Model and that's a good deal. Especially now with that bundle that has KungFu Panda/ Lego Indy Jones included. Sure not the best games, but you can always trade those is and get one you actually want. I recommend Fallout 3 & Gears of War 2.
Netflix thing sounds cool, I gotta get me the Xbox Live Gold membership so it can work. Not sure when I'll get that though. What's really cool of this new Xbox experience thing, which I don't think was mentioned (didn't read the whole article) is the fact that you can download your game to the Xbox hard drive (another reason you should staty away from the Arcade Model). Basically what this will do is that your Xbox will be less nosier cause it won't be reading from the disc, and it should help with the system staying cooler. The Xbox is much noisier than the PS3, one of the things I hate about Xbox, so hopefully this will lead to a better game experience, for me anyways.The Xbox avatars are a lame attempt at the Nintendo crowd. Unlike Nintendo, you won't be able to use your avatars in the games. I don't see the point to them, I'll probably build one just to have it :) Oh, and the Party Time feature is super lame.