New XBox Live Experience Coming Today

[DTro]

Microsoft VP John Schappert has confirmed today at the Tokyo Game Show event that the Xbox 360 "New Xbox Experience (NXE)" dashboard revamp is coming on November 19th to 26 countries and in 19 languages.

The NXE will completely transform the intrerface of your console but the biggest change is the move to cover flow-esque navigation, working the same way Vista's Aero task switcher does. From there you can cycle through various channels (avatars, demos, new movies, Netflix, etc) and it appears there will be an expansion of channels, from the current 5.

NXE will certainly include Netflix support with the ability to stream over 15,000 movies, concerts and TV shows to your 360. You can also "stream the movie with up to seven other consoles in a 'party' you can also haul around the dashboard, in and out of movies or games."

The NXE also adds Mii-like avatars where gamers can customize a character to look like them (or anyone else) including the face, hair, body and clothing and accessories.

More notably, NXE will give you the ability to copy your retail purchased game to the hard drive, which slows down load times and also saves your drive's laser in the long run.

NXE officially adds 16:10 plus 1440x900 and 1680x1050 widescreen VGA and HDMI support. Fans should applaud this as it will remove most black formatting bars and will offer high resolutions for VGA and HDMI users.

The new interface update will also include a new channel called "Xbox Live Primetime" which is basically a party game (think GSN) channel for XBL members.

All of your current content including themes will be backed up and moved over flawlessly, says Microsoft.

Copy and Paste for me, but on a side note, I really like the addition of support for 8 player Private Chat!

[Bigbartguy]

I've been wondering about this.. Seen the announcements on the Xbox main menu. My bro-in-law is excited for the Nexflix...no more mailing movies around. I'm not sure it will work better for most Netflix users or not though.

[SomethingFishy*]

Downloaded the update this morning. Spent most of the morning watching netflix streams. Seems nice so far but it will take some getting used to where everything is now.

[JP Z]

Fishy, do you already have a Netflix account or?? Are they free

[DTro]

They give you a two week trial period.

The new dashboard and Live features are really cool! Microsoft one upped the competition on this one.

[bgreen82]

with the 2 week trial period is it an automatic cancel at the end or do you need to do it yourself before you start getting charged?

[JP Z]

Do you have to sign up for the trial? I would think you at least have to download the netflix addon....My live account just expired yesterday though. I'm working on getting another, but holding off till I can get it under $30

[DTro]

Yeah, you have to sign up for a Netflix account and download the Netflix app for the XBox (very short download). You then pick one of three levels of service through Netflix that ranges from 8.99 to 16.99 per month.

After two weeks you have to manually cancel your account or the billing then starts.

I probably won't sign up since the On Demand service Comcast offers is pretty decent.

The Avatar creation feature of the New Live is a direct ripoff from the WII, but they made it much better IMO.

[Scott K]

Dumb question, does the PS3 have options like this?

[SomethingFishy*]

Yes, you must subscribe to Netflix. I pay $10 a month but have added the ability for the extra $1 to recieve Blue Rays whenever they are available. With netflix streaming thru the 360 we can drop our movie channels from our tv package.

I am still undecided about the new look, hopefully it's just the learning curve of where everything is located, feels cluttered to me and kind of like they tried to modify the ps3 dashboard with fancy icons. I think I liked the simplistic blade system, but It also took a bit to get used to that one as well.

Maybe I am just stubborn when it comes to "change".

[SomethingFishy*]

Dumb question, does the PS3 have options like this?

The Netflix stream is exclusive to microsoft for a game system at this time. You can still stream netflix from your PC or a Tivo box put it doesn't appear the PS3 will be an option for the forseable future.

[Meaney]

I really like the new set-up that Xbox put out. I was going to set up the netflix today.

[HawgMan]

My son got up extra early to download the new update! He likes it, and I think looks pretty good to. My brother has the Netflix subscription & tried it thru there 360 & said it wasn't that great of quality with his big screen.

[SomethingFishy*]

Netflix Quality will depend on Interenet connection speed and quality.

[Nick Kuhn]

Netflix Quality will depend on Interenet connection speed and quality.

Exactly, an HD movie requires a huge chunk of bandwidth to display, more than 4 times that required for a standard internet video clip.