Post by el JOKER5 on Jul 17, 2008 12:58:22 GMT -5
E3 2008: New 360 Dashboard Detailed
How Xbox Live's new interface will change the way you play.
by Ryan Geddes
July 16, 2008 - When Microsoft unveiled the new interface for Xbox Live at their E3 press conference this week, our jaws dropped. Not only will the current Dashboard get a slick new look and feel, but avatars will be incorporated into the experience, and best of all, Netflix movies will now be available through the Xbox 360.
We sat down with Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten for a quick tour of the "New Experience," as Microsoft has dubbed it, and some of our many questions about the pending update have been answered.
First, the Neftlix basics. If you're already a Netflix customer, watching movies in your queue is as easy as selecting the Video Channel tab and selecting the Netflix image. The movies in your Watch Now list automatically appear, and you can flip through them to choose which movie you want to watch. You can either get more info on a specific film by hitting the Y button or begin playing it by hitting A. You can't add or delete movies from your Netflix queue from the Dashboard, but if you manipulate your queue from a PC, you'll see your list of available films change within a few seconds on your TV screen.
The Party system, another new feature of the upcoming Dashboard overhaul lets you join up with up to eight friends online and hop from game from game or even movie to movie. If you're halfway through a Netflix movie and notice one of your friends pop online, you can invite them into your Party. If she is also a Netflix member and accepts your request, she will come into the film at the exact point you are watching it, and you can chat and watch the second half together.
When the movie is over, you can both head back to the Community Channel, which serves as a sort of lobby for Parties and their avatars, the new representations of your digital self Microsoft introduced as part of the new Dashboard. Not much is being shown of the avatars so far, but we do know they'll be carried over into Xbox Live Arcade games, and other forms of upcoming content.
Netflix and avatars aside, most Xbox 360 owners will be using their consoles primarily for playing games. You can access all your games from the My Xbox 360 Channel, which is the main hub for everything related to your console. It's here that you'll access whichever game that's in your disc drive, your Xbox Live Arcade library, XNA Community games and themes and gamerpics.
Speaking of which, all the themes and gamerpics you have already purchased will work in the new interface. Each channel will display the images that previously were housed on the blades, but on the upper half of the screen only rather than the full screen (see image below). Gamerpics will also still work alongside your avatar.
Whitten said the main channels of the new interface won't be cluttered with ads. Instead there will be a new section – the Spotlight Channel -- dedicated solely to marketing and advertising from Microsoft and its corporate partners. You might see info about an upcoming online event or a pitch for an upcoming third-party game in this section. The Games Channel is where you'll find the game-related content formerly associated with Marketplace. It has four sections: Browse Games, Top Downloads, New Arrivals and Major's Picks. From here, you can browse and buy Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Originals and downloadable content.
From what we've seen so far, the system looks cleaner and easier to navigate than the current system. But we still haven't seen any search function built into the system, which would go a long way toward organizing the more than 20,000 pieces of content available for download. We asked Whitten if there are any plans in the works for an integrated search, but he said Microsoft "has nothing to announce" about that now.
Although we've only seen a sliver of the new Dashboard, people at Microsoft are hinting that there is more to be revealed. There will likely be a fair amount of customization available in the My Xbox 360 Channel, allowing you to arrange your games the way you like and choose how things appear on the screen. We do know that each section within the Games Library tab auto-updates with info about the games in your collection (what you're friends are playing too, what your last played game was, etc.).
One of the under-the-radar announcements Microsoft announced about the upcoming interface change is the ability to copy games to your hard drive and play from there. We got a tad more info about that today from Microsoft. In order to make use of this function, you'll need to have the retail disk in the tray so the machine can authenticate the game. It will briefly spin up and then spin back down again when the hard disk takes over. If you want, you can even copy one disk of a multi-disc game to the hard drive. The payoff? Up to 30 percent quicker load times.
The final piece of the updated interface is the Primetime Channel, which will allow people to party up with their avatars and participate in real-time game shows over Xbox Live. We caught a glimpse of some of the games that are in the works – the list includes 1 vs. 100, Xbox Live Trivia: Video Games and Sports Legends. There's also a Primetime Guide that tells you what's going on at the moment and what's coming up.
One of the coolest changes to the Dashboard is a major behind-the-scenes shift. Currently, if you're playing, say, Assault Heroes 2 with a friend online and want to switch to Carcassonne, you have to exit the game, go to the dashboard, start up the new game and re-invite your friend. With the new Party system you can bring up the guide in Assault Heroes 2, choose Carcassonne and take your whole party to the new game right from there. It's a huge change that should make playing games online with friends much more streamlined.
There's still a lot we don't know about what changes are in store for Xbox Live, but we'll keep you posted as the Dashboard overhaul gets closer to launching. There's no specific date set yet, but Microsoft is shooting for fall. Until then, you'll just have to do without avatars, Netflix and gaming from the hard drive.
How Xbox Live's new interface will change the way you play.
by Ryan Geddes
July 16, 2008 - When Microsoft unveiled the new interface for Xbox Live at their E3 press conference this week, our jaws dropped. Not only will the current Dashboard get a slick new look and feel, but avatars will be incorporated into the experience, and best of all, Netflix movies will now be available through the Xbox 360.
We sat down with Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten for a quick tour of the "New Experience," as Microsoft has dubbed it, and some of our many questions about the pending update have been answered.
First, the Neftlix basics. If you're already a Netflix customer, watching movies in your queue is as easy as selecting the Video Channel tab and selecting the Netflix image. The movies in your Watch Now list automatically appear, and you can flip through them to choose which movie you want to watch. You can either get more info on a specific film by hitting the Y button or begin playing it by hitting A. You can't add or delete movies from your Netflix queue from the Dashboard, but if you manipulate your queue from a PC, you'll see your list of available films change within a few seconds on your TV screen.
The Party system, another new feature of the upcoming Dashboard overhaul lets you join up with up to eight friends online and hop from game from game or even movie to movie. If you're halfway through a Netflix movie and notice one of your friends pop online, you can invite them into your Party. If she is also a Netflix member and accepts your request, she will come into the film at the exact point you are watching it, and you can chat and watch the second half together.
When the movie is over, you can both head back to the Community Channel, which serves as a sort of lobby for Parties and their avatars, the new representations of your digital self Microsoft introduced as part of the new Dashboard. Not much is being shown of the avatars so far, but we do know they'll be carried over into Xbox Live Arcade games, and other forms of upcoming content.
Netflix and avatars aside, most Xbox 360 owners will be using their consoles primarily for playing games. You can access all your games from the My Xbox 360 Channel, which is the main hub for everything related to your console. It's here that you'll access whichever game that's in your disc drive, your Xbox Live Arcade library, XNA Community games and themes and gamerpics.
Speaking of which, all the themes and gamerpics you have already purchased will work in the new interface. Each channel will display the images that previously were housed on the blades, but on the upper half of the screen only rather than the full screen (see image below). Gamerpics will also still work alongside your avatar.
Whitten said the main channels of the new interface won't be cluttered with ads. Instead there will be a new section – the Spotlight Channel -- dedicated solely to marketing and advertising from Microsoft and its corporate partners. You might see info about an upcoming online event or a pitch for an upcoming third-party game in this section. The Games Channel is where you'll find the game-related content formerly associated with Marketplace. It has four sections: Browse Games, Top Downloads, New Arrivals and Major's Picks. From here, you can browse and buy Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Originals and downloadable content.
From what we've seen so far, the system looks cleaner and easier to navigate than the current system. But we still haven't seen any search function built into the system, which would go a long way toward organizing the more than 20,000 pieces of content available for download. We asked Whitten if there are any plans in the works for an integrated search, but he said Microsoft "has nothing to announce" about that now.
Although we've only seen a sliver of the new Dashboard, people at Microsoft are hinting that there is more to be revealed. There will likely be a fair amount of customization available in the My Xbox 360 Channel, allowing you to arrange your games the way you like and choose how things appear on the screen. We do know that each section within the Games Library tab auto-updates with info about the games in your collection (what you're friends are playing too, what your last played game was, etc.).
One of the under-the-radar announcements Microsoft announced about the upcoming interface change is the ability to copy games to your hard drive and play from there. We got a tad more info about that today from Microsoft. In order to make use of this function, you'll need to have the retail disk in the tray so the machine can authenticate the game. It will briefly spin up and then spin back down again when the hard disk takes over. If you want, you can even copy one disk of a multi-disc game to the hard drive. The payoff? Up to 30 percent quicker load times.
The final piece of the updated interface is the Primetime Channel, which will allow people to party up with their avatars and participate in real-time game shows over Xbox Live. We caught a glimpse of some of the games that are in the works – the list includes 1 vs. 100, Xbox Live Trivia: Video Games and Sports Legends. There's also a Primetime Guide that tells you what's going on at the moment and what's coming up.
One of the coolest changes to the Dashboard is a major behind-the-scenes shift. Currently, if you're playing, say, Assault Heroes 2 with a friend online and want to switch to Carcassonne, you have to exit the game, go to the dashboard, start up the new game and re-invite your friend. With the new Party system you can bring up the guide in Assault Heroes 2, choose Carcassonne and take your whole party to the new game right from there. It's a huge change that should make playing games online with friends much more streamlined.
There's still a lot we don't know about what changes are in store for Xbox Live, but we'll keep you posted as the Dashboard overhaul gets closer to launching. There's no specific date set yet, but Microsoft is shooting for fall. Until then, you'll just have to do without avatars, Netflix and gaming from the hard drive.