Details on the New Xbox Experience: search, hard drive play, alerts, themes, pics

by Christopher Grant { Jul 17th 2008 at 10:28PM }

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Here are a couple interesting takeaways from our tour of the New Xbox Experience:

"There's nothing to announce" right now regarding a keyword search for the Marketplace. Let's hope they either a) add one in or b) drastically improve how we find things
Playing games from the hard drive will work fine for multi-disc games; in fact, you can pick which discs you want to rip (for example, we're superstitious and we'd only rip odd-numbered discs).
As an example, we were told that Devil May Cry 4 is approximately a 4 or 5GB installation and took about ten minutes.
You'll need to keep the disc in the drive the entire time. This is about speeding up load times (and hey, bonus tip: no more noisy DVD drive while you're playing!)
The alerts look the same – actually, like the entire interface, they look sharper, cleaner. Oh, and the sound is the same.
Yes, you can still use your gamertag pics and your themes (in fact, they look a lot better now!)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Dwag @ Jul 17th 2008 10:36PM

can you show us a pic with the gamerpics in effect?

Obie @ Jul 17th 2008 10:57PM

I think a nice way to include your current gamerpix with the new avatar system is by using your gamerpic as a logo on your avatars shirt.

I think that might be a happy compromise.

007craft @ Jul 17th 2008 11:54PM

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/7253/2674486108e1bb0a4947hk7.jpg

kagai @ Jul 18th 2008 1:32AM

@obie

Or, better yet, allow us to place the gamerpic over the avatar's face.

Cody @ Jul 18th 2008 2:04AM

@kagai

I'm not sure if you would want some of the gamerpics at a face, maybe a tattoo, but not a face....

ThePerfectCompanion @ Jul 17th 2008 10:37PM

Is that a new vid or the same old one?

Vol @ Jul 17th 2008 10:41PM

I think it's going to be a welcome makeover. In particular, if the system is more responsive and fluid.

yea it is kind of clunky, not unlike the comment system here at joystiq.

I want a much smoother transitions, Just seems like everything should be fast considering its power, I think that it might have to do with the hard drive though.

Cash @ Jul 18th 2008 4:39PM

Sweet, now I can play GTA4 without getting a disc read error halfway through a 45 minute long mission!

Dravean @ Jul 17th 2008 10:41PM

i am way excited for this, kinda surprised at all the negativity surrounding it!?

jimmyink @ Jul 18th 2008 8:22AM

because it looks like ass. It is a shining example of microsoft's "creativity". There's nothing new or clever about it. They even use the words "channel" and "spotlight". But I guess this would look innovative if, while under your rock, you haven't seen itunes, wii, or home. Regardless, it is still a very poorly designed UI.

Orionsaint @ Jul 17th 2008 10:41PM

Isn't obvious to any of you yet why XBL will now have this feature to dump games on the HDD. That's right, MGS4 for the 360 comes on two disc! You load the second disc on to the HDD and keep the first disc in the trey. So you can play the game without swapping disc. This solves the storage problem for developers and eliminates the need for blu ray on 360. Uncharted, Drake's Fortune could also soon find it's way on 360. Oh Yes, MS are clever. Oh yes indeed!

Dravean @ Jul 17th 2008 10:43PM

good point, i like where your heads at!

ThePerfectCompanion @ Jul 17th 2008 10:45PM

You may be right about MGS4...I honestly don't care about that title however.

But regarding the swapping discs thing I think you might be wrong. The article says that you need to keep the disc in there while you're playing...

John McPoop (PSN:johnnynumber5) @ Jul 17th 2008 10:51PM

In the case of MGS 4 you would certainly need the bigger HDD's available. I don't see the game going to the 360.

On a related note -

It's a little sad when we are all happy that we can now install data to the HDD because of how loud the drive is.

Shadowcast @ Jul 17th 2008 10:57PM

Well if Uncharted wasn't published by Sony then yeah it could, shame that cause I still want to play it. I've always thought MGS4 would eventually come to 360 though.

Sora @ Jul 17th 2008 11:57PM

Or maybe it's because of FF13...?

Tiptup300 @ Jul 18th 2008 1:23AM

Or possibly they are adding the 360 lineup to the xblm? Look at the screenshots, why would they try to sell games to you if you have to goto the store?

BananaBoat @ Jul 17th 2008 10:43PM

Keeping the disc in the drive is for faster loading? Uhhh no. Just no. It's to keep you from renting and ripping. Who are they kidding with that?

Glad to hear about the dual-disc releases though. Hopefully that means no disc swapping.

Hal @ Jul 17th 2008 10:53PM

I think he knows this... just poor choice of words. I think he meant something like this... "You'll need to keep the disc in the drive the entire time. This is about speeding up load times not no-disc convenience/pirating/stealing"

Intentless @ Jul 17th 2008 11:04PM

Yeah generally this is where reading with your brain would have won over reading with your eyes. Hence the, You need to keep the disk in the drive. (as in period stop thought) This is about speeding up load times.

This insinuating the option is meant for helping with load times, it isn't meant to replace the need for a disk.

BananaBoat @ Jul 17th 2008 11:43PM

I make a habit of reading with my beer goggles on STOP My sarcasm is foiled by the lack of an Italic option STOP I'm hungry and I'm out of cake FULL STOP

Zach S @ Jul 17th 2008 10:48PM

Still thinkin' that this looks better than the traditional "blades" once I've seen it in action! When I first saw the screens I was like, "Ohhh noooooo!!!" but now I'm starting to warm up to the idea of this different interface and even the avatars... we'll see how it works when I have the controller in my hands, I guess!

d1srupt0r @ Jul 17th 2008 10:48PM

I think all the features in this update are really cool. Playing games from the hard drive is one of the best ones along with the community/chat/avatar and netflix announcements.

ChuckJ @ Jul 17th 2008 10:50PM

So exactly how long do we have to wait for this?
I know its a Fall update but with MS that could be any time. I hope we dont have to wait until November. Id like to see it early Fall or earlier than that.

Hell, let's have it now. Looks ready to me

na2ru1 @ Jul 17th 2008 10:52PM

installation, great. now come on MS u dumb idiots
make it compulsary in order to compensate that lackfest DVD. make every game 2 disc, 1 for install and 1 for play.

that way, we could see devs adding more to our games than just running through same coridors.

Mrblonde @ Jul 18th 2008 6:19AM

Not a good idea. Bad. Shame on you

Zeromaru @ Jul 18th 2008 8:12AM

Definitely *not* a good idea because, unlike Sony, Microsoft didn't force an expensive harddrive down every user's throat when they didn't need one. I got my Arcade model and was perfectly happy with it, and literally the only reason I got a harddrive (20GB) later was because it provided some functionality I didn't need and I got it for cheap off eBay. Long story short is that not every user has a 120GB harddrive on which to place all these installs, nor even a 20GB on which they can place a maximum of 3 (which should imply to you that the PS3's 40GB limits to about 6-7 installs which, after the console has been around for some time, will make it extraordinarily inconvenient for pick-up-and-play nostalgia).

Duke @ Jul 18th 2008 10:02AM

"...now come on MS u dumb idiots..."

Ha! So says some guy commenting on a blog to the multi billion dollar company. Take your head out of your ass man.

Also, an idiot would be dumb by definition.

na2ru1 @ Jul 17th 2008 10:54PM

LocalToast @ Jul 17th 2008 10:57PM

So when a friend signs on and you're playing a game, how are you supposed to connect to them? Considering the friends menu is taken out of the Xbox Guide, wouldn't that mean I'd have to exit my game and go back to the Dashboard to interact with them?

Correct me if I'm wrong... but that seems pretty inconvenient.

Exo @ Jul 17th 2008 11:02PM

you are wrong

LocalToast @ Jul 17th 2008 11:04PM

You forgot a step, correcting me.

Shadowcast @ Jul 17th 2008 11:30PM

It'll still be in the guide, it's not shown here cause the guy demonstrating it isn't connected to Live.

Duke @ Jul 18th 2008 10:14AM

No, when they show him on Live you see that there is still in game access.

Psychofemm @ Jul 18th 2008 10:25AM

@LocalToast - "You forgot a step, correcting me."

lol. awesome.

my coworkers turned and gave me weird looks for my random laughter.

Thank you, sir. ;)

LZBravo @ Jul 18th 2008 6:16PM

@Psychofemm
-@LocalToast - "You forgot a step, correcting me."
-
-lol. awesome.
-
-my coworkers turned and gave me weird looks for my -random laughter.
-
-Thank you, sir. ;)

Me too. Funny stuff

Parsnipzilla @ Jul 18th 2008 8:57PM

I'll clear it up for you, the current guide blades system will come up when you press the guide button instead of the side swoosh blade, giving you access to the current "Friends" section and everything else ingame

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jul 17th 2008 10:58PM

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Quiet gaming FTW!

**tears of joy**

Now I can play Gears of War without listening to "Whurrrrrrrrrr..."

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jul 18th 2008 8:10AM

But the Whurrrrrr is part of the immersion process!

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jul 18th 2008 3:22PM

I think you meant it's part of the immulsion process.

Orionsaint @ Jul 17th 2008 11:01PM

I was thinking for example. You buy a game on 3 discs. Dump disc two and three on the HDD. You then just need to have disc 1 in the trey. So 360 can identify the disc and know that you own the game and run the first disc without having to dump it. dump two and three work off the hard drive. As long as disc 1 is still in the trey. Most of us should have the 120HDD for 360. There won't be too many games on multiple disc. So it wouldn't take up that much room and after you beat the game you delete the dumps and if you ever wanna play it again. You have the option of dumping or swapping.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 17th 2008 11:15PM

That makes more sense than your first post. Nice work and I agree that could be done with FFXIII when it releases. Also MGS4 sometime around next year :P

Uncharted will never be on 360. Its a really good game but not a system seller.

Wilhelm @ Jul 18th 2008 12:39AM

"Most of us should have the 120HDD for 360."

Most of us? I didn't realize that most of us would spend $180 or whatever it is on the 120 HDD.

Unless, of course, you already have an elite.

velocitySTRIKE @ Jul 18th 2008 7:32AM

I wanted to make some joke about you being an elitist but couldn't think of one.

Hansel @ Jul 17th 2008 11:02PM

Alright come on, we KNOW we'll be able to use themes and gamerpics, you keep telling us about how great they are in NXE, now SHOW US.

na2ru1 @ Jul 17th 2008 11:03PM

1 more thing. Since NO 1 here likes Wiis, what do you actually think of the MS avatars.

I personally dont see anything or notice in anyway how Miis contributed to the success of Wii. Wiimote is what made the gamecu...Wii.

MS are obviously intrigued by Wii success, but obviously think avatars were apart of it. WRONG (imo)

Could have at least had its OWN style, (keep it fresh and genuine) perhaps a bit more cooler and styling......or lego like??? Something to set 360 apart from Wii and PSN. Im sure many of u's are put off by this "in your face" kinda happy childish approach. 360 is a f*cking hardcore machine. not a Wii wannabe!