Topic: XBox 360 Dashboard Update

[PyroMenace]

And this is supposed to be better... how?

It looks prettier for sure but there's a shit ton of fluff and I can't tell if things are easier to find with ease.

[ScaryTooth]

Supposedly they added netflix to their service. So, you can go to netflix, subscribe, and you can watch whatever streaming movies that they have on your TV in high def. Which sounds pretty cool to me. That is one of the things I've heard about it. It's almost tempting for me to renew my sub to XBox live.

[K-man]

It's a much better system, in my opinion.  It'll take some time to learn where everything is again, but from what I played around with the experience as a whole is much more streamlined and easier on the eyes.

Plus if you have the space the "Copy to HD" option severely lessens the console noise when playing the game.

[Pugnate]

I agree with K-Man. Besides... even if it just a visual upgrade... what's wrong with that?

[beo]

it's not the second coming, or anything, but it's a nice enough new gui. the HDD installs are very welcome and despite their gimmicky value, i quite like the avatars too. i certainly don't see anything that i don't like.

also, pug - what's your gamertag?

[Cobra951]

I'm liking it pretty well now.  It's a notch up in presentation, and the functionality is at least comparable.  No complaints so far.



Yours is at "http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/<your gamertag>/avatar-body.png".

[Quemaqua]

I didn't like the old one and I don't suspect I'll like the new one.  Which I'll probably never even see since I barely use my 360 anymore.  Are there like screens of it anywhere or anything?  I'm mildly curious.

[Ghandi]

I'm liking it pretty well now.  It's a notch up in presentation, and the functionality is at least comparable.  No complaints so far.




Yours is at "http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/<your gamertag>/avatar-body.png".

Cobra, you don't have to lie to us. We all know that you are a black woman from Philly.

[Quemaqua]

Screens of the UI, not people's Mii-tastic avatars, which I also think are stupid.

[Ghandi]

How is it any different than an avatar on these boards?

Besides the software restrictions, I mean.

[Quemaqua]

Uh, because they're a blatant attempt to cash in on Nintendo's whole Mii thing?  And something that probably 80% of 360 gamers don't give a shit about, making it little more than an obvious marketing ploy to attract a new audience rather than provide any actual functionality or substance?

[Ghandi]

I'd be inclined to believe you if there was evidence that it actually influenced sales. Who buys a Wii for the Mii? I haven't even seen it marketed as such, and likewise for this product. It's just an added feature.

[Quemaqua]

You've been drinking again, haven't you?

[Ghandi]

Again? When did I stop?

[Quemaqua]

I stand corrected!  And I seem to have lost my wine bottle.  This perturbs me.

[Ghandi]

And yet the more you resist the more you accept your fate.

As for your argument, it isn't a slight on the "Mii's" (or whatever they are called) but rather what they stand for. Trendy, social mediums that we can interact with to suit our whims. Get used to them. They aren't going away.

[Quemaqua]

Not on your life.  Trendy, social mediums can kiss my ass and burn in hell.

[Ghandi]

I wasn't defending them, I was just giving you a reality check. Damn them all you want; they are here to stay.

[Quemaqua]

That attitude is what allows shit like this to end up on TV.  We need to educate people and remind them that it's not okay to be a complete fucking douchebag.

[gpw11]

making it little more than an obvious [redacted] ploy to attract a new audience rather than provide any actual functionality or substance?

Uh, are you describing the new dashboard guys or the Wii itself?

[Ghandi]

That attitude is what allows shit like this to end up on TV.  We need to educate people and remind them that it's not okay to be a complete fucking douchebag.

Seriously? I wasn't even defending them. Give me a break.

Edit: That's bullshit that you even pinned a commercial like that on me. That commercial fucking blows. That's insulting.

[Quemaqua]

Uh, are you describing the new dashboard guys or the Wii itself?

Is that a question or a clever observation?  I'm too tired to tell.

And Ghandi, when you've lost the ability to see someone clearly yanking your chain, you've hit your limit.

[Ghandi]

That reply looks so much better after my edit. But lets assume I was just trying to make you look better.

[Quemaqua]

You've always done a fabulous job in the past.  Don't stop now!

[Ghandi]

That's what I love about you, Que. Always setting the bar so low.

An inspiration to the youth of America, to be sure.

[PyroMenace]

Uh, because they're a blatant attempt to cash in on Nintendo's whole Mii thing?  And something that probably 80% of 360 gamers don't give a shit about, making it little more than an obvious marketing ploy to attract a new audience rather than provide any actual functionality or substance?

Though to be honest, Nintendo is not the first to do this. The whole virtual social create your own likeliness avatar has been around on the PC for a while now, just hasnt been all that mainstream until Nintendo got a hold of it.

But I came on as too harsh. I didnt want come off as not liking it, because I do. Other than the new features like streaming games from the hard drive and the netflix stuff which are cool, I thought the blade system wasnt in need of a face lift. There were somethings about it that was getting convoluted, but I dont see this new interface as fixing that like MS made us to believe they were going for.



Heres that guy.

[Cobra951]

Ooh, I spent too much time building jumbo jets and flying ATVs.  I missed all the fun in here.  I'm sure all the non-deadbeats have gone off to bed by now, even out West.

Que, I love you, man; but you are being too critical.  NXE is somewhere between not worse and better, depending on how attached you were to the original UI.  At least they didn't botch anything up, as they have in the past during a major update.  And the HDD install thing is freaking awesome.  Leap forward in goodness.  Damn my empty wallet and this little 13-GB drive.  I really want to get at least the 60 (48) GB one now.

Ghandi, er, what can I say?  Let me drink a little more beer, and if I'm still awake after that, I think I'll be in the proper frame of mind to communicate with whoever made those posts above in your name.

[wizall]

Another feature I noticed that I like is that the arcade games are listed almost instantly.  Before, there was an annoying wait as the games on the HDD loaded up. 

As far as the social significance of the NXE, I'll leave it to you guys to hash it out.  I only have so much RAM and don't much care.



I'm not sure what possessed me.  I may make an "actual" avatar later on.

[Quemaqua]

You guys take me way too seriously sometimes.  I don't have any real deep ideological beef with any of this stuff, I just think it's sort of pandering and stupid.  I was just goofing around.  And the 360 pisses me off any time it uses a hard drive for anything since they were idiot enough not to make that part of the standard package, so games can't really make consistent use of it for fear of losing half the market.  Yeah, they were trying to get HDDs into the hands of people by offering that deal, but that's too little, too late.  Not an unpleasant move, just not enough to undo their act of destroying a standard.

Like I said, I never use the thing anymore anyway, so it probably won't ever be something that even registers to me, which is why I'm curious just to see screens of what it looks like.  I don't have an HDD and I won't waste money on their stupid wireless dongle, so no updates for Que.

[Ghandi]

Ghandi, er, what can I say?  Let me drink a little more beer, and if I'm still awake after that, I think I'll be in the proper frame of mind to communicate with whoever made those posts above in your name.

Well it will take around 10 beers to get in that mindset.

Ugh...I have a headache. Sorry for the insanity.

[Cobra951]

Another feature I noticed that I like is that the arcade games are listed almost instantly.  Before, there was an annoying wait as the games on the HDD loaded up. 

That's true.  Things move along at a better pace, much better in this case.  How long the lists took to come up was always an annoyance.

You guys take me way too seriously sometimes.  I don't have any real deep ideological beef with any of this stuff, I just think it's sort of pandering and stupid.  I was just goofing around.  And the 360 pisses me off any time it uses a hard drive for anything since they were idiot enough not to make that part of the standard package, so games can't really make consistent use of it for fear of losing half the market.

That was their big blunder, though I can see the up-front economics of it.  The smaller blunder was the size of the original drive.  Even without the install option, 13 GB of user space is way too limited for all the online game purchases, movie rentals and other DLC that they want to sell over the life of the console.  Now they're trying to correct that, but not well enough to put a bigger drive in my hands at no extra cost.  They really do need to stop selling the "arcade" SKU.  I'm in complete agreement about the limitations it imposes on developers.  At least it seems that the better among them find ways to use the hard drive when present to enhance performance, and at times even require the drive for some things like multiplayer.

I agree that the avatar thing is a Wii knockoff, and more self-serving than user-serving.  The price for wireless connectivity is a ripoff.  I was running about 10' of ethernet cable to avoid paying it, when my brother was still living here.  (Now the router is in here, and the 10' of cable go to the modem in his old room.)  Even the cheap Wii includes WiFi (though you have to pay for an adapter if you want a wired connection, which I find funny).  The design defects that kill 360s are beyond any justification.  I'm not trying to make excuses for the shortcomings.  It is what it is.  So far, I can live with it, if not as happily as possible.  It's not like I have a lot of options at the moment.  I'd love to.  But even if I did, I'd still want to play the better Xbox games and participate in XBL.

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

Well it will take around 10 beers to get in that mindset.

Ugh...I have a headache. Sorry for the insanity.

Hahaha!  No problem.  I did fall asleep after that one beer I had.

[scottws]

You can get around the wireless issue on the 360 by setting up a wireless bridge or WDS, but yeah, then you're talking $50-$60 instead of $100 when it's competitors include it, and obviously a wireless router or access point is a lot bigger than the 360 wireless adapter.  Still, it's an option.

As for the hard drive, I thought 20 GB was tiny even when it came out.  I thought surely 40 GB drives would have been cheaper but I guess Microsoft found some supplier that couldn't move a bunch of old 20 GB drives sitting in a warehouse and decided to dump them.  Is it possible to crack open that little attachment thing and pop whatever drive you want in there?

[Cobra951]

Is it possible to crack open that little attachment thing and pop whatever drive you want in there?

That would be very cool.  I imagine it has been tried.  An issue would be transferring your content.  If that's possible, then why not?  As long as it doesn't send any red flags to get you banned from XBL.  The important IDs are the individual console and your account.  As long as those stay unaffected, you should be good.

Edit:  Whaddya know.

[gpw11]

Is that a question or a clever observation?  I'm too tired to tell.

And Ghandi, when you've lost the ability to see someone clearly yanking your chain, you've hit your limit.

Clever observation 

[iPPi]

I got the update yesterday and it's gonna take some time to get used to it.  One question though -- this avatar thing, what happened to your 'gamerpic' now that your avatar is basically the representation of you in game?

[Cobra951]

I still see people using gamerpics on the Xbox forums.  I haven't looked into it, since I never much cared (and never once spent money on themes or pictures).

[scottws]

That would be very cool.  I imagine it has been tried.  An issue would be transferring your content.  If that's possible, then why not?  As long as it doesn't send any red flags to get you banned from XBL.  The important IDs are the individual console and your account.  As long as those stay unaffected, you should be good.

Edit:  Whaddya know.

$60 at Newegg.
$48 at Directron.

[W7RE]

On the topic of 360 and hard drives, what does everyone think about the limits of a 60GB hard drive? I still don't have a 360 but would like to pick one up, and I'm wondering if the 60GB unit will be enough, or if I should fork over the extra money to get the 120GB unit. Last I checked I think the 60GB unit + 120GB hard drive would be more than just buying the elite setup that comes with the 120GB hard drive, so no point in looking at buying them seperately.

[Pugnate]

I haven't begun to use the 360's 20GB.

[Cobra951]

You will if you get into it at all.  You only get about 13 GB of user space, and that's if you delete most of the useless stuff already loaded on it.

I read somewhere that the 60-GB drive has 48.5 GB of user space.  That sounds like a lot for a console, but if you intend to install games to it and download lots of stuff, you may want the bigger drive.