The New Xbox Experience: What do you think?

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 19th 2008 at 11:30AM }

Let's make this simple. If you have an Xbox 360 and you connected to Xbox Live today, you should have the New Xbox Experience. Assuming you do, you've hopefully had some time to fiddle around with it. Now that you have the NXE, what do you think of it? Are there features you really like? Is there something else you wish had been added? Do you notice any old features you liked that have been removed?

Consider this the official post to offer your praise and criticism for the new interface. Tell us what you think in the comments below. Now would also be a good time to check out Joystiq's awesome video tour of the NXE, especially if you're stuck at work waiting to try it out.

Tags: new-xbox-experience, nxe

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)

aBsOlUt @ Nov 19th 2008 11:37AM

AWESOME

Mike @ Nov 19th 2008 11:54AM

Is it just me or does that intro video for the NXE look awfully similar to the ad Playstation was running last year? I would think they might be a little more original ya know.

Big Bird @ Nov 19th 2008 12:06PM

I have a job so the verdict will have to wait till after 5pm unfortunatly.

ryan @ Nov 19th 2008 1:14PM

Mike-
Yes, they also do ads for Target stores and other companies. They make a business using this sort of style of advertising.

Let it go. :D

Adam @ Nov 19th 2008 4:47PM

I want a qwerty keyboard option!
Plus themes is a little hard to find it should also be in settings.

global! @ Nov 19th 2008 5:42PM

I would have an opinion but my 360 red ringed this last night!
Worst timing ever...

Mik @ Nov 19th 2008 6:26PM

Nothing, installing NXE has broken my 360. It installed, rebooted, played a into movie, then nothing, rebooting just repeats the movie, tne it stops.

Avoid NXE, until the bugs are worked out..

Phocas @ Nov 20th 2008 12:43AM

Wow the Sony trolls are out today!! You know the viral hating is going to kick into overdrive now that the superior console isn't even a question.

TeddyMarinaro @ Nov 21st 2008 1:17AM

You can set the QWERTY keyboard back in the console settings. I like how they added the switch between the two, but wonder if anyone out there doesn't use the QWERTY board...

gnik eltrut @ Nov 19th 2008 11:37AM

If Netflix worked, it would be great! Its a shame that Sony is blocking movies as well.

Neuromancer @ Nov 19th 2008 3:13PM

Yeah, I believe that's what they call in the industry "a dick move"

yolarrydabomb @ Nov 20th 2008 11:53AM

Their kissing ass now. (Sony)

They say its not because of the 360. ahuh riiight

DragonAce05 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:37AM

Had to find some things that were moved but all-in-all I think its great. I haven't had the problems that everyone else it talkin about.

deaftly @ Nov 21st 2008 10:11AM

Yeah it took me forever to find out how to change themes but in the end I friggin love how NXE looks and its FAST

xenocidic @ Nov 19th 2008 11:38AM

For the longest time, I've been asking for one thing, and one thing only:

The ability to turn off "...came online" notifications.

They are distracting, and unnecessary. Yes, I know I can turn off ALL notifications, but I want the ability to simply stop hearing every time one of my friends came online.

If you folks at X3F could somehow get this simple request up the line and get it implemented, I would love you with mouth.

As for the original question, NXE looks pretty decent. I only had a brief time with it this morning as I wante to check out A Kingdom for Keflings, which is a really sweet game.

000000 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:54AM

I too would like that option.

JeffR @ Nov 19th 2008 12:36PM

Yes, yes, yes. Those alerts are beyond annoying!!

Ender @ Nov 20th 2008 12:37AM

There is an option to turn of system sounds, including the "X came online" one.

I believe you would no longer have the awesome Achievement Unlocked sound though. It's under My Xbox > System Settings > Audio > Sound Effects

Overall, I am not too impressed with NXE. They said the blade system was complicated, but they took the blade system, then replicated the same thing into Video and Game Marketplace, then stacked them.

The party option I have sent several emails to Microsoft since day one requesting that feature, so it is nice to have. I would also like to have a sort of clan option, so when you come online, you immediately join a chat with a preselected set of people. It is also nice that it shows the Buddy Icons of everyone in your party at the top right of the Dashboard (assuming you know their icons). Also, in game, when you pull up the Party in the Guide, you can just press Y to switch between Party Channel and Game Channel. You can also send a Party Invite to the entire Party (great for Halo or CoD).

Installing game content it great as well. It seems faster than the PS3's option, but I only did that with Uncharted and Soul Calibur 4. I installed Call of Duty: World at War and it took maybe 20-25 minutes, whereas those games took well over an hour. Load times on this game are greatly improved.

I dislike the looks of the new Guide that pops up when pressing the guide button. It looks like an awkward widget and I have yet to learn if you can choose a different color for the Guide (you could before).

Also, I know it is brand new, so this will obviously get better, but a lot of the Game Info features such as the Downloads option or the Desription or Details panes spend forever loading and show that new Xbox loading icon for a bit, and then usually time out and give an error that the feature is not available.

DarkNightRJ @ Nov 19th 2008 4:17PM

I too would like to remove those from my memory.

Mike @ Nov 19th 2008 9:09PM

xenocidic you can shut off the notification sounds:
hit xbox button-->settings-->Notifications-->uncheck "play sound"

xenocidic @ Nov 20th 2008 8:26AM

Yea, that's still not what I want. I do want the *bloop* for my achievements, invites, and other messages.

I just really could not care less that Dick, Mary, and Jane just came online.

Big Bird @ Nov 20th 2008 10:58AM

Easy fix, delete all of your friends list.

B3S7Y @ Nov 21st 2008 3:21AM

I agree!!

EagleX @ Nov 19th 2008 11:39AM

So...
Didnt they promise us we would be able to remove the god damn xbla trial remains?

Dustin Burg @ Nov 19th 2008 11:40AM

You can. Guide > Achievements > Game > Press 'X'

Mrblonde @ Nov 19th 2008 12:10PM

Sweet did not know that. Thanks Dustin!

AJ @ Nov 19th 2008 1:30PM

Yaris & PDZ gone!

Now if only I could remove them from my actual memory!

Huey2k2 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:39AM

Nothing too exciting about it for me, it certainly is a lot faster and smoother than the old dashboard. I just wish we could get Netflix in Canada...

P7 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:46AM

Ditto. Hell, someone should take a screenshot of the Canadian video marketplay's tv section. Go go UFC trailer and lone Viva Pinata episode!

DjDATZ @ Nov 19th 2008 11:48AM

Yea, we need Netflix here in Canada. I'd be the first one to subscribe!

slint @ Nov 19th 2008 11:54AM

wtb Netflix in Canada. So true. :(

mirage @ Nov 19th 2008 12:16PM

It is definitely faster when viewing Arcade games and various things. I don't feel that navigation is faster and in somes ways it feels like it takes more steps to see things. I am sure I will find the sortest routes to the important places with time though. NETFLIX ROCKS!!! (minus known licensing issues!!) :)

Nick @ Nov 19th 2008 12:43PM

I am there with you. Sigh. Makes me wish I just had a US XBL account. But I'll have to find other alternatives to HD stuff.... grr. We have no options. Zip? Bew. I don't want to have to use my PS3 to play everything.

Anyway, the selling feature to me was the awesomeness of not having to run a game from my hard drive. That, on its own, is enough to merit my happiness.

I installed Gears 2, loaded it up and sighed happily with a great feeling of content. Ahh...

Neomic @ Nov 20th 2008 12:56AM

Have you tried changing your locale in the console settings to "United States"? It works for some things.

twisted poke @ Nov 19th 2008 11:41AM

Only thing I tried before work was streaming some videos from my PC. Said I needed a media update but wouldn't let me download it. If we lose the ability to stream video, I will be extremely disappointed.

Other than that, looking forward to trying everything else out after work.

Neal @ Nov 19th 2008 11:45AM

I had a few problems streaming video from my pc too... i had to readd my xbox as an extender, and download the media patch, but once i did that, everything worked fine.

MC Double Def DP @ Nov 19th 2008 12:27PM

I had difficulty downloading the media update to play divx as well. You do have to re-download it again. It took me 3-4 times before it downloaded w/o an error message but it works just like before. Make sure you use an XBL account that's native to the 360 you're using so that you can watch Divx while not on XBL.

Fazman @ Nov 19th 2008 1:51PM

Streaming works fine for me. Watching a movie right now through it.

Jack @ Nov 19th 2008 1:56PM

Just redownload it. I had that problem. It was working fine in old dash but new dash couldn't play AVI's even when it's put check mark next to the media update. So I redownloaded and now it works fine.

Rory @ Nov 19th 2008 11:44AM

Well I've had the update for a few days now so that has granted me quite a bit of time to play around with some of the features. It wasn't until today that I was able to use the Party feature as the majority (Read: All) of my friends didn't have the update, so it was rather lonely in that respect.

I absolutely have fallen in love with Netflix. The hard drive installs work quite well in terms of reducing device noise. Best of all, I think, is the appropriation of a certain amount of organization to the overall system. That was surely something that wasn't there before.

When I first held the NXE Update in my hands (vicariously through my controller) it felt alien but after a bit of a run through it became much more natural. Enjoyable and efficient. I like the new in game guide menu, it feels like a proper and logical step up from what its predecessor was.

Overall what's there isn't really new. How it looks and how it's organized is and that's where the new strengths of the console come into play. These are only reinforced, it seems, through the new abilities granted to this already thriving console and brings up a promising future for all Xbox 360 Users.

Bret @ Nov 19th 2008 11:45AM

It red ringed my xbox.... sad morning.

Shimmy123 @ Nov 19th 2008 12:26PM

Nooo.. really?!

Devin @ Nov 19th 2008 1:24PM

What's with all the Red Rings lately? I had two guys behind me in line at Best Buy customer service with 'em (new Arcades nonetheless) and my cousin just bought the new Arcade and it, too, Red Ringed on him and he had to get it replaced...I thought the new SKUs got rid of the possibility....

Bret @ Nov 19th 2008 2:05PM

Yeah well my 360 is quite old and has been having problems so I think the NXE upgrade just kinda pushed it to the breaking point.

wargamer17 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:45AM

Downloaded it at work and trying it at work. I am impressed. I haven't tried a whole lot, but will when I get home.

Some things are in weird spots, but doesn't take long to get used to it.

Avatars are cool, but I wish there was more colour options for hair and clothing. As well as new clothing. I know more is coming, but still, where's the toque(i don't know how to spell it) for canadians?

profsr Chaos @ Nov 19th 2008 11:46AM

I for one welcome our new xbox overlords....

Ok when are they going to let us install videos.... whats the big deal with that.

SoxFan13 @ Nov 19th 2008 11:47AM

I only had a few minutes this morning before work to mess around with Nixie. I did enjoy making the avatar. I didn't think the choice of clothing was as bad as everyone is saying. It will be interesting to see how 3rd parties add avatar junk to their games/achievements.

The major feature I like so far is that my XBLA games are immediately there when I get to the menu. I don't have to wait 90 seconds before all of my games show up. This probably should have been happening already, but oh well, it made me happy.