Information About the New Xbox Experience

[Nuvian]

Plenty of buzz has been going around the past few days about Microsoft’s not so surprising announcement of a complete dashboard revamp this Fall. And surprisingly, a lot of it has been negative. Well I’m here to give you the facts about the New Xbox Experience, as Microsoft has been calling it.
Let’s start out with a great developer walkthrough of the New Xbox Experience:
[embed]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=36412[/embed]
The Dashboard

So the new dashboard is now filled with various channels, including My Xbox 360, Community, and Videos, which you switch by going up or down and navigate through by going left or right. It seems as though it’s perfectly designed for those people who navigate the Xbox 360 using a remote control. So that makes about four people happy.
As for the channels themselves, they look very…interesting. Don’t get me wrong, the Game and Primetime channels are very clean, but the Community channel just looks like a mess to me. Having all of your friends’ characters on one screen at the same time just doesn’t sound fun to me.

The Guide Button

To those of you who preferred the old blade system by far, it may seem like you’re in trouble because the new dashboard update is mandatory. However, hitting the Guide button now brings up an interface very, very similar to the original Xbox 360 dashboard.
And it’s important to note that this blade system is accessible at anytime. That means when you’re playing Call of Duty 4, you can just hit the guide button and jump into one of your XBLA games at any time.
Avatars

So there is a new Avatar system for the Xbox 360 and, yes, they look very much like Miis. Like I said above, they seem to all appear on the Community channel representing each one of your friends and they are designed to become your Gamerpic.
So does that make all of the gamerpics, which you spent wasted money on, useless? Not exactly, because these avatars are completely optional, unlike the update. So your gamerpics will still be usable. On the same note, so will your themes, which Marc Whitten said will look “beautiful” on the new interface.

Installing Games on HDD

With this new update, Microsoft has also allowed users to install full games onto their hard drives. This feature should quicken load times, but also anger 20 GB SKU owners, who already get mad at having to delete demos and videos every other week. The game also has to be inserted in the disc drive for the game to play, which gets rid of the possibility of trading a game around so you don’t have to buy it. Unfortunate, but completely understandable on Microsoft’s part.
Netflix

In the Video channel of the New Xbox Experience, Microsoft has just added support of Netflix movies. This means that if you have a Netflix account, you can stream movies to your Xbox 360 at any time. This effectively doubles the starving Xbox Live Video Marketplace and makes it a contender in the digital video arena. The quality for these movies is largely dependent on internet speed, but although they are below DVD quality, they still look good.

No Browser Support

Although the Xbox Live Marketplace is becoming accessible through any computer, the internet is not becoming accessible through the Xbox 360, at least on this update. It is strange, especially considering that both the PS3 and the Wii have built in web browsers.
Well there you have it, folks. That’s all the information you should need about the upcoming New Xbox Experience. Hopefully knowing more about the New Xbox Experience will make you more excited for the update. Or, it could just as easily make you dread the day it’s released.

Source
I thought this was a nice overview that was worth posting.

[Rareware]

I really am looking forward to this. The thing that I don't understand is the big deal about the web browser. I never understood the fascination of browing the web fro ma console. I see no point to it.

If I want to check out a website, I use my laptop. I don't want to have to fire up my console to check the news or sports scores or whatever. I heard some people saying that they want to use it for cheats & hints for games. Here's a hint, print them out from your PC and use it while you're actually playing the game.

[Outrage]

I really am looking forward to this. The thing that I don't understand is the big deal about the web browser. I never understood the fascination of browing the web fro ma console. I see no point to it.

If I want to check out a website, I use my laptop. I don't want to have to fire up my console to check the news or sports scores or whatever. I heard some people saying that they want to use it for cheats & hints for games. Here's a hint, print them out from your PC and use it while you're actually playing the game.

People like all-purpose functionality. Just look at the phones these days. But yeah, I just use my PC for web browsing because I find it easier.

[Xaor]

Personally, without a keyboard I couldn't care for the web-browser either. At the moment it wouldn't matter regardless, as I have a laptop next to where I game.

I am -LOVING- this update. 8 person chat is the ultimate, ultimate thing, and also the fact it parties you up automatically by the sounds of the Major Nelson podcast? Awesome.

My main hope is that this is coming very, very soon. It can't come soon enough. It does look pretty close to being ready, at least to me, so that's good.

[A7MAD]

Major Nelson's podcast touched upon some interesting aspects and I recommend people download it and listen to it.

They also mentioned some of what we have seen for this dash overhaul is subject to change (for the better).

[Soldier 95B]

I have been browsing the web on my Xbox 360 since day one. If you have a media center PC (Vista Home for example) on your network, just go to the media center extender in the media blade. As long as your PC has the MCE Browser add on installed, you can browse away on your 360.

Though, as stated above, browsing on the PS3, Wii and 360 sucks anyway.

[John25]

yer but some people dont have a pc or a laptop at home.i use my browser on my ps3 sometimes when im on it because i only have 1 connection

[three3-times]

when exactly is 'fall', sorry im not american!!

[audioboxer217]

when exactly is 'fall', sorry im not american!!

Fall is about Mid-Sept to about Mid-Nov. Some call it autumn (same thing). I didn't realize that 'fall' was an American term. Shows how much I know.

I liked browsing the web on the Wii. Opera did a really good job with it and it seems to make web browsing a more social experience when you have several people over. I don't really like using my PS3 web browser though, it seems really buggy and out-dated.

[UberNoob71]

actually looks pretty good.
im loving 8 way chat parties, XBL is really gonna benafit from that.
Also the ingame Blade system, excellent!

[Sparc]

I'm not sold on the look and feel of it yet, but I'll reserve judgement until I've experienced it first hand. Doesn't help that I don't like Apple's Cover Flow and this really is very similar to it. Probably just needs a bit of getting used to

The features such as 8-way chat and being able to access the entire dashboard from the Guide button I really like!

[darky89]

I'm loving this update. Can't wait for it.
Also, it wouldn't hurt to have the browser as an extra feature, even if you didn't chose to use it yourself..

[FdMstng99]

A very nice read, thanks for the post Nuvian. I also don't see the point in surfing the web on my console, I think it just takes to much time unless i hook up a keyboard and mouse.

[webshark]

lol, i like how the writer of the article couldnt manage to say anything about this update without throwing in something negative...

i think the update will be great personally.

[X2]

lol, i like how the writer of the article couldnt manage to say anything about this update without throwing in something negative...

i think the update will be great personally.

I notice the same thing, but we'll see how things pan out when the update comes.

[garyfitz]

Not everyone owns their own PC, like I have to share this one sometimes. So a browser would be useful to some I imagine. But it'd want to have good flash support.

As for the update, I don't understand the hate. You still have all the same content and features there, but it's just easier and quicker to get to. Sounds good to me. And I REALLY like the new guide.

[Soldier 95B]

yer but some people dont have a pc or a laptop at home.i use my browser on my ps3 sometimes when im on it because i only have 1 connection

The majority of people that have a next gen console have a PC at home. So it is a very useful feature. Most people don't have 1080p HDTV (or HDTVs at all), so Blu-Ray isn't important to those people either. Each offers their own features that tailor to different people.

when exactly is 'fall', sorry im not american!!

September 22 - December 21 is our fall here in America.