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NXE rollout begins

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NXE rollout begins

Microsoft allows preview users to access new dashboard upgrade a day early; NXE will arrive for all tomorrow

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has announced that all those who successfully signed up to the New Xbox Experience preview program will over the next few hours be able to download the new service.

NXE launches worldwide tomorrow, and brings with it a host of new upgrades for the console that are designed to be better equipped for the rapid expansion Xbox Live has enjoyed since the Xbox 360 launch.

As well as an Apple-esque interface, users will be able to create personal avatars that are associated with their gamer profiles. In addition, gamers will also be able to install games to their hard drive, a process that both speeds loading times and allows for a quieter gaming experience.

Other tweaks include improved resolution support for those using monitors, and interoperability with the new PC-based Xbox Live Marketplace.

From tomorrow, anyone who logs into Xbox Live will be prompted to download NXE for free. Those without an internet connection will have the option of either burning the update to CD from a PC or upgrading the next time they buy a game which contains the new firmware.

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fingers crossed

posted by henry ford Nov 18, 2008 at 12:29 pm
1
henry ford

i hope this doesnt cause any issues online or with the 3 red lights, i dont think it will make much difference to my game play, but im interested to see what all the fuss is about with this

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Re: fingers crossed

posted by Ecko Nov 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm
2
Ecko

Me too... Ive had my xbox for nearly a year and Im expecting the ring of death soon...
If this does happen... I wont play the 360 again because of crimbo... I wont have enough money :(

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Re: Re: fingers crossed

posted by Noob Nov 18, 2008 at 3:25 pm
3
Noob

@2: Are aware there is a three year warranty on RROD. You just send it back and MS send you one back in return?

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Re: Re: fingers crossed

posted by henry ford Nov 18, 2008 at 3:44 pm
4
henry ford

does anyone know if its optional to have this new look ? or can you just stay with the original layout ?? as i think id prefer to play games online rather than dress up some sims style person, and i dont want to risk any issues with my console really,

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Re: Re: Re: fingers crossed

posted by Jimothy Nov 18, 2008 at 5:16 pm
5

No it is not optional. You have to have the new look, and to be honest minus the avatars the new interface looks very nice indeed. Henry, Just ignore the avatar if you don't want it, all it's really doing is replacing the traditional gamerpic. The new features are the best thing about it, install games to HDD, 6 (or 8 not sure) way private chat, and parties where you and your friends can share pictures etc.

I'm not to sure why your so concerned about issues with your console, 15,000+ have updated their consoles now and there are no major issues occuring.

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Re: Re: Re: Re: fingers crossed

posted by SvenOf9 Nov 18, 2008 at 5:45 pm
6
SvenOf9

@#3

I was under the impression that the 3 year RROD warranty was only on pre-HDMI units.

I am also under the impression that it there is any other issue apart from 3 red lights, the three year warranty doesn't apply.

Have Microsoft clarified this somewhere?

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Where is it then?

posted by Pete Nov 19, 2008 at 8:40 am
7
Pete

Well it's the 19th and no sign of it

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Re: Where is it then?

posted by Jimothy Nov 19, 2008 at 9:34 am
8

@6

All Xbox 360's are covered for 3 years on RROD from new.

@7

It's being launched at around 10am GMT, which is in about 30 minutes.

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Re: Where is it then?

posted by Meat Head Nov 19, 2008 at 9:34 am
9
Meat Head

@7 It will be available to download from 10am this morning.

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Re: Where is it then?

posted by techgamer Nov 19, 2008 at 9:39 am
10

Due in another 20 minutes at 10AM GMT.

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Re: Re: Where is it then?

posted by saban Nov 19, 2008 at 10:08 am
11
saban

Can somebody post a link where to download it and burn it
I cannot use LIVE

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Re: Re: Where is it then?

posted by juanvaldez Nov 19, 2008 at 10:13 am
12
juanvaldez

i read it was supposed to launch at 2:00am pacific time, its 2:12 here, and still not updating, any ideas

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Analysis

posted by Bruceongames Nov 19, 2008 at 10:45 am
13
Bruceongames

It is very important to understand that for Microsoft the Live service is the main event. All the Xbox consoles serve as are nominally pirate proof dongles to access Live with. In fact the original iteration of Live cost more to develop than the Xbox that used it did. And it has given Microsoft by far the best video gaming portal. Which has also served as a significant USP in the console wars as well as being a revenue stream for Microsoft and many publishers and developers. It is one of the most important entities in the whole of gaming.

With, quite literally, billions of dollars riding on it, the Live service needs to be excellent. And it need to be all things to all people. Microsoft have tweaked the service endlessly for six years, this was evolution. But NXE today is different. Today is Revolution.

So why are they doing this:

The Live service had grown like topsy and was starting to creak and groan in places under the strain. It needed a major rejig to become more elegant and handle the massive upcoming further growth.

We are at the cusp of content delivery moving away from boxed product at retail towards it being delivered online.
The Xbox is evolving from being a gaming machine to being an entertainment hub. This puts a whole pile of new demands on how it works.

The centre of gravity of gaming has moved away from hardcore towards casual. And the player demographic is evolving to become everyone. Live needs to be a suitable tool for this new audience.

The Xbox is shortly going to acquire a gesture interface. Live needed to be adapted to be suitable for this shift in control philosophy.

The competition are catching up. And in a few areas are ahead. Microsoft needed to leapfrog this to ensure that their superiority is cast iron.

The huge investment of people and money by Microsoft into Live means that there are always lots of great new things they want to do.

The thing that has caught most people’s attention is the move to Avatars, which change the whole look and feel of the service. More important for me is that they have fixed two problems I have discussed on here in the past.

The first of these was the lousy database front end. Live was designed to host 200ish pieces of content but now has over 20,000. No wonder it wasn’t working very well. Amazon have no problem handling hundreds of thousands of items in an elegant and user friendly way. So it can be done. And this is a major part of the revisions. It will be great to see how this pans out.

The second problem was the weak social networking. Gaming and social networking are converging but one person doesn’t have time to maintain lots of different social networks. So social networking needs to be in the portal, not in the individual games. This is what Steam has done. Microsoft have now moved a long way with NXE to enhancing the community experience on Live with their Party system. But there is still a lot more to be done if they are going to compete with Facebook.

Overall NXE launch is the most significant event in gaming this year. It changes forever the nature of what gaming is and what a game machine does in the home. A lot of people at Microsoft will be watching nervously to see how well it works now they have released it on the world.

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Re: Analysis

posted by Brucie Bonus Nov 19, 2008 at 10:47 am
14
Brucie Bonus

All wrong.

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Re: Re: Analysis

posted by saban Nov 19, 2008 at 11:02 am
15
saban

Bruceongames is philosphing too much
One of the most usefull things is to put game on HDD
and not those stupid avatars and social network come on get a real social life not the one on xbox live :)

Still nobody answered my question how can I download it to my PC. (there is a lot of torrents but I dont think it is the latest version)

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