Microsoft were showing off their Christmas games in London today and the highlight – for me anyway – was the new dashboard for the Xbox 360, snappily known as NXE. Actually Lips, the 360's answer to Singstar, looked quite amusing – the ability to sing along to your own tracks, as long as you know the lyrics, and get rated on pitch and tone is a great feature – and Banjo appeals more each time I see it. But the NXE was the star.
The "New Experience" launches on the 19th November and will update any Live connected Xbox (silver and gold membership). Once installed – the download is apparently around 150MB – the advantages over the old blade system are obvious. Content is easier to find, and presented much more vibrantly. Think packshots rather than text, and lots of nice swooshing noises. Videos, photos and other non-gaming features are bought to the surface too as Microsoft pitches the console further into mass-market entertainment territory.
Greg Howson of Guardian.co.uk
Heading towards the Christmas holidays microsoft wishes to bring some more attention to their stagnant system. For the last 6 months or so the only real good news for Microsoft was Gears of Wars 2 which didn't disappoint. Microsoft has been hit with story after story of the on going "red ring of death" and it finally caught up to them in the form of a class action lawsuit case about them knowingly putting out bad systems in a race with ps3. But to Microsoft's credit they knew getting out first was the key to their survival and it has proven to be true. But now in the wake of PS3's Home release, xbox has come up with their last effort at innovation before the new year. The lay out is truly Apple like and therefore is very easy on the eyes. I love the fact that this isn't just some new screen but a completely different layout all together. And on top of it the layout has meaning and purpose behind it. Its not just a pretty screen it has everything seemly right their in front of you without you having to go through 10 pages to get to it. And the new avatar set up was a welcome site (even though it seems like HOME's avatar base ideas or the WII's) to anyone looking for a more personal representation of themselves. But the real question remains to be seen. Will this help sales enough to compete with the raising attack of the Ps3 or will HOME and the ps3 exclusive titles end up being to much for them to counter. We will keep watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment