TechCast Reviews

22nd November 2008

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The launch of the New Xbox Experience (NXE) took place on 19th, November 2008. With the new update, the 360 gets a brand new lick of paint bringing it up to scratch with the whole host of media and content that has been added to the Xbox experience since the launch several years ago. Whilst the blade system was revolutionary in itself, it just didn’t make sense for the Xbox to continue to using it.

There’s a whole range of new options and features that have been included in the update, so there’s plenty of exploring to do once you’re up and running. Today, I’m just going to run through a few of the highlight features that I’ve discovered so far.

If your 360 is connected to the internet, you’re prompted to download and install the update as soon as you switch it on. Despite the big changes to the interface, the download only takes a couple of minutes to download and install.

Once the installation is complete, the 360 restarts and you’re greeted with a slick new intro video on the first run (see above for the video). You can replay it at any time from the new dashboard if you didn’t quite catch it the first time.

Before you can start exploring the new interface or dive back in to Gears of War 2, you’re prompted to create your avatar. The concept behind these avatars is very similar to that found on the Wii. However, Microsoft is also introducing more social interaction amongst your friends. Once you’ve customised your character from a range of options from eyebrows to the shoes you wear, you can then take a photo of your character and use it as your display picture. The characters aren’t just there for the sake of it though. Microsoft has recently launched some games that use these avatars as in-game characters. I can only see this as a tactic that is being used to encourage a different type of audience to the 360 and tap in to the market that Nintendo has quite happily snapped up.

If you use a Zune or Windows Media Centre, then you’ll be very familiar with how the NXE interface works. The overall effect is aesthetically pleasing and very smooth to navigate around. It’s a combination of those interfaces with Coverflow from iTunes and it works very well for navigating around the menus. Each menu option brings up thumbnail previews of the items inside the menu. Think of Windows Flip 3D only the individual items are facing the other way. You’ll find live video playing in some of the menu items such as movie trailers.

The number one most useful feature that Microsoft has introduced with the NXE is the ability to install and run your games from the hard drive. The 360 is the noisiest out of all of the current generation consoles, so being able to install your favourite game(s) and run them from your drive means you can eliminate the hair-dryer-loud optical drive. My gaming experience is now much more pleasant without the ridiculously noise that the drive makes in the background whilst I’m playing.

If you originally bought the entry-level Xbox system without the hard drive, then you’re out of luck because most games are dual layer and require as much as 7GB to install. Those with the 20GB drive will also find it difficult to squeeze in more than one game at a time. Its great if you want to be able to run your number one most played game from the hard drive, but not so good if you want to create a collection. For that you’ll need either the 60GB or 120GB drive. Not content on spending an extortionate amount for a 120GB drive, I found instructions on how to remove your old 20GB drive and install a 120GB drive for less than half the price. Please note that you have to buy the exact model that is used in the 120GB retail model that Microsoft uses.

The instructions and the model number of the drive you need to buy can be found at http://www.pcworld.com/article/150970/upgrade_your_xbox_360s_hard_drive_on_the_cheap.html

Run time from the hard drive is reduced but results do vary from game to game. I didn’t notice anything significant when playing Need for Speed Pro Street, though loading times on this game aren’t that long anyway. Naturally, to avoid friends sharing games, to run the game from the hard drive, the original game disc needs to be inserted. It gets verified on the launch of the game to make sure you own the original copy. A slight inconvenience but an understandable compromise.

The guys at Eurogamer.net have done some in depth benchmarks of how much time you save with some of the latest games by installing and running from the hard drive versus the original DVD.

Gears of War 2 – install size 6.7GB
Initial load
DVD loading time: 32 seconds
HDD loading time: 24 seconds

Orange Box – install size 4.7GB
Loading Half Life 2
DVD loading time: 44.5 seconds
HDD loading time: 25.5 seconds

Halo 3 – install size 6.3GB
Level Sierra 117
DVD loading time: 46 seconds
HDD loading time: 53 seconds

I included the results for Halo 3 because it shows that it takes longer to load from the hard drive as opposed to the DVD drive. Eurogamer.net gives the explanation that the game does some caching when you first load the game so that you can revisit an earlier campaign mission much quicker. So what you’re essentially doing is reading from the hard drive and writing it back to the drive again resulting in a slower load time. Bungie has released a statement about this and unfortunately they’ve made it clear that they won’t be developing a patch for it. The majority of games do experience some improvements in speed and responsiveness, but the benefits are usually only a few seconds. The real benefit for most people is going to be reducing the amount of background noise.

NXE represents a change in direction from Microsoft. In the past they have aggressively gone after the hardcore gaming market, but the NXE is Microsoft’s attempt to get a cut of the rather large pie that Nintendo has dominated for so long in the casual gaming market. The whole experience is geared towards casual gamers and fans of streaming media. The new face of the Xbox 360 with its smooth flowing menus and cover-flow-esque navigation is just the start of what I can only imagine is a flood of casual games that will hit the market in 2009. As long as they don’t forget to keep bringing out the Gears of War and Halo games, then the Xbox 360 may just cross the finishing line as the winner of the best all-round console for this generation.