New Xbox Experience coming Nov 19th
- Thread starter RobertR1
- Start date
It looks better. It will take me a while to get used to though. Also, right now everything feels very sluggish, and the fact that some parts can only be navigated by the d-pad is becoming more of a nuisance than before - I find myself ending up in places I didn't want to go to. Also while the looks have changed, the navigation paths haven't changed that much it seems. Community games seem even more hidden than before, but who knows that will change eventually. The media player suffers even more from slowness. Mind you this is all on my system, your mileage may vary and I'm hoping things will get smoother as time progresses.
Sad to hear about the HDMI support but on the plus side for me that's actually good, because when I get my second PS3 and one will go to the study, the PS3 will go on the HDMI of my 22" LCD and the 360 will stay on the VGA.
A huge plus for me is the 1680x1050 support. Although it's not that much better most of the time because hardly anything (including the new dash I think) outputs more than 720p, and the aspect ratio didn't bother me that much either, but it still looks better than before and it just feels better. I tried the Tomb Raider Underworld demo and that looks pretty good now, despite the (additional) upscaling.
A huge plus also is the HDD install, simply because the DVD drive is so noisy and I'm sitting a foot from it, which is nearly unbearable. The next time I get a 360 game it will definitely end up on my HDD - I already made enough space by killing demos. I also unfortunately only have 20GB HDD, but its enough for one game, and the way things are going it doesn't seem likely I'll ever need space for more than one game.
I can definitely see that the friends interface is big improvement though. I don't have a huge collection of friends on the 360 that I regularly game or whatever with, but I can see it would work pretty well.
Sad to hear about the HDMI support but on the plus side for me that's actually good, because when I get my second PS3 and one will go to the study, the PS3 will go on the HDMI of my 22" LCD and the 360 will stay on the VGA.
A huge plus for me is the 1680x1050 support. Although it's not that much better most of the time because hardly anything (including the new dash I think) outputs more than 720p, and the aspect ratio didn't bother me that much either, but it still looks better than before and it just feels better. I tried the Tomb Raider Underworld demo and that looks pretty good now, despite the (additional) upscaling.
A huge plus also is the HDD install, simply because the DVD drive is so noisy and I'm sitting a foot from it, which is nearly unbearable. The next time I get a 360 game it will definitely end up on my HDD - I already made enough space by killing demos. I also unfortunately only have 20GB HDD, but its enough for one game, and the way things are going it doesn't seem likely I'll ever need space for more than one game.
I can definitely see that the friends interface is big improvement though. I don't have a huge collection of friends on the 360 that I regularly game or whatever with, but I can see it would work pretty well.
What additional upscaling? 1680x1050 support just means upscaling on the XB360 instead of the TV, but the image is getting upscaled no matter what.
Premium themes. I've never bought theme before but these are nice. I'm getting the Fable 2 one.
http://i38.tinypic.com/m9r7yr.jpg
http://halowars.com/images/screenshots/HaloWars_PR.JPG
http://forzamotorsport.net/NR/rdonlyres/2F82AA20-7CE7-421F-B067-CBEAF628AE48/13526/DashPPR.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/m9r7yr.jpg
http://halowars.com/images/screenshots/HaloWars_PR.JPG
http://forzamotorsport.net/NR/rdonlyres/2F82AA20-7CE7-421F-B067-CBEAF628AE48/13526/DashPPR.jpg
no sluggishness here and I have not used D pad yet (except to read some scrolling stuff in a box). everything is much snappier compared to blades.
also the triggers are a Quick burst from left to right, taking you to the end of a list instantly and the bumpers scorch you through the vertical choices.
Only time consuming part is when it needs to get info form the net and Live seems to be a little overwhelmed at the moment
sweet!
also the triggers are a Quick burst from left to right, taking you to the end of a list instantly and the bumpers scorch you through the vertical choices.
Only time consuming part is when it needs to get info form the net and Live seems to be a little overwhelmed at the moment
sweet!
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Wow, I don't get it. I don't get any of it.
Those themes from R1 make me even more confused. I guess I'll find out when I get home.
Those themes from R1 make me even more confused. I guess I'll find out when I get home.
Ugh, Live must be getting hammered. I tried to download A Kingdom for Keflings before work and I got a "Couldn't receive information from Xbox Live" error. Pretty poor form, MS :/ Hopefully this smooths out by the time I get home, since I love the dev and can't wait to try their next project. Take my money, please!
Premium Themes are specifically for the Friends & Party Channel. It will display 3D objects that pertain to the theme behind each avatar when you scroll through the list. It's a way for Microsoft to give better value to themes since half of the background is now obstructed.
Tommy McClain
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Ahh.. Ok, I thought that was the main log-in screen and was wondering how a 3D animated picture with some HUD features was more user-friendly than an actual menu.
Same here....never bought a "premium theme" but I bought the Fable II one.
I bought the Fable 2 theme and it's really nice. Quite happy with it 
Tried the party function tonight. Setup a party and invited a couple of people in. Then we launched Left 4 Dead. I had no idea there was an update so I got disconnected from live while the update occured. My first thought was "damn...time to resend the invites..." Not the case at all. The update completed, the game restarted, I got back into Live and got placed right back into the party as Leader. That was well done.
Most of all, NXE, Gears 2, CoD:WaW, L4D all released, all live stressful and yet Live was smoother and faster than ever. That to me is the most impressive part.
Tried the party function tonight. Setup a party and invited a couple of people in. Then we launched Left 4 Dead. I had no idea there was an update so I got disconnected from live while the update occured. My first thought was "damn...time to resend the invites..." Not the case at all. The update completed, the game restarted, I got back into Live and got placed right back into the party as Leader. That was well done.Most of all, NXE, Gears 2, CoD:WaW, L4D all released, all live stressful and yet Live was smoother and faster than ever. That to me is the most impressive part.
grandmaster
Veteran
It's all about EDIDs. If your screen identified itself as a PC monitor you would get the additional resolutions (but you would lose the audio). Your screen is IDing itself as an HDMI display so you only get the HDMI supported resolutions.
I don't suppose your screen also has a DVI socket? Then you could use an HDMI to DVI cable and the extra resolutions should be restored.
