Xbox 360 Preview now rolling out

[Shifty Geezer]

No manual stuff. When you go to the games listing gallery, you push up, then select to view what sort of categories there are then select the category. >_> Couldn't they have done that before throwing all the games in my face. If I'm going to view the games list I'm not doing it to brag to myself how many games I have. I'm going there to look for something specific.

I guess now you don't need to look for anything, as you just say, "Xbox, Bing (game of choice)" and it's there.

 

[AlNom]

I shut off kinect unless I'm playing a kinect game.

 

[RobertR1]

I guess now you don't need to look for anything, as you just say, "Xbox, Bing (game of choice)" and it's there.

Pretty much. I played around with the voice features last nigth and they work surprisingly well. I'm quite lazy so if voice gets me rigth to where I want, I'm all for it.

Still going through the guide to see what I do and don't like. I'll give it a couple of weeks to soak in first.

 

[NavNucST3]

I guess now you don't need to look for anything, as you just say, "Xbox, Bing (game of choice)" and it's there.

...and once you have done that you can again filter by specific content, so, "XBOX Bing, Halo..."Show, Movies""

EDIT: Windows Phone XBOX Companion app is live.

 

[egoless]

Delete

 

[Shifty Geezer]

...and once you have done that you can again filter by specific content, so, "XBOX Bing, Halo..."Show, Movies"".

If the search results are accurate, that doesn't sound bad. I know I wouldn't be happy with talking to my computer and would like a button interface, but egoless suggests that's still in?

 

[egoless]

Delete

 

[NavNucST3]

... I'm not seeing this autoplay in Netflix people are talking about either. I do like that as one episode is ending in a series, it shoves that to the left and pops up the next episode on the right for me to continue without having to jump back to the episode level. Maybe that just happens when Kinect is running? Also yes there's no skip forward or skip back, but I just raise my hand and slide right with the preview window showing me the frame, then drop my hand and i'm back in. Again, I don't turn off my Kinect.
...

Before:

Launch Netflix, scroll to Damages, I now have two options, "Y" to play the next unwatched episode (or unfinished current episode) OR drill into the title and choose a specific episode.

Now:

Launch Netflix, scroll to Damages, the only option I have is to Play the show (still the next unwatched episode or currently unfinished episode). I can't choose a specific episode until I have pressed Play, then I need to press down to get to the Episode List, then I can select a specific episode.

As for the lack of "chapter" skip this doesn't bother me so much because the fwd and reverse transport controls can get through front to back very fast (from memory x128). For what it is worth my Kinect is only off when the system itself is off.

Shifty, you'll be happy to know that buttons are still available for everything though it is honestly faster for me to say, "XBOX apps..Netflix" than to right bumper over three or four headers and then navigating to the Netflix tile and selecting it. In the case of the "Halo...Show Movies" it is probably faster to use the controller but what some don't realize is that not all of us sit an inch from a controller, I'm closer to my Harmony remote than I am a controller most of the time and voice is an order of magnitude faster not to mention pausing and playing from the kitchen while cooking is second nature to us and doesn't even ring as cool anymore because now it is expected. I personally think when people begin to remember the commands and realize things don't need to be done in the staccato XBOX......bing.......Halo.......Show.........Movies form and instead talk mostly naturally that it will be second nature to them as well. Also, unlike when I'm talking to my Windows Phone through my car the Kinect hasn't messed up my search yet though in attempting to start some of my music through voice my Puerto Rican Spanish seems to be a no-go on the Latin songs but the English language songs I don't have problems launching.

 

[NavNucST3]

Loving the phone app! Searched for Castle, it showed lots of items, I chose the TV show, Play on Console: option for Hulu plus and Zune Marketplace I chose the Hulu Plus option and it began almost immediately to play on the 360. Once that occurs you have transport controls on the very bottom of the phone app have and you can either continue searching for others items look at related items, overview, cast info, or you can choose a directional screen that has direction controls plus A B X Y. Amazing add-on.

 

[Acert93]

I can't comprehend what you are saying in this sentence what do you mean by "cannot be browsed to". Arcade, Indie, Games on Demand, and XBOX Originals all have their own entry points under Game Type. I agree that counting a trailer as part of the New Releases is going to definitely take some getting used to but I would prefer the New Releases to actually be when the title is available for Trial and Purchase and DLC releases (though they have their own section as well) as opposed to a new trailer being released. I don't find it difficult to find most things I would however have preferred the Game Types to be the initial panels as opposed to drill-downs but none of that...NONE OF IT compares to how Netflix has now introduced, easily, their worst implementation EVER.

I am too tired to make sense Ok, if you get to Indie games, for example, by going to the Game Type (too me a while to figure that out... call me slow as I kept seeing it rotate in the main splash) and go there the games are not in order of release, at all. So even if you get where you want you still are not getting the most recent content and there is no way, right now, to fix that. Which is a bummer because I try almost all the solid looking Indie and Arcade games. And Arcade, once you find it, same issue + the silly trailers are now in the game section.

That is all I was saying.

The Xbox 360, for me, is primarily a gaming device. The Arcade and Indie sections are my primary destinations and they are buried more now AND don't work as well as before / are broken.

Overall the dash is more responsive and many things are more accessible, no denying that, but for the games I am bummed.

 

[NavNucST3]

I am too tired to make sense Ok, if you get to Indie games, for example, by going to the Game Type (too me a while to figure that out... call me slow as I kept seeing it rotate in the main splash) and go there the games are not in order of release, at all. So even if you get where you want you still are not getting the most recent content and there is no way, right now, to fix that. Which is a bummer because I try almost all the solid looking Indie and Arcade games. And Arcade, once you find it, same issue + the silly trailers are now in the game section.

That is all I was saying.

The Xbox 360, for me, is primarily a gaming device. The Arcade and Indie sections are my primary destinations and they are buried more now AND don't work as well as before / are broken.

Overall the dash is more responsive and many things are more accessible, no denying that, but for the games I am bummed.

Might currently be a bug, choose Sort By and choose Release date again. If I go into Arcade Sonic CD and Joe Danger are the first titles I see and even though the Sort by Release Date is listed as the filter if I choose Sort By and then choose Release Date I get a different sort (Apples to Apples rightly moves to the front). But if I do the same thing in Games on Demand which seems like it is correct when you initially land then the newest releases (Dragon Age 2, Silent Hill, etc)...not sure where they go but releases from weeks ago moved to the fore. I never go into Indie Games unless someone I know or a dev who posts here makes a game so I couldn't tell you how accurate the dates are but Arcade and Games on Demand I visit each on their respective release days.

Mostly, the dash is simply going to take getting used to for those who have used it for some time now. Also, I think some of the issues/bugs are present due to recent deployment and hopefully easy fixes like sorting will be cleared in the background. Issues like I had with Netflix with "Next Episode" sound, I assumed (rightly as it turns out) would self-correct. It definitely took some brain rewiring when I first got the dash to figure out where most things are and I'm not entirely sure I have even found everything there is to know.

 

[Rockster]

But I want to see what is new. And find the "by release date" is goofy. And it is a moronic set of priorities if Indie and Arcade games cannot be browsed to but require voice ... dumb dumb dumb. Did I mention it was dumb? And when I found new release Arcade games it popped up Joe Dangerous (yay!) but then it was only a video (what?) And the Indie games sorting by release date is totally broken.

I game on my Xbox 360 game console, so finding games (and no On Demand) is a priority. Not all those "coming soon, services/apps we want you to buy but I never wanted on my console to begin with" tabs

I think that the default sort is "featured" even though it lists "by release date" in the box above. You actually have to click it to force the sort. Weird / sucks I know. And while it has increased complexity from a using a controller point of view (actually more so for normal remote users like me!), this first pass is attempting to provide a single interface which also supports kinect. With kinect you have to point to spots on the screen so the continuously scrolling vertical and horizontal interface doesn't work, screens have to turn like pages. Again, I know, it sucks. I agree.

 

[NavNucST3]

PSN was a complete mess, but it's much improved, although still varies store layout via region. Games are available as latest, demos, genre, alphabetic, and search. I haven't tried key-word searches like "top down zombie shooter" - I'll have to give that a go. IMO if a service is going to 'work as people do' then it needs to understand the sort of descriptors people use, like "that new zombie shooter" or "what's that game NavNucST3 was playing?" The demo vid I saw of the new XB dash had someone asking for something like 'Batman' and being given content named Batman, but that's only one type of access people will use. What Acert describes sounds like MS had dropped some of the more vague and explorative searching methods. Is this not the case?

Rejoice Shifty for I did have result(s) returned for "top down zombie shooter" "top down shooter" was iffy at best because it even returned BF3 and other F/TPS I did the searches from the companion app since we were watching a tv episode I didn't launch any game titles. Let me just say that the results didn't return items that I would probably classify as "TDZS" but I'd hope that some team was tasked with tagging games unless the search is also pulling from the description panels but even then the results returned were off but hey at least it kinda worked.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The new dash is a lot better than the old one. My only complaint so far is the lack of skip in Netflix. Not sure why they'd take that out. Using forward and rewind is a pain. Bing search is amazing, as are the voice control throughout. Friends list is not quite as good, but about the same. I do like that you can see parties or see friends individually.

 

[bkilian]

I was being polite when I said worst implementation of Netflix...it isn't so much the layout it is all the shit that is now missing/taken away like you mention "chapter" skip, no episodes list WITHOUT having to play one of the videos first...seriously...who thought that was a user friendly idea, "hey guys, instead of letting them go directly to a specific episode lets make them start watching the 'next episode' and THEN they can press down and THEN side-to-side to choose their episodes".

Netflix has gotten this feedback, but they are very passionate about the "immediately play before episode choice" feature. Apparently it replicates the behaviour of the website.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Rejoice Shifty for I did have result(s) returned for "top down zombie shooter"

That's quite good. Even if the results are a bit odd (and TBH I've found Bing a bit out-there versus Google), it shows they are supporting this type of vague interface which is good for the wider market.

 

[function]

I think the new dash is a big missed opportunity.

Under the "games" tab there is a small "My Games" tile next to the big advert and bit where they sell you stuff. The interface under "My Games" is horrible, but there is still a small chance that you might be bothered to find something you've already paid for and play it instead of looking at adverts.

It would be much better if MS removed this small "My Games" tile and replaced it with either adverts or another link to the place where they sell you stuff.

 

[kagemaru]

Netflix has gotten this feedback, but they are very passionate about the "immediately play before episode choice" feature. Apparently it replicates the behaviour of the website.

Well they are sorely mistaken, I still can't believe how bad the app is and it's even worse they would defend their decisions seeing all the backlash on the internet.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Not sure why anyone is having problems browsing for game content in the new marketplace. If you want indie games, or arcade games, just look at "game type" off of the games layout in the marketplace. Then you can sort the listings a variety of ways. So far it's very easy to navigate by any of the control methods they've provided. The only thing I'm not super keen on is the friends layout showing avatars. It would be nice to have more on screen at once, but I like that you can choose to view by individuals or by party. I tend to use the list on the guide popup anyway.

 

[joker454]

Can you set it to only show demo's on game type? When I go to say arcade games it seems to also show videos now which I don't like, I just want to see the demos.