Well, November 19 has come and gone. Many different things have happened on that day, such as: Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address, King Charles I of England was born (1600), and Franz Schubert the classical composer died in 1797. On November 19, 2008, Microsoft released a dashboard update that would forever change how the XBOX 360 operates.
At first glance, you will notice a completely new interface. I, for one, think it looks a little too Apple-esque, but the change is good. After downloading and installing the update, the update will show a nifty little video showing nothing of importance, but cheers to the folks who put that together!
I do wish that the animation of the X-logo arising then sinking into the ground as if it turned into water would have a lasting effect, but we can’t get everything we want. After logging back in, we are then greeted by a few screens in which to setup our Avatar. Yes, an almost direct rip-off of Nintendo’s Mii. These Avatars have a more real-life feel to them, but I wish after as much hype, they would have released more clothing and accessories for these guys. Never the less, I am sure more parts will be released in the coming month for a price I am sure we will all pay to dress our characters in the way we want.
The party system is an interesting feature. Once I was logged into a party, the party leads have a choice of starting any multiplayer game and inviting the current party, or if all the users are playing different games, the party can still exist and the conversation never stops! I think the best feature is when you are prompted to update a game, you go through the motions (restart game, disconnect, reconnect) it automatically reconnects you to the party. A big thank you there!
Like most people, I started a 2 week trial of Netflix. I have 2 weeks to decide if I want to keep the service or not. I am not big on getting the DVDs in the mail, then waiting for the next, but with the instant steam to the XBOX it will make things much easier. Already I have a few movies and television shows queued up to watch. I can finally watch 30 Rock and find what all the fuss is about. I began watching the first season of Charles in Charge and loved every moment of it. The quality is great and I have no complaints there. The selection is a little scarce in terms of movies, but the television series really has me interested!
Finally the Marketplace. I must be honest, I haven’t played around with this feature that much, but I will mark out for the Description panels and over all organization of literature on each game. I do feel that this is not yet complete and there should have been more of a search feature in looking for a specific game.
Final Conclusions:
I think this Dashboard update is exactly what we have been waiting for years. It seems that the overall experience was no rushed and while there are a few areas that still need to be tweaked, they are better than what was before. This dashboard isn’t perfect, I have had several instances where the interface has locked up when displaying the Friends channel or fast forwarding in some Netflix movies. There are a few more features I have not and most likely will not get to experiement with (loading games onto my hard drive) as I lack the necessary space to see those features. The community has grown signifcantly over the last few years and this is a welcome change to the XBOX. I am happy with what has been given to us and look forward to the next update to see what extra bells and whistles we will receive.
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