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Bioweapon
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NY
Posts: 15,681
Unique Rep: 470
Team Name: Nemesis
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[GS]NXE Hits Bumps
Quote:
In the wee hours of this morning, million of Xbox 360 users logged on to Xbox Live and began downloading the New Xbox Experience (NXE). First unveiled at E3 in July, the top-to-bottom update does away with the first current-generation console online service's flat blade-based interface and deemphasizes its two-dimensional gamer pictures.
Instead, NXE will feature a scrolling menu system similar to iTunes' cover flow--or, some would say, the PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar. Its focus will also be three-dimensional avatars, which look like the illegitimate offspring of Nintendo's Miis and the slicker avatars of the PlayStation Home service, which is still ostensibly set to launch before year's end.
Microsoft is heavily promoting NXE, even going so far as to offer qualifying buyers of hard-drive-less 360s a free 512MB memory card or a $20 20GB HDD so they can download it. However, not even the multibillion-dollar resources of the software giant could prevent the service from running into some trouble even before it launched. Many planned features, such as Xbox Live Primetime, were pushed back until after the service went online.
Now, though, the service is up and running after a fairly smooth launch. GameSpot editors encountered a few issues this morning, primarily in the form of missing game and video content on Xbox Live Marketplace. Often, when content appeared, it could not be purchased. However, by this afternoon, it appeared that Marketplace, which now has a drastically different navigation system, was well stocked with content ranging from Rock Band Track Packs to the new Avatar-based game premium dashboard themes.
Unfortunately, though newer themes, such as those for Gears of War 2 and Fable II, are optimized for the new display, older ones are partially obscured. For instance, the shield in the England 2006 World Cup theme is now bisected by the silver dome, which takes up the bottom half of the dashboard. More top-heavy themes, such as the Alpine Winters theme, are less affected by the new windows-based navigation, which occupies the center of the screen at all times. The British Official Xbox Magazine has compiled a gallery of the most egregiously obscured themes (pictured).
Bigger problems are besetting the Netflix streaming-video service, one of NXE's most heavily hyped features. This afternoon, one day after the California-based rental company admitted "hundreds" of films would not be viewable on the 360, the video service still did not work for multiple GameSpot editors. Those who could get the service functioning found the quality severely limited by bandwidth, with a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection yielding blocky video.
When queried by GameSpot, Netflix reps said that they were unaware of any issues. However, they did confirm that another selection of streaming-video offerings, including the BBC series Red Dwarf, would no longer be available as of December 1. However, unlike the aforementioned films, which appear to all be Sony-owned, Xbox owners won't be the only ones missing out on the next batch of removals. They will no longer be streamable either on PC or other Netflix devices, thanks to what a spokesperson called the "ebb and flow of licensing."
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Source
CPU
Intel Q6700 |
Motherboard
ASUS P5Q-E |
Memory
4GB GSkill DDR2 1000 |
Graphics Card
Visiontek 4870 X2 |
Hard Drive
4x 250GB |
Sound Card
Azuntech X-Fi Prelude Modded |
Power Supply
SilverStone Strider 1000w Modular Power Supply |
Case
Lian Li V2000 Plus |
CPU cooling
Dtek Fuzion v1 |
OS
Windows XP Pro x32 & Vista Home Prem x64 |
Monitor
SAMSUNG 32" 550 TV |
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[GS]NXE Hits Bumps
11-19-08
Geforce 9 Series GPU Information Thread
