I just downloaded the update... Started customizing my avatar... What do you think? I personally love it.

Through some exploration I've found that you can/ will be able to: shop the marketplace from your home computer, copy games to your hard drive (including your friends' games i'm sure) and explore the entire marketplace via hd visuals (on my tv atleast)... Of course there's also the avatar system that you can personalize and set as your profile pic, the party mode that allows you to party with friends before entering a game, and the opportunity to talk to multiple people via the chat function instead of just one with the previous interface.
Also, I'm just listing the pros because I am biased at this point. But please feel free to list your pros and cons with your post to this thread!

Hmm...it hasn't let me download yet

Shit, is that today? Well that's something to look forward to when I get home, I think.

I'm not overly concerned about the whole thing but hell, if it makes the live interface nicer then I'm all for it.

But it is all about that Left 4 Dead Friday release date at the moment.

Isaac Dodgson:
Hmm...it hasn't let me download yet

Try replacing a game in it with another one...

I have the capacity to have Live, but I choose not to have Live.

Because I'm a sad, angry person with literally like 1 friend.

And yes, the dog in Fable 2 counts as a friend.

rossatdi:
Shit, is that today? Well that's something to look forward to when I get home, I think.

I'm not overly concerned about the whole thing but hell, if it makes the live interface nicer then I'm all for it.

But it is all about that Left 4 Dead Friday release date at the moment.

Wasn't left 4 dead released today also? Or are you not in the states? P.S. the interface is weird to work with... But it's not bad. I just think it'll take some getting used to. it's definitely sleeker

Some of my college buddies have it right down the street from me...

TheBluesader:
I have the capacity to have Live, but I choose not to have Live.

Because I'm a sad, angry person with literally like 1 friend.

And yes, the dog in Fable 2 counts as a friend.

Get live, and friend me then. It's some fun stuff

See I just shifted house. I knew I'd miss out on something until I could get a wireless adapter for the XBox.

*sigh*

There goes my birthday money. So besides new avatars, what else are we getting pumped about?

Sir_Montague:

Wasn't left 4 dead released today also? Or are you not in the states? P.S. the interface is weird to work with... But it's not bad. I just think it'll take some getting used to. it's definitely sleeker

UK. So Friday. Bastards. Why can't we have it on the same day? I can throw a sickie on Wednesdays easily, Friday's too obvious.

Sir_Montague:

Get live, and friend me then. It's some fun stuff

Sounds like a good offer. But I just don't know. I fear all things relatively new and slightly innovative. Especially when they involve me having to get up, go to the store, buy a USB device, come all the way BACK home, take that USB device out of the package, plug that USB device into a USB port, and sit there for endless seconds as the USB device sets itself up, and then expects me to go BACK to the profile selection screen and choose ANOTHER profile so I can go online (which I already set up awhile ago so I could download stuff through my brother-in-law's Live-wired Xbox.)

I'm exhausted just typing about it.

2bitHero:
See I just shifted house. I knew I'd miss out on something until I could get a wireless adapter for the XBox.

*sigh*

There goes my birthday money. So besides new avatars, what else are we getting pumped about?

Lol... k well if it's any consolation, and you have a game you play frequently but despise bringing the disc (minor inconvenience sometimes) everywhere, I just noticed that if you go to "my xbox", have a disc in your 360, click on game details (Y), you can install a full copy of the game to your hard drive... I think this might be a piracy issue later, but I sincerely love it to death.

installing now

if anyone wants to add me as a friend on XBL my gamertag is Volent g1

Xbox Live is easy to set up, and free if you just want to be able to download things (although the downloads are rarely free) or communicate with friends.. then if you want to play games multiplayer, it costs about 5 bucks a month.

I'm currently Silver, as I don't have any games worth playing online right now.

the avatar maker is charming, but it seems half done, and it all seems so SLOW compared to the old dashboard.

my mom and sister will love it, as their choice of gamer pictures was pretty abysmal (we hadn't bought any), but I had my N7 gamerpic, I was happy with it :(

I get to remain with the old dashboard untill December 12th, thank you shitty Uni LAN.

Some of us have to work and won't be able to try it until we get home...

mine is all setup now.. you can use your old gamerpics, but I'm going to use my newexp one for a bit, see how I like that.

saving the avatars takes way too long, haven't played anything on it yet, but it definitely seems prettier.. and my family is going to love it. It'll grow on me I'm sure, like Yahtzee's Themesong.

Volent g1 is my Gamertag again, if anyone else wants to add me, Shad is all alone :(

Ok got it, tooled around with it for a bit...took me a good ten minutes to figure out how to change your theme again...but yeah it's decent, not horrible, but not great... Content will end up boosting it i'm sure

I've used the new install feature with Fallout 3, hoping to see a drastic change in load times. I can actually see no change whatsoever... So that's slightly disappointing. Plus I've now gone from 11GB hard drive space to 5.6.

I liked it, thought the user interface was very smooth and attractive. The new party system works well, it's nice not to have to choose just one friend to chat with. My only real complaint is that the avatars all look like transgenders no matter what you do to them.

Bowstring:
I've used the new install feature with Fallout 3, hoping to see a drastic change in load times. I can actually see no change whatsoever... So that's slightly disappointing. Plus I've now gone from 11GB hard drive space to 5.6.

Are you kidding? The load times in Fallout 3 are all 2-10 seconds, way better then most games.

Sir_Montague:
I think this might be a piracy issue later, but I sincerely love it to death.

Nope, you still have to have the disc in to play the game.

Spartan Bannana:
I liked it, thought the user interface was very smooth and attractive. The new party system works well, it's nice not to have to choose just one friend to chat with. My only real complaint is that the avatars all look like transgenders no matter what you do to them.

Bowstring:
I've used the new install feature with Fallout 3, hoping to see a drastic change in load times. I can actually see no change whatsoever... So that's slightly disappointing. Plus I've now gone from 11GB hard drive space to 5.6.

Are you kidding? The load times in Fallout 3 are all 2-10 seconds, way better then most games.

Oh lord, I hope my machine isn't on the way out.

Bowstring:

Spartan Bannana:
I liked it, thought the user interface was very smooth and attractive. The new party system works well, it's nice not to have to choose just one friend to chat with. My only real complaint is that the avatars all look like transgenders no matter what you do to them.

Bowstring:
I've used the new install feature with Fallout 3, hoping to see a drastic change in load times. I can actually see no change whatsoever... So that's slightly disappointing. Plus I've now gone from 11GB hard drive space to 5.6.

Are you kidding? The load times in Fallout 3 are all 2-10 seconds, way better then most games.

Oh lord, I hope my machine isn't on the way out.

Maybe, maybe not. I find the 120GB drive to be much faster than my old 20GB drive; it could just be a matter of having a slower drive.

I fired up NXE this morning but only had about 15 minutes to explore before leaving for work; first impressions are reasonably favourable, though I wish there were some free themes for the new one and that the old themes integrated better with the new dash. I also thought that the old theme would be applied to the "guide" menu; oh well. (And what's with 250G for a theme? Sheesh, that's half the cost of a movie rental.)

Didn't play much with my avatar, so I'm not satisfied with it yet... I was hoping for some iconic one to use, but alas it's just meat-beings for now.

It does seem to run much faster than the old one; if nothing else, that makes the update worth it.

-- Steve

Spartan Bannana:

Sir_Montague:
I think this might be a piracy issue later, but I sincerely love it to death.

Nope, you still have to have the disc in to play the game.

Fair enough, but I felt like it might still be a possibility worth mentioning...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.77551#945893

Show off your avatar!

Btw, staying up til 430 in the morning messing around with it and trying to learn the interface before having class today right now (9am) is the worst idea ever... and work after this. Just don't do that to yourself, a heads up from the more rational side of myself right now.

I refuse to subscribe to Xbox live until they either:

1. Make me pay for otherwise free things on the regular internet .
2. MAKE MORE GAMES WITH LOCAL PLAY! Seriously! It's the only reason I have a console!
3. Make it free.

Crap, I can't wait to get home and download this. Are there really a lot of customization options for your avatars? Because I hate those things as much as I hate Miis, even more maybe for invading the xbox, and the only way I plan on using the avatar is if I can make mine look like an orthodox Jew. And if I can't, I'm seriously writing a letter to Microsoft. And though you can copy games to the harddrive you still need to have the disk in the tray to play it, right? That's what I heard.

And what's up with the themes and gamerpictures? Can you still use your old ones?

ElephantGuts:
Crap, I can't wait to get home and download this. Are there really a lot of customization options for your avatars? Because I hate those things as much as I hate Miis, even more maybe for invading the xbox, and the only way I plan on using the avatar is if I can make mine look like an orthodox Jew. And if I can't, I'm seriously writing a letter to Microsoft. And though you can copy games to the harddrive you still need to have the disk in the tray to play it, right? That's what I heard.

And what's up with the themes and gamerpictures? Can you still use your old ones?

There are quite a bit in comparison with the miis, but keep in mind, it's the first day it's released... They are going to periodically release more customization options etc. For both MS points and free (potentially with achievements is what I unofficially heard)... But your old themes and gamerpics are still available for use. Actually with the new update there are newer 'default' themes that are put on your xbox but you still keep your old ones, and they don't look half bad with NXE b/c the screen is less busy. Just make sure when you're creating your avatar you don't switch your gamerpic to a picture of the avatar (lame?)...

EDIT: BTW! The online (via computer) marketplace is up as opposed to last night at 4, check it out!

There isn't an indifferent option. I don't see why they had to force me to make an avatar though. Can't I just not have an avatar?

Oh, and mottos are still only 21 characters.

And I still can't see why I can't delete my achievements. Why am I not allowed?!

I really love it, and it's a life saver for including a download function, scratched disk, need plague me no more! but I need a bigger harddrive :(

fish food carl:
Why does the friends list not have an option to be in list form? I wanted to scroll and see if anyone was online, but the buggerdly think made me go through everybody, and told me fuck all whether they were online or not. After I checked by pressing the big X, I found out, but still. Plus, where's the option to see people you've played with recently? I loved that, it let me report the damn cheaters without having to play another game with them.

Encountered one chap earlier using a modded controller and could take a whole M1014 clip without dieing. I left, pressed the X, and discovered that I couldn't report him! He was lost!

It's still there. Click the guide button then go to friends and scroll right. Same as before really.

I'm not completely overwhelmed by this, for a new experience, I'm still doing exactly what I did before. I fiddled with it for fifteen minutes thought "that's cool" them played Gears again.

I find the avatars to be pointless, the new layout to be in-efficient, the marketplace loads 5-10 seconds slower and all my old themes are useless because the menu takes up three quarters of the screen. I want the old dashboard back.