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New Xbox Experience Just Hours Away

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 01:03pm 19/11/08 | 76 Comments

While Microsoft Australia's PR Agency have sent us a Press Release suggesting the New Xbox Experience is already here, we're waiting for the download option to kick off when it turns November 19 Northern Hemisphere side, which is still really only hours away.

The free update will apparently start automatically, transforming some "25 million Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide" (by the end of November, that is) into fully updated new machines.

"Xbox 360 is getting a whole new look," said Andrew Jenkins, Xbox 360 Product Marketing Manager for games and LIVE. "From today Xbox owners are able to download a new user interface for their consoles, effectively updating their Xbox through Xbox LIVE. Xbox 360 now boasts a more user-friendly look and allows users to create online parties, chat with friends, share pictures, create avatars of themselves and much more," added Jenkins.

I have my machine on right now, so as soon as the update is available, we'll let you know.

xbox 360

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GuessWhosBackAgain
Posted 03:03pm 19/11/08

How far away is it now?

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WetWired
Posted 03:11pm 19/11/08

I think it'll be online 8pm or something?

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Lynx
Posted 03:55pm 19/11/08

Both my friends who have 360's both have them at Microsoft being repaired. One of them has red ringed for the 4th time since he bought it last year, and the other is the 2nd time.

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reso
Posted 04:05pm 19/11/08

Thanks for the news Lynx, my 360 is at home and working, fyi (I x-clamped that motherfucker).

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mission
Posted 04:07pm 19/11/08

We got an XBox a few weeks ago and then lost the receipt :(

But then we got a free arcade edition with a TV so hopefully that receipt will be acceptable should the thing break.

I'm looking forward to this new interface thing.

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Boxhead
Posted 04:16pm 19/11/08

hit up domino for free games!

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d0mino
Posted 04:32pm 19/11/08

9/10 people recommend you do.

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mission
Posted 04:34pm 19/11/08

Expect a pm later tonight.

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 04:45pm 19/11/08

d0mino - I'll get it on some GoW action as soon as I stop playing CoD :P

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Pirroh
Posted 05:33pm 19/11/08

I just got the RROD, el oh el.

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fpot
Posted 06:49pm 19/11/08

Anyone confirm what time it is?

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whoop
Posted 06:59pm 19/11/08

after seeing the abomination of a user interface in that ausgamers interview video I'm never connecting my xbox to live ever again. I don't play online anyway and the new interface looks shit.

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Dan
Posted 07:05pm 19/11/08

As far as I'm aware, you're not forced to update to it, even if you do want to go online. At least not yet anyway.

I don't know why you wouldn't want to though. IMO it looks worlds better than the current UI and it performs better as well.

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d0mino
Posted 07:21pm 19/11/08

yeah steve, and wet, apologies for the gears invite spam, there is a button in the matchmaking that says 'invite all' and i thought it was going to just invite everyone who is online playing gears, but it invites EVERYONE. and then i accidently hit it a second time.

but nonetheless, you should play with me and raisty cause we are awesome.
and wet you really should get xbl gold + gears2.

and i am very much looking forward to the new UI, and anyone that poo poos it on looks alone is an idiot. if its more intuitive its a win.

last edited by d0mino at 19:21:04 19/Nov/08

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WetWired
Posted 07:28pm 19/11/08

wet you really should get xbl gold + gears2

well I hear you're a man in a position to obtain such things for free :P

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d0mino
Posted 07:35pm 19/11/08

nah i dont get my xbl gold for free :'(

anyhoo, here is a pretty funny quote from kotaku, (apparently NXE is hitting at 2am in USA)

If you're up (or are staying up) for it, and don't live on the West Coast of the USA, here's a chart showing just when 2am Pacific Time is for you. If that time is very late/very early for you, and your significant other asks why you're up, whatever you do, don't tell them it's for a major firmware update for a home video game console.

http://kotaku.com/5092697/countdown-to-the-new-xbox-experience

last edited by d0mino at 19:35:47 19/Nov/08

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mission
Posted 07:37pm 19/11/08

Anyone been able to update yet? Doesn't seem to be doing anything for me.

BTW I'm pretty sure I read something from Microsoft saying that the update is compulsory.

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Le Infidel
Posted 07:43pm 19/11/08

I really dont get gears of war, is it a game you should really be playing in co op modE?

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GuessWhosBackAgain
Posted 08:01pm 19/11/08

So how much you wanna sell it to me for? (GOW2)

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fpot
Posted 08:02pm 19/11/08

Gears of War is fun.

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d0mino
Posted 08:10pm 19/11/08

gears of war is like a blockbuster sci fi alien exploding big budget b-grade film, that you play, while the main character says stuff like 'one shitload? more like 10 shitloads'.

its stupidly awesome.

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 08:12pm 19/11/08

Le, it's a game I think should ONLY be played co-operatively.

Also, that update is meant to kick in at 9pm according to that chart

last edited by Steve Farrelly at 20:12:55 19/Nov/08

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d0mino
Posted 08:22pm 19/11/08

Brisbane Wed 20:00 ?

last edited by d0mino at 20:22:59 19/Nov/08

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fpot
Posted 08:22pm 19/11/08

Steve Farrelly

Location: Sydney, New South Wales

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stinky
Posted 08:24pm 19/11/08

gears of war 2 is fun until you climb inside a giant worm and have to play timing puzzles for half an hour.

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Le Infidel
Posted 08:37pm 19/11/08

Yeah stinky, well if anyone wants to swap gears of war 2 I'm up for it ... dont think I'll be finishing it. Wouldnt mind a swap for Fallout 3.

I'm in Amsterdam though so maybe better to ebay it?

oh and sorry for the derail, heres hoping they add some better music player to the xbox that allows fast forwarding of songs

last edited by Le Infidel at 20:37:10 19/Nov/08

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mission
Posted 08:45pm 19/11/08

If anyone wants to buy an arcade edition (brand new unopened) pm me.

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Triamks
Posted 08:51pm 19/11/08

9 more minutes!

Brisbane, Qld.

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Skitza
Posted 08:55pm 19/11/08

5 more mins! Oh yay!

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Reduaram
Posted 09:06pm 19/11/08

go time? everyone must be upgrading

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Skitza
Posted 09:13pm 19/11/08

I dont see anything to download? I'm calling bs.

Still says 2 days till new xbox experience.

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 09:18pm 19/11/08

I think Dan has nabbed it - is it automatic? Anyone grabbed it yet?

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Pirroh
Posted 09:29pm 19/11/08

Check your connection to XBL apparently it's worked for others.

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Tepid
Posted 09:31pm 19/11/08

nothing happenin for me.

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mission
Posted 09:33pm 19/11/08

Nothing for me :(

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Skitza
Posted 09:34pm 19/11/08

ahh there we go, she's kicked off now. It had signed me out of xbox live.

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Dan
Posted 09:36pm 19/11/08

Yep, I just booted up, signed in and it said an update was available and i'd need it to get online.

Process was pretty painless, I reckon half the file download size was that intro movie.

nb: The account I did sign in under was one I have registered with a US address (for region content). So if people with Australian accounts aren't getting it, maybe that's why?

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mission
Posted 09:38pm 19/11/08

Ahh she's away now.

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Thundercracker
Posted 09:41pm 19/11/08

Just updated mine. Seems ok, nothing special. I assume more skins etc will be released for it?

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Tepid
Posted 09:42pm 19/11/08

working now. did a connection test.

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Skitza
Posted 09:55pm 19/11/08

All done! And I like it, pretty good and fast!

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 10:32pm 19/11/08

I didn't get started until I tried to load up a new game

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Le Infidel
Posted 10:39pm 19/11/08

has the media player been updated at all?

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mission
Posted 10:47pm 19/11/08

A very brief look would indicate no.

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d0mino
Posted 12:27am 20/11/08

downloaded it, new party system is great. needs more themes, night theme is the only one thats half decent.

i want to use the night theme for the friends list but have my gears wallpaper, anyone know if you can do that?

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Staroka
Posted 06:22am 20/11/08

urgh.. NXE. it's as awful as what i thought it'd be...

but i do like the blades menu you get to pop up.. shame it just wasn't bigger (like the whole screen)

i think it'd be even better if you could choose if you wanted cover flow or blades... it looks more like friggen itunes/random apple product now..

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fpot
Posted 06:47am 20/11/08

It's awesome I don't have to wait for 2 minutes while all my arcade games load up.

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Khel
Posted 09:57am 20/11/08

Yeah, I really like it, its so much faster and more responsive than the old interface. I'm actually quite suprised that considering how heavy it is on the eye candy, its so snappy. I also seem to be the only person on my friends list who made a crazy nonsense avatar (billy idol leather vest, skeleton makeup, mutton chops and a monocle), everyone seems to have made very normal looking avatars, thats a bit disappointing :(

I think the only thing I really found that annoyed me is how when you come into the dash, it defaults to that "Spotlight" channel, I'd rather it default to the "My Xbox channel", just because that'd closer mimic what the old dash did, and thats more often than not where I'm going to be heading when I boot up my 360.

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d0mino
Posted 10:20am 20/11/08

i think the avatars are really good fun, i reckon they have the capacity to be far superior to the nintendos miis even though you don't have the ability to do things like move your nose higher or lower. it will kick ass when third parties add more clothes and models from the games.

also i think they have trumped ps3's home, i reckon NXE has all you're really going to want or need as far as an avatar and the party system. the second life roaming space is unnescascery.

but it desperately needs more content. i really want my avatar to be holding a bloody lancer. and i want to more options on the 3d party system backgrounds. the xbox one is pretty lame, but the night and day ones are alright.

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WetWired
Posted 11:03am 20/11/08

last edited by WetWired at 11:03:22 20/Nov/08

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d0mino
Posted 11:10am 20/11/08

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Boxhead
Posted 12:56pm 20/11/08

I tried loading a few games to the hdd.. Quite snappy, fifa and gta all run much better!

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Gaz
Posted 09:09am 24/11/08

Quite a big improvement over last plus cool looks and all.

Hope there will be more option in the future on dressing-up your avatars with XBox-specific related characters ( Halo or Gears and others... ).

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boba
Posted 10:18am 24/11/08

great time for my 360 to rrod too =( I blame the NXE cause it was fine before that

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mission
Posted 10:23am 24/11/08

So what causes the RROD?

Are the new models also susceptable to the problem?

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d0mino
Posted 10:37am 24/11/08

overheating,

it should be ok if its in a well ventilated room/spot in your tv cabinent.

even if it does RROD they are really quick with turn around, i got mine back in 7 days.

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boba
Posted 10:44am 24/11/08

hehe mine is a release 360, it's done so well to last this long

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Twisted
Posted 10:12pm 24/11/08

even if it does RROD they are really quick with turn around, i got mine back in 7 days.

I got mine in about 5-6 days if I remember correctly. Took longer because my local post office wasn't open on Saturdays :(

A friend of mine though just RROD'd... he's been waiting 2 weeks now and they've told him it might be up to 5 weeks...

last edited by Twisted at 22:12:58 24/Nov/08

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mission
Posted 10:58am 24/11/08

Do you send it away or take it somewhere?

I just flattened the box on the weekend and it's in the bin.

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Khel
Posted 02:40pm 24/11/08

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stinky
Posted 04:46pm 24/11/08

I want khels avatar to handfuck me.

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whoop
Posted 07:16pm 24/11/08

Fear my default avatar.

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mission
Posted 07:33pm 24/11/08

Whoops like like a Bodach that only Odd Thomas can see.

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Khel
Posted 07:58pm 24/11/08

I want khels avatar to handfuck me.

Thats the plan, why do you think hes wearing gloves?

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mission
Posted 07:59pm 24/11/08

That does sound uncomfortable though.

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mission
Posted 10:41pm 03/12/08

Well ffs just sat down for some GH action followed by Entourage S4 and I get RRoD. Fuck, it's 6 weeks old :(

The thing wasn't even hot as it hadn't been on for hours and it died straight on start-up.

So I don't think it was heat related......

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WetWired
Posted 11:03pm 03/12/08

mine RRoDed about a week after the new dashboard update, I wonder if it's a coincidence?

this is the 2nd time now, it was sent away and fixed once before, it's nearly 2.5 years old, still under warranty though

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mission
Posted 11:07pm 03/12/08

I'd lost the receipt pretty well straight away, so I was even more pissed.

But I filled out the online service request and put in the serial number and it popped up that it's under warranty, phew. Being the new 60gig version I'd hope so, even without the receipt as evidence.

But I do love the XBox so I can't stay mad at it for too long.

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WetWired
Posted 11:20pm 03/12/08

yeah the serial number for the console contains the date of it's manufacture so they can tell quickly if it's still under warranty.

I would be pissed about mine, as first my drums for guitar hero died after 2 days use and had to be sent back, I got them back a week later and my xbox RRoDed. Luckily I have another 360 I got in a mobile phone plan though so at least I can still play.

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mission
Posted 09:01am 04/12/08

Luckily I have another 360 I got in a mobile phone plan though so at least I can still play.

Yeah, I have another one from a TV purchase. Was going to sell it on E-Bay but haven't got around to it. Which is lucky as I may crack it open (it's still unopened in the box) to get me through Christmas.

How long does the repair take from when you send it away?

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Mass
Posted 09:09am 04/12/08

I've had 2 go RRoD on me so far, had it a year. 1st one went 5 days after buying it so that went back to the store for a DOA replacement, next one took 6 months to go and that took 2 weeks to send and get back. I haven't done the new dashboard update yet, thinking about not doing it until after xmas now just incase. Kids would go nuts if the xbox dies before christmas, I think santa is bringing a couple of new games.

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WetWired
Posted 09:11am 04/12/08

How long does the repair take from when you send it away?

Last time it was about a week and a half from when I sent it away to getting it back in the mail. Dunno about this time though, as I get the feeling leading up to xmas is their busiest time.

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mission
Posted 09:17am 04/12/08

I had a bit of a gut feeling that it would go sooner rather than later, I thinks that's why I hung on to the Arcade edition I got with the TV.

It's a pain that it has to be sent away, I only chucked the box last weekend :( I guess I can just open the Aracde and send it back in that box instead.

Just the inconvience of it all is most frustrating, especially when it's only 6 weeks old and Santa is bringing the Guitar Hero World Tour for XMas.

On a slightly different note I can't believe how addictive GH is. I downloaded the demo over the weekend. Those crazy Asians in Timezone were onto something.

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WetWired
Posted 01:12pm 04/12/08

oh well as soon as I say that it turns up, it arrived back today (I sent it last monday), got yet another free month of xbox live gold :/

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ZIZ
Posted 01:19pm 04/12/08

Took them about a week to send back mine. I was hoping they'd replace it with the newer model and not fix it but oh well.

3rd time lucky.

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WetWired
Posted 01:25pm 04/12/08

yeah I was hoping they'd replace mine too, but it's the same old one

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