Video Games Today

The New Xbox Experience has arrived to the Xbox 360! In case you have not heard of the NXE, let's go over what it is. This is basically Xbox 360 2.0 (Although this would really be 3.0, the 2.0 change was minor compared to this). If you are connected to Xbox Live as a Gold or Silver, you get the update for free. This update took me about 10-15 minutes on a good connection, so do not expect it to take the normal 30 second dashboard update time. The NXE will change how the dashboard looks forever.

In addition to the fresh new look and design, many great features have come with NXE. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you get to stream movies in HD to your Xbox, no downloading required. The video simply buffers for a few minutes and off you go! To get this to work just put any movie into your queue on Netflix.com, and it will show up on your Xbox 360 within 2-5 seconds for you to watch, instantly! Also, if you have friends with Netflix, up to 8 of you can watch the movie together in a chat (Note, you NEED Xbox Live Gold Membership for this feature)!

Another great feature is the party system! Now, you can have up to 8 people in a private chat! In addition, you can start a party of up to 8 people from the dashboard, decide what game to play, and everyone starts it up and...wala! You are all put into the multiplayer menu upon game start up, in a party! You never have to leave the party when joining a game again!

Also, gamerpics are so yesterday. Avatars, now replace gamerpics (you can still use previously purchased gamerpics) as your virtual self. You can customize these incredibly. I thought this was just a gimmick, and a copy of the Nintendo "Miis". They are not. I cannot explain them as well as show you, so see for yourself.

One last thing before we go play with NXE. You cna now access the full marketplace online! And use microsoft points to purchase marketplace items from Xbox.com. Then, they will be in your Xbox Download Queue next time you turn your xbox on!

Enjoy!

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After one day (24 Hours) of no Xbox Live worldwide, it is back. Incase you didnt know what this update was, here is what Major Nelson said:

On Monday, 9/29/2008 from 12:01 AM PST for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) The remainder of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions.

This service maintenance is in preparation for the new Xbox experience which will be available later this fall.

Let me reiterate: When the service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update. That will happen later this Fall.

So I will once again say for everyone that you will NOT be getting the new experience when you turn on your Xbox today.

Anyways, Xbox Live is back online and hit me up if you want to play, my gamertag is at the right.

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