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!