Get Ready For the New Xbox Live Experience

by Dylan Duarte on July 14, 2008 at 5:11 pm

Ripten’s own Andrew Podolsky reported on the upcoming “new Xbox Live Experience” in his Microsoft Press Conference coverage, but now we have more details via Major Nelson.

You’ll be able to copy your games from the disc and play directly from the hard drive, reducing load times. However, you’ll still need the disc in the drive to ensure that you’re not a dirty thief.

You’ll be able to access Xbox Live Marketplace through Xbox.com and purchase things over the web and then automatically download them to your console. I’m not sure I see the point in this, however, as I presume you’d still have to turn on your console to download what you’ve purchased, so why not just purchase it from your console?

The dashboard blades are going to be built right into the guide, which means you can access them whenever you want, even if you’re playing a game. You can also bring up a list of all of your recently played games and launch them from there, but I assume you’ll still have to insert the disc (see a few paragraphs up).

The new Live Party system has got me really excited. You can now add up to eight people in private chat, which is something I’ve felt they’ve needed for a while. Also, because of their new Netflix feature, you can get together with up to eight friends and all watch a movie. However, it’s not all great. You can also share your own personal slideshow, making it harder to escape your annoying relatives that just got back from vacation with a metric ton of photos.

Xbox Live Primetime is another thing that sounds interesting. Some of the games featured on Primetime will include real prizes and even live hosts. For anyone who’s wanted to participate in a game show without leaving the couch or showing your face on TV, this is for you.

Avatars are making their way to Xbox Live and according to Andrew, they look a lot like Miis. It’s good to see Microsoft finally jumping on the bandwagon, but it’s more of an “about time” then an “alright!”

Finally, they’re adding support for 16X10 over VGA or HDMI and support for 1440×900 or 1680×1050.

According to Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten, more details are coming over the next few months.

Source: Major Nelson

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