A few weeks back the director of programing for Xbox LIVE, Major Nelson, announced a preview program of the upcoming "New Xbox Experience" which is the new UI with added features for the Xbox 360. There was quite an interest and the application process was completely filled within a few hours. A hand selected group of people, based on their geographic location, ISP, and router make and model, were added to the preview program, which allowed them to download the update early and check it out. I was not selected.
Then about a week later the a "second wave" was announced, this time from the same pool of people, but randomly selected. I was not selected.
Last Thursday an unexpected third wave was announced. My brother, and my friend were both selected. I was not. (The thing that was most disappointing was that I told my friend about the program, and actually filled out my brother's form).
I had pretty much given up on getting it early since it is released worldwide Novemeber 19th (tomorrow).
Last night some friends were over for dinner and I wanted to show my buddy the new Call of Duty game (Call of Duty: World at War). As I signed in I was greeted with a notification of a system update. Confused, I checked my phone (I subscribe to Major Nelson's twitter), and lo and behold there was a tweet indicating that even though it was only a day and a half early everyone who successfully applied to the preview program was now getting the update. Yea!
Other than the UI being updated there are a some cool features added to the 360 now. Here's a list of my favorites:
- Ripping games to your Xbox Hard Drive (quicker load times, and quieter play since the disc drive doesn't have to spin)
- Streaming Netflix movies through the Xbox (all of the Netflix "instant queue" is available to view on the TV instead of the little computer screen)
- Avatars (รก la Mii for the Wii, but better looking)
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