Xbox 360 Microsoft @ E3 2008

and if you dont use it dont pay for it

im glad that i didnt have the price included in the price of the console i didnt get broadband for a year after i got my 360, there are around 19 million 360's worldwide and around 10 million are on live. why should the 9 million or so people that cant use or have no interest in live subcidise live when they arent using it

and if i lose interest i can just choose not to subscribe again

i dont think £30 is an extortionate figure

 

argh! that's the point. £30 is a low amount for a year, yes, you are right - but they shouldn't be charging for it in the first place!

they position the console as a next gen multiplaying community console, then charge for one of the features that makes it so next gen!

the ps3 has a great online service - sure it's not as integrated as live but it's getting there. that's free, albeit ad-based, and i see plenty of ads in XBL games (PGR4, looking at you), so as far as i see it it's just profiteering. i'm not saying the gold service should just be taken away. they should differentiate it though other ways - stat tracking, clan support, voice chat, etc. but playing online _should, be, free_

 

The ads also remind me if there's a demo, so in effect I see it more as a "Look, your money is giving you this"

 

When I saw this dashboard update, the first idea that ran through my head is "Now, why can't Sky or Virgin do something like that?"

I mean - wouldn't it be so cool if other devices started using nice user interfaces like this? I mean, why is it that my '360 and Wii look lovely and clean to use, yet my very expensive HD TV still uses just bland old text superimposed over the screen?

Even if it was just built into TVs rather than set top boxes, I'd really love to see a "page view" of all the different inputs, so I can find precisely which input I need, rather than cycling through "COMPONENT | HDMI | VGA | COMP1 | COMP2" etc.

But still though - I for one quite like the look of where this is going. I just hope they speed up / sort out the experience of switching between profiles. My '360 has about 4 or 5 regularly used profiles for myself, my sisters, my GF - and it's a bit of a pain having to wait to log off, choose to log in, wait for connection, etc. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they'll have a nice little startup screen with "Choose your profile:" or "Select your Mii... urm... Avatar:". Maybe selecting them makes them walk through a door, and into the navigation pane. Maybe then they do a little dance. Ooh, then they could maybe make some cheesecake...
[Descends into dreamworld yet again]

 

That is completely different, ads in games are unrelated to xbox live ads, those ads don't pay xbox live, they pay the developers/publishers of the games so they can get a bit more money back on their game, it's a very expensive thing to do now.

 

BT Vision actually has quite a slick, good-looking interface- it's far nicer than the dated Sky UI we had for years. It's based on Microsoft's Mediaroom, which is sort of like a commercial Media Center that other companies can adapt to their own set-top boxes. The best part is that, like MC, the menus are semi-transparent and float over the current channel, so you never miss part of your program if you want to search for another one or browse through the guide.

 

Have you got auto login disabled? that should speed logging into the correct account up a bit. Or If you're already logged and then the 2nd person wants to play then they should also be able to log in to player 2/3/4 and if they press start on that controller then that profile should play the game (uses their save game profile and achievements etc...).

 

Oh yeah, sorry - I guess I was a little unclear by what I meant. I can log in and out of profiles with no problem, and multiple people logged in etc. What I meant was that the current process / mechanism was a little "untidy". It seems to take quite a while to either log in or log off each time, and I guess it's mainly the "feel" of the accounts feature. Something a little slicker and smoother to use would be very much appreciated, really!

 

I know exactly what you mean Dave, takes about a minute for login from turn off. Not the best really. Since you can't do ANYTHING untill you're logged in.

 

Bit of a revival here but I thought it might be the best place for it. The New Xbox Experience will be available on November 19th, mark it in your diaries!

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/news-features/news/nxe-launch-date.htm

 

Is that the update that'll add in the Netflix streaming?

 

yes