Will Halo 3 players want to make cute little avatars on their Xbox 360s?

Well, uess what? !hey"ll have to# $t"s the %irst thin you"re prompte& to &o in the 'ew Xbox
(xperience, the shiny makeover to the Xbox inter%ace that rolle& out on We&nes&ay#
!he 'X(, as it"s calle&, is an up&ate to the %ront)en& o% the Xbox *ive online system, which is,
without +uestion, the in&ustry stan&ar&#
,ince its inception three years ao, the Xbox *ive -arketplace . the store%ront %or the system
. has rown %ar beyon& -icroso%t"s expectations# /n& the Xbox *ive inter%ace, calle& the
bla&e0 system, became ill e+uippe& to han&le the &elue o% &ownloa&able ames, &emos,
trailers an& movies that came to populate it#
-arc Whitten, eneral manaer %or Xbox *ive, says they anticipate& maybe 100 items in their
online store when it launche&# 2ut where we en&e& up, we have over 10,000, an& we"ve ha&
over 300 million &ownloa&s insi&e o% our marketplace since we launche& the 360, he says# /n&
%rom watchin that rowth, he says it became clear how to chane it#
/n& chane it they &i&# !he revamp makes the Xbox 360 a whole lot %rien&lier, no &oubt about
it# 4ames 5an& movies an& !6 shows7 are represente& by their box covers, 8 la i!unes# /n& titles
are no loner represente& by a vertical, text)only list 5which coul& et pretty lenthy in the ol&
bla&e system7, but sprea& out like a &eck o% car&s across the screen#
/n& then, there are those avatars#
9eah, $ know avatars are soooo 1006# /n& these suckers, with their bi hea&s an& bi eyes, look
a lot like the -iis you create on the 'inten&o Wii# (ven the noises soun& like 'inten&o, my
husban& remarke& as $ cra%te& a nose, a chin an& a hairstyle %or my mini)me#
-icroso%t shrus its shoul&ers at the inevitable comparison#
/vatars are not an oriinal i&ea, we un&erstan& that, -icroso%t"s /aron 4reenber tol& our
reviewer, 2lake ,now#
:;, so maybe you"re not into the avatars# 2ut i% you"re alrea&y a %an o% Xbox *ive, you"ll %in&
this new inter%ace makes it a lot easier to browse %or ame content# /n& %in&in your online
%rien&s is no loner a slo throuh an en&less list . it"s a tole throuh a lineup o% avatars# /n&
-icroso%t hasn"t touche& the %unctionality o% *ive . online multiplayer, matchmakin an&
messain are still intact#
/vatars are <ust a small part o% -icroso%t"s plan to turn the Xbox 360 into, as Whitten puts it,
this me&ia hub in your livin room# !he 'X( really hihlihts the console"s non)ame
o%%erins, most notably the 'et%lix partnership, announce& in =uly at the (3 in&ustry summit 5an&
reporte& as a rumor by yours truly back in >ebruary7#
!he movie marriae lets Xbox members who have a 4ol&)level subscription to Xbox *ive
stream movies %rom the com%ort o% their livin rooms# 9ou have to be a 'et%lix subscriber, too,
an& the unlimite&)streamin option beins at ?@#AA per month#
$t"s worth notin that users will not be able to stream every %ilm or !6 show %rom 'et%lix"s
B00,000)title catalo# 'et%lix spokesman ,teve ,wasey sai& that Xbox 360 owners will have to
settle %or a smaller catalo o% B1,000 movie an& !6 episo&es, inclu&in those %rom ,tarC, the
Disney Ehannel, '2E an& E2,#
2ut not, it seems, Eolumbia Fictures, which is owne& by ,ony# 4ame blos reporte& We&nes&ay
that content &istribute& by Eolumbia was liste& as currently unavailable %or playback on the
Xbox# When aske& speci%ically about whether or not movies %rom ,ony were available, ,wasey
woul& only say, We &on"t like to name names#
!he war between ,ony an& -icroso%t oes beyon& streamin movies, thouh# $n ,eptember,
-icroso%t &roppe& the price o% its bare)bones Xbox 360 to ?BAA, less than both the 'inten&o Wii
an& the Flay,tation 3# /n& that price re&uction is payin o%%# /ccor&in to 'FD sales &ata, unit
sales increase& 33 percent on a weekly sales basis %rom ,eptember to :ctober#
,ony points out, correctly, that the entry)level Xbox 360 comes with a 136 meabyte memory
car&# :nline amin isn"t %ree, eitherG you"ll nee& an Xbox *ive 4ol& subscription, which costs
?HA#AA per year, to &o that#
2y contrast, the base)level Flay,tation 3, which has a ?H00 price ta, sports an internal 2lu)ray
D6D player, an @0 iabyte har& &rive . an& a %ree online amin service# 4amin %or %ree
shoul& be a basic tenet, like your >irst /men&ment rihts, says ,usan Fanico, &irector o% the
Flay,tation 'etwork# $t"s craCy to chare people %or somethin like that#
/s a result, she says, the Flay,tation 'etwork has BH million reistere& accounts lobally . 6#3
million o% which are in 'orth /merica# -icroso%t also has BH million active subscribers to Xbox
*ive . interestin when you consi&er that the company has sol& sini%icantly more 360s than
,ony has F,3s#
,ony hopes that its lon)&elaye& online amer hanout, Home, will help bolster the console"s
reputation as the hih)+uality console choice# !he service . also %ree . has amers create an
avatar 5yep, those aain7 an& &ecorate a personal space o% their own#
$t"s also a place where amers are meant to meet up with like)min&e& amer %olks, make new
%rien&s an& connect with existin ones# $t looks like a much hiher)resolution ,econ& *i%e than
the 'X(, which has a more cartoony style#
We"ve one with this realistic look that we think better suits the Flay,tation 3 community, but
also better suits this i&ea that $"m oin to have virtual oo&s that $"m oin to be prou& to call
my own, says =ack 2user, pro<ect &irector o% Home# $"m oin to rock those shoes, <ust like $
&o in real li%e#0
Summary
:n 'ovember BA, 100@, -icroso%t release& Xbox 360"s 'ew Xbox (xperience#
!his new inter%ace intertwines many new %eatures with ol& %eatures as well# When
you %irst boot up your Xbox 360 a%ter the up&ate has been installe&, you will be
comman&e& to create an avatar# !hese avatars much like 'inten&o"s -ii an& lets
you customiCe your own character to look like yoursel%# !he 'ew Xbox
(xperience 5or 'X(7 lets you watch movies or !6 shows with your %rien& via
Xbox live usin the new 'et%lix >eature# /lthouh it &oesn"t o%%er all the vi&eos
'et%lix has to o%%er, it still has a pretty oo& rane# -icroso%t &itche& the 2la&es
concept o% the menu &ue to the %rustration o% locatin all o% your %iles such as
&emos, pictures, vi&eos, etc# -icroso%t trie& to make the inter%ace more user
%rien&ly an& more like virtual livin room# When -icroso%t %irst intro&uce& the 360
system, they &i& not buil& the bla&e system %or that many users an& that much
content that is on the marketplace riht now# !he 'X( is the me&ian o% ,ony"s
Home an& 'inten&o"s -ii, $t is not +uite as complex an& hih)resolutionate& as
Home, yet it is not as cartoony as -ii"s#
Opinion
Fersonally, $ %eel that the 'ew Xbox (xperience is a wise choice on behal% o%
-icroso%t# $ own a Xbox 360 mysel% an& yes, it is somewhat har& at %irst to locate
all o% your &emos an& vi&eos but you et over the %act an& it wasn"t all that ba&# $
really &o not like the avatarsG it makes me %eel like -icroso%t is &irectin the Xbox
towar&s 6)year)ol&s instea& o% teenaers an& a&ults# $ also have to say that not
everythin works so %ar in the new 'X(, %or me, the 'et%lix section o% the
inter%ace &oes not work at all, my screen %reeCes constantly an& it can be pain%ully
annoyin to try an& %in& thins aain# $ also %eel that they hi& very important
%eatures such as your messaes an& what %rien&s speci%ically are online# $t is also
har&er to connect to Xbox *ive now %or some o&& reason# !hese entire %laws can
%ixe& with up&ate& an& such but $ really &o like the whole concept o% the 'X(#
!he avatars are very churlish but it is a breathe o% %resh air %or users like me who
have been usin the same inter%ace %or years, but why chane somethin that it
alrea&y oo&? $ <ust hope -icroso%t %ixes those an& many other bus in the
so%tware up&ate, but over all, $ %eel that the 'X( was a wise &ecision %or
-icroso%t#
Social Studies
White Team
Xbox 360 gets a makeover and
avatars
snbc!com
"ovember #$% &00'
att Wiese
r! (osyla