As I’m sure you have all noticed, when the NXE was originally released it was quite a snappy interface, however, as time has progressed and content been added, the system seems to have slowed to pre-NXE speeds and worse in some cases, one area that I have noticed suffering particularly has been the Friends List, with constant hang-ups and occasional complete system freezing (or maybe that’s just me).

But fear not Ladies and Gents for Microsoft has taken note of our plight and decided to resolve the issue, along with a few other major upgrades presumably Facebook et al, the new “speedier” dashboard will be available later this spring. I thought that the whole point of the NXE was to do away with big yearly updates and have little ones throughout the year. Personally I’m getting sick of Microsoft (although they are by no means the only offenders) announcing their great ideas every E3 and the conveniently forgetting to ever release the cool stuff especially in Europe!

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I agree completely.

Its crap - it takes forever for peoples avatars to appear etc.

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totally agree its poooooh. I really hate the friends list and the way it manages too confuse the hell out of who is on line or not. The avatar system is ace Rare still kicks ass for that and the replacement for the old blade system is a huge improvement, but its just too slow and clunky needs some definite work.
Lets hope all the new planned updates and functions are available in Europe i am sick of the Septics getting everything after all Europe is M$'s biggest growing market.

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Whipped and Proud


joe-1981@hotmail.co.uk

I just want the system to respond to what I want it to do, like when I press the guide button in game, I want system resources devoted to that, if the console can play Gears of War 2 then it can load the friggin’ blades up quicker! I have do disagree with you there Joe, I’ve grown tired of the Avatar system and M$’s refusal to let you do anything fun with them, Mortal Combat style fatalities anyone? Below is a list of stuff you aren’t allowed to do with your avatar, straight from the overlords mouth:

- Player interacts with their avatar as if it’s a separate character
- Violence which causes blood, gore, dismemberment, decapitation, maiming, or mutilation
- Player’s avatar talks
- Acts of sexual innuendo or mildly explicit sexual descriptions or images or sexual posturing
- Excretes obscene bodily fluids or substances
- Glamorized criminal act
- Acts of an aggressive or threatening manner
- Vulgar or profane act
- Use of controlled substances
- Replace Avatar features
- Avatars proportions are not modified

More in depth explanations can be found HERE. If your age is set as over 18 in the system then you should be able to do whatever you want. If I wanted a lifeless doll I’d just play on my Wii! As much as the casual audience has saved Nintendo, many of their long term fans have now deserted them (myself included) and I don’t want to see my beloved Xbox go the same way, Natal I’m looking at you! Eventually these companies are going to have to realise that people play games to relax and you don’t relax by coming home from work and waving your arms about in-front of the TV like a maniac! Well there you go people, that’s today’s off topic rant over, hope you enjoyed it...

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i like the Avatar system i wish you could do more with them and hopefully in time we will be able too. Gestures are pretty irrelevant as not much interaction with other players avatars happens yet. Would be nice too t bag your mates though. If people dont like them turn them off and wait for that Milo thing too arrive. The age verification system isn't strict enough too allow adult avatar content as most parents cant set the system up. Adult content would be good though but the BBFC would just complain more and ban it anyway.
We should have way more content and ways of using them but its early days and i am sure Rare has tons of things up their wizard like sleeves.
I see the casual side as a compliment too the proper games we have. Nintendo designed the Wii too be a casual console with no real power. It really is a game cube underneath. The 360 has too large a fan base of hardcore gamers too go the same way. The biggest selling titles have all been hardcore games, Halo and Gears the 2 big exclusives. No way M$ would focus more on casual gaming than hardcore, The 360 is the gamers choice and the Wii is a toy. Natal is going too change allot of things but it wont replace the joypad you get no physical feedback from Natal. Turn rumble off next time you play a shooter it's shit numbs the whole experience. For most of us Natal is going too be an interface for the dashboard and Milo well if it does what they say then it will be an experiment but i cant see a real use for it.
Technically i cant but marvel at the code behind it and Stu will agree with me on that coupled with the 3Dtv side they got from Israel and M$ are really pushing the boat out and leading. From that E3 stuff we have made the right choice Wii is dying PS3 is shite and the 360 is doing things i never thought it capable of.
As for the impact of Milo, Natal and Avatars depends on how much you want too use them. Dont like them dont use them or use them too improve the experience as they are made too. Dont worry about the 360 going the way of the Wii wont happen casual gaming is massively important too M$ as it is money and the more they have the more they spend on cool exclusives like Halo, Gears, Mass Effect, GTA IV content, Final Fantasy and MGS.

The Futures bright my Friend the future is RROD

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Whipped and Proud


joe-1981@hotmail.co.uk

Actually when xbox dashboard came out in November 2008 my xbox got a ring of death straight away and had to wait til December 2008 to experience the new dashboard, ever since then i had no problems, so it might have been early teething problems

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Avatars and the avatar system is improving by the minute.

firstly, we had avatar 100 gs in 2 minutes,

then we had the much more graphically impressive avatar that wa a long winded pile of shit

but now we ave avatars in karts, propper mariokart style (thanks Sega Allstar racing)

Next, I think Avatars avaiable for Manhunt 360, where you can fill the enemy world with your friends list.

MWhahahahahaaaa

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Yep europe always gets the short end of the stick

Perhaps its because Microsoft is being bullied with their choice of Internet browser

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now that would be quality