Be Excellent To Each Other

If you don't use Xbox Live very much and want to see what all the fuss is about with the new Xbox 360 dashboard, you can install it today if you want.

However, and it's a big however, you won't be able to access Xbox Live until November 19th when the new dashboard is officially rolled out.

Anyway, to install it all you need is a USB memory stick or a CD-R. And a working 360, natch.

Just go here to download it.

YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS XBOX LIVE UNTIL NOV. 19TH IF YOU DO THIS

I can wait. But thanks anyway.

Same here, but I thought some people might be interested

I want my Live.

I'm really looking forward to the new dash. But I can wait.

Hell, I was too lazy to inc my details for the beta, so there is no way in hell I'm burning a CD to do it.

That and the risk/reward is too slight.

Did anyone get on the beta? What do they think?

I'm looking forward to the avatars I'm ashamed to say. I spent hours tweaking my Mii (easy now!) on a mate's Wii (look, I warned you) to get it perfect and then drunkenly changed it to a massive eye/head/nose freak. Which it still is today

Shame my spare xbox isn't bad from Frankfurt, it could have had this.

This is a total banhammer if Microsoft catch you, mind. As in, if your Xbox mistakenly signed into Live, they'll ban the whole console -- and there is no guarantee that after Nov 19th people running the beta NXE but not signed onto the beta NXE program won't still be banhammered!

So careful now, people.

It's only the assumption that MS aren't twunts that people are assuming that it will all be fine on the 19th.

Christ, that's harsh.

5 million bricked ecksbawkses in 12 days and counting.....

I'm really not looking forward to this at all.. I don't want to be represented online by a cartoon of myself that I have to tweak to infinity (and no doubt can buy new clothes for)

I just want blades.. I just want to play games and I want themes and gamer pictures.

Actually, Microsoft themselves have said that the only danger of being banned is if you switch the hard drive from a console with NXE access to one that hasn't.

Updating the firmware on the console in the manner in the post above shouldn't attract a ban, but YMMV etc. usual disclaimers apply.

Being able to download games off DVD onto the HD is fucking brilliant though, so I don't have to listen to that bastard jet turbine spinning the whole time. Worth any amount of cartoon avatarism.

I do want to be represented online by a cartoon of myself that I have to tweak to infinity. I won't be paying for virtual clothes though. FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

, as long as it has decent customisation options. My Mii ended up looking like Fu Manchu, for fuck's sake.

I'm keen to try the DVD>HD thing but that's about all I'm fussed about. I just hope the update doesn't bring Live to its knees like the last update did for a bit.

Mine looked like David Baddiel!

I assume you'll still need the disk in some way, shape or form?

Yeah, you still need the disc in but it doesn't spin it other than to do a disc check. It'd be just like playing an XBLA game.

I do like.. I hack-zor-exed my original Xbox and played games off that Hardrive and it was an excellent experience!

I'm going to struggle with my 20 gig hard drive though with only 8 gig left though. More expense, Microsoft do like their money don't they?

I like money too. Pay me £20 an hour and I'll cover your ears whilst you play from dics

Edit: Still got me old Haxxored Xbox. Great for old snes games and games that don't run too well through the 360 emulation. Like gta3 for example

Without going to far off topic.. which SNES emulator do you use? I haven't experimented with one of these yet!

The Evil Ginger Chinese Criminal Mastermind.

Oooh, err, aah, dunno. But I'll check when I get home.

I'm actually quite looking forward to the NXE
The kids can't wait to dress up their avatars & I want to design a gospvg top

I like avatars. I made a Barack Obama guitar player for World Tour last night, and ages ago recreated Homer Simpson for tiger woods 05. Go Imagination!

As I've said already, 90% of NXE avatars are going to look the same as undoubtedly 90% of 360 gamers are white guys with short brown hair.

My Mii (on Gaywood's Wii) looks like Billy Joe from Green Day.

I believe you can press some button or other, to take everything back to the current look.

Personally I'm really looking forward to it, as I like shiny new things and arsing around with avatars and that. In previous versions of the Pro Evo games, I think I've spent longer choosing the correct haircuts and boot colours for certain players, than actually playing football.

This probably says a lot, but never mind.

You can't. It's new or nothing. The new Guide looks a little bit like the old interface as it has blades, which is probably what you're remembering.

Sure, but I'm c9onvinced I read that the new guide does 99% of what blasdeds do currently, so essentially there is a button you can press to get things back to normal. Guide button for fonctional blades interface, NXE for a more languid, pissing-about experience. With snazziness.

although i like the avatars, i'm not sure at all it will solve the current interface's problem: getting fast to the game I want...

and live is far more important to me than a user interface

I like some of the new features (parties and Installation, mainly)

Can't say much about the UI, as I#ve not used it.

Very good Eurogamer article on the HDD installation feature, with benchmarks from half-a-dozen games showing load times from DVD and from HDD.

In a nutshell it says that games that load stuff discretely benefits, but games that have been optimised to load stuff in the background during cutscenes, etc would not so much.

A good article.

Interesting that Halo 3 is so much slower from HDD.

Suits me - yankee brats arriveing online thirty seconds later, forever.

Who plays that these days, anyway?

Dimrill, Mr Dave, Meaty and myself played it only last week.

I shall be getting the new campaign content when it becomes available FO SHO.

New campaign stuff for Halo3?

Oh yeah. I have full lounge clearance from 9.30 on Weds for multiplayer fun.

New campaign stuff for Halo 3. Load up Halo 3 and read the message.