It’s been over two weeks since I first got preview access to the new Xbox Live update. But, I didn’t really get into it until this past weekend and I must say, overall, they did a great job. Xbox has been touting these new offerings since they were first announced back in June. While the official release of the public update is still unannounced, Xbox is giving its preview users plenty to check out.
So, What’s in the update? There’s actually a ton of new goodness. I won’t hit upon everything but I’ll try to cover the major points of interest. (Upon completion I realized that perhaps I did cover everything [and then some]… and if I didn’t, hopefully I made up for it with screenshots.) 
Social Networking & Social Media
The Facebook experience over Xbox Live delivers quite well. It’s not fantastic, but it is good.
It’s great for browsing through your News Feed of friends updates and photos. But, that’s about it. It’s main drawback is that it really lacks the true interaction Facebook provides by limiting it to one-way communication - not allowing you to post on your friends wall, view and listen to embedded music & videos, as well as engaging in various other basic functionality Facebook offers. The only options it provides while viewing a friends update is to “Comment” or “Like” it. Then, there’s the fact that you can’t even view a friends wall. So, if you’re like me and occasionally just want to check a friends wall to see what they’re up to… you’re out of luck. All you get to view when clicking on a friends profile is their last “Status Update,”, their “Profile Information”, and their “Photos”. Which brings me to the best offering Facebook for Xbox Live has… viewing your friends photos. The photo browsing is great! But, then again… Why wouldn’t it be? It’s on your TV! You can just sit back and watch a slideshow, browse, shuffle, and view captions and comments. Plus, seeing your friends larger than life and in high def is a beautiful thing!
The Twitter experience over Xbox Live is decent but lackluster.
The main problem is that without the use of a web browser to click though peoples short urls (links) - with the ability to read, view, play and listen to the various forms of media people are tweeting - it’s kind of pointless. Especially when considering that the vast majority of tweets are really just a teaser or title of a post with the meat of the information accessed via the link provided. The Twitter options available when clicking on a tweet are: “Reply”, “Retweet”, “[view user] Profile”, and “Favorite this tweet”. The primary user features are: “What are you doing”, “Search”, and “Trending Topics”.
Both Facebook and Twitter need the ability to browse the web to really make good use of their framework but, Facebook certainly outshines Twitter by leaps and bounds in Xbox Lives first foray into mainstream social networking integration. It achieves this primarily due to it’s accessibility and the fact that Facebook in itself is somewhat of a walled garden.
The other issue with both of the above services is the awkwardness that texting poses via the controller. Though if you really want to get into it, there is an Xbox 360 Text Messaging Kit
Last.fm
The Last.fm experience over Xbox Live is great! It might be my favorite new feature.
The execution of the UI and the UX is far superior to the networking groups above. I’m not sure whether that’s because the functionality lends itself better to the Xbox platform or what but… whatever it is, it works surprisingly well.
The hurdles of a successful implementation for all these new social networking and social media services is certainly challenging. But, the necessity of having a successful implementation of the user experience is even more important. While I may have my gripes with the current iteration of Facebook and Twitter, I also understand the current limitations presented by the framework and I think that all of these services deserve a successful debut on Xbox Live. With that said, of these new social features, Last.fm is the clear winner. Rock on Last.fm! \m/
Zune Marketplace
More Movies, TV, and Music
Another cool thing is that they’ve expanded their DVD Library to include some more eclectic titles, such as their Foreign / Independent Film section. Though, most are not available in HD.
Instant-On HD Streaming
The claim of Instant-On HD streaming is true. However, there is one major, and obvious, caveat: the quality of the stream is dependent on your internet connection. Therefore, if you’re going to shell out 480 MS Points (about $6) to stream an HD title you need to have a connection with at least 6mb/s for downloads (and that’s your Xbox 360 connection - so if you’re running your 360 over your home wifi network, your actual connection speeds need to be even better) if you want your viewing experience to be in pristine 1080p with Digital 5.1 sound and no buffering hiccups. With that said, it works beautifully. Also, to their credit, they offer different HD qualities and still make the titles available for download. So, if you don’t have a solid 10mb/s connection and don’t feel like gambling on the quality of your rented title, you can still download it and get the full 1080p with Digital 5.1 sound experience with no buffering hiccups.
On a side note, I really don’t get the whole concept behind the Zune Marketplace introduction on Xbox Live. It sems like a really bad attempt at competing with Apple iTunes. I think it was a big mistake to integrate it this way. My major gripe with this this is that it breaks up the user experience in an unnecessary way and rather than increasing the momentum of an Xbox Live Marketplace brand, it diminishes it. As an avid iPhone/iPod user this in no way increases my temptation to buy into the Zune product offerings and removes me from what used to be the Xbox Live Marketplace, of which I am (obviously) a product owner.
HD Viewing Experience
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Released same day as DVD - Nov. 3rd)
While keeping a review of the actual movie to myself, the viewing experience was quite phenomenal. As opposed to my cable company, Time Warner which delivers its HD at 1080i, Xbox Live is able to deliver Pelham in stunning true HD quality at 1080p. Believe it or not… it is noticeable, especially when watching action films. True HD, at 1080p, means no more of those digital artifacts during high action sequences. Xbox definitely delivers on this front as the streams and downloads look and sound spectacular. It was honestly the best viewing experience I’ve had to date on my Samsung 1080p HD display.
Party
Another feature made available with this update that Xbox has been touting for awhile is the Movie Party. This is where you can invite your friends, via the virtual couch of Xbox Live, to watch movies together. I didn’t check this feature but it is available.
Halo Waypoint
For the hard core Halo fans this is actually pretty cool. Halo Waypoint is the destination for the entire Halo universe. Track all your Halo progress and career milestones from the gaming franchise, and gain exclusive access to various Halo content in one central location.
Halo Legends
This Saturday Halo Waypoint began streaming the first of four episodes of Halo Legends. Available only on Waypoint, Legends was created by a renowned set of storytellers from some of Japan’s leading anime studios, and is about to take the heroic sci-fi saga of the popular Halo gaming franchise to new heights in the form of original amine short films. New episodes premiere every other week and are only available for 24 hours. Saturday kicked off the series with Baby Sitter. I checked it out and I must say… It’s actually pretty damn good.
The cool thing about the art direction and animation style is that it’s done in traditional anime. It reminded me of some of the cartoons I used to watch as a kid… like Speed Racer. Now that I think about it, the style is very similar to that of Speed Racer…. which I Iove. The story is also well developed and compelling. It’s also cool to see the familiar universe, characters, vehicles, ships, and weapons that you know and love. Also, the conclusion of Baby Sitter includes a bit of a shocker when, for the first time, a Spartans identity is revealed when their helmet is removed.
While it may have come as a surprise to me at the intro that Warner Bros. is the distributor, it sure made a lot more sense after watching the first episode. The new Halo series definitely has some legs and I’m glad to see its offerings on Xbox Live.
The quality of the stream was also great. It took about 20-30 seconds to buffer but after that it streamed right through without a hitch. The only draw back was that it wasn’t in HD. (I’m assuming they’re saving the HD versions for DVD, rent and purchase.) So, I guess I really can’t complain since the series is offered for free.
Microsoft tags
Microsoft tags - bringing added value to the consumer.
While the concept is cool, this current offering from Halo isn’t that spectacular. But, I love the technology and concept of offering added value to those that participate. While there isn’t really any aspect of augmented reality used, the tagging system is based on the same architecture. Take a picture of the marker using the Microsoft Tags application with your mobile phone and it launches a web page with access to free goodies.
It works quite well and is done in a snap. One issue however is that while on an iPhone, you can’t view the video “extras” (as seen in the above screenshot on the right), an obvious snub by MS on Apple (though, really not a wise one). The other problem trying to be exclusive is, even though there aren’t any integrated tools for sharing the goodies, you can still do it on your own by grabbing the URL.
Conclusion
All in all I’d say it’s a very successful update. It delivers everything it promised… and more. A few thoughts I had for improvements are:
- Improved integration of Facebook and Twitter, including a web browser enabling you to click through links provided
- Expansion of the Web Videos section under Independent Videos.
- If Xbox could open up a platform for developers to utilize and build upon this section to create their own modules to broadcast videos it would open up an entirely new marketplace for them. (Similar to what Boxee is doing.)
- Bring back the Xbox Live Marketplace and nix the Zune Marketplace (leaving it for another platform to promote Zune and its products).
So, what are you waiting for Microsoft? Release the updated goodness to the rest of the world already.
UPDATE (11/12/09):
Announced today, the new update will be made available to all Xbox LIVE members next Tuesday, November 17.
This is a comprehensive, detailed analysis of the new Xbox live; lively, well written, and very informative. Microsoft should hire this guy.