Microsoft's New Xbox Experience launches

If you popped the No-Doze and stuck it out until 5AM ET last night, you probably managed to get your mitts on Microsoft's New Xbox Experience.

Microsoft's New Xbox Experience launches

Netflix comes to the new Xbox menu

If not, it's available as I type this. I've had it for a couple weeks now (see my review, parts one and two) and can't complain. It's not the second coming, but it's free, it looks great, and if it were a car, I'm sure it'd have that new car smell.

The only quibble I have is that the newly integrated Netflix service is region locked, so yours truly, sitting here in rainy Oxford, UK, can't download or stream a blooming thing. I'm not the only one annoyed, either. Not that I'm surprised about that, or that there's really anyone to blame. Might as well grump about the fact that I can't buy movies or console games this side of the pond.

According to VentureBeat, the Netflix service may have launched with a few hitches this morning. "It appears that no one has been able to activate the Netflix 'Watch Instantly' function on the Xbox for the past few hours," writes MG Siegler. I had a look at the Twitter search link offered and it seems to be working AOK at this point, so maybe we're talking typical startup temporary overload.

Lots of celebratory comments popping up right now, too.

"Streaming Netflix movies on the new Xbox 360 experience might be my most favorite thing ever," says one user.

"Holy crap! Netflix HD Streaming on XBOX is AMAZING! Goodbye DVDs (and ForGET Blue-Ray)," writes another.

A third user is slightly more cautious: "The selection of HD movies along with SD movies is limited, but it's still an excellent extra if you have Netflix and Xbox."

I still see a few "not activating" comments as I drill further back, so don't be surprised if things don't go swimmingly when you first load up. If it makes you feel any better, just remember at least you'll eventually get it up and running, something I'll have to settle for being extremely envious of here.

See also: 5 things you should know about the New Xbox Experience

Comments [22]

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gmayronne

here ya go ladies.....Gamepro changed your diapers and poudered your toushes and provided you with an article regarding the new update. now pour chocolate syrup on it, eat it, and put a sock in it.

gmayronne

oh yeah.......ahem!!!......."FIRST".............hmmm.........nope, there is nothing cool about saying "FIRST"....i feel the same.

slm90031

I wonder if my post had anything to do with it. Okay Gamepro, now put the ticker up for Home...how many months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds do we have left?

nitefall04

DVD's and (possibly) BluRay is here to stay. Too many people like myself like to have the actual, physical copy in their hands. It's retarded to have only a digital copy of something. A virus destroys everything and BOOM! You're shit out of luck. Not to mention folks unlucky enough not to have a broadband internet connection (thankfully, I have one.) hugely outnumber those that do have it. It's just not available in some areas. As for the New Xbox Experience... IT'S VERY NICE! Of course it takes getting used to, but fiddle around with it for about 15 or 20 minutes and you'll get the hang of it. And the avatars that I thought for sure would be terribly retarded... are actually kind of cool. I just pray they don't charge for most of the new items for your avatars. Possibly use achievements in games to unlock new stuff for them. That would make achievements actually useful.

RogueJayhawk

WTF! They should have left it the way it was! Maybe if I was 12 years old I would like it better. The whole avatar thing is just retarded. What is the damn point of them!

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Combat_Monkey

i'm digging the new interface. The netflix is handy for putting my movies on the big screen rather than linking through the laptop. on the subject of avatars, not as gay as thought but not cool either. If more games use them, the suggested 1 vs 100, then may get into it. And good point above, where is HOME and will it be out before the PS4?

PaganFest

RogueJayhawk wrote:

WTF! They should have left it the way it was! Maybe if I was 12 years old I would like it better. The whole avatar thing is just retarded. What is the damn point of them!

I agree with the avatars, but the new interface kicks the shit out of the blades IMHO. Things are more organized now kind of like the Ps3 interface.

PaganFest

gmayronne wrote:

here ya go ladies.....Gamepro changed your diapers and poudered your toushes and provided you with an article regarding the new update. now pour chocolate syrup on it, eat it, and put a sock in it.

LOL! just checked the previous articles

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