NXE Hard Drive Installs

Well as you know I was in the beta for the NXE. One thing I did not get round to in it was to test the “install to harddrive” feature. I took a look at my hard drive space and noticed I would only have space for one game if any. Not knowing how much space the games take up I put the idea off until I could find out. This brings me onto the first problem with the feature, which is that as soon as you press the install to hard drive button thats it. There is no “this amount of space will be used” or anything it just starts installing. Luckily I found a list of space requirements for the different games here.

So I had 8GB free and after scanning my games collection decided mass effect would be the best game to try. After all it stutters quite a bit and there is those annoying texture “pop in” instances.

I started installing it but left a stop watch on out of interest to see how long it took to install. The install was 12 minutes long, which is pretty slow for 6.8GB in PC standards.

With the game installed I booted it up to see what the install improves. The first thing I noticed is the texture “pop in” is still very much present, It did seem a bit better however. The main thing I noticed was that the game no longer stutters as much, and the loading pauses are gone. This makes it much better to play as the stutters used to get annoying sometimes.

So the install gave me a worthy performance boost, although not impressive enough to warrant leaving the game taking up over a quarter of my hard drive. If I had a 60/120GB hard drive I would leave it on, but with almost no space on my hard drive now I am going to end up unistalling it pretty soon.

Another test related to this feature I decided to try was removing the disc after launching the game. This would of been a neat trick as it would allow you to lan with your friends with only one disc. Unfortunatly the game exits back to the dashboard as soon as you press the eject button.

NXE Slowing Down Live

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I had trouble downloading the media update from live. It seems now though that live in general has slowed to a crawl. The marketplace is pretty much unusable, I tried both the new windows version and the 360 version. I managed to get the photo party software on my xbox, but that was only because it was on the spotlight menu. It seems once  a download gets going its fine, its just the marketplace navigation that is the problem.

Not sure if this is related but gears of war is so laggy its unplayable online at the moment. I would of thought the game servers would be seperate but it appears the nxe rollout could be affecting games too.

New Xbox Experience Manipulating Your Avatar (NXE)

Did you know you can move your avatars head with the right analogue stick whilst on the dashboard. Keep spinning the head around and your avatar will get dizzy. I also found out you can make your avatar wave by pressing the right analogue stock down. If anyone finds any more ways to manipulate your avatar let me know!

You can also get a nice image of your avatar (see above) by going to http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/GAMERTAG/avatar-body.png. Just enter your gamertag where the caps are.

Left 4 Dead Demo Impressions

I have to start by saying that I’ am a great fan of COOP games (The team work games not shelf stacking type). So I was very excited to see valve working on their own cooperative shooter, especially as it involves zombies. Personal preferences aside I decided to download the demo to see if it was worth buying. I played the demo on steam, and although I do have a 360 I felt this was more of a PC game. The game is 1-4 player coop and 1-8 player versus. The demo is coop only.

Now it seems valve have some weird idea on what the purpose of a demo is. To me the idea of a demo is to

New Xbox Experience(NXE) Quieter, Makes 360 a More Viable Media Platform

Since I updated my xbox (in the third phase of the NXE beta) it has been noticeably quieter than usual when on the dashboard. My xbox used to be so noisy it would drown out my PC but now it only seems to fully engage its fans when I launch a game. It is strange but good news especially as its just as quiet while watching films too. People usually moan at night when im watching a film that its too loud. But its only usually loud so I can hear it over the 360 or PC.

While testing this I had to re-download the optional media update to make a mixed media disc work. This was a bit odd but it must have something to do with the new dashboard update. Downloading the media update took 3 attempts, so im guessing Microsofts servers are getting hammered pretty hard.

It would be nice if someone else could confirm it happens to their xbox too as it makes a big difference when playing media.

I can see the update is getting around to more and more people throughout today, as more and more avatars are popping up on my friends list.

Testing the New Xbox Experience

I applied for the NXE test a while back and it seemed like I was not chosen. Luckily I was chosen for the last wave of the 360 NXE testers and downloaded the new 360 update last night.

The update was very fast (approx 5 minutes on a 2Mb line) after which the console is reset with the new interface. When you sign in after the update you will be asked to make your avatar. You can either choose a random one or create one in the same sort of way you create sims/miis. After creating your avatar, you can take a picture of it to use as your gamerpic.

Windows Live Revamped

Did you like the old windows live interface? No me neither, and it was a nice surprise to see a completely new interface in the newly released live update. The “everything must be a shade of grey” look is gone, and replaced by a pleasant easy on the eyes experience.

There are still some issues with highlighting buttons with the mouse but hopefully these will be gone soon. Using the keyboards fine its just when you hover over a button with the mouse sometimes the button underneath it will be highlighted instead. Overall its a big improvement over the old look and I can forgive microsoft for the minor control issues it has.

Tesla Tanks in Red Alert 3

They may not be in multiplayer/skirmish but you will come up against and can build tesla tanks in the singleplayer campaign. I do not want to spoil anything but when you see them, if you capture a war factory of the person they belong to you too can build them. They are very much like tesla troopers, only they seem to be a bit more powerful and have more armour. They also have the same secondary ability as the trooper, which disables nearby vehicles.

I think we will be seeing this unit fully available in an expansion pack at some point.

Completed Fallout 3

Well I completed Fallout 3 on monday and just have mopping up of side quests and challenges to do now. I usually put these off for a bit so that when I come back to the game its more fun to play. The main story ended a bit suddenly but then didnt out stay its welcome like that of oblivions. Those annoying towers in oblivion got so boring it actually put me off the main quest completely (Still Shivering Isles made up for that).

According to my xfire records it took me around 20 hours to complete Fallout 3. That was with about a third of the side quests being done too.

The game was great but it could of done with more quick keys, like one that makes you eat some food or a next best weapon key. I say this because going to the pip boy every time you want to use an item or change weapon really destroys your immersion in the game. Oblivion had same menu system and the same problem but spell shortcuts and the fact most weapons did not need ammo stopped this happening too often.

One tip I will give to fallout 3 players in is never stand near cars. As you can see a car exploding rendered me completely ‘armless.

Whats your favorite Red Alert Faction?

Ok I know theres around 150 of you each day looking through the red alert screenshots, so lets see what faction people like most. I am going to start by saying soviet is my favorite, because I love the kirovs conscripts and the style of the soviet units in general. The soviet voice acting always makes me laugh and their style of big powerful units is what I like to see in my armies.

Justify your answer in the comments.