**Official New Xbox Experience Thread** - Poll Added

[Queasy]

Started to post this story about the Eurogamer testing the performance improvements of several games when they are installed to the hard drive and figured why not just go ahead and make it an official thread. Let's post all impressions, bugs, gripes, huzzahs, etc here.

Eurogamer article on performance improvements using HDD installs.

Long article but the final verdict is that it depends on the game and how well the developers already optimized DVD streaming. This of course ignores the noise reduction and wear and tear benefits that comes with loading off the HDD.

[*]Gears of War - Negligible. Only a couple of seconds here and there.
[*]The Orange Box - Huge improvements. Loading times are nearly cut in half.
[*]Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise - Negligible improvement. Again, another game that is optimized for streaming.
[*]Grand Theft Auto IV - Decent improvement. Mostly on the initial load.
[*]Halo 3 - Amazingly, some load times were worse.
[*]Fable 2 - Good improvements especially with the menus.
[*]Mass Effect - Improvements during gameplay but the long elevator rides remain.
[*]BioShock - Good improvements on level loading.
[*]Project Gotham Racing 4 - Good improvements on level loading.
[*]Call of Duty 4 - Slight improvements on level loading (no more than 5 seconds).

So, basically it looks like games that do most if not all of their loading before gameplay starts will see the biggest benefit. Games that load data on the fly will see negligible improvements.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Xbox 360 NXE Hard Drive Install Chart - Someone was kind enough to list all the games, their install size, and whether or not any loading time is saved. They don't have data on all the games yet but they have a good start.

My favorite - Lost Odyssey at 23.2GB and loading times cut in half.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/14 - Another 10,000 have been invited to the NXE preview.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/14 - Major Nelson has an oh-so-exciting video showing off <drum roll>The NXE Installation process! <yay! throw your hands up in the air!>

Gamerscore Blog has a summary of all the info and videos they've put out concerning NXE.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/17- MS Giving Out Mucho Grande MS Pesos

Microsoft will dish out a million MS Points as part of its 'New Xbox Experience' launch plans.

46 winners will share the spoils, with one lucky gamer getting the grand prize of 500,000 MS Points (£4250).

Five winners will also pick up 50,000 (£425) each, ten will receive 10,000 (£85) and 30 will pick up 5,000 MS Points (£42.50).

You've got to be in it to win it though, and unfortunately that's going to mean spending some money.

You'll need to download the NXE, register your gamertag by downloading the NXE Download & Win Gamer Picture, and then download a piece of premium content from Marketplace.

It'll need to be a movie, TV show, full arcade game, Xbox Original, a game add-on or a music video.

Maybe not worth the price of admission by itself, but it's all good if you're planning on some downloads this week anyway.

The more you download the more entries you get, up to a total of ten entries, between Wednesday and Sunday.

Wouldn't it be funny if you downloaded your weight in themes and gamer pics only to win, but then to have nothing to buy with all points because you bought it all just to enter.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/17 - Major Nelson

Instead of adding another 10,000 people to the preview program like we did last week, we've decided to do something a little different: everyone who successfully applied to the preview program (and had a valid console ID) will be getting the New Xbox Experience sometime within the next few hours. That?s right?we?re hooking everyone else up with NXE a bit early. If you signed up and are not prompted, that means you did not enter your console ID properly and you'll have to wait until Wednesday.

Don?t worry, it?s almost here.

Thanks again for your overwhelming interest in the program.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/18 - 12 second vid of Major Nelson saying we are about 14 hours away from launch of NXE. He posted this at 10:53AM PST so NXE should be released at 2-3AM PST which is about the time they normally put out the Arcade releases on Wednesday.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11/18 - From Major Nelson's Twitter:

We'll START deploying at 0200 PT. Not everyone will get it right away though.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I'm excited for the party chat so I don't have to listen to the other team on Gears of War. I remember when Gears players were more mature than Halo players.

 

[Queasy]

Heh, can't argue that. My last bout of GoW multiplayer was ruined by a couple of idiots on the other team tossing racial taunts at one of my teammates. I just put them on mute but my teammates didn't and dropped out because of it. So I dropped out too.

 

[Tu13erhead]

.

 

[gorcorps]

I just want texture pop-in on mass effect and GTA4 reduced or gone. But according to that report the HDD install didn't really help either game. That sucks. Guess that means I won't have to buy a bigger hard drive as I now have no reason to install games.

 

[Oyeve]

I just ordered the 120gb 360 drive. My 20gb will not be enough. Damn you MS and your inflated prices! Oh well, now I can finally DL some HD movies!

 

[blurredvision]

I'm about to pull the trigger on the 60GB hard drive after I saw it in CC the other day when picking up GoW2. I typically only play 2 or 3 games at the most at a time, so 60GB should be overkill for me.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Tu13erhead
Regarding loading games to HDD, I'm mostly excited to get rid of the noise. Decreased loading times are nice too. I wonder if developers will start creating games knowing they may be loaded to the HDD to cut down on load times further.

Agreed. I mostly run my 360 on my plasma in the living room where the noise doesn't bother me too much, but I also run it in my office with my LCD monitor. In the office I keep it on a wooden desk which amplifies the noise and vibration from the DVD ROM, especially when the 360 is horizontal.

I'm definitely looking forward to HD installs for the noise factor alone, plus it seems like reducing wear and tear on the DVD drive probably isn't a bad idea either.

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Queasy

[*]Fable 3 - Good improvements especially with the menus.
.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Jules

Originally posted by: Queasy

[*]Fable 3 - Good improvements especially with the menus.
.

Heh.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Tu13erhead
Regarding loading games to HDD, I'm mostly excited to get rid of the noise. Decreased loading times are nice too. I wonder if developers will start creating games knowing they may be loaded to the HDD to cut down on load times further.

Well, most games that could use the HDD already do, it's just done by background caching.

I think part of the problem here is a lack of forward compatibility - the games were made to use the HDD in one way, and now theyre being loaded straight off it. So unless they're patched to prevent this kind of behavior on the NXE, theyre probably loading off the HDD image and then looping back onto the HDD cache. There's nothing worse for HDD performance than constant back and forth seeking like that, especially for no reason. That's what has to be happening in Halo 3.

Now they could probably easily patch this behavior with ease out of virtually any game that uses the HDD as a cache by having the HDD appear as just a memory card to the game, but I doubt there's many developers that are going to take the time to even bother.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Now they could probably easily patch this behavior with ease out of virtually any game that uses the HDD as a cache by having the HDD appear as just a memory card to the game, but I doubt there's many developers that are going to take the time to even bother.

Most likely not. What you explained is probably the reason Microsoft didn't really make a big deal out of this feature when they first announced the NXE back in July. It seems more to be a ploy to quiet critics about the system noise rather than speed up loading times.

 

[erwos]

I'm also curious whether developers will be able to query via API whether their game is loaded straight to the hard drive. If they're allowed to, it would seem relatively easy for new games to make more intelligent choices about their caching and loading schemes - to some extent, they already have to do this, since not all 360s have hard drives to begin with. Less noise will be nice, but I'm not sure if I personally really care that much about it in my current setup.

Something that hasn't been addressed at all is whether we'll see more/better audio and video playback on the dashboard. I'm hoping they relent on MPEG-2 streaming, and maybe even give us multi-channel AAC in our MP4 containers. (And to head it off, there is, realistically, a 0% chance of MKV.) IMHO, the biggest feature missing is integrating the Zune and XBL marketplaces - why can I only buy HD episodes of BSG on my Xbox?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: BD2003
Now they could probably easily patch this behavior with ease out of virtually any game that uses the HDD as a cache by having the HDD appear as just a memory card to the game, but I doubt there's many developers that are going to take the time to even bother.

Most likely not. What you explained is probably the reason Microsoft didn't really make a big deal out of this feature when they first announced the NXE back in July. It seems more to be a ploy to quiet critics about the system noise rather than speed up loading times.

Yeah, I seriously doubt it. Also, these HDDs are going to start getting fragmented beyond belief after a few several GB installs of varying size, and it doesnt seem like MS has built in any sort of defrag utility.

Theyre clearly focusing less on performance than they could be. I still think it would be relatively trivial to patch the games to not hit the HDD twice, MS could probably even do it from the front end, although it'd be a burden to have to test all those games just to shave off a few more seconds here or there for a few million people.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: erwos
I'm also curious whether developers will be able to query via API whether their game is loaded straight to the hard drive.

It would be pretty retarded if they couldn't, so I'd have to imagine thats a yes.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, I seriously doubt it. Also, these HDDs are going to start getting fragmented beyond belief after a few several GB installs of varying size, and it doesnt seem like MS has built in any sort of defrag utility.

I don't think that would be the case. Fragmentation is a problem when you're dealing with many small files. When it comes to installing these games, Microsoft is probably just ripping the ISO to the HDD, and that would involve a few large files. Therefore, I don't think it would be much of an issue than it currently is now. And, of course, the file system in use on the HDD might be more resistant to fragmentation than FAT32, ala NTFS or ext3.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Heh, can't argue that. My last bout of GoW multiplayer was ruined by a couple of idiots on the other team tossing racial taunts at one of my teammates. I just put them on mute but my teammates didn't and dropped out because of it. So I dropped out too.

it sucks that gears2 doesn't have the quick "asshole" button that halo 3 implemented so well.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, I seriously doubt it. Also, these HDDs are going to start getting fragmented beyond belief after a few several GB installs of varying size, and it doesnt seem like MS has built in any sort of defrag utility.

I don't think that would be the case. Fragmentation is a problem when you're dealing with many small files. When it comes to installing these games, Microsoft is probably just ripping the ISO to the HDD, and that would involve a few large files. Therefore, I don't think it would be much of an issue than it currently is now. And, of course, the file system in use on the HDD might be more resistant to fragmentation than FAT32, ala NTFS or ext3.

i dont know for sure how it works, but i do know on the original xbox, the homebrew apps that ripped the games to the hdd ripped the directory structure, not just an image of the disc and store that.

 

[Tu13erhead]

.

 

[oznerol]

Thing I'm looking forward to the most:

Ability to purchase and queue up downloads via the web. Will make it easy to get my weekly Rock Band DLC fix.

I really hope it is done right, though. Major Nelson said that all of the things he posts will also have links to download them, which I think is solid.

 

[Kev]

All I care is that I will be able to play games without holding my breath every time it reads from the dvd disc, waiting for it to pop up with the can't read disc error.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Looking forward to the NXE. The current implementation of the marketplace is horrible and I'll definitely copy the games I'm currently playing onto the HD. IIRC, I should also get 1440x900 over VGA.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Kev
All I care is that I will be able to play games without holding my breath every time it reads from the dvd disc, waiting for it to pop up with the can't read disc error.

If your dvd drive doesn't work, how could you even install the game to the HDD?

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: Kev
All I care is that I will be able to play games without holding my breath every time it reads from the dvd disc, waiting for it to pop up with the can't read disc error.

If your dvd drive doesn't work, how could you even install the game to the HDD?

I think he means it'll be easier on his DVD drive, besides you could attach your hdd to a friends 360 to copy games, but you still need a functional DVD drive to verify you have the disc.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: ducci
I really hope it is done right, though. Major Nelson said that all of the things he posts will also have links to download them, which I think is solid.

I thought Major Nelson wasn't going to be posting marketplace updates anymore? I remember back in the summer when he said something about the marketplace coming to the web, and he was glad because he would actually get his blog back, since right now it's pretty much just postings of what's new.