I have been playing around with the latest update preview for about a week now and I am in a position to provide my impressions. For those who are disconnected to the world; this update includes:
- Zune Marketplace
- Last.fm
This interface works very well for Twitter and to be honest there was nothing that could be achieved using the NXE like interface anyway. So thumbs-up to the team for keeping it simple.
Overall, a well integrated nice little addition to the console and I am sure it will make a lot of people, myself included, very happy.
Things are not so great on the Facebook side. Where Twitter feels lite, simple and well integrated Facebook feels heavy and busy. This is not an issue for me as long as you get full functionaltiy. If I have to stop playing a game, go back to the dashboard and load a full fledge Facebook application I expect a lot. I expect the functionality that I get from the Facebook iPhone app or at least Facebook Windows Mobile app.
Before I mention things you can do I would like to point out that Facebook on Xbox will let you navigate your friends' profile, albums, etc only if they have allowed full access to third party applications on Facebook. Like many of us, I have this disabled and so have my friends. I couldn't see my friends' profile, albums or anything. I posted this to Microsoft and they confirmed that my friends will need to allow access to third party applications in their Facebook privacy settings. A real bummer?
Another major let down is not being able to view friends' walls. In fact there is very limited that you can do, you can view their status, albums and profile information. That's it! Seriously! This is like having a jam donut with no jam in it. Other than that, you can't view videos which is a shame because the best part of Facebook on Xbox is Albums and the slide show. Overall, this release of Facebook on Xbox is somewhat undercooked. I assume next version will achieve much more. As this is a "nice to have" feature, most of the users will not be complaining about it.
Zune Marketplace is exactly as I expected. The interface is clean and perfectly logical. Other than Featured list, you can also browse and search. However, content in the marketplace is not that great, I would love to see Microsoft partnering with Lovefilm or Blockbuster to provide access to a huge library as well as a fixed price subscription based service (similar to Netflix in the US). This is a great move on Microsoft side and it makes perfect sense to have something like that on a gaming console. A valuable addition to the console.
Lastly, I want to talk about Last.fm. Like Zune Marketplace, this is a great feature but unlike Zune Marketplace it has great content too. Well, that was the whole point of having Last.fm. I have already spent hours listening and discovering music on Last.fm even though I don't use it on PC. The same NXE like interface works brilliantly and provide another way of killing time when you are not playing games but still using the dashboard or as I call it, "dashboarding". (And you thought it's only you who did that?). The pan-and-zoom photo slideshow as you listen to music makes it more fun and I love it! Another great feature.
Overall, a nice selection of features that are coming our way. Since it is not breaking any existing features, it will be welcomed by the Xbox community. It will also make Xbox 360 vs PS3 debate more interesting and the decision to choose much easier. Beat that Sony!
I am also pleased to see the importance Xbox 360 is receiving at Microsoft and it gives me a very nice feeling about the upcoming additions to the Xbox 360 console.
