Yesterday the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo kicked off with big announcements on Xbox 360’s future. Microsoft will ditch blades for a new look that’ll include avatars. If there’s one theme from Microsoft - the future looks social.

Microsoft is so confident that VP of Microsoft Entertainment Don Mattrick boldly stated that the console will outsell PlayStation3 through 2008 and beyond. That’s a lofty ambition considering PS3 sales rates are on the rise. It’s long been Sony’s plan to build a console that’s in it for the long haul.

Xbox Live will get a new look! They’re calling it the New Xbox Experience. It’s a new Xbox 360 dashboard that will make navigation look and feel more like Media Center. It looks slick and well polished but Microsoft must have decided its current dashboard tastes like Schick because it traded the blades in favor of scrolling menus and an avatar.

Microsoft may have taken a good look at what’s making Wii kick its competitors in the avatar. Casual social gaming is the order of the day. Oh, yes and avatars. When the New Xbox Experience is launched with this fall’s update every Xbox Live account will have an avatar associated with it, not unlike a Mii character.

You can dress up your avatar from a virtual wardrobe of custom clothes and accessories available on the LIVE Marketplace, of course. Those of us unwilling to spend a few Microsoft Points on duds for your dude will have to walk around in the default suspenders-and-barrel-over-the-midsection. It’s a retro depression era look, which according to economic indicators, might make a comeback.

Now that you’ve got your new Xbox LIVE avatar you can join the party. LIVE Party is the new social feature that’ll allow you and up to eight friends to hang out, avatar style and share LIVE content. Sure you can play games together, look at photos and the usual stuff with a single continuous connection. But soon you’ll be able to watch Netflix movies together.

Netflix and Microsoft have teamed up to let LIVE users stream the Netflix film library. Hardcore audio/video enthusiasts needn’t get too excited about Netflix streaming media. It’s not HD and the video is decidedly sub-DVD quality. But you’ll be able to watch with seven of your friends on LIVE and do your own virtual rendition of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.