Xbox users may be taking on a different personality with the launch of a new interface for the Microsoft game console.
Xbox Live’s 14m members are being urged to download the New Xbox Experience or NXE from Wednesday, which offers a 3-D interface and the chance to create your own avatar.
Microsoft will take some satisfaction in beating Sony’s PlayStation 3 to a revamp. Sony has still not provided an exact launch date for Home – its ambitious virtual world for the console, which has been beset by technical problems.
“Home is a tremendously ambitious undertaking and I don’t know of any home that isn’t built on a foundation,” Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment business strategy, told me, referring to the robustness of the Xbox Live infrastructure built up over the past six years.
“We do not think a virtual world is what people want, it is connecting to people and entertainment they care most about – social networks have far outpaced the growth of virtual worlds.”
Avatars are Microsoft’s one concession to virtual worlds and they are more realistic than Nintendo’s Mii avatars, but not as lifelike as those that will be available in Home.
Players will be able to start an online “party” with up to seven avatars of friends, where they can play games, share photos and voice chat.
Netflix subscribers will also be able to watch movies online through the new interface, with the DVD rental service offering around 300 titles in high definition for the first time.
Xbox Live users pay $50 a year for full access to Microsoft’s online service and Mr Kim said there would be further revenue opportunities through sponsorship and sales of special clothing and accessories for avatars.
