New 360 Dashboard Leaks, Microsoft demand immediate takedown.

[Kushan]

Ahhh but we all know the new dash is more than just a facelift, it has several new features as well. In particular the Avatars are going to need space to be stored, so how will that work for Arcade/core users?

If they've managed to update the 360 AND leave enough space over in the flash memory to store the Avatars, I'll be extremely impressed.

Also, since it's such a major update, I'd expect a few bricked 360s to appear just in time for Christmas. Not badmouthing MS, but it's BOUND to happen with any update of this size (Sony's FW 2.4 being a prime example).

Why do Microsoft care…? The update is free anyway.

All sorts of reasons - it's incomplete and so if there's any bugs, it'll be bad publicity, it also gives the hackers a good, long start investigating the new OS for holes and glitches, plus if someone installs it and it bricks their 360, they'll kick up a fuss and Microsoft will still be the bad guys because it's cool to hate on Microsoft these days.

[Ricardo Gil]

Ahhh but we all know the new dash is more than just a facelift, it has several new features as well. In particular the Avatars are going to need space to be stored, so how will that work for Arcade/core users?

If they've managed to update the 360 AND leave enough space over in the flash memory to store the Avatars, I'll be extremely impressed.

I believe they won't, at least not more than your regular xml conf. file. It shouldn't take more than a few kb I guess.

[Kushan]

When you've only got 16Mb of space for absolutely everything, XML is a poor choice to store them, especially considering how large XML files can be (since they're all text). Ideally they'd be in a binary format, then they'd only be a few bytes each.

However, it's not the Avatars themselves that are the problem, but the numerous items that make them up. Various faces, pieces of clothing, etc. are all going to take up a fair amount of space.

However, considering that they're going to be updated a lot (i.e. new items getting added through updates and games), it's unlikely that they'll be stored in flash I suppose.

Guess that means Arcade/Core owners wont get them - which is sadly ironic, as they're the exact audience they're designed for.

[Ricardo Gil]

When you've only got 16Mb of space for absolutely everything, XML is a poor choice to store them, especially considering how large XML files can be (since they're all text). Ideally they'd be in a binary format, then they'd only be a few bytes each.

However, it's not the Avatars themselves that are the problem, but the numerous items that make them up. Various faces, pieces of clothing, etc. are all going to take up a fair amount of space.

However, considering that they're going to be updated a lot (i.e. new items getting added through updates and games), it's unlikely that they'll be stored in flash I suppose.

Guess that means Arcade/Core owners wont get them - which is sadly ironic, as they're the exact audience they're designed for.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I was referring to the configuration file that determines your avatar look, and everything related to your profile. The avatar assets won't be in XML of course :), text encoding FTL. Even so, the individual pieces shouldn't take that much space, it's all about what you can do combining them together. The Wii is a perfect example, not that many pieces in each category, yet there's so much you can do with them.

[Kushan]

Yup, but remember these are not Miis, they're a completely different kettle of fish, albeit with a similar look.

Plus, the wii has 512Mb of internal storage, so the Mii data probably is a fair size.

It depends a lot on how the clothing items are actually stored I suppose, there's nothing to stop them using fancy algorithms to draw a lot of the stuff (as well as a few other good techniques) to keep space at a minimum, but I still doubt they'll be stored in flash memory purely because of the way the DLC for them works.

[Ricardo Gil]

Yup, but remember these are not Miis, they're a completely different kettle of fish, albeit with a similar look.

Plus, the wii has 512Mb of internal storage, so the Mii data probably is a fair size.

It depends a lot on how the clothing items are actually stored I suppose, there's nothing to stop them using fancy algorithms to draw a lot of the stuff (as well as a few other good techniques) to keep space at a minimum, but I still doubt they'll be stored in flash memory purely because of the way the DLC for them works.

At this stage it's really anyone's guess I suppose. Anyway, even if space becomes an issue, owners can still get a cheap memory card, just like they would to save a game.

[Smashing Pumpkin]

Yeah I mean they're aimed at core/arcade users, but even they need a memory card at least if they're going to play their games.

Perhaps basic clothing included in the update and free downloads to give you more variety, downloads that are stored on your memory card / HDD. It'd be nice to see some sort of design your own pattern on the clothes thing, like in Animal Crossing on DS.

[Kushan]

The problem is that unless you have ALL of the clothing available, it's completely useless because anyone on your friends list that has unlocked it is going to show up on your dash. I suppose it could be downloaded when you connect, but that seems awfully wasteful and slow, not to mention it would take up memory in games that use them.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens when it comes out, but I'm willing to bet that you'll need a hard drive to use them.

[magik]

It's going to work just like gamerpics work now. Some basic ones included by default and the rest need to be stored somewhere (HDD or Memory Card).

[Brandon]

Why MS didn't include 64-128MB of flash memory onboard, I will never know

[Kushan]

It's going to work just like gamerpics work now. Some basic ones included by default and the rest need to be stored somewhere (HDD or Memory Card).

Hmm, that's true, but gamerpics are a lot smaller.

Why MS didn't include 64-128MB of flash memory onboard, I will never know

Because it still wouldn't be enough and would have just made the console more expensive.

[magik]

Hmm, that's true, but gamerpics are a lot smaller.

Not necessarily. From the looks of it, the default clothing and such are just color gradients. Which essentially is just a few numerical color values plus the object shape description. It's probably even smaller than a standard gamerpic.

[mail]

http://gizmodo.com/5029965/new-xbox-360-da...acked-xbox-360s

[magik]

http://gizmodo.com/5029965/new-xbox-360-da...acked-xbox-360s

Why is it that anybody with anything cool always has the crappiest camera?

[Guest]

Whats with all the pseudo text?

[HawkMan]

Whats with all the pseudo text?

Missing variabls and crap since they don't have the supporting update that should precede this one.

[AimLXJ]

I must say the new dashboard feels okay :shiftyninja:

[DELTETHISACCOUNT]

This guy is working on it..still.

Hey, whats the song playing in the video for update #7?

EDIT: Open Your Eyes by United State of Electronica

Couldn't find it anywhere so I purchased it from Amazon. $.89 for a good song, I don't mind. :)

Edited July 29, 2008 by Ruiz

[Ji@nBing]

Looks like he got it working, but none of the new features are working, so it's kind of useless.

[iconboy]

when is this update coming?

the fall? what is that November?

[Menge]

Whats with all the pseudo text?

Missing variabls and crap since they don't have the supporting update that should precede this one.

it's not missing variables. it's internationalization testing. they write with the most UNICODE characters they can so that when they run it they double-check that UNICODE support is working. this is quite common internally, apparently

[Guest]

it's not missing variables. it's internationalization testing. they write with the most UNICODE characters they can so that when they run it they double-check that UNICODE support is working. this is quite common internally, apparently

Ok... that makes sense now that i think about it,

i was working in a software testing / localizing company for a few months last summer and saw this all over Microsofts Dynamics CRM software.

Asked a few working there and they didn't know why... lol.

[Apex.]

I must admit, I did try and get this to work, but alas, no results. It's a shame too because I was going to use my BlackMagic Intensity card and record it in HD so that we can all get a better look at this great new dash.

Oh well.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I must admit, I did try and get this to work, but alas, no results. It's a shame too because I was going to use my BlackMagic Intensity card and record it in HD so that we can all get a better look at this great new dash.

Oh well.

They make it clear you need an infectus modchip in the video.

Just having custom firmware won't work (not saying you have this, but it's the one thing every 360 owner can install without expense - unlike the modchip above).