Microsoft is describing it as "hiccups," but gamers trying to explore all of the new features after updating their Xbox 360 dashboards have encountered a variety of problems:
- The most common issue is access to Xbox Live Marketplace, which was non-existent much of the day and is now spotty at best.
- The new capability to select and buy downloads directly from the Web version of Marketplace has been down much of the day and now seems to throw more errors than results. I was told that a demo of a new community game was not for my region, though it was more than happy to sell me the full version for $10. And some featured content links are just dead.
- New premium themes priced at $3.13 each are optimized for the new dashboard layout, which is good since many of your old themes are now mostly obscured or just plain silly. There are a few new ones preloaded in your theme selector (Xbox 360, Spectrum, Day and Night), so at least those can tide you over while you save up for the more expensive themes that you can see less of.
- The downloadable Netflix channel - one of the few things that seems to be easy to get - now requires a mystery update, which is blissfully quick. This feature is free for Gold members who already have a qualified Netflix plan, and you can activate up to four "instant" playback devices a year. As mentioned in yesterday's First Look, all of the Sony movies are gone but at least Netflix labels them so you can remove them or bump them to the end in case they ever come back or you get the opportunity to watch them on a PC or non-Xbox 360 device. I lost eight titles overnight: Spider-Man 3, Gattaca, Steamboy, Reign Over Me, Ghost Rider, Jumanji, The Water Horse and American Pop (the last one I have on laserdisc, but this would save me from having to dig it out of the basement).
- Access to the Photo Party channel, another free bonus for Gold members, also seems to be readily nabbed if you use the big dashboard ad to find it.
- Pictures of your avatars can be downloaded and shared easily, except the site that provides these isn't working too well. Just replace GAMERTAG with your gamertag in the following URL: http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/GAMERTAG/avatar-body.png - if it works, be sure to save a local copy rather than link direct (which is probably what is causing the access problems).
- Microsoft announced more avatar outfits are coming in the form of clothes theme packs, which will probably be mostly for pay though we can hope for some free and sponsored content. And can we get some more noses, chins and ears, please? And what's with all of the realistic skin colors? My son wants a blue alien tint; he was good at school all day, so why can't he have it?
