I did get into the Xbox software beta Friday night and got a chance to play with the new features Saturday.
I have to say that, while they're pretty cool, they're just a step away from being incredible. The three main new things are Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm.
Facebook is probably the most functional in that you can see your friends and can even see what friends you have on Facebook that are also on Xbox Live so that you can add them to your Live friends list. You can browse pictures and do pretty much any of the base functions of Facebook.
I've come to find the Twitter app not quite so useful. It's cool to be able to send out a quick tweet from the Xbox, but when reading your feed, a lot of times, people will include links to websites. Since the Xbox doesn't have a web browser, these links do nothing and it cuts down on the usefulness of the app. I do like the interface though. Tweets pop in as little bubbles at the top of the screen and then scroll down as new tweets come in.
Last.fm is also designed well. It's easy to browse stations and find artists that you want to listen to. Recommendations are there along with the ability to rate songs and artists, favorite them, etc...
What keeps all these apps from being awesome though is that they don't extend into the Xbox Live environment outside of their apps. If you want to tweet something in the middle of a game, you'll have to quit your game and load the Twitter app to do it. Same for Facebook. The greatest use for Last.fm would be to turn on a station and leave it playing in the background while you do other stuff, but as soon as you leave the Last.fm app, the music stops. I understand why Microsoft wants these things to be separate apps, but it holds them back from being something really cool and useful and something that Sony and Nintendo aren't even close to pulling off.
Have a good Wednesday.
--Paul
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