A buddy of mine wasn't in to this whole xbox experience lark and before it launched he said it was gonna be all kiddy and a joke, Now he's texting me like every 30 mins telling me just how great it is, i'm quite excited now and can't wait to see it for myself when i bring my 360 home tomorrow morning.

Quick question, have there been changes to the sound that you get when you "unlock" an achievement?

Is the new dashboard sound better than the "whoosh" sound that the old 360 blades make?

No.

The X360 DVDs have a capacity of *around* 6.8GB, with the remainder being for anti-piracy features. So the 6.0GB-whatever is indeed the full game. It just isn't installing the anti-piracy features because it'd be redundant.

I wasn't really listening to the sounds ronster, so I can't comment on that.

@Lost, the guide is almost exactly like the old dashboard, just that it fits in the middle of the screen. So if people aren't happy with the new dashboard all you have to do is press the circle of light and use the guide.

Oh and the install really doesn't take longer than like 2-3 minutes. Making your avatar is a whole different story though.

Yes, which would be one of the bigger improvement because it makes things more convience to access in game.  For me it's not too big of an issue since I'm too big on online play, and I usually listen to the developer's in-game music.  For me it's like watching a movie with its original soundtrack.

Correct, I thought I heard somewhere that they were planning to use the 9GB DVD's. Maybe I heard different.

I believe that what Mr. Stickball says is true and that it just copies over the whole game. You need to the disc in to start the game up to check for security purposes that you have the game (so you can't just install it from a rental/borrowed from a friend/etc.).

The install times varied by game but they usually didn't take too long. Like I said I was just using the internet and waiting until I heard the drive spin down (as it does when it's finished) and then I went to take a look at it again.

Your system shuts down and restarts after you install the NXE. Your system DOES NOT shutdown after installing a game to the hard drive. I installed all those games and I didn't have to restart my 360 once.

Well quarashi just said that its the same like the original Xbox Dashboard, nothing was improved. So is this true or what?

Yup that's what I figured also. I thought Microsoft was using DVD-9's thats why I said that most of the game data is installed on the HDD. But its awesome to know that the disk drive isn't spinning at its 12X speed anymore. We can all now install the games to the HDD and have a safe gaming experience.

Also might I add, I have a 20GB HDD its not bad for me because to point out I don't  play multiple games at once. I generally play 2 or 3 titles at a time and after that I just contiune on with other games. So I might have to end up purchasing either the 60GB or 120GB HDD.

Right now I have Gears of War, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Halo 3. I'm playing those and factoring in I only have about 13GB's left. Only 2 games will be able to get on my HDD, so I will have to upgrade real soon. I really don't have to install the games to the HDD, but it is a nice feature to not be able to hear the disk drive spinning.

It is different, different from the new dashboard which is what I thought you meant.  Besides, I do agree with quarshi because he said "the guide is almost exactly like the old dashboard."  Hopefully we aren't splitting hairs because it's more simplified (different as I expressed) which makes it feel more streamlined to me.

There are other benefits to game installation(s) 'ya know - Outside of the DVD not spinning at all.