By now you are all very obviously aware that the NXE dashboard update has been released and is impressing a lot of 360 owners the world over. Lazygamer reported earlier today that there are some issues in the form of an error coming up when you try and view certain pages. It also now seems as though that isn't the only problem. Before the release of NXE, Microsoft promised that the old themes from the original dashboard (OXE?) would work seamlessly and also look great, but the truth is that they just don't. Although I found an article about this on OXM's website, it was one of the first things that I realised when I booted up into the new dashboard. Not only are the background images not suited to the new layout that has windows running through the centre of the screen, but the images seem to also be stretched wider and have a definite loss in quality as a result (see header image). Although I don't feel as though it is a major issue, I am not the type of gamer that spends a lot of Microsoft Points on themes and gamer pictures, so I can understand if those who do are not very impressed with the translation over to the NXE. I'm sure that more little issues are going to be popping up here and there, there are rumours flying around that the NXE is causing RROD's, but until we are sure that it is not just one or two random cases, we won't be saying anything about it just yet.

Capcom has announced that they will have a new branded company storefront coming to the New Xbox Experience today, and according to Joystiq they may have slipped up a bit when it comes to a certain screenshot they released that shows the release date for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. The image in question shown above, clearly states …

Just a quick update, the NXE is officially up and runnning. I turned on the console at around 12:10 and it was downloaded and installed by around 12:20 (on a 4mb line) so the whole process was fairly quicker than I initially thought it was going to be, although I can see download times increasing when a lot of people get home. Creating the Avatar was pretty simple and the length you take all depends on how fussy you are going to be with your settings. I have just installed Gears of War 2 to my HDD and it looks like the install took around about 10 minutes or so. So there you have it, it's up and you can get it as soon as you get home. If you have any questions you can pop them into the comments and I will try and answer them for you.

Just a reminder to anyone who may have actually forgotten, today is the day that the New Xbox Dashboard Experience arrives. When you get home and switch on your Xbox 360, you will be asked to update. Once the update is downloaded and complete, you can start creating your avatar and messing around with the new layout. I am really looking forward to the new party chat that will allow 8 players to hook up and chat as well as move into game lobbies. All in all the new dashboard might not be as impressive as what Sony has planned for Home but I am really excited at the idea of never having to look at another dashboard blade go "whoosh" across my screen ever again.

According to the OFLC, which is the official media age classification body for Australia, Sega and THQ are working on a new OutRun game.The OFLC website provides the name OutRun Online Arcade, and claims the game will be a multiplatform venture for the two companies. Last Updated: November 18, 2008

Microsoft will be adding three popular Xbox Live Arcade games to its Arcade Hits collection, giving price cuts to downloadable versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Worms, and Feeding Frenzy. Worms was great fun, Feeding frenzy was, well a casual game that belonged on a cell phone of something in my opinion and as for Mortal Kombat well I doubt …

There is currently a popular story doing the rounds about how Epic Games think that Microsoft is winning the online battle due to their added content. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Epic's Mike Capps says that it's due to Microsoft's policy of adding of constantly "adding cool stuff". That's all good and well but it's the next part of the interview that got my interest. More after the jump. He goes on to say the that: "But I love the fact that you boot through the dashboard now - I understand how some gamers might not like it so much, but that's how you join into the Xbox Live experience - your dashboard comes up, you get to see what's new, hey, there's some free stuff you didn't know about - instead of just booting into your game and missing the community." It never ceases to amaze me how people can so easily soften words to try and make something hugely profitable look like it is something that has been done as a favour to us, the gamers. He speaks about missing the community and seeing that there is free stuff available, when in truth, it's actually just all about pushing as much money-making DLC down our throats as possible. This reminds me of the famous quote, "out of sight, out of mind".

Did you think 1200 Microsoft Points to play Portal: Still Alive on Xbox Live Arcade was worth it? Well, if you did, perhaps you’ll be happy to pay that again for this Wednesday’s offering, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader: Make the Grade. Or not. But either way, “AYSTA5G” is a quiz game based on the grade school (primary) …