Microsoft New Xbox Experience Avatars


I just tried creating an avatar on Microsoft's new Xbox dashboard. As you can see (at least when the Microsoft server isn't being hammered) on the left, they provide a URL for displaying your current Avatar on a web page.

The character creation system is not too bad. In some ways it's more flexible than Nintendo's Mii (for example more hair styles and clothing), but in other ways it's more limited (less control over facial feature placement).

My avatar looks better on the Xbox than it does here -- they should consider sharpening the image. For example, the T-shirt my avatar is wearing has a thin-lined Xbox symbol.

I think they do a good job of avoiding the Uncanny Valley effect. I look forward to seeing how avatars end up being used in the Xbox world.

In othe Xbox-related news I'm enjoying playing Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts with my son. All we have right now is the demo, but it's great fun for anyone who likes building things. It's replaced Cloning Clyde as my son's favorite Xbox game.

Comments

Michael said…
The image web service seems to have problems.

ERROR

The requested URL could not be retrieved

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/Grammerjack/avatar-body.png

The following error was encountered:

• Unable to forward this request at this time.
Footprint 4.3/FPMCP
Generated Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:10:31 GMT by 192.221.110.123 (Footprint 4.3/FPMCP)
November 19, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Jack Palevich said…
I guess the server was hammered by a zillion avatars being created all at once. It looks OK now.
November 20, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
December 1, 2008 at 1:33 AM
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