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[pirichios]

Hi, this is my first review and hope you will find it useful
instead of reviewing games(I believe there are tons of people who can do a far better job than me i have decided to review the most important and influencial Apps in the scene today.

First off:

Xbox Media Center:
Wow. This is got to be the closest thing to the greatest homebrew app in history for game consoles(and no i am not being biased)There are tons of people that want to get their xbox modded just for having this app running in it alone. Not only is this a great App but it is also a candidate of th BEST dashboard out there.Xbos Media Center features so much stuff i would not cover them all in this review, so the best recomendation i can give you is try it for yourself it is just amazing.From playing your backed up DVD movies from over a network(yes with menu's and everything)to checking the local weather in your area this thing is SICK AND WRONG! give it a try i have nothing more to say

Rating
5/5

Next is

DVD2XBOX:

It is a great application but it may not be for people with a retail hard drive.People usually use this to backup their own games into the hd for safe keeping and faster loading times.People with retail hard drives can not enjoy it much since their space is limited.Dont get me wrong still a great App just not for everyone.
Although the people who enjoy its benefits are happy people that never get their original discs scratched and laugh at people who load games off a disc because their loading times is WAY shorter

Rating
4/5  (just because it may not be an App for everyone)

EVOX
Ahhh the legendary dashboard. Probably the one many will argue that it kicked everything off in the scene.
It was a great Dashboard upon release but it is now sorely beaten as a Dashboard by many superior choices(Xbox media Center, Avalaunch and UnleashX)Many people have the misconception that this is a safe dashboard for beginners.THIS IS NOT TRUE. It is a dashboard that allows you to flash your bios which is particularly dangerous if the user is a beginner user that is tinkering with features and flashes it with the wrong bios. The user may just end up with a useless Xbox. It is still a great APP nowadays since it can help you flash your bios but i personally believe there is little to no reason to have it as a main dashboard and that noobs should stay away from it

Rating
3/5

Unleash X
One of the most complete Dashboards out there. The dash looks great and if it does not fit your tastes there a TONS of skins for it out there. Also it features a nice gamesave manager feature which avalaunch lacks. It is very little left to say on how good this thing is. My only gripe is that you can not download gamesaves straight to your xbox like avalaunch does.

Rating
4/5

Avalaunch
Man, this is a decent dashboard with the gamesave download feature, but truth be told it does not feature so much eye candy as the other dash's do. still it is a pretty good dashboards that features a repertoir of decent features for the users including shoutcast interaction w/ xlink kai (just like Xbox media Center)
you may want to give the Dash a try it may just suit your tastes.

Rating
3.5/5

well this is it for today expect more reviews in the future from me hope you enjoy my article

[BanjoK]

This thread is off-topic. This forum is for retail Xbox game reviews only.

[pirichios]

well im sorry if it is a bad thing that i did i just thaught i could contribute my grain of salt to many people who wonder what apps they should use.
Also i have seen many app reviews in this thread before so i hope the mods dont mind
P.S.
Sorry if i did something wrong. was not my intention

by the way Banjok
here is the backing to my claim that i have seen app reviews before in this thread
Xbox media center review made in this thread around a couple of yrs ago
Also read the pinned topics it says that homebrew app reviews are allowed as well as european game reviews
here is the link to the pinned topic please read the title
pinned topic that says that homebrew app reviews are allowed

This post has been edited by pirichios: Feb 19 2006, 09:15 AM

[BanjoK]

That is strange. It seems the rules contradict each other at different places. The following information stated is the information under this forum's name.

A dedicated area where people can submit full game reviews on RETAIL XBOX GAMES.


The rules being contradictory to each other has happened at these forums before so it does not surprise me all that much. I appreciate your review and your contribution to these forums. I also appreciate your mature way of responding to my post.

[proger]

I must say, it amazing, finally a little conflict on the internet that dosent end up like
"I AM GOING TO FU*KING KILL YOU NOOB!" :-D

And by the way, nice reviews, I agree with these reviews 100%.

[The Zep Man]

I do not agree with the review of XBMC. You give it a 5/5. It should be a 6/5. If I could rate XBMC with a number between 1 (worst) and 10 (best), I would give it an 11.

I have recently installed XBMC as my dashboard and it works excellent for people who simply play a game, run an application, watch a video or listen to some music. One can tream music and videos over an SMB-network, fully transparant in the menu (if configured correctly). It can even be extended with support for Xlink KAI. When I need to update XBMC, an application like UnleashX or EvoX is used.

[bdto]

Nice reviews, but this little bit is inaccurate:

QUOTE(pirichios @ Feb 18 2006, 01:53 PM)

Unleash X
My only gripe is that you can not download gamesaves straight to your xbox like avalaunch does.

I don't know if this is a feature that was added recently, but it's definitely there.  I used it this morning.  Just press "Y" from within the gamesave manager and it'll connect and show a list of downloadable saves for that particular game.

I know this for a dead-certain fact because I downloaded a 100% save for Tomb Raider Legend.  I finished the story mode on my own (at 93% complete) but lacked the patience to trawl through the levels again getting every treasure and scoring 100%.  I just wanted to see all the unlockable goodies.  Is that a bad thing?   (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

-bdto

[pirichios]

My apologies, you are correct after checking, it seems the download game save feature is on Unleash X.
and it works very well may i add.
Thanks bdto for pointing this out. I hope this also helps people that cant decide which dashboard to go with
i say after looking at this feature Unleash X does deserve a higher score
but the only reason why i cant personally give it a 5 is because i would have to put it next to the mammoth that xbox media center is.Although definitely Unleash X is one of the great dashboards out there

[bdto]

QUOTE(pirichios @ Apr 21 2006, 02:34 AM)

My apologies, you are correct after checking, it seems the download game save feature is on Unleash X.
and it works very well may i add. Thanks bdto for pointing this out. I hope this also helps people that cant decide which dashboard to go with
i say after looking at this feature Unleash X does deserve a higher score
but the only reason why i cant personally give it a 5 is because i would have to put it next to the mammoth that xbox media center is.Although definitely Unleash X is one of the great dashboards out there

Hey, that's cool, no apologies necessary.  Just doing my bit to help.

IMHO, it's almost unfair to compare any "regular" dash like EvoX or UnleashX to XBMC.  The way I see it, your dashboard is more of a utility or operating system, used for launching programs, playing with settings, copying discs or files, etc.  XBMC, on the other hand, is more like a media player that happens to have some dashboard functions on the side.  I may be wrong, but the "My Programs" part of XBMC is probably the simplest part of its operation: all it's doing is launching another application.  It's the media playback, especially the video, that makes XBMC so much more than "just another dashboard".  That, and the Project Mayhem skin - so professional and sharp, it's almost scary.

Now you know why I keep both UnleashX and XBMC on my hard drive.  I like UX for it's simplicity and speed for normal, everyday tasks and basic system maintenance.  However, I did edit the config.xml to put XBMC at the top level, right below "Games".  I also have XBMC as a quicklaunch item (hold down a button while UnleashX boots to auto-start).  

They both deserve seriously high scores; I just think of them as being in separate categories.


-bdto

[pirichios]

I agree with you a 100%
only reason why im not counting xbox media center only as an app its because many people love it as a standalone dashboard.
It is true that Unleash X should be put in a different category. its use, (at least compared to xbmc) can be relatively different specially given the facts that Unleash X makes no pretentions to be something it is not.
It is an All out Dashboard that is good at what it does. Xbmc is as it names says a media center. Still i do believe that most basic dashboard functions between xbmc and unleash x are shared. Like the launching of games and selection as what you want to launch"emulators, programs, etc.
reason why i did the comparison though is because many people make a choice when selecting a dash
and many people do select xbox media center as a main dash. The Zep Man for example he set it as a main dash and uses evox or unleash x as a second hand app to update xbmc and such.  
Still both of these guys (XBMC and Unleash) are g0dly applications that show high levels of skill by their creators.

[sunker]

QUOTE(proger @ Feb 20 2006, 04:26 AM)

I must say, it amazing, finally a little conflict on the internet that dosent end up like
"I AM GOING TO FU*KING KILL YOU NOOB!" :-D

And by the way, nice reviews, I agree with these reviews 100%.

cool avatar

[DarthMactis]

The only resone i would i use UX over XBMC is the little things like game previews when selecting a game, and how UX brakes up the apps, games , and emulater catagories making it easyer to get to what you want i think. UX has a little more info about you system on the main screen, which i love LOL.  XBMC is awsome, but i manly use it for streaming movies and mp3 from my computer and thats about it.