So you’ve taken my advice and downloaded the NXE patch for your Xbox 360, made your avatar, fiddled around with some of the new features and...have no idea what to do next. Sure, your spanking new avatar looks pretty spiffy but they just kinda stand there on your My Xbox page. Is that all they do?

Well, basically yes, for now. At this early stage we can’t really expect too much from them as developers still have to figure out how to better utilize them in their upcoming games. About the only game that showcases avatars is A Kingdom For Keflings which gives you the option to fully control your avatar during the game. Other games such as Uno and Hardware Spades just use avatars in place of your Xbox live vision camera feeds which, while cute, don’t exactly show the avatars as nothing more than window dressing.

Currently the only games that support avatars in any form are:

• UNO
• Scene It? Box Office Smash
• Kingdom for Keflings
• Hardwood Hearts
• Bomberman LIVE
• Hardwood Spades

Until Microsoft brings their on-line quiz game 1 vs 100 to market or other undisclosed projects we’re going to have to be content with playing dress up. Since the NXE patch, Microsoft has released extra clothing for your avatars. These are easy to ascertain since they are marked with a giant gold star when you enter the clothing options screen.

So far all these new items are free of charge but users waiting for “cool” outfits based on hot Microsoft video games like Halo or Gears of War better walk along as these are nothing more than casual clothing you can find in your nearest Gap store. Still, free is free, so we better count our blessings since we don’t know how long it will be till Microsoft decides to start charging for them. On a side note, a lot of these new clothing options don’t match well. I’m no expert on fashion but putting on the winter set for example, results in some garish clash of colours.
Since the NXE patch the following clothing has been added:

For Males

• Blue Tuxedo
• Black Tuxedo
• Shirt with Cummerbund
• Black Trilby
• Bowler Hat
• Winter Jacket
• Winter Boots
• Winter Gloves
• Winter Knit cap

For Females

• Elegant Ball Gown
• Little Black Dress
• Formal Trouser Suit
• Elegant Watch
• Red 60's Shades
• Strappy High Heels
• Platform Shoes
• Winter Jacket
• Winter Boots
• Winter Gloves
• Winter Knit cap

Although we can’t really find much gaming use for avatars so far the groundwork is certainly there and Microsoft has added a few online features that you can use for other applications. After you have successfully made your avatar Microsoft has given you a way to produce a PNG image of it to download to your PC. This is actually pretty cool as it looks exactly like your avatar and comes complete with a transparent background so you can use it as signatures in email or in any word document, blog or website you create. You can also download a PNG of your gamerpic as well in two different sizes.

To do so is just incredibly simple. Assuming you have an avatar and gamerpic just enter this follow URLs into your web browser and it will spit out your downloadable image. Just replace the (gamertag) section with your real gamertag without the open and close brackets.

• avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatar-body.png
• avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatarpic-l.png
• avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/(gamertag)/avatarpic-s.p

Another Microsoft website you can visit is Free Your Avatar at the following url:

• http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/freeyouravatar/default.htm

Here you can create custom images of your avatar either solo or with your friends . This is a simple flash based web application where you can again place an image of your avatar onto a custom wallpaper background. You can even add text to this and make a simple digital card not unlike the ones you find at Hallmark or Carleton cards. Again, not exactly awe inspiring in terms of gaming but it has its uses in terms of social networking. Microsoft seems to be giving you tools and options to expand your social friends network that are located outside of the Xbox 360 console. This runs opposite to Sony’s Home concept that encourages social gatherings within an application running on the console.

This is not to say one is better than the other, just merely different. You never know though, maybe Microsoft will develop its own social world on the 360 as well in the future. Then again, I hope not as it’s much more convenient to do on a PC or, you know, go out into the real world with friends.

The last application pertaining to avatars that has been released is the snow globe which can be downloaded onto your 360. As you might have guessed, this is a basically useless app that places your avatar and friends into a virtual snow globe that you can shake. That’s it. Really. I know it’s free and might make a few kids happy but I hope Microsoft assigns teams to make things which are a bit more useful.

So there you have it. New clothing options are a real plus as is the free avatar picture downloads that can be used just about anywhere. I can see that Microsoft is really putting an effort to expand the Xbox 360 experience outside of just the console and though these are baby steps they do point to having a master plan -- or so we hope.