h264 is the way of the future. You will find over the next few months that more and more groups release in h264. Same quality for much lower bitrate and better compression. So I'm afraid to say that you're gonna have to get used to it
. For example look at Bleach and Full Metal Panic The Second Raid, both of those are examples of groups using h264.
It was just the same as the change from divx3 to xvid. People complained then but once everyone made the effort to update their codecs all was good.
Also remember that we're catering for the computer mainly. We're not here to ensure the encodes work on each and every stand alone player thats out there from your dvd players to your psp's. If it really bothers you to watch it on your xbox theres plenty of utilities out there to convert it for you. I'd suggest a trip to
www.videohelp.com or a read of the guide on the animesuki forums about converting to DVD.
As for the question of whether there will be a xvid encode. The answer at this time is no. The encoder asked if he could move to h264 and the opinion of all of those involved with SSM was garnered and everyone agreed that we should move to h264. There are obvious improvements in the quality of the encode over xvid which befit the quality of the original region 2 source.
So to sumarise...
a) the decision to move to h264 was a group decision and we won't be reverting back to xvid.
b) h264 improves the encode quality
c) we're not in this game for compatibility with every standalone hardware player
d) h264 is the way of the future and you will see more and more groups using it.
e) If you want to play it on your xbox either run it through a converter or you could aways support the anime's original makers and buy the region 2 DVD's