[Darius Wey]

It's been three years since Microsoft released the Xbox 360, and with the release of new hardware and new services, huge gaming announcements, and price drops, suffice it to say that it's come a long way since then. But with all that was introduced, one thing that remained stale was the Blades interface. It actually was and still is a solid interface, but in an age where online content rules, Blades certainly could have used a few tweaks to give it a little more shine. Microsoft went one better, though. In the early hours of yesterday morning (Pacific time), a switch was flicked and the highly-anticipated New Xbox Experience (NXE) was made available to each and every Xbox 360 owner.

I had the pleasure of using NXE before its release, and used that opportunity to explore it in its entirety. This article focuses on some of the key features NXE brings to the table, so if you're interested in learning more, read on!

When you first turn on the Xbox 360 and connect to Xbox Live, you're prompted to download and install NXE. The upgrade process is a painless one and takes around 5 to 10 minutes on most broadband connections. Following installation, the Xbox 360 plays a short introduction video, then takes you straight to the Avatar Editor.

Avatars

Yes, the infamous Avatars. Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, think they're Mii-ripoffs or not, or believe they're too cute for your underground gaming attitude, they're here to stay. Fortunately for the haters, the Avatars aren't all that invasive; they only consume a tiny portion of the Dashboard (which you'll soon see) and reside in a small collection of new and upcoming games, as well as older, recently-upgraded games such as UNO.

Microsoft offers an extensive library of personal features that allow you to customize your Avatar from eyes and ears to freckles and nevi to face paint. The wardrobe is a little less extensive, although Microsoft is promising more clothes in the coming months.

So, you've created your Avatar, and put him/her into a bit of a dizzy spell with your LT and RT buttons. What's next? If you feel ever so inclined, you can create your very own personalized gamer picture with the help of your Avatar and a trusty on-screen camera.

And then it's straight to the new Dashboard.

The New Dashboard

This is the new Dashboard. It adopts a two-way scrolling interface: vertical scrolling cycles through a series of sections such as Spotlight (a listing of what's hot on the Marketplace), My Xbox (everything to do with your profile and libraries), Friends (an Avatar-representation of your friends and their parties), and the Video and Game Marketplaces; horizontal scrolling cycles through each section's options.

What's immediately noticeable is just how clean and vibrant the new Dashboard is. Unlike the older Dashboard, everything just pops out of the screen. NXE taps into Marketplace content and updates portions of the Dashboard accordingly. Meanwhile, themes stretch right to the edges of the screen. Four themes (Xbox 360, Spectrum, Day, and Night) are included by default; if you want more, the Marketplace offers more themes than you can poke a stick at.

My Xbox

The "My Xbox" section offers easy access to your profile, game library, media library, and settings. Again, NXE taps into Marketplace content by displaying a large preview of the game sitting in your Xbox 360's disc drive, and also displaying box art representations of games in your game library - even Xbox Live Arcade releases. Unfortunately, previous-generation Xbox games aren't so lucky in this regard.

Profile and Achievements

NXE offers a new way to visualize your profile and game achievements. It's an absolute breeze flicking through the list... unlike the previous interface, which was a pain to navigate.

Oh, and you know those Xbox Live Arcade titles that you downloaded, but never ended up purchasing? There's now a way to purge them from your history, resulting in a cleaner and more accurate portrayal of the games that you own.

Game Installations

Microsoft has added support for optional game installations. This new feature copies the contents of your game discs to your HDD and allows you to play games entirely off the HDD to help reduce noise levels, load times, and pop-ins during gameplay (Halo 3 is an exception); although, the Xbox 360 still performs a disc check at the start of each gaming session - so, no, you can't pick up a game from your friend or your local rental store, install it, return it, and then play to your heart's content.

Most titles require 6-7GB. Multi-disc titles such as Lost Odyssey easily edge over the 20GB mark. If you have one of the old 20GB HDDs, then you may have room for one single-disc installation, depending on the amount of free space available. Otherwise, you'll probably want to acquire one of the bigger 60GB and 120GB HDDs, which I ended up doing recently with absolutely no regrets.

Friends

Avatars are back to amuse (haunt?) you in the Friends section. Friends are now grouped by parties, and in each party, there's box art telling you what game is being played.

Parties themselves are new to the Xbox 360. If you've ever played through a series of games with a group of friends pre-NXE style, then you'd know just how painful it was maintaining an uninterrupted group chat and managing game invites. The parties feature alleviates the pain by allowing a party host to invite members, and then jump from game to game seamlessly, while chatting away without interruption. This feature happens to be the one I appreciate most out of all that NXE has to offer.

Game Marketplace

The old Xbox Live Marketplace interface simply could not sustain the growth in content over the past three years. Browsing through hundreds of games was nothing short of slow and frustrating. Fortunately, NXE offers a solution that is both graphically-rich and easy on the thumbs.

Browsing by letters? No problem.

Browsing by title and box art? Sure.

Full-screen eye-candy? Yes, please.

Video Marketplace

The Video Marketplace is much of the same story. If you want Bond in high-definition and in full-screen, you got it.

Media Functionality

Over the years, the Xbox 360 has enjoyed gradual improvements in media functionality. With NXE, there's barely anything new. Interface-wise, it's more or less a case of the same elements in a new skin.

But, perhaps all that is offset by the integration of Netflix, which allows for streaming of movies and TV episodes. It's US-only, though, so if you're reading this and reside elsewhere, don't spend hours looking for that elusive Netflix option that doesn't exist.

Of course, Windows Media Center connectivity is still available.

More Pixels!

If you have the right cable and a matching display to boot, then you're going to love the new resolutions on offer. The Xbox 360 now supports up to 1920 x 1080, making everything on-screen crisper than fried chicken.

Blades: The New Xbox Guide

If, while reading this article, you've been secretly lamenting the death of the Blades interface, don't. It's still accessible via the Xbox Guide button. Sure, it's a miniature version, but it serves its purpose well. Whether it's access to the Marketplace, your Friends list, or media player controls, the big X has it all.

All in all, NXE isn't perfect, but it's certainly a huge step forward. It is only a day old, so if you're having difficulties appreciating what's on offer, give it time and let it grow on you. In a week or two, there's a good chance you'll be left wondering how you ever used an Xbox 360 without NXE.

Darius Wey is a software and web developer based in Perth, Australia. He has an avid interest in photography, music, mobile devices, and of course, the Xbox 360.

[Darius Wey]

It's been three years since Microsoft released the Xbox 360, and with the release of new hardware and new services, huge gaming announcements, and price drops, suffice it to say that it's come a long way since then. But with all that was introduced, one thing that remained stale was the Blades interface. It actually was and still is a solid interface, but in an age where online content rules, Blades certainly could have used a few tweaks to give it a little more shine. Microsoft went one better, though. In the early hours of yesterday morning (Pacific time), a switch was flicked and the highly-anticipated New Xbox Experience (NXE) was made available to each and every Xbox 360 owner.

I had the pleasure of using NXE before its release, and used that opportunity to explore it in its entirety. This article focuses on some of the key features NXE brings to the table, so if you're interested in learning more, read on!

When you first turn on the Xbox 360 and connect to Xbox Live, you're prompted to download and install NXE. The upgrade process is a painless one and takes around 5 to 10 minutes on most broadband connections. Following installation, the Xbox 360 plays a short introduction video, then takes you straight to the Avatar Editor.

Avatars

Yes, the infamous Avatars. Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, think they're Mii-ripoffs or not, or believe they're too cute for your underground gaming attitude, they're here to stay. Fortunately for the haters, the Avatars aren't all that invasive; they only consume a tiny portion of the Dashboard (which you'll soon see) and reside in a small collection of new and upcoming games, as well as older, recently-upgraded games such as UNO.

Microsoft offers an extensive library of personal features that allow you to customize your Avatar from eyes and ears to freckles and nevi to face paint. The wardrobe is a little less extensive, although Microsoft is promising more clothes in the coming months.

So, you've created your Avatar, and put him/her into a bit of a dizzy spell with your LT and RT buttons. What's next? If you feel ever so inclined, you can create your very own personalized gamer picture with the help of your Avatar and a trusty on-screen camera.

And then it's straight to the new Dashboard.

The New Dashboard

This is the new Dashboard. It adopts a two-way scrolling interface: vertical scrolling cycles through a series of sections such as Spotlight (a listing of what's hot on the Marketplace), My Xbox (everything to do with your profile and libraries), Friends (an Avatar-representation of your friends and their parties), and the Video and Game Marketplaces; horizontal scrolling cycles through each section's options.

What's immediately noticeable is just how clean and vibrant the new Dashboard is. Unlike the older Dashboard, everything just pops out of the screen. NXE taps into Marketplace content and updates portions of the Dashboard accordingly. Meanwhile, themes stretch right to the edges of the screen. Four themes (Xbox 360, Spectrum, Day, and Night) are included by default; if you want more, the Marketplace offers more themes than you can poke a stick at.

My Xbox

The "My Xbox" section offers easy access to your profile, game library, media library, and settings. Again, NXE taps into Marketplace content by displaying a large preview of the game sitting in your Xbox 360's disc drive, and also displaying box art representations of games in your game library - even Xbox Live Arcade releases. Unfortunately, previous-generation Xbox games aren't so lucky in this regard.

Profile and Achievements

NXE offers a new way to visualize your profile and game achievements. It's an absolute breeze flicking through the list... unlike the previous interface, which was a pain to navigate.

Oh, and you know those Xbox Live Arcade titles that you downloaded, but never ended up purchasing? There's now a way to purge them from your history, resulting in a cleaner and more accurate portrayal of the games that you own.

Game Installations

Microsoft has added support for optional game installations. This new feature copies the contents of your game discs to your HDD and allows you to play games entirely off the HDD to help reduce noise levels, load times, and pop-ins during gameplay (Halo 3 is an exception); although, the Xbox 360 still performs a disc check at the start of each gaming session - so, no, you can't pick up a game from your friend or your local rental store, install it, return it, and then play to your heart's content.

Most titles require 6-7GB. Multi-disc titles such as Lost Odyssey easily edge over the 20GB mark. If you have one of the old 20GB HDDs, then you may have room for one single-disc installation, depending on the amount of free space available. Otherwise, you'll probably want to acquire one of the bigger 60GB and 120GB HDDs, which I ended up doing recently with absolutely no regrets.

Friends

Avatars are back to amuse (haunt?) you in the Friends section. Friends are now grouped by parties, and in each party, there's box art telling you what game is being played.

Parties themselves are new to the Xbox 360. If you've ever played through a series of games with a group of friends pre-NXE style, then you'd know just how painful it was maintaining an uninterrupted group chat and managing game invites. The parties feature alleviates the pain by allowing a party host to invite members, and then jump from game to game seamlessly, while chatting away without interruption. This feature happens to be the one I appreciate most out of all that NXE has to offer.

Game Marketplace

The old Xbox Live Marketplace interface simply could not sustain the growth in content over the past three years. Browsing through hundreds of games was nothing short of slow and frustrating. Fortunately, NXE offers a solution that is both graphically-rich and easy on the thumbs.

Browsing by letters? No problem.

Browsing by title and box art? Sure.

Full-screen eye-candy? Yes, please.

Video Marketplace

The Video Marketplace is much of the same story. If you want Bond in high-definition and in full-screen, you got it.

Media Functionality

Over the years, the Xbox 360 has enjoyed gradual improvements in media functionality. With NXE, there's barely anything new. Interface-wise, it's more or less a case of the same elements in a new skin.

But, perhaps all that is offset by the integration of Netflix, which allows for streaming of movies and TV episodes. It's US-only, though, so if you're reading this and reside elsewhere, don't spend hours looking for that elusive Netflix option that doesn't exist.

Of course, Windows Media Center connectivity is still available.

More Pixels!

If you have the right cable and a matching display to boot, then you're going to love the new resolutions on offer. The Xbox 360 now supports up to 1920 x 1080, making everything on-screen crisper than fried chicken.

Blades: The New Xbox Guide

If, while reading this article, you've been secretly lamenting the death of the Blades interface, don't. It's still accessible via the Xbox Guide button. Sure, it's a miniature version, but it serves its purpose well. Whether it's access to the Marketplace, your Friends list, or media player controls, the big X has it all.

All in all, NXE isn't perfect, but it's certainly a huge step forward. It is only a day old, so if you're having difficulties appreciating what's on offer, give it time and let it grow on you. In a week or two, there's a good chance you'll be left wondering how you ever used an Xbox 360 without NXE.

Darius Wey is a software and web developer based in Perth, Australia. He has an avid interest in photography, music, mobile devices, and of course, the Xbox 360.

[Stinger]

The Xbox 360 Blade UI suffered in the same way that virtually all UIs end up suffering. They start clean and simple but later additions to shoe-horn in extra functionality end up cluttering the interface. Even the much praised iPhone UI is beginning to show the same problems.

The new Xbox 360 interface is certainly a lot prettier. It makes much better use of HDTVs and overall I'm very pleased with it. I know I'm going to end up swapping my 20GB HDD out for a 120GB model but the price is so painful. The 120GB HDD's RRP in the UK is £130 with most places selling it for £100. 500GB 2.5" drives don't cost that much so the mark-up on Microsoft's HDD must be incredible.

Oh, and you know those Xbox Live Arcade titles that you downloaded, but never ended up purchasing? There's now a way to purge them from your history, resulting in a cleaner and more accurate portrayal of the games that you own.

That probably doesn't sound like big news to most people but I've been waiting on this for a long time. Good work, Microsoft.

[Darius Wey]

Originally Posted by Stinger

I know I'm going to end up swapping my 20GB HDD out for a 120GB model but the price is so painful.

Yeah, they're really raking in the bucks with these HDDs. The 120GB HDD retails for $199 AUD (£82) in Australia, but I managed to haggle and get it down to $150 AUD (£62). Still overpriced, considering a 1TB external HDD retails for $179 AUD here.

[inteller]

i refuse to buy that 120g HD. I have 13Gb left on my 20 and I plan on keeping it that way. the price for the 120 is ridiculous.

we need external storage options. encrypted or whatever, just give me the ability to add external storage.

[Damion Chaplin]

Originally Posted by inteller

we need external storage options. encrypted or whatever, just give me the ability to add external storage.

Agreed! Even my crappy Scientific Atlanta DVR allows me to add external USB storage. You know how many old 80GB drives I have lying around?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Stinger

The 120GB HDD's RRP in the UK is £130 with most places selling it for £100. 500GB 2.5" drives don't cost that much so the mark-up on Microsoft's HDD must be incredible.

Yeah, I know what you mean - the price they charge for the 120 GB drive is quite high. I think the unfortunate reality though is that for the first couple of years that Microsoft sold the Xbox 360, they were selling it at a razor-thin profit margin, or even a loss. Accessories are where they make some of that money back, so in a way you got a cheaper Xbox 360 because they were going to make that money off you via the accessories.

I think the Xbox 360 will never take off as a true home entertainment solution until they get some cheap, huge hard drives as an option...

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Damion Chaplin

Agreed! Even my crappy Scientific Atlanta DVR allows me to add external USB storage. You know how many old 80GB drives I have lying around?

My Motorola PVR doesn't....and I think that's more the norm with PVRs. You're lucky that your PVR allows you to do that.

[Jason Dunn]

Oh yeah, I forgot to say great write-up Darius!

[Darius Wey]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Oh yeah, I forgot to say great write-up Darius!

Thanks.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the party system also supports photo sharing with a free download from the Marketplace.

[David Tucker]

I have to say that after using htis for a few days now I do really like it. I always thought the Blades UI was one of MS's best efforts and this easily surpasses it. This just feels fun and fresh. And the 360 is about fun.

Other than the UI though, the Netflix addition is awesome and while there needs to be better integration...the Zune does work very well with the 360 as it is right now. No complaints!

And Mass Effect definitely benefits from the on-console installation.