NXE's Thematic Consistency

I'm still not entirely sold on the NXE, but the new themes definitely seem interesting and a step in the right direction.

never paid for themes anyway, and there aren't that many great free ones, so I'm kinda what evs

i think this new dash looks awesome but the great part of the fall update is what isnt visible, the 8 player private chat

Man, I'm really not liking NXE, and the more I see of it, the more sure I am.

Ryan, its nice to know that im not the only one excited about the new dashboard update!

Though I think im the only one who likes the avatars...

Interesting stuff. Although I'm still not entirely sold on the NXE, I'm not as dismissive as I was when it was announced.

Hopefully Avatars are unobtrusive to the experience - an optional feature that you don't have to interact with unless you want to.  If that's the case, I don't have much of a problem with the rest of the UI.  Seems pretty straight forward in general.

@heavymtlhead

No, the NXE completely replaces the old blades (although they are still there in spirit when you press the guide button now), its not an optional thing (unless you arent hooked up to live that is). I like the new look although im not happy about my old themes being covered half way up by a huge grey blob, how does that make my old themes look better? They better include some kind of transperency option for that psuedo-grey earth

What? People seriously now directly relate the incredibly-common-on-the-internet word "avatar" to that god-awful "Avatar: The Last Airbender" show on Nickelodeon? I feel elderly.

Other than that, I am extremely excited about the coming Fall Update. Installable disc games and live parties FTW!

I hope they still have a wood panel theme.... Giant Bomb should totally release a theme! Wood panel background, the bomb, flea ridden couch and lucha deer, energy drink storage fridge, as polygonal objects. Fuck yeah!

NXE had me from hello pretty much.  I don't see the problem with them trying to make the system look better.  I get a strong anti-new facebook vibe from everybody complaining, there'll be tons of clans related to anti-NXE but all of them will be using NXE.

I honestly don't understand what people are complaining about. Everything about this update looks awesome! Why does everyone seem to hate the avatars so much? They're certainly a lot better than gamerpic, and you still get to keep your gamerpics anyway.

Yea I'm getting tired of everyone insulting it. And as for the avatars, I'm not sold on them either, but here's the deal: just because avatars are a copy doesn't make them inherently evil. You people just need to wait and see how they actually turn out.
As for the rest of the interface, looks slick as a beast.

I'm with HatKing on this one. I think the interface looks slick, organized, and fresh. It's a nice change from the all-but-obscured-by-ads nonsense we have to deal with now...I wonder. Has everyone forgotten that their themes are currently nigh invisible behind the walls of EA Sports "X more days ads" and the like?

I hate the current dashboard even with a cool theme on it, I can't wait to get rid of it. I'm also excited about the live party system. As for avatars, as long as they have some badass ones like Master Cheif or a COD guy, Ryu, stuff like that, then they will be a lot cooler.

I'm looking forward to the whole thing. Of all the features that are coming I'm looking forward to the Netflix integration the most.

i can haz NXEburger on mondae?

The Avatars are indeed quite lame, much like the thought that the term (in reguards to these 360 avatars) provokes... however I think that the payoff for having to look at these Mii wannabes is more than worth it to have a much more streamlined dashboard.

That is one thing I love about the 360 is the dashboard is always changing and in a good way. It's like a new system every year for FREE.

I agree with you Mr. Ryan Davis...
the NXE looks fucking awesome, and even the avatars look pretty cool in that pic once you make them look cool

It's looking better every time I see it.

I agree with Yamato, everything looks great, I even kind of like the Avatars.... why not?... If you don't like them, just don't pay atention to them :)

I like the entire NXE update, Avatars and all. I guess I'm the extreme minority then ...

The update is looking pretty schweet. There's nothing wrong with cartoons.

At first i wasn't to sure about this update but as i read more about this i started getting into it i guess i am in the minority

It would of been better if MS created NXE based themes to complement existing blade themes; & then gave the corresponding themes to people who had already purchased the old themes of the same type.  i.e. bought a Halo 3 blade theme -> get a NXE based Halo 3 theme free.

As it is now, it feels like MS is trying to double dip into my pockets.

That looks a lot better than I thought it would.

hope the update alows you to fastforward and rewind your music.  how hard is that?

Home Killer!!!!

well, i suppose avatars for the xbox 360 community were inevitable eventually. sigh. what ev man, wha ev.

I'm just worried how this will all cost memory-wise. The current set-up eats up 13 gig of my 20 gig HD. This looks very very memory heavy which will mean less for Demo's and DLC etc.

As long as I can get away with never having to make a avatar I'm good. I really don't want anything to do with those things.

The blades blow, always have... on with the new!

Man, this is still fucking terrible. Just let me keep my list of friends, as it should be. If you absolutely have to, just put a little picture of their avatar next to their name, but this system is just fucking atrocious.

I have been coming round to the whole thing. The avatar thing still bums me out, but I am up for some change and look forward to it. I know I won't be using the avatar system though, but the rest of it looks cool.

I am excited for NXE.  I feel that the dashboard is now too crowded and slow.  I think it's going to be a nice refresher for the system, it may even make it feel new again.

I like the new dashboard, I even think that the avatar thing is a cool idea. It is not forced upon you, and is optional in games (last bit of news I heard on it). I also like the idea of having "wearable achievements" if it turns out that MS will do that.

It is free, you still the complete blades just by pressing the guide, and it will be easier to navigate the dashboard for all the new people that stats jumping in with the 200usd box...

I think the avatars are fine. Nothing wrong with a little change.

i wants it, i wants it now :)

Mii City looks nice.

Cool, but I hope all the themes aren't in cartoony form. I want real 3-d gears of war themes, not some rounded cartoony Marcus Fenix. 

I personally wont be into avatars much but the rest of the NXE is great.

Why is it not sinking in to people's brains that avatars are totally optional.  If you dont like them turn them off.  Not that hard people....sheesh!

The single most important feature of NXE for me is the Netflix on demand streaming.  Everything else is fluff to me.

I can't wait for the new dashboard, Netflix directly through my television (on at least the current "Watch Instantly" titles) is going to make me extremely happy. I actually welcome the new look as well, but I'm excited for the new features we will be getting most.

the dashboard update looks amazing