As usual, I hope this blog finds you happy and healthy. As many of you will no doubt know, your Xbox 360 Dashboard will be seeing a number of serious changes in the Month of November when the much talked about 'New Xbox Experience' hits Microsoft's much loved console on the 19th of November. This huge update will offer a totally new dashboard design with a number of new features for us all to enjoy. Now I wrote a blog on this matter some months back on a older GiantBomb account which was badly affected by the now famous friends network bug and many other issues, which lead me to create this current account. But if you wish to read my original thoughts then please do check out that blog. So infact as I write this blog entry there will be many 360 users experiencing the New Xbox Experience (or NXE for short) as a early open beta as been launched for those who were interested. Now I'll admit I could have entered in hope of getting the NXE early but to be totally honest with you readers, I wasn't that bothered. Now I'm not saying I'm not at all bothered in this update but I can happily wait till the official worldwide release of the NXE on November the 19th. But my views on the update have changed greatly over the past few months since the blog entry I spoke of previously and I can hopefully explain why in this blog.

Now in my previous blog concerning the NXE, I admitted that I was still greatly fond of the current Blade system that the 360 uses when not actually playing a game. It's been there since day one and still is pretty functional and easy to use. But how things change, I'm not sure if it was the extra coverage the gaming media gave the NXE or the fact that I suddenly realise in one late night gaming session how ugly, slow and old the Blade system was. Now Microsoft have stated that the Blade system still exists in the new update, which in all honesty is a lie because as shown in the recent GiantBomb Quick Tour: New Xbox Experience video, the blade system as changed greatly and only really resembles the old system in small areas. A lot of the Guide button functionality borrows from the classic Blade system but even so, a lot as changed and it clearly doesn't look to familar for those who have spent to many hours to count in the current 360 dashboard. I'm still fond of the old system, but only in a classic nostalgic manner, it hit me hard on that night when I realised how old and clumsy the system now is. Part of the reason for that is due to the huge amount of content now found on the Xbox Marketplace and to be totally frank the Blade system simply doesn't look as revolutionary or impressive as it did when the Xbox 360 first launched in 2005. It's fair to even say that areas of it look ugly and traveling through the marketplace as become a chore at times even despite Microsoft's best efforts to make it as navigatable as possible but you can only do so much. 

You simply can't help compare the current Blade system to that of Sony's XMB dashboard system which is sleek, stylish and easy to use. So it's no surprise that Microsoft felt the need to greatly update their systems dashboard to compete with their greatest rival. To be fair the Blade dashboard as done many things better then the XMB for a hell of a long time, it as been easy to use and it looked great when the 360 first launched some years back. So maybe I'm being a little unfair on a dashboard that as offered some great navigation, design and of course marketplace content. But sometimes you need a fresh start so it's this thinking that made me change my mind on the New Xbox Experience. Now in my original blog I spoke proudly on how much I loved the Blade system and how much I hated the look of the NXE. But with the extra coverage it's been getting, my thoughts and concerns have changed greatly, As I hinted at previously, my many recent issues with the Blade system is to partly blame for my eagerness to see the NXE update hit my Xbox 360 console as soon as it's ready. I just hope we don't see any serious problems a long the way.

But before I go on to discuss the new huge update we shall all be experiencing soon enough, I want to talk a little more about the Blade system and how it's evolved over the years. It's sometimes evolved without us even knowing it and there as been many a time when I've started up my 360 and found it updating with an update I never knew was even coming, yet often had some huge improvment deep within it that made my 360 even better. There as also been some problems. Many of the much hyped updates have offered little if any use to me due mostly to Microsoft being Microsoft. Take the media centre or the Messenger service that Microsoft implemented over the years. Both were key talking points yet I don't think I've ever used them, the messenger service especially was an odd inclusion when it came to updating the Blade system, was it needed? I found it clumsy and it never worked well with my email account, plus the simple yet huge fact of it being easier to use messager on my PC rather then on my Xbox 360. Call me mad, but it felt such a waste of time when they added the messenger system. Saying that though, I'm sure some folks have been able to use it and use it well. The same could be said for the Media Centre, a system link between your 360 and your PC. Now thankfully this worked pretty easily but I don't think I've even touched it since, now I understand Microsoft wanting to get as many of their products involved as possible and again, I'm sure people do us it. But I found it to be a part of the Blade System that didn't play enough of a part in both the way I play my games or the way I generally game. 

These are my own personal opinions on the matter, they were two features that made little sense to me and really never added anything that we don't have on PC. Not to mention the fact that they are often easier and simply more useful to use on PC. To be fair on some of the updates we have seen over the years, most if not all have been good. Although I do think we could have seen more innovation from Microsoft, maybe this is what we are getting now with the NXE. But when compared to Sony's XMB, a dashboard system which as seen many new additions that have been of great use. I have to wonder if Microsoft have been working on the NXE for longer then we believe because I can't help but feel that all of the innovation went into the NXE then the current Blade System. Which means Microsoft knew that the Blade System would start to show it's age one day. If that is indeed the case then bravo! Microsoft, maybe they did realise this and thought why not make a new dashboard for the 360 rather then keep upgrading a dashboard that will one day struggle to handle the pressue, simply because it wasn't originally built to handle such content. Makes sense considering Microsoft never actually originally thought there would be that much content on the Marketplace when they first revealed the concept. But we still loved you Blade system, you were unique and interesting. Not to mention that you did a fine job for so long and did it with style and grace. But it's time to move over as we let the New Xbox Experience take our Xbox 360 consoles on a new dashboard ride.

So it's been a good few months since Microsoft first revealed the New Xbox Experience, and to be totally fair my views on the update have changed greatly over those months. Part of me wants to continue to hate the update, as odd as that sounds I can't help but feel some features of the update don't make a lot of sense or even shouldn't be in there. The word 'NEW' in the updates name is of course the all important key word, because everything is changing in a form or another. From the way you view your games library to the addition of the somewhat Mii-styled avatars. All is changing and finally we will see some useful updates to the system which we at least hope will help us enjoy our 360 games even more. Some top new features include the ability to install games to your consoles Harddrive (that rip-off 120gb HDD just came in use) so hopefully games will load faster. The brand new dashboard design which is a lot more sleeker and smoother to use is easily the most impressive new feature included in this update and for you lucky yanks, the new HD Netflix will allow you to watch your favourite movies with friends over LIVE. At the moment Netflix is US only which is a blow for all us Europeans, but who knows maybe one day Europe will have it's own version of Netflix. There's going to be enhanced 'Inside XBOX' coverage which means more MrPointyHead for us Europeans and not to forget the less then convincing Avatars which have continually been discussed and worried about by many a gamer, in which I include myself. 

Theres a lot more to the update aswell, the new system will tell you which friends are playing the same game as you and there's also a brand new Party setup which allows you to enjoy audio chat over LIVE with up to eight friends. The Marketplace as also seen a redesign of sorts, it will now offer more content based upon the game your searching for or maybe even viewing. So for instance, say if your looking at the Fable 2 page then that page will also show you Downloadable Content and videos that may take your interest. It also seems that it may push certain pieces of DLC that it thinks might interest you. How welcome that is, is yet to be seen but it's just another enhancement to the Marketplace. Most importantly though, is the fact that it looks like the Dashboard will run smoothly and quickly. The past five months (maybe even longer) the Blade System as been terribly slow and such a chore to use, especially when searching for content so it will at least be nice to have a dashboard that will run up to the speed it should. There's also a lot of other small details worth mentioning about the new Marketplace, sceenshots are now avaliable which although a small addition is still great to see and games box arts will also be avaliable to make sure you have the right game in mind. As I said, there small details but there still great to see and hopefully use when it launches.

One brand new feature to the NXE that as recieved less then shining comments from a good majority of Xbox 360 usersbase are avatars. These Mii-like creations will be your very own you when your online enjoying your games. It's still unknown how much influence they will have on the future of the NXE dashboard but already Microsoft are making games based around the avatars created by 360 users around the world. Now my views on them haven't changed that much since I wrote up on them in my first blog. I'm still not keen and I don't care what anyone tells me, there almost a total copy of Nintendo Mii's. Now I'm sure some Xbox 360 fanboy will disagree with me, but the fact that there now adding them to their own games is a possible sign of things to come. Is it possible we might see them as characters in Gears of War 3 Multiplayer? thankfully I don't think the 360 userbase would allow such a terrible crime to happen. But it's one scary thought and still worries me greatly.

My own personal key issue wtth avatars isn't in fact how they look, it's the fact that you'll end up having to pay for DLC Clothing for them. Now of course I don't have to buy my avatar new cloths, but the concept still burns me inside and I simply hate it. Of course, at this point we have no pricing (at least I don't know of any anyway) so I won't make total judgement on it just yet. But I'm not at all keen on the concept and I can see Microsoft milking it to death soon enough. I'm willing to ignore the avatars for the many key improvements that will appear when the New Xbox Experience hits our consoles later in November (eariler for you betatesters) and if I'm honest, I'm still eagerly waiting to actually get to use it then seeing it in the many videos that have shown footage of it. I'm not happy with all of it, but you can't please everyone and I totally understand that. 

Key questions still exists though, will installing games on your Harddrive really offer a huge loading speed improvement to be worthy fof using up extra space on your HDD. I guess one huge thing to celebrate when it comes to installing your games on your 360 HDD will be the silence of the DVD-Drive not in use, although you will need to have the game disc on hand for the system to make sure your not some dirty pirate. Will we be able to disable avatars? Will our old Blade Dashboard themes work on the new system and Will it be able to handle the extra pressure of future content filling up the Marketplace without suffering the same affects the old Blade Dashboard suffered? Many of these questions won't be answered until I get to use the new system on November the 19th. I'm sure you are all eager to get hold of it yourselves, maybe you already have it and are loving every bit of it. We are all different and have different tastes so it makes simple sense for Microsoft to please the majority of 360 users, I'm sure a huge majority are looking forward to messing with the new avatars creation tools. 

So as an old dashboard dies, a new one is born from the ashes. Will it be as successful as Microsoft hope? we'll have to wait and see. But theres enough new additions on offer that it's easy to be excited about the NXE update. It might not be your personal perfect 360 Dashboard update, but theres something in there for everyone and I think we can all agree, the whole of the 360 userbase wants something new, fast and sleek for us all to spend hours in when we aren't gaming or when we want to chat, listen to music or watch HD movies with friends over LIVE. We can't moan about it, it's useless. It's on it's way and for the most part as convinced me greatly in that it's both needed and looks great. Even if the avatars seem like a total rip-off of Nintendo's Mii's. But I guess we are in an industry of sharing, and Nintendo's Online Store system is in all honesty created from the concepts of Microsoft's Marketplace so it's all just a little bit of idea sharing and I can take the avatars just as long as the NXE makes using the 360 dashboard fun again.  I will of course hopefully get another blog up concerning the update when it actually hits on November the 19th, discussing on what I think about it then after spending time messing with it. So look out for that. But for now have a blast and say a nice, kind and sad goodbye to Mr Blade Dashboard.

Thank you for reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)

As usual, I hope this blog finds you happy and healthy. As many of you will no doubt know, your Xbox 360 Dashboard will be seeing a number of serious changes in the Month of November when the much talked about 'New Xbox Experience' hits Microsoft's much loved console on the 19th of November. This huge update will offer a totally new dashboard design with a number of new features for us all to enjoy. Now I wrote a blog on this matter some months back on a older GiantBomb account which was badly affected by the now famous friends network bug and many other issues, which lead me to create this current account. But if you wish to read my original thoughts then please do check out that blog. So infact as I write this blog entry there will be many 360 users experiencing the New Xbox Experience (or NXE for short) as a early open beta as been launched for those who were interested. Now I'll admit I could have entered in hope of getting the NXE early but to be totally honest with you readers, I wasn't that bothered. Now I'm not saying I'm not at all bothered in this update but I can happily wait till the official worldwide release of the NXE on November the 19th. But my views on the update have changed greatly over the past few months since the blog entry I spoke of previously and I can hopefully explain why in this blog.

Now in my previous blog concerning the NXE, I admitted that I was still greatly fond of the current Blade system that the 360 uses when not actually playing a game. It's been there since day one and still is pretty functional and easy to use. But how things change, I'm not sure if it was the extra coverage the gaming media gave the NXE or the fact that I suddenly realise in one late night gaming session how ugly, slow and old the Blade system was. Now Microsoft have stated that the Blade system still exists in the new update, which in all honesty is a lie because as shown in the recent GiantBomb Quick Tour: New Xbox Experience video, the blade system as changed greatly and only really resembles the old system in small areas. A lot of the Guide button functionality borrows from the classic Blade system but even so, a lot as changed and it clearly doesn't look to familar for those who have spent to many hours to count in the current 360 dashboard. I'm still fond of the old system, but only in a classic nostalgic manner, it hit me hard on that night when I realised how old and clumsy the system now is. Part of the reason for that is due to the huge amount of content now found on the Xbox Marketplace and to be totally frank the Blade system simply doesn't look as revolutionary or impressive as it did when the Xbox 360 first launched in 2005. It's fair to even say that areas of it look ugly and traveling through the marketplace as become a chore at times even despite Microsoft's best efforts to make it as navigatable as possible but you can only do so much. 

You simply can't help compare the current Blade system to that of Sony's XMB dashboard system which is sleek, stylish and easy to use. So it's no surprise that Microsoft felt the need to greatly update their systems dashboard to compete with their greatest rival. To be fair the Blade dashboard as done many things better then the XMB for a hell of a long time, it as been easy to use and it looked great when the 360 first launched some years back. So maybe I'm being a little unfair on a dashboard that as offered some great navigation, design and of course marketplace content. But sometimes you need a fresh start so it's this thinking that made me change my mind on the New Xbox Experience. Now in my original blog I spoke proudly on how much I loved the Blade system and how much I hated the look of the NXE. But with the extra coverage it's been getting, my thoughts and concerns have changed greatly, As I hinted at previously, my many recent issues with the Blade system is to partly blame for my eagerness to see the NXE update hit my Xbox 360 console as soon as it's ready. I just hope we don't see any serious problems a long the way.

But before I go on to discuss the new huge update we shall all be experiencing soon enough, I want to talk a little more about the Blade system and how it's evolved over the years. It's sometimes evolved without us even knowing it and there as been many a time when I've started up my 360 and found it updating with an update I never knew was even coming, yet often had some huge improvment deep within it that made my 360 even better. There as also been some problems. Many of the much hyped updates have offered little if any use to me due mostly to Microsoft being Microsoft. Take the media centre or the Messenger service that Microsoft implemented over the years. Both were key talking points yet I don't think I've ever used them, the messenger service especially was an odd inclusion when it came to updating the Blade system, was it needed? I found it clumsy and it never worked well with my email account, plus the simple yet huge fact of it being easier to use messager on my PC rather then on my Xbox 360. Call me mad, but it felt such a waste of time when they added the messenger system. Saying that though, I'm sure some folks have been able to use it and use it well. The same could be said for the Media Centre, a system link between your 360 and your PC. Now thankfully this worked pretty easily but I don't think I've even touched it since, now I understand Microsoft wanting to get as many of their products involved as possible and again, I'm sure people do us it. But I found it to be a part of the Blade System that didn't play enough of a part in both the way I play my games or the way I generally game. 

These are my own personal opinions on the matter, they were two features that made little sense to me and really never added anything that we don't have on PC. Not to mention the fact that they are often easier and simply more useful to use on PC. To be fair on some of the updates we have seen over the years, most if not all have been good. Although I do think we could have seen more innovation from Microsoft, maybe this is what we are getting now with the NXE. But when compared to Sony's XMB, a dashboard system which as seen many new additions that have been of great use. I have to wonder if Microsoft have been working on the NXE for longer then we believe because I can't help but feel that all of the innovation went into the NXE then the current Blade System. Which means Microsoft knew that the Blade System would start to show it's age one day. If that is indeed the case then bravo! Microsoft, maybe they did realise this and thought why not make a new dashboard for the 360 rather then keep upgrading a dashboard that will one day struggle to handle the pressue, simply because it wasn't originally built to handle such content. Makes sense considering Microsoft never actually originally thought there would be that much content on the Marketplace when they first revealed the concept. But we still loved you Blade system, you were unique and interesting. Not to mention that you did a fine job for so long and did it with style and grace. But it's time to move over as we let the New Xbox Experience take our Xbox 360 consoles on a new dashboard ride.

So it's been a good few months since Microsoft first revealed the New Xbox Experience, and to be totally fair my views on the update have changed greatly over those months. Part of me wants to continue to hate the update, as odd as that sounds I can't help but feel some features of the update don't make a lot of sense or even shouldn't be in there. The word 'NEW' in the updates name is of course the all important key word, because everything is changing in a form or another. From the way you view your games library to the addition of the somewhat Mii-styled avatars. All is changing and finally we will see some useful updates to the system which we at least hope will help us enjoy our 360 games even more. Some top new features include the ability to install games to your consoles Harddrive (that rip-off 120gb HDD just came in use) so hopefully games will load faster. The brand new dashboard design which is a lot more sleeker and smoother to use is easily the most impressive new feature included in this update and for you lucky yanks, the new HD Netflix will allow you to watch your favourite movies with friends over LIVE. At the moment Netflix is US only which is a blow for all us Europeans, but who knows maybe one day Europe will have it's own version of Netflix. There's going to be enhanced 'Inside XBOX' coverage which means more MrPointyHead for us Europeans and not to forget the less then convincing Avatars which have continually been discussed and worried about by many a gamer, in which I include myself. 

Theres a lot more to the update aswell, the new system will tell you which friends are playing the same game as you and there's also a brand new Party setup which allows you to enjoy audio chat over LIVE with up to eight friends. The Marketplace as also seen a redesign of sorts, it will now offer more content based upon the game your searching for or maybe even viewing. So for instance, say if your looking at the Fable 2 page then that page will also show you Downloadable Content and videos that may take your interest. It also seems that it may push certain pieces of DLC that it thinks might interest you. How welcome that is, is yet to be seen but it's just another enhancement to the Marketplace. Most importantly though, is the fact that it looks like the Dashboard will run smoothly and quickly. The past five months (maybe even longer) the Blade System as been terribly slow and such a chore to use, especially when searching for content so it will at least be nice to have a dashboard that will run up to the speed it should. There's also a lot of other small details worth mentioning about the new Marketplace, sceenshots are now avaliable which although a small addition is still great to see and games box arts will also be avaliable to make sure you have the right game in mind. As I said, there small details but there still great to see and hopefully use when it launches.

One brand new feature to the NXE that as recieved less then shining comments from a good majority of Xbox 360 usersbase are avatars. These Mii-like creations will be your very own you when your online enjoying your games. It's still unknown how much influence they will have on the future of the NXE dashboard but already Microsoft are making games based around the avatars created by 360 users around the world. Now my views on them haven't changed that much since I wrote up on them in my first blog. I'm still not keen and I don't care what anyone tells me, there almost a total copy of Nintendo Mii's. Now I'm sure some Xbox 360 fanboy will disagree with me, but the fact that there now adding them to their own games is a possible sign of things to come. Is it possible we might see them as characters in Gears of War 3 Multiplayer? thankfully I don't think the 360 userbase would allow such a terrible crime to happen. But it's one scary thought and still worries me greatly.

My own personal key issue wtth avatars isn't in fact how they look, it's the fact that you'll end up having to pay for DLC Clothing for them. Now of course I don't have to buy my avatar new cloths, but the concept still burns me inside and I simply hate it. Of course, at this point we have no pricing (at least I don't know of any anyway) so I won't make total judgement on it just yet. But I'm not at all keen on the concept and I can see Microsoft milking it to death soon enough. I'm willing to ignore the avatars for the many key improvements that will appear when the New Xbox Experience hits our consoles later in November (eariler for you betatesters) and if I'm honest, I'm still eagerly waiting to actually get to use it then seeing it in the many videos that have shown footage of it. I'm not happy with all of it, but you can't please everyone and I totally understand that. 

Key questions still exists though, will installing games on your Harddrive really offer a huge loading speed improvement to be worthy fof using up extra space on your HDD. I guess one huge thing to celebrate when it comes to installing your games on your 360 HDD will be the silence of the DVD-Drive not in use, although you will need to have the game disc on hand for the system to make sure your not some dirty pirate. Will we be able to disable avatars? Will our old Blade Dashboard themes work on the new system and Will it be able to handle the extra pressure of future content filling up the Marketplace without suffering the same affects the old Blade Dashboard suffered? Many of these questions won't be answered until I get to use the new system on November the 19th. I'm sure you are all eager to get hold of it yourselves, maybe you already have it and are loving every bit of it. We are all different and have different tastes so it makes simple sense for Microsoft to please the majority of 360 users, I'm sure a huge majority are looking forward to messing with the new avatars creation tools. 

So as an old dashboard dies, a new one is born from the ashes. Will it be as successful as Microsoft hope? we'll have to wait and see. But theres enough new additions on offer that it's easy to be excited about the NXE update. It might not be your personal perfect 360 Dashboard update, but theres something in there for everyone and I think we can all agree, the whole of the 360 userbase wants something new, fast and sleek for us all to spend hours in when we aren't gaming or when we want to chat, listen to music or watch HD movies with friends over LIVE. We can't moan about it, it's useless. It's on it's way and for the most part as convinced me greatly in that it's both needed and looks great. Even if the avatars seem like a total rip-off of Nintendo's Mii's. But I guess we are in an industry of sharing, and Nintendo's Online Store system is in all honesty created from the concepts of Microsoft's Marketplace so it's all just a little bit of idea sharing and I can take the avatars just as long as the NXE makes using the 360 dashboard fun again.  I will of course hopefully get another blog up concerning the update when it actually hits on November the 19th, discussing on what I think about it then after spending time messing with it. So look out for that. But for now have a blast and say a nice, kind and sad goodbye to Mr Blade Dashboard.

Thank you for reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)