• Avatars - More choices. It would be nice to have the ability to select clothing and then change the color of that piece. Also more hair styles, too. It's pretty limited right now.
• The gray bar - Ugh! Why can't the theme display where the gray bar is?!

I believe a lot more avatar stuff will be coming out in the next few months, though I'm betting most of it won't be free.

Overall I dig it, if only because of how fast everything runs and for installing games.

More clothes and a few other tweaks on avatars. What would be cool if your avatars mouth moved when you talked. 

Not sure yet it froze twice on me so far, once right after I accepted the terms of service then again when viewing the friends list. So thats not a good start, but I'm going to assume my opinion will probably remain indifferent.

"Not sure yet it froze twice on me so far, once right after I accepted the terms of service then again when viewing the friends list. So thats not a good start, but I'm going to assume my opinion will probably remain indifferent."

Loving it right now. 

I'm really enjoying the update so far. It's taking a bit to get used to since it is a pretty big change, but I like it overall. I love how quickly all my XBLA games load up now and I like the opening of the Community Games section (go Indie!). My biggest issue is the lack of customization with the avatars...while I found the hairstyles to be more than I was expecting, the clothing options are extremely limited and the fact you can't even change the color of items makes it even more limited. I hope to see more XBLA games integrating avatars like the new A Kingdom for Keflings game as well.

My whole block had a blackout 10 SECONDS after the update was finished!! I love you microsoft for having fast updates :P

I felt that there were enough stuff for the avatars and like so many others have said, there will be plenty more to come. But the grey bar bothers me, please let us change the color, or apply a glass material to it Microsoft!!
Other than that, I digg!

just what I've expected , simple as that

Screw the haters. I think its fantastic.

Pinned to the 360 forum for now, hopefully that will cut down on the hundreds of inevitable  "What I think of the NXE" threads.  Probably won't, but we'll see.

I'm having problems with it in the Friends section. Friends section loads really slow (only got 22 friends registered) and when i press the back button to get out of the friends section, the 360 crashes. Its fine if i get out through the start menu but pressing  back crashes it. Anybody having similar problems?

I like it a lot, I thought making an avatar was pretty damn fun.  And the whole interface is tons better.

I like it quite a bit, but strangely enough it feels more sluggish than the blade system. Pressing the guide button always instantly popped up the blade for me, but now it seems to take a sec to load up.

I like it!  My biggest complaint so far is how there are still a  bunch of items (like community games) that I can't view or download because the servers are jacked.  But that should be temporary.

 Also, the "premium" themes could do more than just snazzy up the Friends Channel.  Why not other channels too?  (And damn 250 points???  god.)

I never felt it was necessary honestly, not anything I particularly like at all, anything positive to me could of been fine if it wasn't there even. Gotta find exactly where everything is again now though, and that's kinda annoying.

Love the 1680x1050 support for my backup 360 at the desk
Nice and clean interface
Like the offscreen preloading of items in the coverflow - prevents that sluggish old 360 interface visual delay (for achievements etc)
Avatar seems a bit gimmicky but could be fun - they needed to let you have more animation control of it - like a button to free it up and then go Donkey Kong on the menu, Ha!
Like the HDMI Color options
Wish they could change the order of menu instead of defaulting to the spotlight - but I understand why they did it

I just wish they would clean up the messenger. There is no DP or name changing.

But I do like the update a bit, it looks a lot fresher.

"Screw the haters. I think its fantastic."

I like it, but my Avatar's hair doesn't look like my hair. I have a receding hair line, no option for that, so I just picked one that kind of looked like my hair and my large forehead. My simple Mii on the Wii even had a receding hair line option.

Don't like it one bit.  Adverting galore, and they have made it so that it has to come into hard focus before you pass it unlike the old dashboard.  The stupid 360 won't just start on "My Xbox", they always take me to spotlight!!! I DONT BUY YOUR USELESS CRAP more than once a year!  I don't need this pushed in my face.

The new "guide" menu is really no quicker than the old one which is disappointing...this is one thing sony got right with their XMB.

The only good thing is pre-loading games...

So far, it's okay. I'm not totally sold on it. The avatars are actually lacking in depth quite a bit. You know, I think I'll have to say that Miis are actually more customizable, aside from the clothing options anyway. The difference is that you can customize pretty much any object on Miis. You can rotate eyes, space them out, move them around, lower your nose, put a mole wherever you want, make facial features bigger or smaller, etc. You may have slightly more options on the NXE, but being able to alter them is quite disappointing. I imagine they'll add more clothing and such, but I really don't think they'll address this problem.

The new layout kinda ruins most of the old 360 themes, which is definitely disappointing. I'm not really sure how much accessible the new design is, I found myself fumbling around it when looking for certain things quite a bit. It doesn't seem like too much of an improvement, unless you're looking for things like easier access to new DLC or lame Major Nelson updates. As for the friend's list, my 360 has frozen on me twice now when trying to select certain friends after toggling through them. In some ways, things are better. It's all cleaner now, which is nice, and of course we'll all need to adjust to it. Maybe in time I'll learn to like it more, but for now, eh... I don't know if I'd say it's better.

Oh, and dude. Like WickedCobra03 said, it's totally lame that when you start up your 360 it takes you straight to the spotlight category. I want to go straight to my Xbox and be able sign in.

- Very smooth
- not really the casual-kid friendly deal we thought
- friends list through scroll is a bitch.  Guide ftw!
- Guide is awesome
- Avatars aren't actually that gay.  My looks pretty neat. 
- Old themes look awful.  However, the new themes (called premium) are really neat

I like the installing so it doesn't use the disc drive, the UI feels smooth and it's all very responsive, and I'm surprisingly impressed with the navigation. That's pretty much all I like though.

An outstanding meh for me.

My Unofficial NXE Impression:

Brukaoru's avatar is pretty cute.

Also, I don't like how much my Xbox hangs randomly (mostly when viewing my friends list).

Parties are FUCKING AMAZING.

And themes got raped. Fucking Microsoft did it on purpose to sell us the Premium themes at a much higher price. Fuck.

^ You're certainly right about the themes. My Mass Effect theme looks terrible on the new dashboard.

Ah well, small price to pay for an otherwise far more competent dashboard. UI is far more accessible, looks far better aesthetically and I LOVE the avatar creator. It's actually quite uncanny how lifelike my avatar looks. Not that any of you know what I look like - but it's exactly like this

So yeah, overall highly impressed.

Pretty much what I expcted it to be (in my mind): crappy. I never liked the look, and will never like it. I was sad to see when I installed my copy of NCAA 07 I couldn't still earn my remaining achievements, avatars are garbage too.

I will love the party system, though. Took my avatar picture then changed it back instantly. Might have been interested in NetFlix, if I was a member, but I'm not.

Overall: I'm not impressed at all, and I'm not going to enjoy this look. But hey, I hope to embrace it, eventually. Not any time too soon though, most of it will probably end up being "I still miss the dashboard", and will probably end up getting used to it.

I turned off the XBOX 360 thinking how much I love the new experience.  NXE looks  very slick and clean.  The touches of animation are great.  The new features are welcome, too!

Also, I was enjoying the avatars.  There is more flexibility than I initially thought.  Hopefully, Microsoft keeps a steady flow of new avatar customizations.

Very pleased because it now *looks* like a next-gen system. Avatars features could use some work though.

From what I have seen of it, it looks good, more functional then the old one.

In all honesty, I utilize it almost precisely as I did the old dashboard, though it seems to cycle through processes much faster and it has a few more bells-and-whistles, including the touted game download option, so it's a definite plus for me.

I don't like the NXE mainly because it seems to require a faster internet to use well, my internet is slow and it can take me upwards of a minute to view my friends list now in the guide.

I like the update a lot, Netflix is awesome, I love downloading games to my 120 HDD, and the avatars are fun to make. I just wish it didn't kill my xbox :(

So far i really like the update. The interface is snappier, and HDD installs are awesome. My favorite feature so far though is the option to disable a game to auto-run after you put it in the DVD drive. That always annoyed me to hell before.

I like, I like.

"So far i really like the update. The interface is snappier, and HDD installs are awesome. My favorite feature so far though is the option to disable a game to auto-run after you put it in the DVD drive. That always annoyed me to hell before."

I have accepted NXE, for good and bad. It's a dashboard and it will never be anything more than that.

I have a quick question about installing games to the hard drive. Once installed, are you able to uninstall it later without deleting your saved data? Like if you finish a game and uninstall it, are you able to play it from the disc then using your previous save files?

I really like it so far and I haven't really experinced any issues with the New Xbox Experience (no pun intended). Personally I like the Avatars more than the Mii. To me, they look more polished with accessories and other cool stuff like that which really makes it more fun to customize. Interface looks sleek without it looking to overwhelming but I'll admit it was a little daunting at first.

I'm about to try the whole install a game to the hard drive and I'm installing GTA IV right now so I'll see how performance holds up.

Overall I'm impressed with what they did and I'm glad they didn't get rid of gamer pictures (I love my Master Chief picture. It makes him look rather epic.)

this sums it up, interface=slow but better than blades, guide= awsome, avatars=gay

Suprised no one has mentioned the new Netflix feature. I have added enough movies to drown in. My feelings for the avatars are neutral. Im liking the new guide button though

I'm really enjoying the NXE. I love the avatars. I'm a sucker for those cute and color fellas. I love the way everything looks now, the themes especially. Installing games onto the hard drives are great. Too bad I don't have an Elite to install a lot onto.

party system is the best thing about NXE. I am also enjoying the new slickness of the interface, but the Blades system was just as cool with me.

Avatars are a touch generic but aside from that I really like the new front end.

Avatars are fucking stupid...the word gimmick comes to mind...everything else is good...not great...I still think the blade system looked better...although I can see why they went to this layout for the functionality and advertising content.

Anybody else having problems with the guide interface? Mine seems to freeze and stall quite a bit. Other than when I hit the guide button I think the new dashboard is great. Netflix, avatars, installs, etc. it is all gravy. I really wish it moved as fast as the blades though.

The interface itself is ok but there are some flaws for sure. When the dashboard comes up when you first turn the system on it should default to the "My Xbox" section, not the "hey buy this" spotlight area. Also, you friends section should be right next to the "My Xbox" area. It's like four spots away. Dumb. Avatars? Also dumb. The one thing I actually hate about it is the way the themes are displayed. If you want to use one of your jpgs half of it's cut off! Lame.

I like it.  I had to add a whole bunch of new friends just to try out some of the friends stuff.