New Xbox 360 dashboard hands on

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Nov 19, 2008

On November 19, Microsoft is rolling out its most ambitious Xbox 360 system update yet--an entirely new dashboard that bears little resemblance to the series of panels users currently use to navigate the gaming console.

Dubbed "The New Xbox Experience," this ground-up overhaul of the system's front-end interface also introduces several new features--most notably an avatar system to represent users online. Others have gone into great detail about all the design and functionality changes, so having lived with the new dashboard update for the past week, we'll instead present some initial impressions--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The new dashboard divides content, settings, and functions into eight categories, each represented by a horizontal row of boxes. The new look is clean, easy to navigate, and aesthetically pleasing, although it all seems designed to push the maximum in Xbox marketing materials and advertising come-ons to the user.

Three of the rows are fully dedicated to ads and notifications from Xbox Live, while two others are mostly ads. Only the "Welcome" row, with basic instructional information you probably won't have to refer to more than once, and the "Friends," and "My Xbox" rows are exempt. The "Video Marketplace" row, for example, combines local content on your Xbox with links to (both paid and free) video selections from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Tags: Microsoft Xbox, Dashboard, Microsoft Xbox Live, Advertisement, Microsoft Xbox 360

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