Digging even deeper into the New Xbox Experience, today the Gamerscore Blog crew is showing off the NXE's "Themes 2.0" and the super special "Friend Channel". Complete with silly Avatars and other shenanigans.
You can view a bunch of today's newly released NXE screenshots in the gallery below (sorry, no video goodness this week) and read about how dashboard themes will work in the new dashboard as well as how you'll connect with your friends. We're loving the 3D effects that the new themes utilize, but are still torn regarding the Avatar friends visualizations. Oh well. Make the jump to read, click the screenshots below and get NXE informed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-26-2008 @ 2:56PM
Terry Musnter said...
I don't care what anyone says about this update. I'm stoked...even for the avatars.
Reply
9-26-2008 @ 3:30PM
itsburnsie said...
Actually, I'm with you.
The new dash looks really clean, themes and gamerpics are still supported, plus I can use my current gamerpics as T-shirts for my Avatar (which I actually think is really clever), a party system for the dash, Netflix, etc.
I'm not really sure how people can hate on that.
9-26-2008 @ 3:44PM
T Munster said...
I mean i can understand all the skepticism...to an extent, but as you said all the support for old themes and gamerpics as well as the addition for things for our avatar just adds to the fun of the overall experience.
9-26-2008 @ 3:12PM
Logan said...
I thought the same thing about the friend list as well. I didn't want to have to scroll through a bajillion icons to get to my friends, but then I realized that I never go to the list anyway, and instead go through the guide or in game menus to reach them, and from what it looks like it is in a nice list format.
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9-26-2008 @ 3:12PM
DBoyFlex said...
I am hyped too. I just hope this whole avatar thing is interactive rather than just seeing the avatar. Doing something would be cool. Like, I don't know, bowling or playing darts... Oh wait, nevermind.
I also hope the layout is useful and not another bad design. Looks good, but it is hard to tell until we get to actually use it.
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9-26-2008 @ 3:36PM
joeybeast said...
Looks like Rare put a lot of effort into it.
A lot more than I thought.
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9-26-2008 @ 3:44PM
BerNasty said...
I agree with you all. I am a pretty hardcore gamer and cant help but be at least a little bit excited about this update. I think there are people out there who are excited but act like they dont care so they dont seem childish.
Reply
9-26-2008 @ 3:51PM
Mattchewie said...
I think it looks cool but my doubt is in its overall functionality compared to the soon to be old blade system. It will be cool if I'm wrong but...if I'm not.....omgz.
Reply
9-26-2008 @ 4:00PM
ANTHOLOGY said...
IDK, seems like most of my themes are going to go to waste because when you are on the blades screen, you can only see 25% of the top of the theme. :(
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9-26-2008 @ 4:17PM
philmcphail (Free Mr.ESC!) said...
"Complete with silly Avatars and other shenanigans." LOL
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9-26-2008 @ 4:22PM
Matt said...
Having only 4 friends visible in the list at one time is going to be awfully inconvenient. I sure hope the scrolling is FAR more performant than the current dashboard! Or am I mis-reading how that's going to work?
Reply
9-26-2008 @ 4:48PM
Badboy1979 said...
Check out the videos here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/nxe/
You'll catch a glimpse of Friend's scrolling and it's superfast... and I'm sure that's not even the final build.
9-26-2008 @ 4:44PM
kdubbb said...
Looks awesome, but that gray bottom either has to go, or be customizable.
The city scape bottom + the stockholm theme looks amazing though. I wonder if buying a theme now includes a 3d base portion like it's shown in that last picture. Or if the user creates his own base environment.
Reply
9-27-2008 @ 4:44AM
RedSonRising said...
im with kdubbb.. that grey blob covers at least 50% of the screen and will completely block the best parts of most of my themes.. i really hope they add some transparency options so i can see the rest of the screen.. even the gears of war 2 theme in the screenshots is almost completely obscured
9-27-2008 @ 2:49AM
jarhead906 said...
*Troll Detected*
Yeah but you're still going to have to pay 'MICROSOFT POINTS' (what a joke) for half of the themes worth getting...
Um...all of my PS3 themes are free of charge and I can also make my own or download other custom user created themes from t3h internetz...oh and I can do that through my Web Browser on the PS3 --> straight to my HDD. Eat it.
Reply
10-11-2008 @ 12:56AM
Naito91 said...
Who cares about themes that much anyway? Most people that have 360's are to busy playing high quality games to worry about themes. Unlike PS3 fan boys like yourself. 'Eat it.'
10-11-2008 @ 1:06AM
Naito91 said...
I'm stick of people saying MS are ripping off the Playstation's XMB. They're not people!!! The new dashboard is based on the TwistUI used in Windows Media Center and the Zune. TwistUI was first used during January 2002, whereas the XMB was first implemented by Sony in around December 2003. Geez!!!
Reply
10-11-2008 @ 1:11AM
Naito91 said...
I meant 'Sick' not stick. Lol!