I admit that from the time it was announced at E3 until the present, I was less than enthused at the prospect of having my old interface, which I personally loved, replaced by the typical Vista-esque interface that Microsoft has been attempted to push on us for the last few years. Nevertheless I kept an open mind going into it, and I have to admit it isn't all bad.
When you first log in, you wait for about 5min for the update to download and install, and when it finishes you are faced with a character
creation menu (see picture), and an absolutely atrocious avatar. For the most part, the customization isn't that bad, especially if you consider just how often you see your avatar anyways. It lacks decent looking facial features, such as noses, eyes, and eyebrows, at least in my opinion, I was extremely disappointed by the selection of beards (seriously, where's my viking beard?), and the clothing is rather generic, however as long as you don't attempt to make your avatar true to life, you should be able to produce one that you at least won't hate. I decked my bald man out with a chin beard, monocle, and sports jacket, and I've seen others create avatars which resemble clowns, hippies, and pimps. With a little bit of creativity, the possibilities are nearly endless.Compared to the Wii's Miis or w/e they're called (I haven't tried the PS3 avatar thing, so I won't comment on it), it is vastly superior. However, as I hinted at above, I strongly recommend NOT making a character that looks like yourself. There is a strong chance he'll come out odd, gay, or even retarded looking, so try and go for a look more original look, lest you be another generic avatar no one takes a second glance at.
Once you have completed creating your avatar, you'll find yourself staring breathlessly at the vast new expanses of the NXE, taking in the wonderful new features such as _________, and ______ ___________. Seriously though, the NXE doesn't really add a whole lot of features to the previous interface. The only significant feature of this update, besides avatars and a new interface, is the ability to make groups, which allows for party gaming and voice chat with multiple people at the same time, features that should have been added years ago. I'm not particualarily surprised however, as it is more or less what I expected, and Microsoft didn't exactly claim that they were going to add anything more, it's just that they brand it as a 'New Experience' when all it was is a new skin to an old interface.
A good way Microsoft could have promoted this would have been by adding a few free 'avatar games', playable by anyone with the new interface. These could have just been simple things such as bumper cars or musical chairs. They would have been immediatly popular, and would have expanded the whole avatar promotion, however no such system exists. There are games which include, however it is limited to only a few, which you have to pay for, and consist of your avatar standing there, presumably doing silly little animations occasionally as to not look like a boring sack of bricks. Avatar games would have most likely increased my attention span of the new interface from just under an hour to at least over 3.
However pessimistic I may seem, the interface, for the most part, is an improvement over the previous one. Marketplace has a MUCH better layout now, and the friends menu, however spread out and annoying, allows you to see each of your friend's avatars in either their own private space, or the party which they happen to be in along with the rest of the party members.
For those of us who prefer the old interface, the same basic layout is available by pressing the middle button on your controller. The same old simplified friends and message menu, as well as media, settings, etc. tabs are all present, the only one missing is marketplace.One major concern with the NXE is that gamer pictures and themes would become void with the new system, but need not worry, as gamer pictures have not changed at all, and themes get a neat new look.
You can even take a picture of your avatar and make it your gamer pic. The themes themselves did not change, rather the main background (the one you saw when you first got on your Xbox) is stretched across the screen, then cut in half by the bland gray floor that covers the bottom part of your screen. As of my knowledge, there is no way to select another background for the same theme, however I did see them when I was browsing through some of the settings menus. Most themes seem to look OK on the NXE, some even look better, however there will always be the few that it absolutely ruins. With new themes based around the new interface soon to come, it's not much to complain about.Overall the 'New Xbox Experience' is an improvement over the old interface. Although it is not really needed, it brings a fresh look to the system and should be welcomed by all gamers. Although it lacks new features, only adding what should have been with the original interface, and even suffers from a few bugs, it makes up for it in appearance and accessibility. If you own an Xbox, I recommend jumping on for an hour and playing with it, and you may even have a little bit of fun.
