I think NXE is so much better, this sentence turned into a bag of crisps.

*eat crisps*

Yum!

It's so much less intuitive to find content through NXE. I literally have to sit there looking for what I want and that's just... stupid. Not to mention the aesthetics, which are extremely weak... unless you actually think those silly Mii's are appealing I guess. I think they're sorta fugly.

At least you can still access the blades with the guide button (sorta). This is the quickest way to get around NXE. That in itself is sorta stupid. I think it's a big step backwards in UI design for MS.. which is a bummer 'cause the Xbox 360 was the first time they ever designed a half decent UI.

But the new guide is just... the old dash. I agree that it's a nice little addition, but I think I'd still prefer the blade interface on the dashboard... in addition to the updated guide. Honestly the core dashboard is now less intuitive than the Playstation's interface. Now that's what I call a serious step backwards.

Exactly, everything about it is improved. I've no idea how you can even feel otherwise.

I guess if.. intuitiveness and visual appeal don't count for anything.. or if you're into having a bobble-head version of yourself kicking around. I don't think it's terrible, I just think the blade interface was definitely better. Things like game installs, party chat, etc don't really weigh heavily on my opinion here since they could have been added to the previous version of the UI.

Of course it's a matter of opinion. That's uh, pretty obvious. I do think it's a bit of a step backwards though. People love the features more than anything, but the actual interface is slower (in terms of navigation) and less intuitive. It's not bad, I just think the blades were great.

That's the thing, the interface ISN'T slower. You've got pretty much all of the live features right there in the background instead of having a separate selection in one of a thousand blades leading to the same thing. "Marketplace" is already there in front of your eyes. You're getting that confused with the general functionality of the old blades which are now all in the guide, which you can reach from anywhere whenever.

With all due respect, if you don't LIKE NXE that's one thing and we can all agree to disagree, but the interface isn't slower, that's fact. Menus even pop up faster and don't get bogged down by games anymore.

But then again, I thought the blades were stupid all the way to the end. Learning to navigate something that overlaps itself in like four places is not intuitive. But hey, that's kind of entering opinion territory again.

The new guide doesn't count! That could have been implemented into the old UI! I'm talking about the basics here--that's it. You're getting that confused with all of these new features which could have just as easily been implemented into the old way of doing things.

The interface is slower to navigate because it's just such a clusterfuck.. I'm not talking about how much time it takes your input to be responded to.. and again, optimization doesn't mandate an entirely new UI! "A thousand blades..." srsly? I must have been using a different version of the old interface. My console definitely never had anything even approaching a dozen blades.

To the uninitiated, the old way of doing things was much more intuitive. Watching my family fumble around the NXE is sort of hilarious. I'm talking about the old folks, naturally, but they're generally speaking the best test of how user friendly a UI is.

Never mind that all of the classic themes are basically useless now, since the guide covers almost every bit of them up, almost every bit of the time.

@ Grift

I just don't get how you find it so confusing. Blades you flicked through sideways, this goes up/down instead and have fewer categories. Different categories rarely lead to the same place, which was something MS redecorated with the old blades system like three times because it was totally retarded to split up things just to keep the blades intact. Video marketplace and marketplace -> videos on two different blades, really? That's intuitive? I guess if all roads lead to rome and you wanna go to rome then sure.

But props to your parents if they instantly knew where to go with the blades.

Are you sure it isn't just because you're unfamiliar with it? But then it's been out for ages so I don't see why you wouldn't be.

Ah well, I've got tombs to raid.

Oh I did just install it Simon.. I hadn't touched my Xbox in ages. I threw some (downloaded) videos at my PS3 the other day that it wouldn't play, so I hooked the Xbox back up to the big screen. I had it on a smaller LCD previously.

But I think that sort of supports what I'm saying (to an extent). The blades (like XMB) are pretty straight forward. With the exception of "My Xbox" (the only tab that should exist) every portion of the NXE UI is cluttered with these "what's new" sort of showcases. They're ugly and useless. Every single tab is dressed up in the same sort of general nonsense.

If I wanted to get to my movie collection from the blades I just pressed right until I arrived at the aptly titled media blade, and I was basically there. Now I have to navigate to "My Xbox", then to the video library, and then to the folder or file. It seems to me that the extra steps are here in NXE, and not the other way around.

And yes, I know.. the blades are on the guide menu now. It's basically the only sane way to use the NXE. The menus that sit beneath it.. well.. suck. And I wish I could hide my Mii. I'm using a default avatar because I can't be assed to screw around with something I find so repulsive. The fact that everything is there in just a few button presses is only because we can access what is essentially the old UI at the press of a button.

The update wasn't completely without its perks. I do like portions of it. I'll let you love it all you want, I just wanted to be clear on what I don't like. Slow wasn't meant as a comment in terms of system performance.