Before you get too nervous, I assure you will be very happy with the New Xbox Experience. Microsoft has really out done themselves with this great face lift. Calling the New Xbox Experience a face lift though is not giving it enough credit as it represents a significant change under the hood as well.

Update:

I was a little nervous when I first began downloading the update. I figured that if this was a mandatory update, it would take forever like the PlayStation 3 firmware updates. I was dead wrong. My NXE managed to download within a matter of minutes. I would say from start to finish, it took me about 8 minutes or so before I hit download and I began customizing my avatar.

Avatars:

The first thing you must do when you log in is to create your avatar. There is an uncanny resemblance to the Wii avatars here but that is not really a bad thing. My only complaint is that there really wasn’t enough options here. After you’re done, your avatar will accompany you to every aspect of the new dashboard.

Themes:

One of the few down points to the New Xbox Experience. Your previous themes may undergo some stretching and fitting issues. I was glad that they still work but older themes and especially personal themes such as wallpapers from your own computer will get stretched out and clipped.

Games:

The games section loads considerably faster. I did a little research and found that the New Xbox Experience is able to unlock more system resources that will allow for faster load times. Also, you now have the option of installing your games. I installed Halo 3 (although I didn’t notice a much faster load time but that might just be because it already loads so fast anyway, I will try out Fable II). Installed games are supposed to load much faster. You must still have the disk inside the tray for verification purposes though.

Marketplace:

The layout of the market place has also been redone completely. Each game now has their own featured page that will include screenshots of the game and a description. This should make shopping for games a bit easier now that you can actually know what you are buying! I strongly recommend Braid if you haven’t already gotten it! Also expect to see a flood of independently developed games to hit the marketplace since Microsoft released their own Xbox software development kit.

Multiplayer:

The New Xbox Experience multiplayer has been greatly enhanced. Groups of friends can now gather together and move from game to game with greater ease. There are also a variety of multiplayer games playable through the arcade. Trivia games made in the format of gameshows will actually allow players to win prizes for placing well.

Movies:

One of the most highly anticipated features, Netflix now allows members with any unlimited account and an Xbox Live Gold account to stream movies (some of them being in HD). This was definitely worth the wait, my speeds were excellent and while the framerate dips a little occasionally, it was never an issue to the point of being unwatchable. No more chinese youtube copycat sites for me!

The Bottom Line:

While there is sure to be a few gripes from the hardcore community at first regarding the New Xbox Experience, keep an open mind and you will definitely learn to love it. The New Xbox Experience is a very aptly named update for this slightly aging system that will pump new life into the Xbox 360. In many ways, the New Xbox Experience unlocks the full potential of the Xbox 360 transforming it into the multimedia entertainment center it was always destined to be.