New 360 Dashboard: "You don't have to use it"


Recommended Posts

If you don't like the look of the new Xbox 360 Dashboard unveiled at E3 last week, then "you don't actually have to use it," says Microsoft's Xbox Live director of programming Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb.

According to The Major, every single function available in current 360 backend will be included in the new, clean-looking Dash', which you can bypass completely if you choose.

"I know that there are some people that aren't going to like the happy, happy, shiny New Xbox Experience. For whatever reason it's not flipping their bit," Hryb said in his latest podcast.

"Here's my message to you: you don't actually have to use it. You can never go there, just leave your game disc in and pretty much do everything that you could before but on the Guide level - one button press away in every single game.

"The Dashboard as you know it today, in other words the 'blades'; Games, Live, Media and System," The Major explained, "We've taken those blades and moved them to the Guide. Every single function that you can do today in the Dashboard you are going to be able to do in the New Xbox Experience in the Guide.

"When you press the Guide button on the Xbox 360 controller, the new Guide will come up and you're going to be able to do everything in there. You're going to be able to contextually browse Marketplace, did you know that? So when you have Gears of War 2 of Halo 3 in there you're going to be able to go straight to that section."

Sounds excellent to us. Even more good news for New Xbox Experience haters comes in the form of Avatars, and how you don't have to use them. "If you don't like the avatars, they're not required. You can use your Gamer Pictures," said Hryb in the podcast. "Your existing and Gamer Pictures and Themes still work," adds co-host 'e'.

If developers choose though, adds the mysterious co-host, they can stick some cool rewards for Avatars in their games.

"I was talking to Todd Howard [bethesda exec producer]," says The Major, "and he was like, 'hey, I want to talk about Avatars - do you think there's a little hazmat suit for Fallout 3 we could make?" At least they won't be charging for it... (we hope)

Source

You miss the point, you will still get the new look, but to use the blades you'll have to use the guide. When you boot up your Xbox you're going to get the new Dash. period.

True, but if you liked the blades, you don't ever even have to go to the new Dashboard, unlike the old Dashboard. That's all he's saying.

You miss the point, you will still get the new look, but to use the blades you'll have to use the guide. When you boot up your Xbox you're going to get the new Dash. period.

360 can be set to boot into Media Centre, the Dashboard, or to the disc in tray. Who knows, they may add a boot to Guide option. He is correct though - you don't HAVE to use the Dash.

Yeah... I also don't like that he's saying "Just don't look at it," but at the same time, I do think that people should just give it a chance before they automatically decide they don't want to use it. Yes, it is different, and I still believe a redesign could have waited for their next console (the blades system is the 360s signature frontend look, after all), but they're doing it and it actually is a good idea considering all the features and content that have been added over the past couple years. Reorganization is a necessity.

I already posted it in this thread, but I suppose it deserves it's own thread since it's going to be such a big deal.

With the current 360, you can set it to automatically boot into the game in the drive, so if you really really really don't like the new dash, you could just enable that and press the guide button when you turn your 360 on. The current dash isn't exactly lightning fast so I doubt it'll even take any longer to get to the blades.

I still think it's an amazing feat bringing the entire blade system ingame and just goes to show that Microsoft is the king of software.

i hate that guy he annoys me 1 reason i gave up xbox

He he he, if you let 1 person affect your opinion of a console maybe the Xbox wasn't for you. :p

I think the way this topic is titled may lead to a bit of confusion. Maybe something like optional boot options still available for new 360 dashboard. Although way too long, I think everybody gets the point.

I have to say the new interface is growing on me. But I do love the look of the new guide interface. Is there a date for the update yet?

i hate that guy he annoys me 1 reason i gave up xbox

Bahahahaha!! Quote of the month... Neowin should do a quote of the month.

Edited by acies

I'm not a big fan of the new style dashboard, I'd rather stick with the old style one.

What's going to happen to all those themes and gamer pictures that people have paid for?

It would be much better if people a proper choice, so give people the option to use the old style dash or the new one - that way everyone is happy.

Will probably never happen though.

I'm not a big fan of the new style dashboard, I'd rather stick with the old style one.

What's going to happen to all those themes and gamer pictures that people have paid for?

It would be much better if people a proper choice, so give people the option to use the old style dash or the new one - that way everyone is happy.

Will probably never happen though.

I'm guessing you missed quite a few threads, eh?

I'm not a big fan of the new style dashboard, I'd rather stick with the old style one.

What's going to happen to all those themes and gamer pictures that people have paid for?

It would be much better if people a proper choice, so give people the option to use the old style dash or the new one - that way everyone is happy.

Will probably never happen though.

Themes and gamerpictures will work with the new dashboard. :)

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval by David Uzondu Image via @realDonalTrump (X) As OpenAI prepares the release of its next model, GPT 5.6, the White House has instructed the company to limit the distribution of the software to a small group of government-approved partners instead of the general public, as it has done with previous releases. According to The Information, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman sent an internal memo to staff on Thursday explaining that the federal government will approve access "customer by customer" during an initial preview phase. Altman noted in the communication that this restrictive rollout is "not [their] long-term model" for software deployment, and the company plans to work toward a "more sustainable" distribution method later. CNN said that both OpenAI and the Trump administration view the capabilities of GPT 5.6 on the same level as Anthropic's Mythos and that government officials intend to "collaborate with frontier AI labs to develop shared approaches for addressing the challenges of scaling this technology." The latest restriction comes just weeks after the US Commerce Department decided to restrict Fable, a version of Mythos with extra safety "guardrails" to prevent users from exploiting software vulnerabilities. Not long after the release, though, researchers at Amazon found a way to bypass these restrictions, prompting an aggressive response from federal authorities. The government ordered Anthropic to cut off access for non-US citizens located outside the US, non-US citizens living inside the US, and incredibly, even Anthropic's own foreign-born employees. Anthropic now appears to be building a workaround to resolve this compliance block with an update to its Privacy Policy that introduces a category called "Verification Data" to handle KYC and Digital IDs. This setup could mandate digital identity checks to filter users by nationality, requiring a government-issued ID and facial biometric data. Who knows? Maybe in the future, you would have to scan your US Passport or State ID to prove your citizenship before you are allowed to chat with Fable 5 (or any other model).
    • When Windows 7 was released I created an AutoHotkey script that uses Alt+` as a keyboard shortcut to move a window across monitors. I have been using that script for over 15 years and this is the first time I have come across another app that uses the same shortcut!
    • I called it last year that they wouldn't end support when they said there would. There are too many people still on Windows 10 waiting for something better to upgrade to and 11 ain't it! The recent promises of fixing Windows 11's many problems is nice, but unless they deliver on those promises in a big way then I expect customers will still want to stick with 10.
    • Full ACK. I went too far adressing your post specifically. And as you said, it up to us customers as participant of the market dynamic as it happens to decide whether we spend our money on a product or not. The responsibility is to the company. In case of this price hike one could assume that MS is expecting or even starting to see a new interest in XBox hardware so they want to avoid losses per unit sold. I find it fair enough that they granted a period in which everyone interested could grab a unit for the current price (Amazon.de has a reliable stock of XBox Series X digital, which I bought last December after having sold my day one Series X a year ago). It is not that they cash up their customers starting on Monday. Cheers and let's cling to our perfectly fine hardware as long as we deem it worthy in relation to purchasing something new!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      414
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      169
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      129
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Xenon
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!