Xbox 360 gets avatar system, new dashboard

by Andrew Yoon on Jul 14th 2008 2:17PM

Yes, we heard the rumors and they turned out to be true. At Microsoft's E3 keynote, they finally revealed the new dashboard, complete with 3D slides and Avatars. John Schappert, head of Live services and software, told the audience: "The new look and feel is more fun, more social, and simpler to use. You'll have a Gamercard, but there's also something new... it'll be more personal with avatars. Express your personality and style, share it with your community and friends. ... pants, shirts, hats... everything you need, it's all here."

"Create, share, and have fun with all of your friends... but avatars are just the beginning. The new Xbox is tailored for the living room. Here we are at the community channel -- instead of a list of friends, you actually see them. You can chat with or send messages to your friends, but there's something new: create a Live party, private groups of up to 8 people, always connected and chatting as a party."

The Mii-like Avatars are just the beginning, he says. The new Dashboard adds a community channel, which allows you to send messages to friends or invite them to a "live party." With this upcoming update, Xbox 360 becomes an even more social experience.

Tags: breakingnews, dashboard, E3, e3-2008, xbox-360

Reader Comments (141)

looks good.

No, it really doesn't. How is this functional? How is this better than the old Dashboard?

They really screwed up on this new one...

Omega: It's truly a matter of opinion, my friend. And my opinion as a professional designer is that the current dashboard looks like something designed for the XGames crowd by someone that newly discovered the "emboss" and "lighting effects" filters in photoshop.

New one is much more elegant. Like the Ps3's, actually.

For people who are into this sort of thing, it could be neat. I'll be happy if they leave the option to use the 2D avatars to identify people though.

And I also hope they don't ruin the dashboard. I like the current design, and I have faith in the Xbox team, as they haven't let me down yet... but let's focus on being something unique too, and not just a collage of everything else that's hot at the moment.

While it looks cleaner, I am not entirely sold on this look yet. The avatar system is less than appealing to me.

I am glad they have an integrated 8 person party/private chat, other than that the new dash looks awful and the Mii's I mean Avatars are a ridiculous shoe-in.

when is this coming out?

Ugh... I really like the current 360 Dashboard.

im...sorry

IM NOT

Looks a little like media center...wonder where they're taking the xbox. Its been a trojan horse into the living room ever since the original black box.

I feel scared.

I FEEL ASLEEP!

THE TRUCK HAVE STARTED TO MOVE

iLikey!

The one thing the ps3 has that's sorta interesting is how you can change the background of the homescreen. I hope MS allows that with this new update or w/e.

Plus I really want it to be smooth and look nice.

You know you've been able to change the background to whatever you want on the 360 from day one, right...?

looks similar to Zune. pretty intuitive gui IMHO. i still prefer the XMB of the PS3 and PSP but the Zune (and soon to be 360 interface, apparently) are a close second.

WOW this looks like utter crap lmao PS3's is way better it just looks like sum half assed attempt at being in the in crowd because we all know bill was left outta social clubs when he was in school now hes gotta steal more? from other consoles?

wheres the origionality maaaannn!

Bombshell. I am *really* excited for this.

ugly

Are you guys retarded? If your calling this a rip off, then PS3 ripped off Wii with it's motion detection controller, and both Wii and PS3 ripped off the original black box by introducing harddrives.

It's not ripping off, it's called moving forward. These three companies feed off eachother to inovate how you interact with your system on a daily basis. And those that say the PS3 crossfire is better, how the hell would you know retard? Have you used the new dashboard yet? Didn't think so, and if you did, then I'll never see you on live again! ;)

So stop with this fanboy garbage, and if you actually wasted that much money on a PS3, then your a douche bag.

And calling it complex? LMFAO wow, you're a barely functioning member of the technology race then and should probably stop investing in the consoles.

If you enjoy gaming, and like new things, then just shut the hell up and stop bitching because you think your tenured gamers and your master opinions count? Your a bunch of morons.

If you just plainly don't like it, don't claim they're ripping everyone off because if that was the case, then EVERYONE ripped off Atari...

Just play the fucking game and shut up.

hmmmm.... i think the xmb is more streamlined than this also there sould be an option to use the old type if you dont like it

omfg...
cant wait!!!!!!
i love being a 360 fanboy. ps3 will always be trying to catch up.
by the way, do we get refunded all those themes we bought?

i·ro·ny

Look it up.

A good point actually. Who would buy a theme or gamerpic now that they'll be going away? Unless there's a way to intergrate it into the new design. I was hoping they'd mention something about that, but there was nothing.

Microsoft just confirmed Netflix as well. Nice, so many good news :)

I was fine with the picture avatars. Really. :x

Me too - hopefully they keep the option to use them. Avatars are neat and all, but I just can't see some people using them (or wanted to).

No kidding! Oh well, I'll live.

I have some friends on my list who like to go for the craziest scary pics available like the Aliens head or some psycho from another game. What are these people going to think of cutesy avatars?

If that is the design, I'm not going to download the update. That looks horrible. I want the Wii interface to look more like the 360 interface, not the other way around. >_

perhaps you are suffering from a mental disorder?

Perhaps you are...

The 360 dashboard as it is now is far superior to the Wii channel interface.

I didn't think that we had a choice to update or not. If you use Live, that is...

Exciting, potentially. This doesn't seem like the right move for Microsoft. The whole Mii thing is really aimed at kids. I wonder why they would want to shift the 360 to be more aimed at children.

i think they are trying not to let to be left out on the Mii and Home thing if im reading into it correct. i thought they would be a little more adult aimed with it too but whatever.

Ever heard of Halo?

Microsoft I've stuck with 360 and i've been a hardcore 360 fan since its realease, and i hae to say i love the current dashboard, the new one is just...i mean it's chock full 'o great ideas but its just so, for lack of a better word, "bleh". Really plain, whats gonna happen to our themes and our gamer pictures?? WHYYY?!!!

Ahahahaha oh god

That's just... sad.

that's innovating! nintendo's Miis and Apple's coverflow! now it needs a wiimote!

I'm glad for that one guy that wooos all the time during the conference or there wouldn't have been applause except for Portal...

Wiimote? Then it'd be more Nintendo than Apple...Bring a SIXAXIS to even it out!

hmm...where are all the spooling ads in the new dash??.. guess they didn't want to show that. I expect more pop ups. :(

why would you want ads? they are just annoting trying to get you to download things for microsoft points, and the download is stupid, and who really pays all that attention to the dashboard any way, isnt the xbox 360 for playing games!!!!!!!

So is that ready for download now? or soon?

And so ends the period where MS is the innovator in the online console gaming market. Now they're a follower. It's too bad, because MS had been a strong leader before.

when was xbox innovative?

Xbox Live for original Xbox was incredibly innovative. Xbox Live for 360 was very innovative. It's still the only system with cross-game invites.

That interface looks more complex than the one we have now i thought progress was about adapting interfaces to suite the user not give them a headache,

On top of that, i'm not 11 years old, if i wanted a nice little representation of me walking around the internets i would have bought a WII.

I love the new look. Looks a hell of a lot cleaner than the current one.

+1 the current look is a monstrosity. It's like they hired kids from geocities to design it. barely functional

new one looks slick

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Xbox 360 gets avatar system, new dashboard

Reader Comments (141)

Posted: Jul 14th 2008 2:19PM (Unverified) said

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