Major Nelson let loose on his latest podcast that the upcoming Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 will be entirely optional. Well, you’ll most likely still have to download it, but you can continue to use the old blades system and even forgo the new Miis Avatars and stick with your Gamerpic. Oh, and you can do it all in game. Here are the words straight from the Major’s mouth: “The Dashboard as you know it today, in other words the ‘blades’; Games, Live, Media and System, 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. And if you don’t like the avatars, they’re not required. You can use your Gamer Pictures.†Yay! Microsoft is doing one of the things that I actually like about them: they’re giving me options. Now they just need to release a Blu-Ray player, and everyone will be happy. Source: Play.tm
I have heard about this massive update when E3 was going on and it actually sounds pretty lame. I am sooo glad that it will be optional, if it really is, because they are trying to mimic the dashboards for the Wii and the PS3, which both suck in my opinion. My 360 dashboard is easy to use and I am able to find what I need quickly. I don't need dumbed down choices like creating a Mii or having retarded avatars to use my 360. I want to play video games, not have to screw around and customize my dashboard all day long....
The new layout looks like it has really simplified navigation which will make the rest of my family happy as the blades sytem is overly complex for the simple tasks that they need to perform. If it makes getting the Media Center functions up and running then even better. I don't care about the Avatars, but the rest looks like an improvement.