On Tuesday, Microsoft released their biggest down-loadable update for the XBOX 360 console.  Over the course of its life so far, the 360 has benefited from various updates, but overall the machine has performed and looked as it did on release.  Not so now with the NXE (New XBOX Experience), designed by former Nintendo partner Rare, this update completely redesigns the 360 interface, offering up Avatars that shamelessly borrow off Nintendo Wii’s Mii’s, but a bit more flair and overall better graphics.  Now you can customise your Avatar to suit your own appearance, or create something totally bizarre. 

In addition the look of the interface now resembles Windows Vista in the way you navigate screens that are lined up like a deck of cards.  Its all very eye catching.  When on-line you can also see your friends list represented as their own Avatar’s and if they are snoozing they are offline, or if they are waving they are available to play with.  Very cool.  You can also install 360 games to the hard-drive to improve loading times – naturally this is all based on how much room you have left.  I recommend probably investing in a 120GB drive.

As you can probably guess I am well happy with the new look of the 360’s interface and look forward to exploring it more and more and discovering new features.