The update, which will be available to Australians in the early hours on Thursday, completely replaces the Xbox 360's "blades" interface, and is divided into the main areas of "My Xbox", "Game Marketplace", "Video Marketplace", "Friends" and "Spotlight".

Beginners will also be introduced to the new interface via a "Welcome" panel that can be turned off.

Microsoft has lent Screen Play a console pre-loaded with the new interface, giving me the opportunity to become familiar with the new interface for the past week, and I'm positive about the change.

After a brief welcome sequence, your first task is to design a (mandatory) avatar. The subject of online scorn for being "Mii too", the avatars were designed by Rare and will be used in games like Uno and Scene It.


Those that just want to get gaming as quickly as possible without the fuss can choose one of the random creations standing in a pack on the welcome screen, while users who want to tinker also need to start with one of the pre-built characters and then customise aspects like clothing, hair, facial structure and accessories.

The avatars are arguably more "hip and groovy" than Miis, and the interface for creating your character is appropriately slick and simple-to-use, but there is not the same level of customisation currently available, with no option to freely move individual facial features and a limited wardrobe.

Screen Play managed to make a reasonable facsimile of my appearance (complete with mo) but there will be no outrageous characters populating the Live online service for the time being.

Once you are happy with your creation you can snap a photo of your avatar for use in your gamerpic, and add the likes of mottos and bios to your online profile as per the current system.

There are new themes available for customising the background. While all old themes you might have downloaded for the previous interface are all "compatible", some will look horrendous squashed onto the new format.

No doubt one of the main reasons Microsoft felt it necessary to redesign the 360 interface was because the huge amount of content on the online Live Marketplace had made navigation slow and cumbersome.

Now whenever you are exploring the menus or sorting through content like Live Arcade games or demos, you are presented with large images to flip through, much like Windows Media Centre, Sony's Cross Media Bar and iTunes' carousel.

It's quick, easy and pleasing to the eye, and there are usually various options for sorting your content in different ways.


There's also typically more information available when selecting a particular piece of content, all presented in a more attractive manner than in the past.

As you browse, there are also often plenty of "suggestions" (advertisements), with the "Spotlight" feature wholly dedicated to plugging content, but Microsoft would no doubt say this is part of their goal to make the machine more beginner-friendly, encouraging users to explore and try new things.

While there will naturally be some grumbles from some die-hards who prefer the old interface, the blades are not gone completely.

If you press the Guide button, up pops a rectangle that takes up the majority of the screen and features information like Achievement lists, Friends lists, active downloads, console settings, music, and even access to your game library and the marketplace. It is here you can also invite friends to join a party and chat away with your mates regardless of what game or other activity you are doing.

Screen Play's favourite feature by far is the option to install to hard drive, not because of the modest time savings involved, but because it means that I don't have to suffer from the sound of my Elite's DVD drive, which typically sounds like an aircraft taking off.

The feature, along with the excellent party system, illustrates that while the "new experience" might be primarily aimed at providing a more accessible face for the 360, Microsoft has not forgotten about its hardcore fans.