NXE's Thematic Consistency

Microsoft is making some pretty radical changes to the Xbox 360's interface with all this crazy New Xbox Experience stuff, and a few of the big questions about how the upgrade will effect dashboard themes got answered today thanks to the Gamerscore Blog. Themes aren't disappearing--quite the contrary, as new themes designed specifically for the new dashboard will be more than just flat, 2D images, and will replace polygonal elements of the interface as well. Check out the screenshot to the right to see what the Friends channel looks like with the new Underground theme applied. While the look of this particular example is maybe a little five grand for my tastes, it illustrates the point nicely.

It was also revealed how themes for the current blade-based dashboard will look under the New Xbox Regime, which you can see for yourself on the Gamerscore Blog's Flickr stream. While old themes won't provide as thorough a makeover for your new dashboard as those designed specifically for it, they'll still work, which is good news for folks who put down some hard-earned money for their themes.

I'm liking the new themes implementation, though I also seem to be one of the minority that thinks the whole New Xbox Experience initiative looks pretty solid so far. Like most of you, I could do without the whole avatar thing, but right now I'm considering it a small price to pay for what seems to be significantly improved functionality and usability.