Image Credit: Kotaku

The dashboard (home screen) of the Xbox 360 has only been redesigned once, but that one redesign was very significant. The NXE (New Xbox 360 Experience) was a big change in terms of interface though in terms of displaying content, it wasn’t so great. The original dashboard featured a series of controls on a page, which is owned by a tab that the user can flip through with their controller. It was very clean and efficient and you can get what you want to quickly. The next image shows the issues with the new NXE dashboard.

The red lines show the alignment of the elements, the faded white color shows wasted whitespace and the blue shows elements hidden behind other elements. This is a very inefficient way of displaying content. It is very clear that you can only get complete information out of elements 1 and 2. The rest are hidden behind other elements, hiding a lot of the content. Though it does look appealing, the perspective of which the elements are viewed at just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever and it just makes it harder to get to the content you want.

The new rumored dashboard, on the other hand, takes a similar approach on displaying content to the original Xbox 360 dashboard. It doesn’t look much like it, but it is just the original design but with tabs sorted vertically and content displayed horizontally. I hope Microsoft releases this new dashboard because it looks very promising.

David – Senior Editor

Microsoft’s Outlook Social Connector (often referred to as OSC) has been long known to let you connect your Outlook contacts with social networks such as LinkedIn and MySpace. They have just added Windows Live and Facebook support. Just recently, Microsoft teamed up with Facebook to allow people with contacts on Outlook connect them to their Facebook profiles. And it works pretty well. By selecting an email, I was able to click on a contact in Outlook 2010 to connect to a social network. It the only social network available on the wizard should be “My Site” until you download some from here. On the site, you can download social network connectors, which now include Facebook and Windows Live. Then, on the wizard, all you have to do is enter your credentials and look the person up in the social network of your choice. Though I haven’t really played with it much, I did notice that the email you are trying to add has to already have a Facebook account to add them, so if the person has multiple emails, you may have to ask which one they use for their Facebook, which isn’t always the most comfortable thing to do. I know that Outlook itself is a very solid email client, and this just adds to its already socially-connected features.

David – Senior Editor

Like always, Microsoft has created new methods to get rid of modders around the world. These methods include removing Xbox Live from the  entire modded Xbox. That means, if you happen to get one of these Xbox’s at a used game store, you’re screwed. To prevent this from happening, they’re taking new measurements to prevent a modded Xbox  from being fixed as well. If the sticker that prevents the case from being opened is removed (behind the faceplate,) Microsoft will not fix your Xbox. Instead, they’ll send a notice explaining why they will not fix it. A three year warranty… basically gone. And it’s almost impossible to cover  up the fact that the Xbox has been opened.

What does that mean for console hackers? Be careful.

Lev – TechReevu.com, Founding Editor

Halo 3 ODST is a new Halo “expansion” developed by  Bungie in 2009. This time  around you play as an  Orbital Drop Shock Trooper  (ODST) instead of Master  Chief. Inside the box you  will immediately notice that there are two disks, one that contains the campaign and, the new mode firefight. The second one is a Halo 3 Multiplayer disc that contains all of the multiplayer maps found in Halo 3.

First we have the campaign. You mainly take role of a UNSC ODST, a rookie. Like Master Chief, he never shows his face. The game takes place on New Mombasa after a fatal crash landing. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but, what I can tell you is, after finishing the ODST campaign I noticed that it was short, but enjoyable. While playing as an ODST you are weaker since you’re not a super soldier (spartan). But, playing as an ODST has its advantages too. You get a new silenced SMG with a 2x scope and, a silenced pistol with a 4x zoom. You also get a new feature called the VISR which gives the player a compass and it outlines objects, allies, and enemies. It also allows you to see better in the dark.

The new multiplayer mode, Firefight, is like horde mode in Gears of War 2, if you’ve ever played it. You and up to three other players can fight waves of covenant forces. All of the maps for firefight are based on campaign levels and are unlocked when you beat certain levels during the campaign.

The multiplayer (found on the second disk) is basically the Halo 3 Multiplayer aside from 3 new maps from the Mythic Map Pack. There really isn’t that much to say about the second disk. If you don’t own any of the additional Halo 3 maps the value of this game will probably be worth more to you than somebody that owns just Halo 3.

Overall the game looks about the same as the previous game but definitely feels different. After playing the game I was a bit disappointed. I can see why Bungie originally wanted to make it just an expansion, but it would’ve been more interesting to see a completely different game. Although, if you’re a die-hard Halo fan, this is a must-own title. While the campaign is short, it still is fun, plus Firefight and all of the multiplayer maps are enough to keep you busy for a while. The point being: buy the game if you love Halo (and/or Bungie.) If not, plenty of other enjoyable games are out as well.

Edward – Editor, TechReevu.com

Note: Image Credit: VGBlogger.com

I have had 2 other Xbox 360′s in the past few years. So, what’s new about this one? Though mostly cosmetic adjustments, this Xbox features a 120GB Hard Drive, as well as the new “Jasper” chip, which was added into the Xbox 360 line just a year or two ago. What I don’t like about this new Xbox is the lack of component cables. Unlike most people, I rarely used HDMI for my Xbox since, I have a lot of other devices plugged into my Sony Bravia. Plus, it was a lot simpler to record video via a capture card (Composite.) If you’d like to see those changes, watch the video above.

Lev – TechReevu.com, Founding Editor

P.S. We’re (mostly) back :)