Xbox 360 NXE
In 2008, Xbox transitioned away from the blade design that had become so popular at the 360’s launch and introduced what they referred to as the “New Xbox Experience (NXE)” — a moniker that would return during the Xbox One era. While the blades were criticized for being too text heavy, the NXE failed to show enough information at any given time. A scrolling vertical menu replaced the iconic blades, and over half of the screen was lost to unused space in the UI.
The NXE did introduce avatars, though. These highly customizable characters allowed players to perfectly craft their digital likeness from face and body structure to game specific t-shirts and crazy outfits. Some arcade games supported these avatars as characters within the game (Anyone remember 1 vs. 100), and they would appear next to friends when they were online.
This update also introduced a couple features that are still in use today. The NXE allowed users to customize their background as well as friend sorting to make finding friends to play with much easier.
