When the Xbox 360 store got taken offline back in the summer, various users began sharing the "totally gutted" dashboard which looked extremely bare without any kind of Xbox Live branding or game advertisements to speak of.
This topic has returned to the forefront over the past couple of days because a so-called "new" dashboard that looks even more empty. As you can see in the image below, it contains just three tiles - one of which is just a QR code.
The discovery of this dashboard has prompted a lot of sad replies in the comments about how it's been "destroyed" and "massacred" - there's been an awful lot of depressing takes about the state of the Xbox 360 in late 2024! Here are a few:
However, as mentioned in the headline, it's not as bad as it seems. Dig a little deeper, and you'll discover that this version of the dashboard is not the default for most people - you have to access it by using the "Other" locale setting.
It seems that this version of the dash has been implemented for regions where Xbox Live isn't supported, and therefore it's totally stripped back - with just the bare minimum UI features included. There's obviously a chance this could happen in every region at some point down the line, but there are no signs of that happening in the immediate future.
Anyway, we just thought this was interesting - kinda sad, but nothing to get too worked up about (for now, at least!).
What are your thoughts on this Xbox 360 story? Tell us down in the comments section below.
Comments 24
It won't happen but i would like to see MS make one final update for the 360 and give us a ''legacy'' dashboard of some sort
Yeah I don't get this pointless destruction of your own history with these updates. Especially from a company who supposedly champions its 'preservation' department. Might as well go find your moms family photo album and take a giant ***** on it. Cuz you have a kid of your own now. So tired of Microsoft burning it's own legacy to the ground.
People really need to find better things to be upset about. The dashboard of a 19 year old console shouldn't be an issue.
People who are two console generations behind shouldn't be complaining about a lack of support 🙄 Grow up
I just wish the industry would focus more time and resources on going forward, which has been lame all round this generation.
Im fed up with all this old old stuff, backwards this, remaster that etc etc.
I remember the old generations that really went forward with every new generation console release.
Nowadays having a new generation seems hardly worth it sometimes.
Which has stagnated games and other things in the industry.
That statement we believe in generations has total gone walk about this generation.
Yes I know it was Sony that said that.
IAmParliament is most definitely "a writer" who MOST DEFINITELY sits in coffee shops with a laptop, "writing". Overdramatic much? 🤣
Wait this is actually a serious story? People are actually upset about this for real?
Wow i wish my life was so privileged that i could spare the bandwith to worry about something so insignificant.
@RiverGenie Well, let's be honest. It's not like gamers are known for being grounded in reality...
@Markatron84 This really made me laugh because I was thinking the exact same thing! 🤣
It was always a slow, chugging, unappealing mess tbh. This is like burning down rubble.
That last Reddit post is hilarious. It's not that serious.
It's extremely minimalist 😏 It is pretty sad for sure, even though I have less nostalgia for the final 360 dashboard over the blades or the intermediate one that replaced blades. Silver lining, there are no ads littering the screen 😅
I'm an Xbox fan through and through, but I have to admit that ever since Microsoft's sole purpose of GamePass subscriptions and digital game sales they couldn't careless about the consumer as they used to.
Microsoft is truly destroying everything about Xbox, a legacy they had successfully accomplished with the Xbox 360 and they could had continued if their minds weren't so fixated in the bottom line.
I honestly wish now they would just go fully 3rd party publisher so we can't stop pretending not to see the writing on the wall. 😔
Today in "People will find anything to moan about"...
Seriously, People aren’t happy about this? The dashboard looks far and beyond better without nonsense cluttering it up like adverts and things you don’t need or use.
@OldGamer999 They keep having to re-release old things because they refuse to chance new ideas and struggle adapting or making new entries of existing IPs. Which in itself is from its own set of problems, like most established devs having been laid off in favor of cheaper ones without experience, with companies thinking that just the IP will be enough to carry the newest entry regardless of how good it actually is. So when this inevitably leads to failure, and they refuse to take any new risks, they just have to go back to things people enjoyed before. And even then they find ways to screw it up.
@shoeses
And that’s my main issue, they go back to things as before and mess it up or make it even worse.
Not sure what most developers or studios are doing nowadays but they aren’t making great AAA games that release working and mostly bug free day one. And most end up average to above average and definitely the old big AAA critically acclaimed games studios used to produce.
@OldGamer999 The wildest part to me is it keeps being proven that people want those older experiences just with new environments, stories, and a few changes to the gameplay. Space Marine 2 is essencially Space Marine 1 but it looks better with some gameplay adjustments, and people absolutely loved it. You don't need to know anything about the source material to enjoy it, it's a digestible experience, and it has Multiplayer if you want to experience more. The new Shadow Campaign of Sonic X Shadow falls in the same boat: It's classic (3D) Sonic gameplay you can enjoy without knowing any other material, it's a digestible experience, and it has replay value in the Scoring if you want more out of it, and people liked it. It's really not hard, but the new devs want to tells some grand story (usually without knowing much of the IP source material themselves) and the people who run the companies think they need 100 hour grindfests.
Recently got a 360 for the first time but it can't even connect to the internet. Apparently an electronic from 2011 doesn't play nice with modern network securities; who woulda thought? Not that there's much use for a connection nowadays apart from achievements.
Yes it a dull dashboard, but much of the original functionality centred around interconnection with the Xbox marketplace. Now that the marketplace is gone this is all that left. I personally thought the NXE dashboard was one of the best. The metro/kinect dashboard largely broke much of the functionality in my opinion. Still it nice it has some functionality, and it will play a select handful of original Xbox games so it still useful, to a degree.
New dashboard update?
I wish there was an option to make the Series dash look like this.
Whatever Microsoft plans to do with hardware they will need a UI for all these devices and Game Pass. I think they should be working very hard on building out the next dashboard that will work across all devices and make it good. The console literally has been loosing customers for years because of it where it used be a real strength.
It’s not that empty and you can still play online if you use Aurora.
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