What is it?

It's a total overhaul for the the Xbox 360 operating system. Like upgrading from Windows XP to Vista, but free, and hopefully less pointless. In Microsoft newspeak, it's 'The New Xbox Experience'; in layman's terms, it's a redesign for the menus you see when you're not in a game. "When people turn on their Xbox 360s this fall, they'll get an entirely new interface and dashboard, an entirely new Xbox through the magic of software," says Microsoft's head of Live services, John Schappert. Magical, magical software.

Why is it happening?

Two reasons. Firstly, the old Dashboard was always something of an eyesore (all that garish red, green and purple doesn't match an HDTV in the land), and hasn't proven entirely suitable to all the new features Microsoft has shoved into Xbox Live. Finding a specific demo or downloadable game add-on has become an increasingly nightmarish journey through endless sub-menus. The system needed rethinking from the ground up to reflect how people actually get to and use the stuff they want.

Secondly, Microsoft is hoping to reinvent the 360 as more of a family console than simply the gamer's choice – a reaction, rumour has it, to flagging system sales. so the new Dashboard features cutsey 'Avatars' based transparently on Nintendo's Miis.

As well as that, MS has a raft of casual games up its sleeve – quiz and music fare, ideal to gather a luddite family around at Chrimbo. Says Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, "The new Xbox experience offers more content than you can find from any device that connects to the television. That convergence of entertainment and gaming will bring new people and more families to the category, driving a record year for the games industry."

So what's new?

The most obvious change is the look, throwing out the explosion in a sweet shop design for something a bit more subtle – all silvers and Apple-esque reflections. It's unlikely to be to everyone's tastes, but it certainly doesn't scream "GAMES CONSOLE FOR KILL-CRAZY TEENAGE BOYS" in the way the old one did. It's reorganised too, both to make getting to your content a lot more logical, and to reflect Microsoft's other push – to make the 360 more of an entertainment device than merely a console.

So movies, photos and music now have a much higher profile in the interface, and in the case of the former there's increased focus on paid downloads. "Instead of checking what's on TV this fall, you'll turn on Xbox and ask what's on Live", says Schappert.

Games aren't left out, however – the most exciting part of all this for the traditional 360 audience is that they'll be able to install games to their console's hard drive, which will reduce load time and that damnable racket the DVD drive makes.

What's an Avatar, then?

It's a design-it-yourself mini-you, which your friends see as your visual representation in games, as a replacement for the old Gamerpics. Consciously cute, you're not going to be building Chiefy Masters or Death-Beasts, so they may be a little at odds with the Gears of War crowd.

Where they'll really come into their own, though, is in specific games such as Scene It 2, where you actually play as your Avatar. It's potentially the link a more casual audience needs. "Create, share, and have fun with all of your friends... but avatars are just the beginning. The new Xbox is tailored for the living room. Here we are at the community channel – instead of a list of friends, you actually see them.

You can chat with or send messages to your friends, but there's something new: create a Live party, private groups of up to eight people, always connected and chatting as a party," explains Microsoft's John Schappert. There'll also be a lot of ongoing customisability – expect both free and paid clothing downloads, whether it's making your Avatar emo or dressing him in a Grand Theft Auto t-shirt.

So are Gamerpics de

Bungie lead AI programmer Damian Isla admires rival Xbox Live game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and said he thinks his team has a lot to learn from the game in terms of scripted events and playability.

"We have a lot to learn from their success too, they did some very innovative things to keep people going and their experience-rewards system was something that we paid a lot of attention to," he said.

He continued, saying he thought the single-player aspect of CoD 4 was "fantastic."

"They did a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand. The way that they use those moments to craft the player experience...Halo has a lot to learn from," he said.

He candidly admitted that future Bungie efforts would involve more scripting to fully immerse the player in its Spartan environments.


IS THIS GOOD OR NOT TELL US YOUR VIEWS!!

FIRST UP CALL OF DUTY:WORLD AT WAR

The fifth game in the CoD series, which is being developed by CoD3 studio Treyarch, ditches the number subtitle and expectedly returns to WWII - but the developer stresses it's not the same theatre we've seen a million times before.

It all takes place in the Pacific theatre (and partially in Russia's advance into Berlin) says OXM, which all in all was a much grittier and darker conflict that the one in muddy Belgium fields.

Treyarch has had a full extra year over CoD3's development to make World at War - and it's using the excellent CoD4 engine, which is plenty of reason to be excited.

"This is a scarier Call of Duty than we've ever seen," Treyarch head Mark Lamir says in the mag.

To help simulate the Japanese's different style of warfare, Treyarch has completely re-tinkered the enemy AI in World at War. Instead of taking cover and flanking in traditional European battle strategies, the Japanese hide in trees, sneak through the overgrowth and scrabble, katana in hand in violent suicide attacks.

"We figured out early that the Imperial Japanese fought in a different way that was full of suspense," creative lead Rich Farrelly tells OXM. "From that point we started to skew the game in that direction."

Excitingly, for the first time in Call of Duty's campaign 4-player co-op is supported over Xbox Live - and it supports meta game perks as in CoD4's excellent online mode.

SOUND GOOD post your thoughts about going back to the world war era and the cool sounding co-op story mode

HAS SAM FISHER LOST HIS VOICE?

And by that i mean Michael Ironside, cult actor and Splinter Cell series mainstay, who is now rumoured to have lost his gig as the voice of Ubisoft's stealth hero.

According to many rumoures from various people, Ubisoft has quietly axed Ironside from his role in 360-exclusive Conviction and even he himself doesn't know it yet.

CVG contacted Ubisoft UK who've been quick to say nothing on the report, but we for one would be a bit gutted if Ironside parted ways with Fisher. Can you imagine the outcry if Solid Snake lost his distinctive grunt?

Far from confirmed, but lets' hope this one's nothing more than internet rumoures

WHAT YOU THINK LET US KNOW?