I like the New Xbox Experience and think it is a good step forward for the Xbox 360. The avatars are a bit childish to me, but I don’t think they are a distraction at all. They are actually pretty neat to use in avatar enabled games like A Kingdom for Keflings. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft decides to publish for additional customization options and whether or not they will come with a price tag.

The party feature is a fantastic addition to the dashboard. Clodhopper, Delta and I used to exchange a lot of messages and hold separate chats about what game to play together or who was going to host a session, but now we can meet as a group, discuss particulars and jump right into a game. I was pleased to learn that parties can also select between party and game chat to avoid not being able to interact with other gamers outside of the group.

Netflix is probably the best addition and it’s even gotten my wife to turn on our Xbox 360. The streaming selection isn’t as robust as the full catalog, but there is plenty to keep us busy between physical rentals. We’re in the midst of watching several television shows we have been curious about, 30 Rock, Heroes and Weeds, and it’s great to be able to do so without having to rent a bunch of DVDs. The video quality is decent, though we do not have a high definition set anyway, and we’ve only run into a few instances that a show needed to rebuffer due to traffic. However, even those few instances lasted much less than a typical commercial.

The new menu system is much smoother and certainly feels more intuitive. I would agree with Khan that some of the features are a bit cumbersome, like the friends section, and I also tend to use the guide button for some things. The ability to browse items in the Marketplace is also a great addition.

The ability to copy games to the hard drive is another fantastic addition. While this may not decrease all load times or help ease every graphical hiccup, it is absolutely outstanding to be able to play games without my Xbox 360 sounding like a rocket headed for space. I have to imagine this will also give me a better chance of not experiencing hardware failure, since the disc drive only spins to verify that I own a game.

Overall, it was worth the wait and I certainly like the new dashboard. The update wasn’t perfect, but it’s a big step forward and I can’t wait to see what’s in store down the line for the Xbox 360.