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New Xbox Experience themes info

And how Avatars will show your status.

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

Microsoft has released new screenshots and information demonstrating how Xbox 360 themes and Friends will work in the New Xbox Experience dashboard revamp.

Themes will now be "subtly animated" and will affect graphics throughout each area of the dashboard, the platform holder explained in a Gamerscoreblog developer diary post.

As for Friends, you will be able to judge their online status by observing their Avatars. Those bouncing around smiling and so on are connected to the internet, while the ones having a nap are offline.

Microsoft also reiterated that you can still use existing Xbox 360 themes, which "look even better over the new UI, especially in high-definition", and illustrated this with some screenshots of a Gears of War effort.

You can see how all that looks in the 1080p New Xbox Experience screenshots we dug out of the Gamerscoreblog Flickr account.

Also be sure to check out our recent New Xbox Experience Avatars preview and Eurogamer TV Show where Rare talk us through them, and our New Xbox Experience preview from E3.

The New Xbox Experience is due out later this year, for free, and may launch in November - although the developer diary is mute on the subject of a release date.

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