People don’t like change. Anyone who has read their Facebook feed after another of many re-designs knows that Change Is Bad. New things are terrible. Technology is suspect and will probably be used for nefarious purposes. Big Brother is watching you and cyber criminals want to steal your credit card and run up a $1200 bill calling dodgy sex lines. If only we’d stuck to the old ways, living in mud huts and dying before the age of 25 without ever seeing any of the world beyond our village. We’d have been safe from all the vaccines, the airplanes and the Internet.

Perhaps I got a bit too tongue in cheek there, but it’s a pretty undeniable truth that the average being does not like being pushed out of their comfort zone by a faceless corporation, especially when it’s one deemed to have far too much power. Which is why every time one of these corporations – as in this case, Microsoft – makes an irreversible change which will impact the user experience, I tend to hold on to the nearest object that’s bolted to the ground lest I be blown away by the rants and screams of people with decidedly First World Problems.

Today (technically yesterday but the volume of demand was so high that, well, that was never going to happen) the brand spanking new xbox Dashboard was launched, bearing the all-too-familiar Metro interface currently found on the Windows Phone 7 and to be used in next year’s Windows 8. Even over my extremely creaky, choking Internet connection, the download was pretty speedy. But that was nothing compared to the speed of the interface.

The previous dashboard was faster and more functional than the original blades interface, but still made for slightly clunky and at times nonsensical navigation. The new dashboard fixes all of these problems and then some, adding must-have features like LoveFilm and coming after Christmas iPlayer and 4OD (a Godsend for students like myself living away from home without a TV license). The PS3 already has LoveFilm and similar features, however as the xbox360 has been making ground in the “family console” market it looks like it may be left (even further) behind. The 360 may yet become the entertainment hub of the living room that Microsoft so clearly desires, and this dashboard has taken them another step closer to their goal.

The dashboard is now divided into several distinct pages – home, social, video, games, music, apps and settings, all of which can be accessed swiftly using the bumpers. The interface of each page is tiled, allowing room for advertisements and promotions amongst the applications. The inclusion of advertisements may be slightly riling for xboxLive Gold users who pay Microsoft a sum every year for their online gaming privileges – their prominence has increased since the last dashboard update. However their integration is pretty smooth, and they are currently limited to advertising content specific to the xbox360, which seems acceptable. Targeted advertising based on your game, film and music history would be pretty welcome.

The new dashboard is definitely a breath of fresh air and managed to trump all my expectations. My xbox360 was already a vital part of my gaming and social life, and it has now definitely dug its claws in to include a variety of other entertainment forms. That is, until the next generation of consoles arrive.

I have made no real mention of Kinect in this post because I don’t yet have it, however my friends report that it works like a dream. I guess my Christmas list just got £100 more expensive, then.

A note on future updates, my friends and I have discovered the joy of Skylanders, I’m hotly anticipating the Silent Hill HD release and thatgamecompany’s “Journey” keeps me tied to my PS3 for a little bit longer.