New 360 Dashboard is Optional…Sort Of

By now, you’ve probably seen the new dashboard for Windows Media Center the Xbox 360 that’s due later this fall. Sure it looks all shiny and new, but what about the people out there who just hate change and want to keep using the old dashboard. Thankfully, they can…kind of. According to Larry Hryb (a.k.a. Major Nelson), 360 owners who just want to use the old functions can access them simply by pressing the center “Guide” button on the controller. As he explains:

“I know that there are some people that aren’t going to like the happy, happy, shiny New Xbox Experience…Here’s my message to you: you don’t actually have to use it. You can never go there, just leave your game disc in and pretty much do everything that you could before but on the Guide level – one button press away in every single game.

The Dashboard as you know it today, in other words the ‘blades’; Games, Live, Media and System. We’ve taken those blades and moved them to the Guide. Every single function that you can do today in the Dashboard you are going to be able to do in the New Xbox Experience in the Guide.

When you press the Guide button on the Xbox 360 controller, the new Guide will come up and you’re going to be able to do everything in there. You’re going to be able to contextually browse Marketplace, did you know that? So when you have Gears of War 2 of Halo 3 in there you’re going to be able to go straight to that section.”

So there you have it. Just always keep a disc in the machine and you can go on pretending those less cute Miis avatars and new features don’t exist. And if someone tries to tell you about them, just scream “Heathen!” in their faces and run.

Via CVG