If you own an Xbox 360, then you have no doubt experienced the horror that is the "New Xbox Experience" (NXE).  From major things like incompatibilities with some TV sets and Red-Ring-Of-Death reports to minor things like a completely botched handling of old themes, it’s been a rocky road for NXE thus far.  I have read a few positive reviews of the changes online, but I’ve yet to talk to a single real person that likes the changes.  Most opinions that I’ve heard range from "meh" to "this is the worst thing since Benifer".  Personally, I hate it.  It now takes me twice as long to launch an HD-DVD, and whereas the Wii avatars make me chuckle a little, the 360 avatars make me go want to scream LAME. 

So why did Microsoft do this?  Was it to try and capture the Wii market?  If so, what an incredibly STUPID mistake.  The Wii market and the 360 market are NOT the same market.  One is for "casual" gamers (aka pansies) and the other is for real gamers (aka men).  We (men) do not need avatars, especially not LAME avatars.  When I start up my 360, I want to get into the action as quickly as possible, whether that’s a game, a DVD, a movie from my media server, or whatever.  NXE does not help me do this.  The number of button presses I have to make to watch an HD-DVD now is roughly double what it was with the old blades interface.

Anyway, my point is this: I suspect this change was thought up by some marketing executive who failed to understand the target market of the 360 and what that market cares about.  He or she probably saw his or her kids playing with their Miis on their Wii and thought "Hey, Xbox needs this!"  But Xbox didn’t need this.  Not at all.  Had they done a little thing called MARKET RESEARCH, maybe the 360 developers could have added something we actually care about with the Fall update instead of wasting their time on the new, completely useless winter collection for LAME avatars.