Speaking of which, all the themes and gamerpics you have already purchased will work in the new interface. Each channel will display the images that previously were housed on the blades, but on the upper half of the screen only rather than the full screen (see image below). Gamerpics will also still work alongside your avatar.
Whitten said the main channels of the new interface won't be cluttered with ads. Instead there will be a new section – the Spotlight Channel -- dedicated solely to marketing and advertising from Microsoft and its corporate partners. You might see info about an upcoming online event or a pitch for an upcoming third-party game in this section. The Games Channel is where you'll find the game-related content formerly associated with Marketplace. It has four sections: Browse Games, Top Downloads, New Arrivals and Major's Picks. From here, you can browse and buy Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Originals and downloadable content.
In order to make use of this function, you'll need to have the retail disk in the tray so the machine can authenticate the game. It will briefly spin up and then spin back down again when the hard disk takes over. If you want, you can even copy one disk of a multi-disc game to the hard drive. The payoff? Up to 30 percent quicker load times.
One of the coolest changes to the Dashboard is a major behind-the-scenes shift. Currently, if you're playing, say, Assault Heroes 2 with a friend online and want to switch to Carcassonne, you have to exit the game, go to the dashboard, start up the new game and re-invite your friend. With the new Party system you can bring up the guide in Assault Heroes 2, choose Carcassonne and take your whole party to the new game right from there. It's a huge change that should make playing games online with friends much more streamlined.