Xbox 360's Original Blades Dashboard Returns With Free Theme

Relive the Blades era of the Xbox 360 with this new theme.

By Logan Moore

The beloved "Blades" dashboard that is synonymous with the early days of the Xbox 360 has now returned as a new theme on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One consoles. When the Xbox 360 first launched in 2005, it shipped with the Blades layout that many users found to be a streamlined, snappy way to access all of the platform's various features and settings. This Blades dashboard didn't last long, though, as Microsoft pushed out a massive overhaul of the Xbox 360's UI in 2008 that introduced Avatars and did away with this original look. Now, some 16 years later, Microsoft is bringing back Blades, at least in spirit, with a new theme for modern Xbox consoles. 

As of today, this new Blades theme has been doled out to all Xbox users. Rather than needing to download this throwback Xbox 360 dashboard, Microsoft has added the theme to the list of default options that can be found in the "Dynamic Backgrounds" section of all Xbox consoles. Upon navigating to this section in the Xbox's Settings and Personalization menu, a new option titled "Xbox 360 Blades" should appear and be usable. 

As for what this theme looks like, you can get a look at this modernized version of the Blades right here: 

Related:

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(Photo: Xbox)

The reason that Microsoft has seemingly added this Xbox 360 Blades theme at this point in time is because games from this era will soon no longer be sold on the Xbox's marketplace. Microsoft will be removing all Xbox 360 digital titles from the Microsoft Store later this month on July 29, 2024. At this point in time, all games that appeared on this platform will no longer be buyable in a digital format. Until that moment, though, Microsoft has slashed the prices of numerous Xbox 360 games to encourage users to make some last-minute purchases. To see more of what happens to be on sale, you can check out Xbox's official site right here to examine the full list.  

How do you feel about the Xbox 360's Blades dashboard returning with this new theme? And are you planning to use this theme for yourself? Be sure to let me know over on social media at @MooreMan12. 

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