the update is way better than the old mediocre crap, do you try to say different, because I'm drunk but know more than you sober, if you think those blades are better than the new crap. They might be more familiar, but the new update is an update in every way, the blades are worse and that's not an opinion, it's a fact. You know who thinks the blades are better? PS3 fanboys in disguise.

 Considering the new layout is very similar to the XMB, I would say PS3 fanbioy in disguise would defend this change. The blades were better in every way, but I can live with the new layout. The only problem is the new layout is ugly as sin. It is painful for me to look at something so hideous for logn enough to accomplish anything.

it's actually more like microsoft's Media Center than XMB... the only real diffrence is that it's left justified rather than centered

Yep, it's more like Media Center navigation than XMB.  However, MS did incorporate thing like CoverFlow and dynamic background (not sure if those features were in later Media Center, since I haven't play with Media Center in a while).

All in all it's a slick interface.  It's way better than the clunky Blade, if you think new inteface is terrible I don't know what would you prefer, XMB?   I like XMB for it sleek clean look but it's not really very easy to navigate especially when you are deep into selections.  Also people who are not tech savvy would have no clue to open up the side menu for more option.  My wife is always lost trying to used the PS3 to stream Netflix.

I installed Mass Effect last night just to see how it would run. It doesn't effect the elevator rides as they are hardcoded take a certain amount of time. The texture pop-in is reduced. It's still there but it's not as bad. When you go to your squad menu, the texture pop-in is all but eliminated. It also seems to eliminate the "disk fetch". Mass Effect would often freeze momentarily while the game loaded data from the disc. I ran through the Citadel and that didn't occur at all. It doesn't eliminate all the issues with the game but it definitely is a significan't improvement. The game still has frame rate drops but with the "disk fetch" related frame rate hitches gone, it isn't nearly as bad. The non elevator related load times are shorter as well. I'll probably test out Lost Odyssey this weekend.

@Darc

Must you install all 4 discs before you can play or can you install Disc 1 only to play Disc 1. Also, how much space did all 4 discs take? Man I so need to upgrade my 20GB.

The update is great! I downloaded GOW2 to my 360 and was playing on a quiet machine finally… Then to my surprise I was able to hit the “X Green Button” button and saw all the menus pop up in an easy to use format. I went from playing GoW 2 to streaming Heroes in less then 2 minutes.

I don’t mind the Avatars… They are such a small part of this update. If you like that kind of thing they are there for you to play with. If you don’t then you can easily ignore them.

I know everyone has different opinions but this format is a lot better then the old. The old blade system sucks compared to this.

i think i have a problem ... i installed FarCry2 in the hard disk but when i play i see papers float all over the place also when i shoot someone papers come from him instead of the blood .. i think its a bug in the game but why its come after the install ? .. anyone have the same thing happend to him ?

I'm not sure. I haven't installed the game yet. I believe the full install is 23GB. I don't know if you can install the game disc's separately or if you have to install all four.