The original Xbox 360 dashboard interface launched in 2005 was called Blades.
The Blades interface organized the console’s main functions into vertical sections, including Xbox Live, Games, Media, and System. Users moved horizontally between these sections and navigated within each one. Its distinctive design became closely associated with the first version of Xbox 360 system software.
Microsoft later replaced Blades with the New Xbox Experience, commonly called NXE, in a major 2008 dashboard update. That redesign introduced a more tile-based interface and avatars, making the older interface a historical feature rather than the dashboard used throughout the console’s life.
Blades is sometimes confused with Metro, the broader design language Microsoft later used across products, or with later Xbox 360 dashboard names. In Xbox history, “Blades” specifically identifies the original launch-era interface.