Xbox Website Gets A 360-Era Makeover For 20th Anniversary Celebrations

As part of Microsoft's 20th anniversary Xbox celebrations, the company updated the Xbox website with an Xbox 360-era makeover. That's right--blades are back.

The front page on Xbox.com now shows ads for games like Back 4 Blood, Far Cry 6, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl made to look as if they were releasing on Xbox 360. In fact, the entire front page of the website has an Xbox 360 theme, and it looks pretty slick.

The blades system on Xbox 360 represented a beloved user interface that was later phased out through system updates. We may never see the full return of blades, but this is something. Your Xbox 360 legacy can also live on by using your Xbox 360 gamerpic on Xbox One.

2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the Xbox brand and one of Microsoft's flagship franchises, Halo. In addition to updating the website, Microsoft is releasing a special-edition Xbox controller and headset themed around 20 years of Xbox, while there is a new Halo-branded Xbox Series X console on the way. The exact anniversary is November 15, and we wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft had more surprises in store to celebrate the birthday.

In related news, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios Publishing account recently stirred up discussion with tweets about some kind of announcement that people thought might be connected to Fable. The tweets have subsequently been deleted, and Xbox said there is no news about Fable coming.

Outside of the anniversary, Microsoft has a new piece of hardware coming this year--a mini-fridge. The Xbox mini-fridge, which plays off the joke that the Series X looks like a refrigerator, launches this year for $100. Preorders open on October 19.