Would do you call Nintendo-inspired avatars and a Cover Flow rip-off anything less than a “transformation”? Not if you’re Microsoft, apparently.

Speaking at Gamefest yesterday, the CTO of Microsoft’s games division said the following about the upcoming Dashboard re-design:

What this does is reinvent the Xbox. I don’t think any one has ever done this before – transformed a console during its lifecycle.

You could argue that the Blades interface had grown too big and cluttered for its own good—so much scrolling—but to claim that that and a bunch of silly avatars are So Damn Amazing is a bit much.

My friends and I will never create an avatar and be all, “Wow, that’s me!” Leave that casual gaming fluff to the casual gamers and their Wii.

Transform, indeed, Optimus.

via Kotaku