Before deciding to roll with what is the New Xbox Experience dashboard, Microsoft had hired design firm Gridplane to prototype several versions of an update to Xbox 360′s user interface. The company has finally posted a few images of one of its early concepts.

“These examples represent one of many concepts that we worked on,” wrote the company on its website. “In addition to the menu systems, we dreamt up an immersive 3D environment for users to explore.”

Some of the ideas look pretty cool. But hey, the final NXE dashboard is much more clean, efficient and user-friendly than any of the console’s competitors.