I rarely blog. This is one of those occasions when I feel compelled to write.

I've been watching Ryan Davis videos, listening to Ryan Davis podcasts and reading stuff written by Ryan Davis for longer than I care to think about. For as long as I've been gaming, Ryan Davis has been there.

I didn't know Ryan personally. But, I still think I knew him, somehow. That's the nature of the internet, I guess.

Ryan made gaming fun. He made crap games fun. And he made us laugh. A lot.

He'll be missed. Gone way too soon. Rest in peace, Sir.

After much hype, the dashboard has arrived. Finally. Release day was something of an anti-climax after some kind of issue caused it to be delayed until early evening. In the end, it wasn't really worth the wait, was it?

I will happily admit to being a fan of the previous dashboard interface, everything was easy to find and navigate through and scrolling through the menus couldn't have been easier. Most things were within easy reach and it was simple to identify new content, new demos, downloads, etc. The focus was on building an interface that was super user friendly and it worked.

This time, the emphasis has shifted with support for Kinect and interaction with that system being the priority. Fantastic if you want to work your way through the menus using your hands, although how that can be quicker than using a wireless controller I have no idea. Doesn't the "fun" factor get old after the second time of playing around with it? Furthermore, it's cluttered. Menus mixed in among content, click a tile and you have no idea if you will find what you are after inside until you search around, possibly having to click more tiles and so on.

What about the apps that are still built with the previous interface in mind, Last.fm being one that I came across.

The first time I loaded up the last dashboard design, I loved it. The first time I loaded this up, I hated it. Maybe, although unlikely, it will grow on me. But I'm not convinced.

Disclaimer : I own both a PS3 and XBox 360 and I don't like the cross media bar UI design on that either. Maybe I'm just hard to please.