I've been saying ever since I first saw the Metro UI on the Zune devices that Microsoft needed to fully adopt it across all it's platforms and it looks like that is exactly what they're doing. The Zune is (was) an awesome device and it has a great UI. That being said, I think they need to be careful with their typography and not go too word heavy as best they can.
I don't really like the look of it compared to the one that's out now. The Bing search thing will be amazing though because having to look through a horribly laid out store to find one specific thing was terrible before. Half the time I couldn't find games on demand even though I think they have a category in the games section for it now. Also Bing sucks :P
Looks decent, sharp and minimalistic. Almost a shame it's changing, I like the past year's one. Still, I suppose the thing I like the most about this past year's one is the Xbox-button menu, it's absolutely brilliant. I just wish I could disable all the extra crap that I never use on the main screen. Or even better, just default to the menu that lets me run a game immediately, or look at my games library, or my own profile stuff, rather than defaulting on the news page or whatever. If I want your news Microsoft, I'll move my dpad up one :P
My first reaction to these pictures is not great. Not sure I like it at all. Minimal doesn't work for me when I've got a huge screen. Nothing worse than having to cycle through menus because the space wasn't used wisely.
Free software updates are cool. I really like the idea of a consistent refresh like this. It goes along way in keeping things feeling new with hardware that's 6 years old at this point.
As a person who spends most of my time on the PC I've got to say I've never liked any of the Dashboard iterations. It always seemed to take too many extra steps to get to where I wanted. I'll mess around later on ye olde Xbox and see if the new design is any better.
Also: Have they fixed the 2-3 second lag that happens when you try to do ANYTHING from the Guide/Home/whatever menu?
After seeing that old "blades" interface....I'm actually quite glad they try to reinvent yourself every so often....I do hope the new UI will be awesome sauce...
Looks good. There were some things I didn't like about the last update and this seems to iron them out - from a pure aesthetic standpoint of course cause I haven't seen it in action.
So basically Microsoft ripped off Sony's Cross Media Bar, then put a pretty coat of paint on it.
Congratulations to the designers at Microsoft.
Because Sony invented the horizontal list of items that opens a second level of vertical items? Just because Sony's marketing department gives something a fancy name doesn't mean they actually invented anything.
They really should make it so that you could customize it youre own way.. I mean color vise and what you want in the boxes and how big they would be.. And it would be better if you could name the titles (TV,Music,Apps etc) youreself.. This feels like its going from the gamers to the family, kids thing.. WTF? Same with kinect! Why ohh why. It gets some sort of discusting smell over it. It will get into a big advertisment dashboard trying to make you rent overpriced old movies and buy more shitty things you dont care about. When you only wanted to game and chill out with other gamers. The other stuff i do with other people and on other places.. I dont need to get it in my face when i want to game... yes im kinda pessemistic on this.
Half on topic: and we Sony fans are damned well happy the PS3 hasn't had an interface change. The XMB is so easy to use and non cluttered. I can see what I'm looking for (current 360 design is actually similar, just TOO FAR ZOOMED IN) - I like being able to just arrow across, down down and get to something.
Sony, don't ever change it. Microsoft, feel free to copy it as far as I'm concerned.
The question I'd love an answer to, will 'Quickplay' solve issues related to the slow loading 'Games Library'?
In the end, improving the loading is really the only thing I really care about. Unfortunately, I'm not convinced that's as big a concern to them as it is to us. We'll see.
@abrasion
said:
Sony, don't ever change it.
Don't worry they won't, and even if they did, it would probably be a PS+ feature.
I don't get the anger about 'ads' - they aren't really adverts if they're telling you about new games/films/tv shows/offers on the actual system you're using - it's not like they're saying "hey guys - why not go download the new Internet Explorer!".
Also people need to realise that many people have and want to have their 360 in their Living Rooms, so it makes sense to have a more stylish and streamlined dash, with features like movies and TV at the forefront along with games - I only use my 360 for games personally but it doesn't make me mad to see the direction they're moving in.
I agree you should be able to have more customization to be able to put what sections you want, where you want them though.
Hard to say. As long as it's still easy to use with a controller, I don't mind the look.
And hopefully I can choose what it will show to me when I boot it up. I don't need the quickplay thingy to show me any On Demand bullshit, I just want my games and that's it.
It would be nice to have your XBLA games presented better. Images at least. It would give your whole library a nice refresh and I'd probably dive back into a couple titles.
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