The new Xbox dashboard scares me

by Gil Lawrence de Leon, COMMUNITY WRITER

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

EDITOR'S NOTEfrom Rob Savillo

Does Microsoft risk alienating its hardcore user base with streamlined interfaces for the Xbox 360? Gil weighs the possibilities. What do you think?

The Xbox's recent adoption of Microsoft's streamlined user interface has turned my stomach since we were all smacked with the metro-user-interface pimp hand last December.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Microsoft supporter and a proud owner of a Windows Phone, so my misgivings aren't specifically aimed toward the metro UI philosophy of efficiency and simplicity. My qualms derive from both the financial and indicative cost for players wanting to take full advantage of the overhauled user interface.

The new Xbox dashboard was designed with the intent of showcasing and building on the functionality of Kinect. If that wasn't made clear during the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the truth becomes frustratingly apparent when trying to sift through the updated dashboard's several new features without the assistance of voice control.

Analog navigation makes flipping through the numerous tiles and tabs tedious and clunky, and utilizing the built-in Bing integration is pretty much useless since it takes a minute or two to key in your desired search.

Microsoft's metro UI -- although fluid and responsive when harnessed with a touch screen or Kinect -- isn't controller friendly. Like locking a dog and cat together in a cage and hoping they make a baby, analog interaction with the new interface just isn't natural.

Up until now, jumping aboard the Kinect bandwagon has been optional; however, with the new dashboard, it seems Microsoft's aggressive strategy to ensnare late adopters of the Xbox's motion- and voice-control hardware has officially started. Now, in order to maximize the user experience on a once dedicated gaming console, buying a Kinect is quickly becoming mandatory. This sales strategy leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'm not an opponent of untraditional controller methods; I've even written an article on Bitmob in which I describe my preference for motion controls for certain games. I am, however, opposed to being forced to alter the manner in which I interact with my video-game console.

Microsoft has made it clear that they're all-in with Kinect and the metro UI experience, which means we can only expect even deeper, more complex integration between the two as the life of the Xbox 360 progresses. What does this mean for us?

During the CES 2012 Microsoft keynote presentation, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized that integrating Xbox, Kinect, and the metro UI was done to make finding entertainment easier. But simplifying the user experience on video-game consoles hasn't always jived well with gaming purists.

A console UI that deviates from old-fashioned gaming controllers has historically alienated hardcore gamers -- an unfortunate precedent established by Nintendo. Has Microsoft's inkling to morph the Xbox from a gaming machine to an expansive entertainment hub put the console's longtime fans on a fast track toward Wiigate 2? Can we just shrug off the updated Xbox dashboard as an innocent aesthetic change, or is it a precursor leading to dark times for the hardcore gaming community?

Tags: xbox

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William Stilwell

January 25, 2012

I understand a lot of people are in a hurry to eliminate physical media from the equation, but since the 360 doesn't play blu-rays, it will never be my "entertainment hub."

It's a gaming machine. A kick-ass gaming machine, but a gaming machine nonetheless.

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Jonathan Oyama

January 25, 2012

I think it's silly to assume that we're going into a "WiiGate 2" situation. I haven't had any real problems with the new dashboard, even though it took me a while to learn how everything worked. If anything, the Bing voice recognition and the Kinect interaction are more like gimmicks. I don't fret about using the bumper buttons to scroll through multiple menus.

Besides, the vertical menu scrolling function of the old dashboard was a bit inconvenient. I also hated having to search through menus just to get to the proper marketplace. The new dash organizes where I can purchase these things. Sure, I still hate having to scroll alphabetically just to find my game, but I appreciate the bumper button scrolling functions. It feels more organized to me.

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Ed Grabowski

January 25, 2012

I look it at this way. With the previous update to the dashboard, most people I know were fine with it. They weren't crazy about it, but the could deal with it. Everyone was content for the most part. With this new update, I do not know a single person who likes it. Most don't just dislike it, they actually hate it.

Most despise the ads, especially since we are already paying for this servivce, and Microsoft has the balls to throw 6 bajillion ads in our faces everywhere we look. The ads have gotten so bad that it is actively preventing many us from finding and enjoying the content we want to enjoy. They ads get in the way, and it is absurd to think that we have to deal with all this advertising on a paid service when Sony's free PSN service has about 5% of the ads Xbox Live has.

Most of us have blocked the ads by now, so we don't have to deal with them. As a matter of fact this week I have to walk a few friends through the blocking process over the phone so they can get rid of them. The hatred for the ads is immense. What is just as bad is the design. It is confusing enough with the ads to find what you want to find, but even without them it takes way too many clicks to get where you want to go.

Overall, I have found myself using my PS3 more and more since the new dashboard update because I just can't take the cluttered look and feel of the new dashboard. And since I spend a lot of time just farting around on my consoles, the new, terrible dashboard is hard to avoid.

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Jonathan Oyama

January 25, 2012

Yeah, but almost all the ads are designated in a little corner in each menu. It's hard to actually shift the joystick around just to even get to that ad. And I can actually control the view in the central panel, unlike other Internet ticker systems.

I also don't find what makes the layout confusing. If anything, I can find everything easier with the layout. I can easily find the movies, music and handy video apps in boxes. The only real clutter I see is when I'm searching for games in the marketplace.

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Gil Lawrence de Leon

January 25, 2012

Overall, the cluttered look of the metro UI on a video-game console is what I feel makes the layout confusing. Gamers buy an Xbox for the games, all the bells and whistles now attached to the dashboard just serve as an unnecessary distraction and can be intimidating to navigate through. Obviously, over time we'll be able to assimilate with the new UI, but just like any form of change the assimilation process can be daunting.

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Jonathan Oyama

January 25, 2012

Ah, I can sort of see how that would bother some people. I actually use my iPad pretty regularly, so I'm a little more used to it. I can see how that would irritate other people though.

On the plus side, the interface doesn't look as strange as a Windows Phone. I get terribly confused by boxes with the text only in the center.

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Ed Grabowski

January 25, 2012

I've been using iDevices since their launch. Literally from the first day the iPod has been available to the iPad 2. I don't see how they are connected. The iPad and iDevices have a very clean interface. Everything is easy to see and you can edit and move everything around to fit your tastes.

With the new Xbox dashboard it just looks like someone took everything, put it in a box, shook that box around for a few hours and then threw it at the screen. Wherever things stuck is where they stayed. You know something has gone wrong when an ad for World of Warcraft featuring Chuck Norris is easier to see than the games I am actively trying to get to.

Why would they want an ad for a product that can't even be played on their console take up more room than the games I actually want to buy? It's just a backwards way of doing things. For me, it just all boils down to the fact that I am paying for this service, I shouldn't have to deal with these advertisiments.

Luckily I got rid of them, but I shouldn't of had to. I shouldn't have to go out of my way to pretty much hack my console into allowing me to navigate it more easily.

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Jonathan Oyama

January 25, 2012

Have you tried the Windows Phone interface? It's even worse than the Xbox 360 one. Whereas the iOS allows people to shift the apps however they want it, the Windows Phone just has large boxes with text in them. And somehow, people are supposed to sift through boxville to find what they want.

For me, the Xbox interface is at least simpler than boxville. And it's not as if it's hard to play the disc-related games. It's...just hard to find the games in the My Games menu, located by scrolling through the upper menu...Okay, maybe you have a point. Lol.

But hey, it's better than ultra box-ville. Just imagine--boxes could be the way of the future for Microsoft. Imagine Windows 7...with boxes everywhere.

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Gil Lawrence de Leon

January 25, 2012

Lol. I happen to love boxville, and you can, in fact, shift tiles around on the start menu to your liking. And you won't have to imagine boxville in Windows for long because Windows 8 is being streamlined with the metro UI.