.. discuss.

Personally, if I wanted to use the Wii dashboard, I'd buy a Wii. When I play serious games like Halo and COD4 I don't want the magic ruined by seeing my friends' retarded silly-putty face bobbing around like a three-year-old who just mainlined a tube of sherbert.

[if you want to see some screenshots, check here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/15/xbox-360s-overhauled-dashboard-the-gallery/ ]

I will throw my Xbox out the window if having that is mandatory!

Yet another case of "Me too" on the part of Microsoft, I was kind of hoping for a more direct clone of Home frankly.

It's not mandatory. I mean, there's no way Microsoft would be that stupid, right?

J'aen:
It's not mandatory. I mean, there's no way Microsoft would be that stupid, right?

Yeah, it's not like they have a track record of ignoring public opinion and forcing people to upgrade their software...

Way I understood, you can keep the old dashboard with new features.

ooohhh...

thats gotta hurt.

I think it's mandatory. It's part of the fall update. So the first time after the update that you use Live, it'll update automatically.

However, I think they're going to intergrate the blades into the Xbox Guide

Juan Regular:
Way I understood, you can keep the old dashboard with new features.

Thank you merciful God.

Yeah!

Change and modernisation is bad!

If everyone could get a fucking grip I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

I have no words to describe my disappointment.

Anybody else see the irony of one of those Miis Xiis(?) is named LuckLaster? Pretty close to LackLuster mirite?

EDIT:
@JaguarWong: It doesn't look like a "just OK" skin for XBMC to you? It's like they took Coverflow and integrated it with Miis.

At least that's the feeling I get. This is what you see every single time you either turn on your Xbox or change games, and I'm not too exited as I like the current system (although a speedup on the guide would be nice).

So all of the gamerpics and themes that people have bought will now be useless? Nice.
Microsoft just love giving me reasons to not play my 360, this is a trump card though, bravo Microsoft, bravo.

i have to ask what does it matter? wow, so you have a part of your xbox360 (that you don't have to use) that looks nice, and even if it is a rip, a bit different to the usual 'lets be all tough and pretend that those playing consoles are manly men'.

Really get a scope of what matters,africa is still in poverty and the world is going downhill but in other news, oh no the skin looks different on your 360.

Astetically I think it looks nice - just that - nice.

It looks more modern than the current set up and I think it's good that they're keeping it fresh.

As for the avatar thing - I don't understand why people have a problem with it - I bet if ak47's and machetes were available as accessories these kids would shut the hell up.
It's pathetic.

At best the type of gamers most represented on this (or any other) site make up about 20% of players - you're in the minority people - deal with it.

sunami88:
It's like they took Coverflow and integrated it with Miis.

My thoughts exactly on seeing this monstrosity. MiiTunes.

Generally though, the shift MS seems to have taken (UI, games and functionality) worries me. I don't really want to move to PC gaming as I don't like the idea of upgrading my PC every year. But perhaps it's going to be the only place for slightly more 'serious' gaming? Xbox Live's biggest problem was already over-population with yappy little kids...

Overreacting much? I actually don't think it looks that bad. The biggest improvement I'm looking at is less ads (I admit, the current interface has way too much of those), but I don't think it looks horrible in general either. And besides, it's just a menu you use to access your games.

blackcherry:
Really get a scope of what matters,africa is still in poverty and the world is going downhill but in other news, oh no the skin looks different on your 360.

And you post this in a gaming discussion forum. Nice.

JaguarWong:
Astetically I think it looks nice - just that - nice.

It looks more modern than the current set up and I think it's good that they're keeping it fresh.

To each their own I guess, and I suppose fresh is better than doing nothing at all. Still don't like the look, but they might change it again, or add some modularity or something. Who knows.

@blackcherry: This is a gaming forum. If I wanted to complain about african poverty I would go to an african poverty forum.

@JaguarWong: Even assuming that our 'type' of gamers (which is an unqualified generalisation but from which I infer that you mean young, male and agressive) does indeed make up only 20% of XBox users (which, given the prevalence of FPS and sport games for the system, I also seriously doubt), that doesn't mean that our opinion should be ignored.
I'm fine with Billy Bluehat and his mum using these mii-type things as long as I'm not forced to, but that doesn't seem to be the case as far as I can see. I'm sick of companies removing personal choice from things like this; if I wanted to be told what to do all the time I'd join the army.

Eagle Est1986:
So all of the gamerpics and themes that people have bought will now be useless? Nice.
Microsoft just love giving me reasons to not play my 360, this is a trump card though, bravo Microsoft, bravo.

Just because it's what he showed at the conference, doesn't mean thats the only way it'll look like.

Look at it this way... before he unveiled the new dashboard, he had the bladed dashboard didn't he? And what theme did that have... the DEFAULT theme. Thats what we were shown, the default theme to the new dashboard.

Personally I like the, IO thought the blades were very cluttered

fantomxr:
Xbox Live's biggest problem was already over-population with yappy little kids...

I'm sorry for the dou;be post, but this really annoys me. You do realise that you have the choice to mute players or turn down your microphone... it's not that hard. a simple solution to an annoying problem

If they don't give people the option to choose which dashboard they use then I think that would be the biggest problem. Seeing there is no such thing as a definitive "good", "bad", "beautiful" or "ugly" due to the fact that all of those terms are personally subjective there is no point in discussing how good or bad the thing is.
To each their own, etc.

BUT if they force everyone to "upgrade" (hate that word especially when you are degrading the product by upgrading) that is completely unfair. Why is it unfair? Why do people have the right to complain?
Because they paid a lot of money for a product and when they originally purchased that product it was shown as looking one way which they agreed to when the purchase was made.
Imagine if you bought a car and one morning you walk out to find that the car company re-did the interior in hot pink crushed velvet without giving you a choice. Or the company that makes your dress shirts decides that it is mandatory to tie-die all the shirts in your closet without asking. Wouldn't you have the right to be upset?

An almost infinite combination of personally chosen accesories vs a bunch of pictures drawn by someone else...

And you think you're getting less choice?

I'm sure there will be a 'face' with stubble so you can show the world how manly and hetrosexual you are.

EDIT: And another thing - you had no choice how the thing looked before - why does it matter that you might not again!?!

It's interesting, but a complete rip off of the Wii.

Don't make it mandatory, Microsoft.

JaguarWong:
An almost infinite combination of personally chosen accesories vs a bunch of pictures drawn by someone else...

And you think you're getting less choice?

I'm sure there will be a 'face' with stubble so you can show the world how manly and hetrosexual you are.

EDIT: And another thing - you had no choice how the thing looked before - why does it matter that you might not again!?!

Dude you're taking this way too seriously. And I don't know what screens you were looking at, but "almost infinite" aren't the words I'd use. Especially considering those were, infact, all drawn up by someone else.

Also I thought the "stubble" comment was way uncalled for. C'mon man, it's a dashboard, and so far this isn't a poo flinging contest. We're all trying to discuss and you're getting all riled up. Breathe in... Breathe out...

blackcherry:
Really get a scope of what matters,africa is still in poverty and the world is going downhill but in other news, oh no the skin looks different on your 360.

I think you'll be a bit happier to hear that a vigilante group attempted to pop off Robert Mugabe (Or however you spell it).
They failed, but at least someone's trying.
If he does get the chop, then poverty in Africa will start to decline.

I know it's irrelevant to the topic, but you gotta have HOPE, people.

Wow, we can get pissed over a dashboard?

Seeing as i use it enough to be my catchphrase; Grow a Pair

Add in a fancy graphic and it could be my business pair.

To be fair, I'll be annoyed if I have to scrap the Gamerpics I've paid for too.

It's nothing to do with being aggressive, or manly, or heterosexual or whatever. People like to have a choice. At the moment, you can choose to have a cutesy cat picture, or a geeky Transformers picture, or a blood spattered Gears of War picture. That's right, there's a choice. You can choose to reflect your individual style with your Gamerpic. That, and you can also use the camera to take your very own picture, so that if you really want, you can show all the people out there in Xbox Live Land what you really look like.

But, if they're going to make it so everyone has one of these cutesy little Mii things, it's going to take away a large portion of that choice.

Other than the Mii Lookey Likeys however, I do like the rest of it. Not sure if I like it more than the current dashboard, but I could certainly get used to it. Hopefully the new avatars will just be a choice, rather than a must have.

sunami88:

Dude you're taking this way too seriously. And I don't know what screens you were looking at, but "almost infinite" aren't the words I'd use. Especially considering those were, infact, all drawn up by someone else.
Also I thought the "stubble" comment was way uncalled for. C'mon man, it's a dashboard, and so far this isn't a poo flinging contest. We're all trying to discuss and you're getting all riled up. Breathe in... Breathe out...

Okay - starting again.

This isn't the only website I visit - every single one this morning hasa million people whining about MS changing the way a menu looks.

New Portal, New Geometry Wars, Netflix partnership and RIDING BRUMACKS AND REAVERS all take second place to this pointless moaning.

If I was out of line in the way I addressed the topic here then I apologise but, in all honesty... I expect better from this forum.

PS - I said 'almost infinite COMBINATION' if one avatar is made from 9 sections and you have 3 options in each then you have nearly 20000 cominations (I think.....?)

frankly I think it looks better - the Xiis look ridiculous but it looks cleaner and far more modern than the current dashboard. Which frankly looks a little archaic compared to the Wii and PS3 main menus.

Given a choice I would take it - I just hope it isn't mandatory as some people seem to think their console is a representation of their penis (not referring to people on this board). The only thing that really annoys me is the $ I splashed out on themes will become redundant.

@ lil miss evil: good point well made, I suspect the avatar dudes will be just for the dashboard and the gamerpics will still exist in the friends lists etc or once again thats more $ down the drain.

Tanthalos:
If they don't give people the option to choose which dashboard they use then I think that would be the biggest problem. Seeing there is no such thing as a definitive "good", "bad", "beautiful" or "ugly" due to the fact that all of those terms are personally subjective there is no point in discussing how good or bad the thing is.
To each their own, etc?

Actually, in interface design, there is such a thing as "Good" and "Bad".

"Good" is intuitively arranged and easy to navigate to anywhere in the interface with the minimum number of steps. This new interface looks like it has at least the navigation covered, it looks like it's only a few steps to get to any given page within the system (Compare that to the Settings menu of your XMB, which is a good example of "bad" interface, about 20 items of which four or so display at once, and no intuitive order for them to be in. Usability nightmare).

I don't really rate the whole "Mii too" business though, for exactly the same reason I don't rate Miis themselves. You spend five minutes fiddling with it, laugh at your little charicatured self, and then forget about it forever because no games actually integrate it as anything other than a save icon.

Much more significant is the new ability to copy games to the HDD to speed up loading times. Already considering migrating to an Elite or grabbing a 120GB drive.

LilMissEvil:

Other than the Mii Lookey Likeys however, I do like the rest of it. Not sure if I like it more than the current dashboard, but I could certainly get used to it. Hopefully the new avatars will just be a choice, rather than a must have.

I agree, I think most of the other changes will be great, just crossing my fingers they aren't overshadowed by the avatars.

I'm a bit worried about How fast it will be flipping through all that. But Would you rather have this, or have all of the new features crammed into the Current dash?

blackcherry:
i have to ask what does it matter? wow, so you have a part of your xbox360 (that you don't have to use) that looks nice, and even if it is a rip, a bit different to the usual 'lets be all tough and pretend that those playing consoles are manly men'.

Really get a scope of what matters,africa is still in poverty and the world is going downhill but in other news, oh no the skin looks different on your 360.

Why is that relevant? From now on, everytime you say anything remotely negative, I will respond by reminding you of a tradgedy.
"Hey Joe, This burger is a little burnt"
"SCREW YOU, people around the world are starving!"
We're out of ketchup. And polar bears are dying.

Were on the site for a gaming mag, what did you expect?

Will everyone stop saying it looks nice like that's a scientific fact? Whether something looks good or not is a matter of opinion, and in my opinion the avatars can fuck right off. Dashboard itself is acceptable, if a little plain.

I don't particularly care for the avatars, but other than that it seems like it will be a nice upgrade for usability. It's become pretty obvious to me over the past year that the current Dashboard interface is no longer capable of handling all of the 'stuff' that is now on the Xbox. The new interface seems to be borrowing a lot of the overall details from the most recent Media Center, which is generally very well done. I'd really like to see it in motion before I make any real judgements though.

On the other hand, the examples are not very 'pretty', but I'm really hoping that the new design will allow much greater customization than the existing one. The "themes" on the current Xbox 360 are ugly at best, and the worst of them make sections of the Dashboard almost completely unusable. Years later, I'm still using the default dashboard instead of any of the themes.

I do prefer the existing gamerpics over 3D cartoon people though - I just think that the still image can communicate more. But I know my fiancé would disagree with me, and I'm sure plenty of others would too.