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Xbox 360 User Interface Revealed
Eric writes "BetaNews has some screenshots up of the new Xbox 360 user interface, which appears to be greatly refined over the original Xbox Dashboard. The new UI can be customized by the user and offers access to four main screens: System, Games, Media and Xbox Live. The big focus seems to be on tying Xbox Live into all aspects of the console, be it gaming or entertainment. Consequently, Xbox 360 will ship out of the box with a free Xbox Live Silver-level subscription."
I guess this is the UI we'll have to live with until modchips come out, and we get a dashboard that allows us to do what we want.
I hope that MS learned from the modchips of the past to find out that people want to fully harness the power of the machine, and not be limited to playing only XBox games on it. If they provided a dashboard that allowed for more customization, or the installation of emulators that would be great. I don't ever see that happening.
I'll probably wait to get the new xbox until Team Xecuter figures out the new platform.
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I also see a lot of other areas where they are turning their Xbox into a web-whoring machine. Banner ads are one thing. Take a look at the content they offer. There are downloadable games, kind of like the PopCap stuff on the internet. There is also some kind of iTunes feature that may appear in the future. Nice ideas, but I am assuming there will be fees to download new content.
All of this is targeted at teens that play video games and will rack up the bill on Mommy's credit card. Who wants to also be that the new Xbox keeps track of purchases and delivers banner ads based on purchases? Who also wants to be that MS has a database to track this and sell your info to other marketers?
What kind of world do we live in when your game console needs a pop-up blocker?
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Same people who subscribe to 50-60 dolar a month digital cable service and get banner ads on the guide system.
I hate those damn things, in fact, my cable company used to have them right in the show info banner itself! Unfortunately, looks like they are here to stay. I wish it wasnt so.
Someone who realised that said banner ads are there to generate revenue for the people who put them there, so lowering the cost to the end user.
What's that? You mean you want to buy a machine with equal performance for MORE money?
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
All of this is targeted at teens that play video games and will rack up the bill on Mommy's credit card.
Most Xbox owners fall in the 20-30 year old age range.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
Ah yes, Microsoft, the company that is always looking for ways to lower the cost to the end user...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Because of a bloody banner ad? The current Xbox already has these types of ads...they seem more like news to me then ads "oh the new forza game is out"...they are mostly ignorable. I agree in principle that you shouldn't have to see ads in a pay service, but its not like the banner pops up while you are playing a game or anything.
People who want free X-Box Live use? Maybe if you upgrade from the free offering to the pay one, there are no ads.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Well, telling you that there is a new game available in Xbox Live Arcade...
Is that a banner ad, or is it an 'informative message.'
I would go with the 'informative message' myself.
When I am on a website that sells shoes, and they have a 'see our new stuff' button, I don't see it as advertising. I see it as a convenient way to find ou what new products they have at their store.
I'm already there, I've already expressed interest...I just want to find stuff.
I don't want to sort through a list of all of the Xbox Live Arcade games just to see if there is anything new- it is so much easier when they tell me about it...
On the other hand, here we are at Slashdot...right now I have a huge Vonage banner at the top of my screen. I am not interested in Vonage, nor does Vonage have anything to do with this section of Slashdot...but I keep coming back.
No reason to lie.
It will be interesting to see screenshots of the various Faces (themes) that are supposed to ship with it.
The current Xbox already has these types of ads...they seem more like news to me then ads "oh the new forza game is out"
2004 Superbowl day they had a message in there to play xbox during halftime. I read that and I played my xbox (new then) during halftime( I distinctly remember I played TopSpin).
I will never forget the message that made me miss the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.
Eh, it's just a graphic for a new game, and it appears to be showing up on a list of available games. I wouldn't really call it an ad, it's not quite the same as if it were a graphic for say, MSNTV or something.
Either MS is wanting to suck up to the /. crowd, or they are anticipating really bad virus problems this time round.
"To any truly impartial person, it would be obvious that I am right."
... when they could be playing the games?
It's a nice interface, clean lines and all that, but the thing I notice most about interfaces in video game consoles is that you want to spend as little time as possible in them.
You want to get to the game, after all.
Judging from all the new downloadable content, it seems likely that Microsoft may follow a Halo 2 model when it comes to the new features. Any game that has any popularity at all has the possibility of being plagued by charges each individual new map, weapon, or character.
I'm not opposed at all to being able to acquire and even pay for new content. I've played enough Blizzard games to be familiar with the concept of the expansion pack. It's more some lurking fear about how Microsoft will implement what would otherwise be a nifty feature that has me worried.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Comparing the specs and all that between the two systems?
Most Xbox owners fall in the 20-30 year old age range.
True, but the majority of the 20-30 year olds probably don't impulse buy things just because a flashy graphic pops up. A 14 year old might just purchase the game without caring that a parent is going to get billed. It's kind of like all of the cigarette ads. They might not be targeted directly at teens (even though they really are), but teens are the most impacted by them because older individuals already have formed an opinion one way or the other. Most marketing campaigns go after the younger people because they will either purchase it or make their parents' lives a living hell until they get it.
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"Well, telling you that there is a new game available in Xbox Live Arcade... Is that a banner ad, or is it an 'informative message.'"
It's Microsoft, so everybody's on a witch hunt to find anything that's wrong with it. If it were Sony or Nintendo, everybody'd be jumping up and down at the implication that game teasers and demos would be avabilable through their on-line service.
"Derp de derp."
because they will either purchase it or make their parents' lives a living hell until they get it
Parents who cede that sort of control to their children utterly deserve everything they get.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
There was a fairly thorough XBOX360/PS3 spec comparison at IGN:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/617951p1.html
It's IGN, though, so take this with a measure of salt -- the individual articles at AnandTech are much better.
The original XBox also has a network setting menu. It's useful if you want to hook up the XBox to the internet without going through a router or through a computer. From what I understand the network connection is fairly simple to set up - my sister did it on her own, and he's not very computer literate.
The XBox interface is useful when you want to use it to listen to some music or to edit settings. The Gamecube also has an interface which appears if you turn it on without a disc in the machine. You can set the date, time, delete saved games off the memory card, copy data, adjust sound output, etc.
Consoles have gotten to a point where they need a way for the player to access certain features, which the interfaces allow you to do. However, they still allow you to "pop in the disc and boom, you are instantly playing".
***
A little more on topic, I notice that the music player still doesn't have a fast forward button. You can skip tracks back and forth, but no fast forwarding to your favorite part. Get a clue, Microsoft.
All I have to say when it comes to the new Xbox 360 visualizations is...
HELL YEAH!
Jeff Minter is doing the things, and with what he's done on the Jag and the Nuon platform with lightsynths and trippy effects, it's safe to say that the visualizations on the 360 will be nothing like the poor things on the Xbox. They're sure to be amazing displays, and I'm really looking forward to them!
I think I used my JagCD more for the visualizations than for gaming...
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
"What a load of CRAP."
You can honestly tell me that when a MS story comes along people don't go to stupid extremes to describe how what they're doing is wrong?
"Derp de derp."
As far as I know every disc based console has some sort of UI. Usually they have a memory card file manager, a CD player, and usually some basic settings like language, system clock and mono / stero sound so you don't have to set them in every game. If you have a disc in already, they all boot the game automatically, and starting the game from the UI is either simple, or automatic.
The Xbox also has network settings, but they're only there for enviroments that don't use DHCP, or need a specific MAC address. Overall the various settings on consoles are far simpler than any PC, you usually set them once, and forget about them.
The 360 does seem to have a fairly complex UI though, I guess it's mostly to push the online aspects of the system, Microsoft want to push it. Although quite a bit of the UI seems to be a redesign and expansion of the existing functions in the Xbox 1's system, except slightly better organised, and putting a bigger emphesis on the online features. I guess it's mostly because Microsoft really want to push the online features. It is a contrast to the usually spartan UIs of consoles though, but I'd guess the Nintendo Revolution may have a similar UI from what Nintendo have said about it's console's online features.
10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
20 GOTO 10
Who in the fuck would buy a system with "Banner Ads" built into the damned GUI?
Because we all know how badly StarCraft turned out.
The banner ad in the image shown by the grandparent (which I doubt you looked at) is actually a graphic advertising a new addition to a service you are already paying for. It's the best way to find out about new features on the service.
To me, it's not an advertisement if you're already paying for it. It's an informational message telling you that what you're paying for just got more stuff.
CPU power; Both platforms are going to deliver a huge leap in power, but the cell is going to deliver more, and it's looking like a lot more.
GPU;Tough call. The PS3's Nvidia claims "twice the performance of two 6800 Ultras", and doesn't talk pipelines, the 360 says 48 pipelines + USA, whatever that means for performance. Both will look amazing, and I think the killer games this generation will be more about pushing physics and simulation than graphics.
I/O; The PS3 is loaded compared to the XBox 360, built in wireless, bluetooth, gigabit ethernet X 3, BluRay, 6 X USB2.0. And don't forget the dual 1080p outputs.
I think the PS3 is the more desirable, at this point, but things can change. One area I see changing is clock speed. The IBM fab tapeouts of the Cell were running faster than that, the memory can handle it, and it's an easy way to one up the competition at the last moment. Other specs can change also. Price is a factor, but I think the market is different this time around. These are not just game machines, but super-slick-media-p2p-internetworking-entertainmen t-thingies, which bring me to my last point; software.
Both consoles have tons of power, and the software is going to mean a lot in how that is delivered. Can I stream HD video over the network to other boxes? Can I use video chat in games? Outside of games? Can I share media? Etc.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
Your sister is a he? You got a strange family.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
A little more descriptive:
i =2424&p=4
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?
Hah, well get pictures when it exists.
Other than graphics they seem to have made Xbox360 pretty much what I have made my Xbox. Right up to the visualizations that I love so much.
That will teach me to use the preview button.
Just as clarification concerning the excellent points made in response to me.
1) I do in fact realize the maps will be made free via Microsoft's Xbox Live service in a few months. It is notable that you have to pay for the Live service or ~$20 for the physical manifestation appearing in stores.
2) Concerning the tweaks and balances of Blizzard, those are availible for free without any additional cost save for what you already pay for an internet connection. I am not informed as to whether one can download the patches Bungie releases without subscribing to Live.
That said, I'm not complaining about the fact that in the near future console games will be enjoying the same post-release patchability that their desktop based brethren have enjoyed. My greater concern is in how companies decide to dole out gameplay additions (such as maps, weapons, storyline expansions, extra models for character creators etc.) to the gaming public. Honestly Halo 2's approach was perfectly fine. People like myself can readily wait and get them for free via Live (if already paying for that anyway) or wait and buy the actual expansion pack when it comes out. What worries me is how Microsoft and other companies might corrupt the method in order to squeeze money out of gamers.
In any case, I've use Macintosh computers for long enough to be used to being in the minority. Perhaps I will end up dealing with a world where Activision charges $3 for an extra skater for Tony Hawk's Amateur Skater Aboveground 12. Or maybe my fears are baseless and companies will not only do so well as Halo 2 did, but find even better and unique ways of distributing cool add-ons without it being a fleecing.
Thank you for your comments.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
I was a child once (obviously), and we were not permitted to behave so poorly. I therefore assume it is possible for parents to control their children, although I'll admit this appears to be a dying trend.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
You miss the point - Microsoft still get the same money, presumably more so over time. The advertisers are investing in place of a share of your payment in the hope that they can get more from you than they're shelling out to get the ads there in the first place.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious