[360 Dash Revision] Looks a hell of a lot like Windows phone

cloudeagle

According to Eurogamer, yet another overhaul to the 360's dashboard is coming out for Christmas, with the goal of making things even more streamlined. I'm a little confused by the concept, so I'll just quote the article:

Twist Control is what Microsoft is calling the new Xbox 360 dashboard, due out in time for Christmas.

During a demonstration at Gamescom this week, Robin Burrowes, Xbox Live product marketing manager for EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa], outlined Microsoft's vision for bringing together voice control and content in the upcoming refresh.

You can use the Xbox 360 controller to flick between channels that display at the top of the screen. The names of these channels are yet to be finalised, but you can check a few of them out in the video below.

You can also use your voice and hands to navigate and search, through motion-sensing add-on Kinect.

"Hopefully it's easy to browse," Burrowes said. "It's intuitive in terms of the way the surfing experience will actually work."

There are currently 20,000 items of content on the Xbox Marketplace, with more on the way. It's all getting a bit cluttered, prompting the redesign.

Microsoft has also noted Kinect and the inclusion of Disney movies into Zune brought in a new type of Xbox 360 user, "certainly more broader in terms of demographic than where we were before as an audience," Burrowes said.

Then there are the 35 million Xbox Live members, globally, across 35 countries. Zune usage has grown 100 per cent year-on-year. In short, there are a lot more "eyeballs" on Xbox Live.

The new dash launches alongside other new features prompted by core user feedback. Under the Social channel you'll find Beacons, which allow gamers to signpost what they're doing across XBL and Facebook.

"That's been a little bit of a barrier," Burrowes explained. "The core community have been saying to us, 'I'm doing this one activity but I really want to play Call of Duty with my mates when I've got four or five of them online at the same time.' People are still text messaging each other and sending messages on other platforms. This is an easier way to do it."

Facebook posting is also added, which means you'll be able to "like" a game, sending Achievements to the social network. And then there's cloud storage, announced at E3 in June.

Twist Control and its additional features are part of what Microsoft calls internally "games plus more than games". Burrowes said the "sweet spots" were music, movies and live TV.

"Hopefully the new dash will show this service proposition goes beyond gaming," he said. "We'll never lose our focus on that gaming audience. In fact, developing the investment infrastructure to develop programs like cloud storage and Facebook posting and the beacons, are three examples of continuing to invest in that space.

"Our games Marketplace environment is really beginning to get optimised. We're now selling more with new transaction space than we are with subscription space for the first, which is showing to us our core audience is staying with us and spending more time, money and effort within games as well as entertainment."

There's also a video of the thing here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-new-xbox-360-dash-is-called-twist-control

SyphonBlue

Sounds like a lot of marketing bullshit for "we've got a new design for our UI".

harvest

I'm so glad I don't have to hold my arms out to navigate the dashboard.

The Wolfman

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that MS has had to completely redesign their UI 3 times now.

Joolander

cloudeagle wrote:

There's also a video of the thing here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-new-xbox-360-dash-is-called-twist-control

ugh

did they really have to make the search command "bing" ?

cloudeagle

The Wolfman wrote:

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that MS has had to completely redesign their UI 3 times now.

I just wish Sony would redesign the PS3's once. I've owned the system for a year and a half, and I still have trouble finding things in that mess.

SyphonBlue

The Wolfman wrote:

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that MS has had to completely redesign their UI 3 times now.

Probably not, but at least this new one looks really nice after the piece of shit the last one was.

I Metro

Ganluan

The beacons thing is a pretty cool addition.

BloodySloth

Joolander wrote:

cloudeagle wrote:

There's also a video of the thing here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-new-xbox-360-dash-is-called-twist-control

ugh

did they really have to make the search command "bing" ?

The way Microsoft seems bent on forcing "bing" into the general public lexicon so it can be like Google just makes me resent the service.

The Dude With Herpes

I want Microsoft to introduce Groups to Live, like Steam has. I don't understand why they don't. It's so much more useful than keeping an absurd amount of friends that could change game to game you're playing. Meta gamer tags was kind of a work around to it but it was still cumbersome and not the best solution.

With so much focus on friends and parties with this new Live and the previous revamp, I just don't get why they are holding off on it.

Johnny Chopsocky

So what does this have to do with the Chubby Checker dance craze 'The Twist' anyway? Do I navigate my 360 by twisting or can I employ other dance moves, because I want to Humpty Dance my way around the dashboard.

Also, I wonder when the inevitable Dashboard beta goes out.

SpikeSpiegel

I'm not a fan of the current dashboard and would like to try out any change that Microsoft has. I'm will to give them the benefit of the doubt and be mildly excited for the dashboard revamp this Fall.

TOGSolid

I'd love to have a dash that works more like the PS3 menu. Just an array of easy to navigate, well laid out menus.

The real problem that we have today is that the technology is really in the way

Only on the 360 broski, only on the 360.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

Even with the re-design, I still don't ever see myself using the Kinect to navigate the Dashboard. The controller is still faster. The voice commands are nifty, but damn that "hover to select" is painfully slow. Was it honestly too hard to implement a gesture to select?

SyphonBlue

Ragnar Dragonfyre wrote:

Even with the re-design, I still don't ever see myself using the Kinect to navigate the Dashboard. The controller is still faster. The voice commands are nifty, but damn that "hover to select" is painfully slow. Was it honestly too hard to implement a gesture to select?

Even with gestures, it'd be too slow. The Kinect is just too laggy and imprecise, especially next to a controller. The voice commands in Kinect are great, everything else not so much.

MrVyngaard

"...it's our technology learning about you."

Don't increase our paranoia or anything, guy. Hopefully this update won't be as terribly laggy for me as the current (hideous) UI they're currently using.

Shady3011

So, can I search with my headset?

Rakai

I want something that allows me to set my background. Even it if's just from their themes that have several pictures. I just want to be able to select which one to use.

Nightslyr

I love the look of the UI, and I'm happy Microsoft is finally embracing Metro on all its platforms (Windows 8 will have it, too). I just think that Kinect/voice navigation is kinda dumb. Who actually uses it as their primary mode of navigation?

chamberlain

Joolander wrote:

cloudeagle wrote:

There's also a video of the thing here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-new-xbox-360-dash-is-called-twist-control

ugh

did they really have to make the search command "bing" ?

Of course they did.

"Xbox, Bing Sasha Gray."



:winky:

Synthesis

cloudeagle wrote:

The Wolfman wrote:

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that MS has had to completely redesign their UI 3 times now.

I just wish Sony would redesign the PS3's once. I've owned the system for a year and a half, and I still have trouble finding things in that mess.

I didn't get a PS3 until after I guess the first revamp? In any case, it's still not pleasant--especially when it comes to looking for DLC for specific titles, and certain settings.

Come on, Sony, you want this thing to be around for ten years, and you clearly don't mind changing the actual hardware.

amnesiasoft

TOGSolid wrote:

I'd love to have a dash that works more like the PS3 menu. Just an array of easy to navigate, well laid out menus.

An easy to navigate array of menus filled to the brim with so much garbage that you can't even find what you're looking for. WHY DOES MY CONSOLE NEED A PRINTER SETTINGS MENU?!

stevemarks44

CONSOLE WARS ENGAGE!

fragglefart

I like the new look and yeah, I can imagine using the voice stuff.

Navigating with controller over most settings is fine but I think it's fair to say that finding a specific piece of content takes too long these days. Saying "Xbox, Bing, Gears of War" or something should be easier than navigating through to the marketplace and searching for DLC or whatever.

As long as the voice stuff actually works, of course. I love me some Kinect but god fucking damn the amount of times I say "Xbox" and it thinks I'm saying "Sky" is maddening. Surely when it has the entire marketplace at your beck and call there will be more mistakes? My ideal UI would be some crazy Your Shape : Fitness Evolved / Fruit Ninja combo.

Still, I'm a massive fan of this 'console evolution' approach, the 360 today barely resembles what I bought back in 2005, keeps getting better, love it.

darleysam

Beacons sounds damned handy. Will make good use of that.

Gutterkisser

I'm all for UI evolution, but most of all I'd just love the interface to function more smoothly. Xbox Guide still... so... painfully... slow.

UnbreakableVow

cloudeagle wrote:

The Wolfman wrote:

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that MS has had to completely redesign their UI 3 times now.

I just wish Sony would redesign the PS3's once. I've owned the system for a year and a half, and I still have trouble finding things in that mess.

If it's a game thing, you go to the game bar

Video, video bar

Music, music bar

It's really, really simple, a child could figure it out. You're not a child...are you?

That said, the actual online store is a bit of a mess

Bizazedo

I really want to be able to use the voice commands. When I was using a friend's X-box, they were fun, if not the most efficient.

I can't see shelling out all the money for a Kinect when I can't use the majority of the features, though. Wheelchair and all .

F'ng Kinect.

Dashui

Gutterkisser wrote:

I'm all for UI evolution, but most of all I'd just love the interface to function more smoothly. Xbox Guide still... so... painfully... slow.

This.

Was the Xbox 360 originally this slow? Or did all the new pretties make it that way?

UnbreakableVow

Dashui wrote:

Gutterkisser wrote:

I'm all for UI evolution, but most of all I'd just love the interface to function more smoothly. Xbox Guide still... so... painfully... slow.

This.

Was the Xbox 360 originally this slow? Or did all the new pretties make it that way?

I'm not sure about the Guide, but the blades seemed to be much, much faster in my memory

I still really wish we had the blades. Yes, it wasn't designed for large amounts of content in mind, but they could have find more elegant ways around it than the awful NXE

TOGSolid

stevemarks44 wrote:

CONSOLE WARS ENGAGE!

Pfft, console wars are for people who refuse to see the light of the real master race:

People bored enough to own everything:

Anyhoo, both consoles have a lot they could learn from each other. A part of me kinda wishes Sony and Microsoft would say fuck it a collaborate on one super console. XStation 460 anyone?

Synthesis

Not if Sony's in charge of online security, please.

I remember reading an article in which the current seperate corporate programs was compared to what I want to say was the period prior to the NES, where hardware was actually shared and the games themselves were interchangeable, and it weighed the benefits and disadvantages one could expect if you had a reoccurence of that.

ObiFett

TOGSolid wrote:

People bored enough to own everything:

That is insane.

but I want it

although I would be sad if I actually owned all that

fragglefart

TOGSolid wrote:

Anyhoo, both consoles have a lot they could learn from each other. A part of me kinda wishes Sony and Microsoft would say fuck it a collaborate on one super console. XStation 460 anyone?

Yeah, I'd buy one.

Shadowfire

When you start the system with the new UI and log in, does it still bring you to a fucking line of ads first? Or does it bring you straight to "play your games." Because this is bullshit Microsoft should be strung up for.

Edit: I mad bro.

cloudeagle

More stuff on the upcoming revision. It's looking a hell of a lot like Windows Phone or Zune.

Terry Farrell, senior product manager of Xbox Live entertainment, is pretty excited about the new Fall Dashboard update. As the individual who partners with first and third-party video content providers, he's the go-to guy to talk to about Microsoft's future plans for offering video content. Too bad he couldn't get too specific with us.

So why the new Dashboard? "We had a lot of feedback from our users who wanted to see the current Dashboard evolve and had problems discovering content," Farrell said. "We saw the success of Kinect -- 10 million of those sensors had been sold -- and it kinda was the intersection where we started thinking about having a unified design, whether you had a controller and/or a Kinect. That's kind of where we landed with this."

And it really is a union of the two. Using the controller, you can access the different destinations up top like Games or Music or Apps; to highlight different panes in each of the promotional areas and basically get around like you used to. Or, using Kinect's voice recognition, you can simply say a category and have the Xbox take you there -- in English Canada, the US and English UK, the initial launch territories for voice recognition and search. Microsoft will roll out compatibility to other territories when it can.

"If you're familiar with Windows Phone, we have a design language within Microsoft called Metro. And so the look and feel is very consistent with what you'd see on the phone." So what you get is a more tiled look, doing away with the vertical stacking and chunky, huge images of NXE. "That nonsense is gone," Farrell said of the Kinect Hub -- at any time, if your Kinect is hooked up you can wave your hand and navigate around the Dashboard that way. It all looked very seamless, though there were a few graphical bugs and no Beacon functionality in this build.

The most exciting part about the new Dashboard update -- aside from the Live TV stuff, which Farrell wasn't budging on -- is the implementation of Bing. Whether using a controller or the cooler Kinect implementation, you can instantly access a variety of content across several different areas of Xbox Live. Farrell started off by saying, "Xbox, Bing Batman," at which point several listings showed up. Underneath each were a rating and an icon, denoting whether it was a TV show, a movie or a game. By saying something like "Xbox, show games," you'll be able to parse the results even further. These results spanned Netflix, Hulu Plus and Zune -- and in the case of that last one, Kinect voice recognition can be used all the way through the point of purchase.

The Quick Launch functionality of NXE is also evolving to encompass more than just a handful of games. Now, you'll have a shortcut into your active history, which will list your recent apps as well as recently played games. If you watched Netflix yesterday, it'll be right there in the Quick Play section of your home area.

Naturally, the question of YouTube came up, but the build I was able to check out didn't have it in there. For Farrell, the priority is really getting Bing where the company wants it and promoting the console's streaming content. "For us, right now, the goal is to focus on more of that long-form content: music, movies, games and TV shows," Farrell said. "Lower down on the list is something like YouTube. YouTube is kinda crazy with the amount of titles people can name and just throw up there. We can't guarantee we'll have all of that stuff day one, but we'll be continually evolving the Dashboard on the back end to get it there."

Although I couldn't see Beacons in use, Farrell did talk about some of the functionality of Facebook sharing. We already knew that, but one thing that really interested me was Achievement sharing for, uh, obvious reasons. At the outset, users can highlight Achievements and share them on Facebook or Twitter with a custom message. Microsoft will also empower developers to add functionality "as an auto-piece" to their games that will Tweet or post to Facebook when you earn an Achievement. Of course, that's cause for concern: Uncharted 2's Twitter functionality was probably the most well-known game to abuse social networking. "You can ignore your friends on Facebook," Farrell joked. "We'll also have an option to disable it."

Sadly, Farrell wouldn't allow me to take any pictures or video of the new Dashboard in use nor would he disclose any information on Live TV partners in the US at launch. He did promise that a beta would be open to us next month. We'll be able to take all of the screens and video we want then, and we'll be sure to throw up some in-depth walkthroughs as soon as possible.

The still-unnamed "new dash" update hasn't been dated, and is currently slated for a tentative "Holiday 2011" release.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/09/xbox-live-fall-dashboard-preview-from-nonsense-to-metro/

fragglefart

Looks totally hawt.

Hope it doesn't completely fuck all the existing themes too bad, or if it does, we get some decent new ones.

Synthesis

fragglefart wrote:

Looks totally hawt.

Hope it doesn't completely fuck all the existing themes too bad, or if it does, we get some decent new ones.

I would miss my Ghost in the Shell: SAC theme I've been using for....well, forever.