I'm really beginning to like the new Dashboard.

I'm still not too hot on the Avatar idea, but considering you can disable them, I'm gonna really enjoy the change.

A lot of people complain about "wasted" space. I honestly don't feel like the space is wasted. The current Dashboard is super cluttered and bad on the eyes. This one simplifies things and leaves much more empty space so your eyes can relax a bit more. I'm sure Microsoft did a study and realized that the dash was too cluttered in because of this, many people just jumped into their games rather than exploring the dash.

I mean, if you're gonna talk about wasted space, what about the PS3? There's sure a lot of nothing going on there. But you know what? That's also why its dash it way better than the 360s!

Apparatus Ex Somnium Design

I like it

Struct09

@boringjob2: good interface design != using every inch of space on the screen.

asTer0id

It LOOKS nice, but I'm worried about the usability. Are we just endlessly navigating to the right instead down now? And how easy is it to return to the root menu? Do I have to go all the way back to the left again? Is there a search function? Can I preview themes and avatar/gamerpics now?

This 'preview' managed to answer none of the questions that mattered.

Inanition

@boringjob2: the tabs are open so of course you are not going to see the background

Tha_Villain

What an EXPERIENCE, wow. Can you feel the EXPERIENCE, too?

lumpi

Looks cool. I like the old dash, but maybe this one will grow on me.

Acebuckeye13

Nice

caffolote

It looks much cleaner.

Tycoon

Very crisp.

FatFrank

Still so much wasted space. And what's the point of having a background if you can't really see it?

boringjob2

It looks definitely better.

MugenacjaPL

@Moorio: Indeed.

bakalhau

Looks good, IMO.

Moorio

as long as it doesn't take even longer to load. Hopefully they get rid of the menu loading all together.

Grumpz®

@asTer0id: You sir, are correct.

MurlocCake

Great...!

Now... What about my breakdancing Fallout guy idea?

SadSadSamus

@boringjob2: What would you rather have? The old dashboard which makes using themes completely useless because of the fact that every single theme makes the entire interface unreadable. Or this one where at least you can actually use your themes.

Next step: let us use our own friggin' background, MS! You bastards.

dowingba

Damn it, I wish they'd stop doing this.

I'm still not sure about this, and hold an extremely soft spot for the classic blades of current, but every time they release more information I get a tiny bit more excited.

supremesonic

If it's faster, then that's cool. But otherwise I don't see how this will be an easier for navigating through stuff. But as long as they let me scroll through descriptions on the Marketplace at my own pace, I'm so totally sold on this.

dowingba

@Pupnasty:

I'm guessing cause they are in testing and don't want to give a solid date because they might find a huge bug that may make the release date push back.

And if they did post a date and then miss said date you would bitch even more.

The SmacK

@Apparatus Ex Somnium Design: Wait, you can disable the Miis? In that case, then I'm all for this redesign. Being someone who recently got their 360, I definitly feel the bloat and user unfriendliness of the current system. It's not bad; there's just too much stuff on there (which really seems like a lame complaint, but I don't want to have to scroll through 47 MLB and NHL games to get to something).

jasu78

"Will ship sometime later this year, which means before the New Year...' Why the hell wont they just stick with Novemember to make things sooo much simpler?

Pupnasty

@boringjob2: Exactly. Although I think that's the (highlighted/selected) Halo teaser in the background.

The 'new' PSN is a bit better, IMO.

90sKid

@undefined: You can use your own background.

JP05

Doesn't look as good as current. I'm pissed that they are changing it.

RomieYO

@rbee90:
yes, lets again go back to talking smack about the OPTIONAL avatars. im actually excited about the whole thing. the entire package. The avatars, the dashboard, the themes. all of it. tho i do still and will always have a soft spot for the soon to be old bades...

Spookie

I'm optimistic about the "new experience" but ive got to agree with Inanition on the previewing the of the themes and gamer pics. I hated buying those with a total blind eye to what they looked like. Now Microsoft can we get a release date now?

Guts4

lol, do i see FREE on some of those things? FREE on live? LOL (end sarcasm)

Mobius4077

As a PS: I wouldn't want to have this new UI on a regular TV... very tough to read.

Ycare

This looks good...

Buying a 360 is becoming more and more tempting but I already have a PS3.

The one thing I learned from this generation of gaming is:

Higher price does not equal better console. :(

I also learned that Microsoft is a bigger corporation than Sony... I did not know that before...

Feel my regret yet people?

Real Serious Assassin

Hate it, big time. Low visibility, unclear.
Only good points are visual improvement ("crisp", as mentioned), and got rid of the ugly Orange background... those it's only there. Rest of the time there is this ugly gray floor that takes half the screen.

Bad Microsoft ! Bad !

Ycare

It looks crisp and what have you, but I just don't like all the dead space. People will argue that you get to have a wallpaper to fill in the space, but you cant even see the wallpaper with the boxes in the way. If you look at the "after picture" you cant even see Chief or the Arc...

BlackBlood64

@Lixie: I'm pretty sure that's what "Inside Xbox" is supposed to be.

dowingba

now this is better than the retard avatars

rbee90

Huge improvement definitely. The old one was so clunky and horrible. It took ages to find things.

Spidery_Yoda

I think it definitely looks better, but without actually being able to 'test' this new 'experience' then i can't say much for the usability, so for now i think i will stay cautiously optimistic.

BR4DL3I9H

I hope they have a "News" section on the Live. It would be nice to be able to get the latest news, release dates, reviews, and previews about Xbox 360 games directly through Live.

Lixie

I like it, looks pretty snazzy. I'm sure it'll handle just fine as well, especially after you use it a bit.

The PS3/PSP's XMB, while not hard to use by any means, wasn't my ideal interface but it's grown on me. Hopefully the new dashboard won't have to grow on me and I like it form the start, guess we'll see.

Hey_guy

no offense, but XBOX Live market place is a big cluster fuck full of multimedia junk, and that is why i hate using it. It loaded full of shit.

shittorainbow

im sorry...mentally challenged avatars...

rbee90

its just lame dude...i love the layouts, and themes and this awesome marketplace...its the avatars! cmonnnnn...ohh..its optional...so im the retard...LOL!

rbee90

Do we still get the liquid effect liek we do now on the dashboard when the Live Vision Camera is hooked up?

Pupnasty

@Spookie: I'll believe it when I see it. I'm hereby assuming that it won't actually be possible to rid your system entirely of Avatars.

dowingba

@90sKid: PSN still has a LOT of work to do. Like maybe give us some previews on movies so we can decide if we actually want to download them or not.

robinandtami

@JP05: Er, what? Is this true? And if so, when did this happen? I've had a 360 since launch and I've never seen this option...?

dowingba

@rbee90: I wish people would stop using that word to describe something they don't like. It's seems to be getting used more and more on Kotaku.

homernoy

Just wanted to add, i also love the extra info. The screenshots next to the downloads, hopefully the themes will have screenshots too. Im just really glad it looks like there will be more info. i hate having to download a new theme before i can see what it looks like, a prewiew would be nice.

Spookie

I dunno what's with everyone else, but I love this new look.

It's clean, easier to read the information. It even gives game info, didn't do that before.

SgtAdam

@dowingba: When your browsing pictures (not in slideshow mode though) hit the Y button. It will then ask you if you want to use the picture that the selector is on as your background.

Magnum1024k

@dowingba:

Using a custom background has been possible since 360 launch :P.

[www.1up.com]

QuackerJacks

@homernoy:

What do you mean? It is used as the norm in the everyday world.

Not saying it is right, but dont sound so "shocked" as if you never hear it.

You live in a box in the middle of the land of make believe?

Just sayin, is all.

EnigmaNemesis

@EnigmaNemesis:
I agree with Enigma. Homernoy, you sound like those people who got offended because Tropical Thunder said retard alot. Get over it, it's not offensive anymore except to a small minority. It doesn't hold as much clout as say the F-word or C-word.

HueyFreeman

@robinandtami: Oh, I wasn't aware of that, as I don't really buy anything online (no credit card [in México can buy me shit from the PSN]).

90sKid

retard avatars...mmmm sounds a good idea....

Edwinik

@dowingba: @dowingba:
Ofcourse you can have your own background. You can have any picture you like. It has been like that since launch. Just pop any image on a CD, USB flashdrive, or stream it via connected PC and when you click on the image you have the option to use it as a background. The only problem is that custom images are the same on every blade.

Quicksilver4648

@Real Serious Assassin: Wait it out. Or, at least, don't SELL the PS3 to get a 360.

RealmRPGer

I wonder how it looks on an SDTV?

Wolfers

why does it remind me of vista? I don't want it to remind me of vista!

jjammerzs

@Edwinik: Bad use of words. Bad grammar. Eh, I wouldn't miss you.
Avatars are great. Every console should have their own take on them.

scotty

Not a big fan. I thought the old one looked better.

Đipic

Interesting!

ChuckNorrisKommando

Very clean.

AJMarra

@Inanition: What are you saying? In a GUI, looks show you the level of organization. Just by looking at it you can tell how to use it. That said, not all people like this new GUI, which just looks like a polished version of the XMB of the PSP and PS3.

The new features, however, are much appreciated. Also, if you really wanted to know the answers to your questions, you would have used Google.. not hard to find.

Metonyx

Wow! MUCH better layout. A little "Playstation-Networky", but also somewhat original. I can't wait for this to hit!

TheMurderer

Much improved. I don't see it "streamlining my buying experience" as I rarely buy on XBL, but aesthetically I'm certainly digging it.

bxlxsx

I wonder how many people are going to accidentally buy things in the first few days as they get used to the navigation...

TRT-X

@Lixie: Didn't say it was any good, but that's indeed what the Inside Xbox is.

dowingba

I'm definately loving the new dashboard. It looks awesome.

hallowethe

@lumpi: I CAN. It feels tingly.

MISTERCAKE

@dowingba: Well, I'm not seeing a release date calender, a database of previews and reviews, or up to the minute news posts everyday throughout the day.

That's what I'm hoping for.

Lixie

@jasu78: Microsoft isn't MAKING you use the new Avatar system, its just that they are heavily persuading you too.

Quicksilver4648

As long as it's faster. Seriously, waiting for icons for games on my friggin hard drive to load is uber annoying. I go to search through my extensive list of XBLA stuff only to have it keep reseting my cursor as it loads the damn icons. Tis is a powerful console and it has to load ICONS! Seriously.

Mr.Waffleton

@robinandtami: I don't know what PSN store you use, but mine has lots of previews.

But seriously, you can go to any site about movies and watch HD trailers if you have a problem. The PS3 (I know you're trying to stealth troll, btw) has a built in browser, remember?

boringjob2

@dowingba: Yep thats the one thing the marketplace really needs. I hate waiting for the console to start scrolling.

Hdfisise

@undefined:

Can't say I agree with that sentiment. Using available realestate doesn't mean crapping a million hyperlinks or images onto the screen. Alternatively they could have dynamically enlarged your active tab to take advantage of the space, with headers of each tab visible/tiled. And avoided the itty-bitty eye-strain-oh-vision (thanks Yahtze) I'm of the camp that more isn't always better and simple UI's have their own appealing grace. But neither is it a zero sum game of more vs. less.

Wasted space is just a poopie scenario which makes me a sad panda.

LanciePants

Copy the PSN Store much? hehe :P

element7

Looks slick. Now to work on them Avatars..

PuppyGuarder

Vaguely reminds me of Steam.

Cdestroyer127

@HueyFreeman: I bet you wouldn't use the word "retard" if you had a relative in your family who was mentally challenged, would you? Would you acknowledge him or her as "Hey what's up retard!" if you did? But it doesn't mean anything, right?

For people like you, you don't give a shit unless it actually impacts your life. Then it's a big deal. You don't get that and you never will.

And don't even bother responding because I won't be reading your insanely predictable response.

mva5580

please PLEASE stop using that god-damn marketing term! "new xbox experience" JUST STOP

ReconToaster

Trunks378 let me guess you havent even touched a PS3 before, besides at a Gamestop. But your right on one thing they are copying Sony on pretty much everything, it really shows how creative they are.

ngin.small

=O Looks like the PSN store but more well organized...and um...actually functioning :D

Trunks378

@dowingba: Umm.. you can use your own background. Even on the current dashboard? You didn't know this?

WatershipDown

@HueyFreeman: "it's not offensive anymore except to a small minority".

So that makes it okay?

NeVeRMoRe666

@HueyFreeman: I think the further we get away form using words like "fags", "gays" and "retards" in our everyday lexicon, the better off we'll be. They say more about the commentor than the actual product/person/thing itself. I mean, they're not particularly funny, witty or insightful, they're just PLAIN LAZY. Would it really kill you to be a bit more creative? For example, the sentence "LOL Look at these Avatards!!" at least shows theres some cognitive thinking at work. The difference between rbee90's instance of using the term "retard" and Tropic Thunder's was that Tropic Thunder's "Full Blown Retard" was actually used to great comedic effect.

This..."now this is better than the retard avatars" adds absolutely nothing to the discussion and is half assed at best.

NeVeRMoRe666

Stop teasing us. Release the darn thing. Don't wait until Gears, that's just stupid.

We know there will be bugs. You need to patch that stuff stat.

bennifer3000

who cares? bleh!

yairube

@boringjob2: The PSN I use has a spearate section with some previews in it. What I was referring to was the option to preview each movie before you download it. Sure, I could leave the store and open up the browser each time I wanted to see a preview, but it would be much easier just to preview it from within the store.

Why is it when you compare the features of one console to another, and find one lacking; you're a troll?

Just an honest assessment; sorry if it hurt your feelings or something.

robinandtami

@Lixie: That would never work. There's be a little censoring going on and it would all be marketing hype telling you every game coming this week is worth your money. If a hyped games turns out to get shit-panned in the gaming media, MS would still push it to you on the dashboard like they do now. It's best to stick to third parties and forums to judge how a game is going down. I agree I would like an 'out this week' list like you get on Kotaku, with links to demos if available.

shufflemoomin

@ngin.small: As opposed to Sony, with their SIXAXIS and Trophies right?

TRT-X

@bennifer3000: Considering how major an overhaul of the dashboard this is going to be...I'd rather they make sure everything's working smoothly before releasing to the wild.

TRT-X

@mva5580: Speaking as a person who has an older sister AND a younger brother with mental disabilities (and having hear that slur used against them by stupid brats in school)... THANK YOU.

Spark-Moon

@Metonyx: Yah, it looks like its similar to the XMB, which its a good change, but the XMB gui doesnt look as categorized and organized at this, which is good for microsoft.
and to Inanition, im sure theyll have streamlined button mechanics, so theyll probably have a back button. Thats not really an issue, cause its more or less expected.

Naaloq

Weird Design with the floaty windows. Looks like Mac and Vista morphed into one.

Barf#1

@Inanition: i know exactly what you are saying, and it's like this for the ones who don't understand you:

old blades: as you are switching from left to right, you constantly have a view of what your choices are.

now: we have a big menu on the left and as we choose the ones on the right, the left one disappears. it looks sexy, but you can't see al choices at once.

ruba-dub-dub

@uLTraCarL:
If you don't use the dashboard then.. Well you shouldn't give a damn. Go play your games 24-7 rather than enjoying the amazing features.

I'll sit there and enjoy my Inside Xbox's amazing UK coverage and actually enjoy making a little avatar. + You obviously don't know anything about it since its been said many times themes will work on the new dashboard.

flukielukie

For a person who spends less than a minute on the dashboard, this update is whatever. Sucks that they force this new dashboard instead of having the option to disable the new one.

Don't know if this has been answered somewhere else but what about your existing themes? Will they even work with this new dashboard?

uLTraCarL

@robinandtami: imdb and youtube could easily fix that , which works well from the Browser on the PS3.

Uh , just off topic to anyone. Does this new uber-perience come with a browser for the new interface?

휘성

NO!, i want to see my avatar shopping through the menus...............seriously

tehblondie

I'm not overly excited honestly. It will show up , update , and I will go "well that's neat" , "oh that's alot better". I don't think it's going to make me go "OMG..BEST THING EVER".

At any rate , I welcome anything that looks better then the blades system it currently has. The black text on dark gray for alot of themes was poor graphical planning at it's best.

I haven't followed the hype train on this , so I don't know anything about it. I just know I'm not interested in those avatars being on the screen and cannot wait to turn them off.

As long as the text is easier to read and it doesn't waste alot of screen space with pointless graphics I'm all for it.

휘성

Let me add in. I wish we could pay to make all ads go away. The ads annoy me even if its for the marketplace. It makes it feel like your on a channel and not a system you bought because you can't control the ad content. I've always been irked about that.

Keep it in the store , it works well for the PSN , you know what's new as soon as it loads up. I don't need to see it upon starting my system.

If this in the new xpe then I'll shut up now.

휘성

@QuackerJacks: And while I'm not arguing whether or not it's been there since launch, that article you link to says nothing about it, and the article was published in April of 2007.

dowingba

@WatershipDown: After extensive research on the internet, I've come to the conclusion that most people didn't know this. So think about that before getting all high and mighty about it.

What does it say that after 3 years of owning the console, and specifically wanting such a feature, I didn't even know it was there, (apparently) the whole time? Maybe that's why we're getting a better dashboard?

dowingba

@robinandtami: I use my desktop mostly. I just like the ease of being able to check out kotaku and a couple of other choice sites while waiting for things to download and whatnot.

I only use my x360 for gaming... I've yet to be bothered getting it to link to my pc for any reason.

휘성

@Real Serious Assassin: Cheaper Price does not equal one either. I don't regret buying my x360 but I find it hard to fill my library with good original games for it.

( Oh and before anyone starts , please don't mention sports games , shooters , pc/xbox games and the whole 5 rpgs for it ).

Both systems are good though. I'd keep them both. By selling one you'll be shooting yourself in the foot not being able to enjoy many games from all the consoles.

휘성

Same here..Can't wait...Everything about it is great..I just wish they'd release a solid rel. date

Dizqard

@robinandtami: If you really must browse from a console; I think the Wii has the best browser of the three.

robinandtami

@휘성: No, but anyone who uses their 360 as a Windows Media Center extender can use the MCE add-on browser. Honestly though, I've only used the browser for the PS3, 360 & Wii for about an hour total between the three. I just prefer using my desktop or laptop for browsing.

robinandtami

@dowingba: Yeah, I guess it's not talked about a lot. I found out when scrolling through pictures from my PC and noticed at the bottom where it says to press X to use as wallpaper.

robinandtami

Is nelson website working for anyone? Down for me

Import98

@Ramonskito: Hmm , so the xbox is like a tv. Ok. Hmm.

Since I have paid my money for a system...yes. It's mine , I should be able to control the interface content for giving them thier due of 60.00 a year.

At least an option to have them cut down or disable them all together.

Sony is the content provider for the PSN...and thier ads stay in the store....

휘성

@휘성: You should! If they are on the same home network anyway, it's great for playing your own music while gaming. Also the sound card on my PC recently crapped out a couple of days before a big party, so I used my 360 to play music on my onkyo 606 & klipsch's in my living room AND my Sony DG720 & polks in my gameroom; at the same time. I gotta say it sounded much better than my PC ever did.

robinandtami

@휘성: Thats ridiculous. That's like saying you wish you could make all the TV commercials go away because they annoy you and that you don't have control over the TV that you bought just because the network producers show you ads whenever you watch your TV.

Microsoft is the content-provider for Xbox Live. If you don't like it, then just set your Xbox to autoplay games.

Ramonskito

I was complaining about the new layout a few days back. I'd like to retract my previous statement, this looks great.

ANT0NSS0N

@robinandtami: Hmm , sounds neat , I'll have to give it a whirl.

I usually just plug my PSP into my x360 and get the music from there when I'm running about in a game for custom music.

I wonder if the PS3 and the XBOX would have conflicts being both connected. Shouldn't though. I'll try and hook that up on my next day off and see how it works.

휘성

@휘성: The PS3 and 360 don't necessarily have conflicts. But with some routers, in order to get the PS3 to connect to your computer as a media server, you have to do some things that will either end up disconnecting your 360 or at the very least giving it a bad NAT status. The problem is on some routers, you have to turn off uPnP and then assign the PS3 a static IP and make it the DMZ host in order for it to have the media server functionality without causing you to constantly lose connection to the router. But without uPnP, the 360 won't have as good a connection to Xbox Live (but the media sharing capabilities will still work fine).

As far as I know, this only affects Linksys routers though. And it's a pretty big security flaw with the router itself, and it may have already been patched via firmware upgrade.

dowingba

I like the idea of the following pages appearing so you can see where you are navigating, but for me (in AUS on a 1.5Mbps 3rd world connection) thumbnails for games and themes in the marketplace can take up to 20 seconds to load. So with a less than perfect connection, will users only see a bunch of blank spaces?

marcus_ivo

this looks tasty. me will eat. me will gobble. me will gobble indeed. me know this will taste good. me know now white box will break after all is inside white box. me will get angry. but me like white box. white box make me happy. happy good.

xMindPrintsx

looks so much better. bring on the avatars.

dipsetboy17

They went layer crazy. they should include an option to change the way you view content (ie: icons or list view, like windows)

INDIGOVENOM

@asTer0id: Just to supplement your point:

Google.

Grive

It looks *better*

I do prefer the new PSN store though...

BlingOnMyWrist

I like it, deffinetly, hope it comes out soon cause man its awesome.

HELLSRIDER

@marcus_ivo: That's what I am worried about.

Hedgeworth

@휘성: No conflicts here, but I have a pretty nice router; the Belkin N1. I never could get my PS3 to even connect to my wi-fi with my old linksys without manually inputting all of my network settings and disabling UPnP. The Belkin connected to my wi-fi easy peasy.

robinandtami

Very nice....

Defoliantonthemoneytree

Does M$ have to include the XBOX "bug" in the lower right?

The Great Aussie Evil

@boringjob2: "Why's there so much wasted space?" is one of the most irritating things a designer hears, on a daily basis, from moron clients. It's such a prevalent "occurrence" that Swedish ad company Agency Fusion made this spoof commercial to poke fun at people who know nothing about design yet still insist on raising their opinion about it...

+ Watch video

lucifer_goosifer

What's with all this whining about 'dead space' and 'difficult to navigate'? Are you seriously suffering from the delusion that the current scheme is the opposite of difficult to navigate? The current scheme is for chumps, the only part I even use is the played games section because the rest of it is so impossible to deal with. This new scheme actually brings to the table things I'm interested in, so yeah, I'm waiting for it.

Oh and for the uninitiated, these were in planning before miis.

interim

Will this dashboard be faster? Will the guide still be jerky?

DiskoDanyo

It actually looks counter-intuitive from a purely "ease of use" perspective. I don't really want a glamorous store. I bet very few people "shop around" on it, look at features/videos in store while they decide. That's what the internet is for.

People want to get in, grab the game they want and get out.

Daizaru1

The new one looks so beautiful - i hope that it still functions as easily as the the current one.

Wispas

Im betting the next xbox will have this same interface just a bit updated.

DarkHavoc99

@휘성: @robinandtami: @휘성: They never stated, so it can very well be!!

TheTimeisback4Good

I was always surprised that the marketplace was the LEAST attractive blade on the interface. I can certainly understand the need to update it. I am less excited about changes to the other blades however.

Novellion

Love it!

Kimiko

I was on the phone today with MS tech support for some post-red ring DRM cleanup. While waiting for a download to complete, I was speaking with the customer service rep who started talking about how they got to play around a little with the New Xbox Experience. Totally unprompted, this rep then threw out a tentative release date of Nov. 18th or 19th.

ZeemanJillion

Avatars are cute and what not ( and I admit will be fun to play around with ) but this aspect of the new experience seems very cool to me. I'm a sucker for wisuals and it just feels more cinematic.

pdub623