Tomorrow (Tuesday, December 6) all Xbox 360 owners will be asked to download the new Dashboard - the so called Metro design - which brings the 360 in line with Windows phones and the new Windows 8 OS (the update isn't optional, so kiss goodbye to the Dashboard as you now know it). But is it a change for the better?
The answer has to be 'yes'. While the new Dashboard isn't perfect, lacking a number of key features and only really achieving its true potential when paired with Kinect, it's tough to be too critical of something that costs nothing.
So, what can you expect when the update installs? Instantly you'll notice that it feels much more like the original 'blades' than the current system. You scroll through categories from side-to-side, rather than up and down. Shifting to a new area of the dash brings up a block of large panels, which you can then click on to go deeper into that part of the Dashboard.
Example? Select Video and you'll be greeted with a selection of the latest TV and film content and panels that take you though to the Video Marketplace and to My Video Apps. Click through to the marketplace and you get another set of options - films, TV, video collections - that let you dig deeper into each part of the dash.
It's much more intuitive than the current system of scrolling across the screen to get to where you need to be, and the way things are labelled feel a bit more obvious.
Most areas of the Dashboard are self-explanatory, but there are two new exciting parts. First off the Game options have been expanded. Click through to the Game area and you'll find your Avatar and all your friends, which you scroll through as you would in the current set-up.
However, one of the most exciting new options within games is to send a 'Beacon' out to everyone on your friends list. A beacon is a general invite to play a specific game (you can beacon up to three games at once), which appears in the message box of every friend who turns on their console while you're online.
So, if you want to play Battlefield 3, just stick up a beacon - you can even ping all your friends on Facebook too - and your buddies will know you're up for a game of Battlefield. Easy.
What's great is that they all follow the same format as the new Dashboard. On PS3 each 'external' app feels different (the iPlayer design is atrocious), but on the new 360 dash they all feel and look the same - so you instinctively know how to use each one.
New apps will trickle out throughout 2012, bringing essentials like BBC and HBO to the console.
So, now you know what's in the Dashboard, how does it feel to use? With a pad it's business as usual - finding what you need by tapping through each panel and scrolling from left to right etc is a little easier than in the current set-up. There's more 'featured content' wherever you go.
On the one hand this gives you a good idea of the wealth of content available, on the other it feels like you're constantly being sold to. Microsoft makes no apologies for this 'content heavy' approach - it wants you to use your Xbox for more than just games, and that means buying movies and subscribing to features like Sky.
Got Kinect? Now that's where the new Dashboard really shines. It feels like Microsoft fulfilling the promise it originally made to sell its motion-tracking tech - the Minority Report style interface that was meant to be the future of gaming.
Kinect allows you to control your Xbox in two extra ways. The first is motion; wave at the Xbox to activate a small hand-like cursor and you can use this to click on panels (hold your hand cursor over a panel to activate it) and swipe through the Dashboard areas from side to side.
Comments
49 comments so far...
ghoti on 5 Dec '11 said:
What key features is it missing? Are we talking stuff it currently does that it won't be able to with the update, or just "stuff it really should have in this day in age"?
bamozzy on 5 Dec '11 said:
Tomorrow is tuesday 6th December
I can't wait for this - It will make the xbox a media powerhouse and not just the best games console...
TheDragonDoji on 5 Dec '11 said:
"At the risk of starting a flame war..." Ahhh the eternal rhetorical commentary. Interesting that he mentions the cloud storage as a way to justify the Xbox Live Gold fee...but fails to refer to PSN+ cloud storage. Whoops! Looks like you're a one-sided journalist mon frere!
Besides the PSN+ cloud allocation is 150MB, a shade less than the Xbox offering so this would've benefited his thinly veiled 'review'.
MrPirtniw on 5 Dec '11 said:
Hmm- looking forward to trying this out- so far the Kinect functions have been a bit limited. Not sure if it's going to make that much of an impact on me though as I'm all about the games but it sounds pretty good at least.
360_Fan on 5 Dec '11 said:
But I just brought a skyrim wall paper for my dash.
bamozzy on 5 Dec '11 said:
What they also failed to mention is that the PSN network is very sloooooooooooooow too - another reason why Gold is worth every penny - I do have both consoles. I think this new addition of the media, cloud storage (more than 3x the capacity of PS3) etc will certainly make the xbox a much more useful console. In my opinion - it is the best console for gaming whilst the PS3 has always been the more versatile (gaming is still very good but I prefer xbox especially online - also has a better controller for longer playability - the PS3 triggers and analogue sticks are in the wrong place causing hand cramps). Whenever anyone has asked which I would recommend I always ask what do you want it to do. If it is gaming - xbox, more versatility - PS3. But now the only thing I would recommend the PS3 for over an Xbox is its Blu-ray player.
Kinect is absolutely brilliant - it is still in its infancy and games are still yet to even scratch its full potential but they are getting better
Channel4 on 5 Dec '11 said:
I like the fact that they have made it more like the old system, so I look forward to trying it out. I still think i'm going to prefer the PS3 XMB though, it's just so much more responsive and I have an ocd thing about keeping all of the columns at the top lol.
totakeke on 5 Dec '11 said:
It is a really good system from what they released into the beta.
Ali_ on 5 Dec '11 said:
Let's hear it for journalistic neutrality....I'll let you know if I find any.
KesMonkey on 5 Dec '11 said:
There was no attempt to justify the cost of Gold anywhere in this review. There is no need to justify the cost of Gold, as it justifies itself. One sided journalism? Well, that's your perception, and you're entitled to it, no matter how clearly wrong it may be.
KesMonkey on 5 Dec '11 said:
From what I've read elsewhere, themes work fine with the new dash.
The_KFD_Case on 5 Dec '11 said:
I admit I was sceptical of this update, yet after reading this I'm excited by the update and the hinted at possibillities. Not enough to go out and purchase the Kinect add-on, mind you, but fascinated by the tech nonetheless.
Black Mantis on 5 Dec '11 said:
They work fine in the new dash. My Forza one was there as soon as my 360 restarted from installing the dashboard update.
laminated0 on 5 Dec '11 said:
Does anyone else find the way they seem to be taking the xbox a little worrying? Advertising, so many needless things thrown at us to 'buy' also could you accidentally purchase something with voice recognition? I want my xbox to be mainly a games console, I want it to be about games the most, the XBLA and games on demand etc are excellent (if occasionally expensive), plus ps3 has an actual browser where you can surf the web etc although slow It was great for watching vids on the big tv. I am looking forward to see how they use youtube though, as games could integrate upload features etc. Well anyway let's see tomorrow
.
DavidVM on 5 Dec '11 said:
Awww, did the nasty journalist hurt your feelings because he didn't talk about your beloved PS3 enough in AN XBOX REVIEW?!! That's like saying reviewers have to mention Gears of War 3 in every Uncharted 3 review.
Take some solace in the fact that the PS3 is still a vastly superior multi-media device with better third party support for TV and film and it's been there for years whilst Xboxers are only just getting this. I'm sure such things give you comfort when presented with Xbox games sales figures which no doubt keep you awake long into the night. I wouldn't normally advocate mainstream religion to anyone, but it's a more worthwhile investment of your partisan faith than a f**king games console so please give it some thought.
Bryanee1983 on 5 Dec '11 said:
The new dash is awful, I'm in the beta and whilst it looks nice pretty much everything is a step backwards. Locating/accessing the game marketplace is terrible as is the whole your games section.
Themes do still work esxcept for the stuff in your friends section, friends no longer stand infront of their own little background like they would on the old dash though.
MPH on 5 Dec '11 said:
Thanks MS for making this mandatory. I didn't want to upgrade the last time but had no choice.
ghoti on 5 Dec '11 said:
Isn't there a subscription charge for PlayStation Plus as well? Or have I just misinterpreted your point?
Baoth on 5 Dec '11 said:
Cloud storage would be really, really useful.... IF they allowed for an "offline files" setting!!
You know, like in Windows... that thing they have been using for years and years and... well, you catch my drift.
N00b mistake M$ - you'll get nothing but s**te when someone can't get their saves 'cos of an outage, or internet is disconnected for any reason.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 5 Dec '11 said:
looking forward to trying out the kinect functions on this. I just wish MS would integrae it into dvd playback as well as videos you get from the marketplace. I can see this being a hell of a lot better for 4od, iplayer and lovefilm when they're added. They're bloody awful on the ps3 slow to load lag all the time and often just plain refuse to work.
MrPirtniw on 5 Dec '11 said:
My PS3 just crashes when I try and load Lovefilm. Don't know why but I just get a never ending black screen of doom. Now just plug the laptop into the tv if we want to watch anything online.
alan666 on 5 Dec '11 said:
why do they have to keep updating it, it's not going to make any difference most people just put in a disc & play the game, i just shout at my Kinect & it does things.
illage2 on 5 Dec '11 said:
Okay, what do people mean when they say PSN is slow? Do they mean the downloads or the on-line gaming? PSN on-line games are fine for me no lag or anything. I'll agree the downloads are painfully slow.
The only real argument between PSN and Xbox live payments is the party chat, and faster downloads.
Flamestrike on 5 Dec '11 said:
It really, really isn't.
In other news.
"CVG STAFF WRITER IN PRO-XBOX 360 ARTICLE SHOCKER!"
FixBeatGames on 5 Dec '11 said:
the iPlayer on ps3 is not terrible at all. the writer clearly hasn't used it lately, as the new one is on there and is amazingly easy / quick to use and makes the other players look and feel like a joke.
silent moose on 5 Dec '11 said:
every cloud has a silver lining
Imaduck on 5 Dec '11 said:
And a core of game saves and porn.
The_KFD_Case on 6 Dec '11 said:
Buddha on 6 Dec '11 said:
Metro?
Pfft, metrosexual morelike! I can‘t read this with a straight face. All this talk of playing with beacons lol.
Noobsaibot on 6 Dec '11 said:
Finally, I can watch TV..... ON MY TV!!!
So, where will my HD DVD player launch from? If they disable it, I will kick up a fuss. And where's the RTE Player for us here in Eíre? As for the adverts taking centre stage.... not especially happy about it considering it is a subscription service but not much choice really. I'm curious to see what the dash looks like when disconnected from live. Surely they'll have something instead of a load of empty advert spaces. Overall, doesn't look too bad so far.
strickers on 6 Dec '11 said:
Looks fine but the Kinect menu control is a gimmick with little long term future.Most gamers will have pad in hand and just use that.It's so familiar and quick anyway.
The other thing I'd like to point out is if something is behind a Gold Live account it can not be considered free.
I still think this Kinect/Move/Wii thing is a gimmick(and I bought Wii and Move) and even Nintendo seem to agree(see the Wii U).
illage2 on 6 Dec '11 said:
I don't know where you got your information from. But the new Dashboard update is not on Xbox live on the 6th December as you reported. So you need to get your information fixed or add more detail to it.
ghoti on 6 Dec '11 said:
I'd have thought that would be something for RTE to negotiate. MS can't just take TV without permission. There's also the question of how many people would use it, vs. the cost of setting it up. 2010 figures show an Irish population of just 4.5 million (compare that to the population of London alone, over 7.5m); what percentage of them own (or have access to) a 360?
RichPerry on 6 Dec '11 said:
Kind of annoying if I have to download a Sky app that I've been using fine so far. Other than that I don't really see any drawbacks to this dash, it looks pretty nice and seems to work well. I might have reordered things a bit, but it's largely alright.
I'm not too keen on the abundance of ads, and having to go round them to get to what I want might be a bit tedious. And as for the Kinect support I still do not have a Kinect and have no real desire to get one, so I won't be reaping the benefits of those features.
I guess I'll see how it is when I get home from work tonight.
mapsxb78 on 6 Dec '11 said:
Totally agree! I also have the OCD thing with keeping all the columns at the top... sad I know..
I am lucky enough to own both consoles and I don't care what anyone else says, but the Xbox 360 dashboard will always be inferior to the Playstation 3 dashboard, not only is the PS3 more user friendly, more accessible and above all better designed but it also doesn’t look like it was designed by an ex-employee of Fisher Price, with big squares, adverts and bright colours and those stupid f***ing avatars, leave the kiddie rubbish to Nintendo and their new console.
Noobsaibot on 6 Dec '11 said:
It's on the PS3. Northern Ireland folk get to use it too so there's another million or so who have access.
ghoti on 6 Dec '11 said:
Given Sony aren't restricting access to video services to paid subscribers the way Microsoft are, it's maybe an easier sell on the PS3. I don't know if RTE has a similar charter to the BBC, which prevents them from providing paid services (which is why the iPlayer will be free to everyone on the 360), but if not then it could be that there aren't enough Gold members to justify the cost.
This is all rampant speculation on my part, but if the service is available already on PS3 I can't imagine it'd be anything other than a cost/reward balance that's missing for the 360. Or maybe they're just not ready to announce it yet.
kirankara on 6 Dec '11 said:
overexcited and exaggeration in one sentence, quite impressive .
FixBeatGames on 7 Dec '11 said:
lol just watched a tech demo on youtube about this.
it's terrible tbh. i've not used the 360 in months and months (so many games have come out this year on ps3) so thought this might inspire me to give it a go. it's so unresponsive and the design is garish to say the least. all the 'loads of new features' are simply adding SOME of the stuff the ps3 has done for 3 years.
live used to be a huge selling point for xbox, nowadays it's just another expense for an inferior service to psn. the ONLY thing that is better on live is it's quicker to download games from it than it is psn. (by quicker, i mean it'd take an hour on psn, 45 mins on live.) so £5 per month for 15 minute in the hour quicker download times? LOL.
@anyone who STILL keeps on about psn being down all the time or laggy are simply living in 5 years ago. psn was awful for the first year, it's now every single bit as good as live in every way and far exceeds it in many (design being the no.1 way).
i think it's time to sell my 360 tbh, rubbish customer service, have bought 3 of them in 4 years (because they break) and zero decent exclusives on it for well over 12 months and zero decent exclusives on the horizon. how people can say 'xbox is the better console for gaming' with a straight face, is beyond me. that's not been the case since 2009, simple.
bamozzy on 7 Dec '11 said:
To be honest I don't care about what silver xbox live users will get - If they don't get it all - tough!!!!! £40 a year is not that expensive - less than £5 a month - Silver allows you to get updates and play games so it will continue to do this. If you get some/all TV too then bonus!
But I have twittered xbox support and MajorNelson and neither of them have confirmed or denied what access anyone will get and whether or not Silver users will not be able to use certain things
Anyway a list of apps and dates can be found here:- http://majornelson.com/2011/12/04/the-f ... -xbox-360/ and as you can see from this - nothing is mentioned about silver or gold accounts as to which will or will not be available but it does say that some may require a gold account and/or additional subscriptions.
Obviously Lovefilm requires an additional subscription but they always have. There has been no mention of limited access to gold members only i.e. 4od and demand 5 etc
Official press release:- http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/pres ... 360TV.mspx
Even if some apps are not available to silver users - the console still does more than it did before and you were happy with the level you were at then....
So unless you can verify this information about what will or will not be available - why get so worked up over it? If you have silver and want stuff accessible to gold members - upgrade.
Don't like it - sell and buy a Wii or PS3
bamozzy on 7 Dec '11 said:
I have it and it is good - especially as I have Kinect too. better than the youtube demo makes out.
The PS3 may have done a few TV things before the xbox but they are nowhere near as good as using a PC and accessing the internet through their browser is a joke. So now xbox will have them soon and it appears they will do it better than PS3 with voice activated search and controls.
Xbox Live is so much better than PSN and not just for download speed (although I think an hour long download would take maybe 15mins max over live and game updates seem to take forever on PSN compared to live too) Playstation home (new) took ages to download a few of the places to visit and then required more laborious downloads to do anything on it.It is laggy. It is also a fact that the ram is divided on a PS chip so concessions have to be made whilst the ram on an xbox can be utilised how the developer wants to get the most out of it. Virtually every cross platform game plays better and smoother on xbox too (skyrim is a classic and not an exception). If you prefer the look that is an aesthetic issue and has no bearing on performance.
I have never suffered RROD - although I am on my second xbox just because I wanted the new slim 250gb hard drive and kinect (I still have my original and it still works. I am however on my second PS3 due to my 60gb suffering from YLOD which Sony want to charge me over £120 to fix with little guarantee. So I had to replace this with a new slim.
Game exclusives are great on both console if you like the style of games produced for both - to me Forza is so much better than gran tourismo. But I will say that Uncharted 3 is the best looking game on ANY console.so that comes down to choice.
It is obvious to me that you have actually not based any of your argument on fact but just opinion (not that there is anything wrong with having an opinion)
Either way I do not care whether you do sell your xbox or not - it has always been a better gaming console and could now take the multi-media title too - it outsold PS3 2:1 last month in the USA and a trend that I can see happening in the future - especially as Kinect is better than move, has a better live network etc....
WHERESMYMONKEY on 8 Dec '11 said:
Without kinect i can see this being. well ok. It's got a few new bells and whistles and things are laid out differently.
However with kinect. It's bloody amazing. a lazy gamers dream. i don't even have to move my thumbs anymore to access anything. I spent at least half an hour just trying to out fox kinect but it didn't, get what i was saying wrong once.
FlimFlam on 8 Dec '11 said:
I can always rely on the CVG community to throw up some gems on single format articles...
From my long term experience I have always preferred Xbox's navigation to PS3's, but as this is an article on the Xbox dash for Xbox users, I'm not sure why that would matter...
As for the new dash, I quite like it. It's clean, easy to get around, and everything works. Not sure about the whole 'multimedia hub' thing, but as consoles literally is booted up and played whatever cartridge was plugged in when I were a lad, anything on top is a bonus. I don't make use of a lot of the functionality provided, but it's cool to know it's there.
But as usual, there will be as many haters as those who don't really study such peripheral things too much. Want to just play games? Set the console to boot to disc. Want all the added stuff, it's there too. Worrying about how it compares to another console?
Get out more.
bamozzy on 8 Dec '11 said:
I totally agree - with kinect it is so easy and the order in which things are really doesn't matter as you can just tell it what you want to go to. Can't wait for the TV apps to come either - I really want to see kinect operate these. It will be so much easier to control now - no more hunting remotes to pause or mute if the phone rings for example.
I can see this being a very social and superb multi-media device when the apps finally arrive
Also like the fact that the disc player and most recent apps/downloaded games are on the front page now too
mapsxb78 on 8 Dec '11 said:
I totally agree with everything you say!!
The Xbox 360 is dated, the new dashboard is a p**s-poor attempt at trying to bring new life into an already dead machine.
What's all this bull-sh*t about the PS3 version of the BBC iplayer not working correctly? Where did this come from? It works flawlessly, so to does 4OD and the ITV Player, with no lag.
What about VidZone! It totally trounces the pathetic and frankly useless Zune! Then there is "Home" there is nothing that the Xbox provides that I can compare it with.
Then there is Playstation Life, LoveFilm, Mubi, Photo Memories, weekly Playstation news with "Access". The ability to play Blu-ray, PSN Movies (which has far more films you would want to watch then Xbox live).
On top of all of this, I can go online with any of my mates and play call of Duty and I don’t have to give Sony a penny!
Stick your £40 Xbox live subscription up your stupid childish avatars arse!!!
And to think.... I use to love the Xbox 360... Until I saw the red ring of death 3 times!! I then bought a PS3 and never looked back.
Also has anyone noticed that Sony has never needed to even slightly improve on what is already a far superior dashboard other than the introduction of Dynamic Themes??
bamozzy on 8 Dec '11 said:
Spot the sony fanboys who have got nothing better to do than come and post on an xbox topic and show what ignorant idiots they are.
I had to replace my 60gb Playstation because of sony's equivalent to the RROD but unlike microsoft Sony want to charge over £120 to fix but don't even guarantee it will work for long. I have 2 xbox 360's and both work (3 in the house as my son has one too) and none has EVER had RROD!!!! (I also have 2 PS3 and 1 doesn't work - 3 in the house though)
How can you say the dashboard is superior?? to you it may be more aesthetically pleasing but it does the same job and now no longer can you even argue it is quicker because Kinect gives instant voice access to anywhere on the dashboard.
Games are more laggy, less well supported by developers (xbox gets most dlc first - a few exceptions but not many) Skyrim is a classic example!! Even online the games seem to be slower than on xbox (and I am comparing like with like as I have some games on both consoles) most notable after playing online on the xbox
TV navigation is not great on iplayer or the others and trying to find stuff can be quite annoying. I wouldn't want to download a movie or game through it as I can't be assed to wait that long to play it (quicker to mail order and wait for delivery) The Browser is a joke and so sloooooooow. PSN is also incredibly slow when it comes to downloads. Playstation home is ok - not brilliant - it takes ages to download a 'zone' and then when you get there you need to download stuff to do - again this takes ages. It took me a whole morning to download a few zones when they updated the plaza recently and then had to download more stuff just to do anything - but it was free
The avatars on xbox maybe a little childish but they are no more so than on the Wii and look better than those too. Also the avatar can be utilized in quite a few games. Sony's may look better but you really only ever see it in 'home' so why bother.
Granted the PS3 has a blu-ray drive and that makes it a better disc drive than Microsofts' but that is about all it does better
but in its defence it's PSN is free so you can't expect too much and also the PS3 has the Uncharted series (Uncharted 3 is the best looking game - a bit short though - on ANY console)
mapsxb78 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Spot the Xbox fanboy!
ha ha ha ha - t**t.
The typical ramblings of an un-educated Xbox fanboy! bull-sh*t is a common theme in your thread I see. None of which is based on any truth or fact. Run along child.
bamozzy on 10 Dec '11 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ8NhxD0-Ek Typical PS3!!! (Caution - NSFW)
ricflair on 10 Dec '11 said:
Is there something in the water around here at the moment? This place has been full of aggro recently.
There's no need to constantly point out the positive and negatives of various platforms in such petty, meat-headed ways and it's not the end of the world if you don't have the last word.