(Yes, I copied this from my thread on the Xbox forums. I thought you might enjoy it too)
This has been bugging me for a while now.....but today finally just got to the point where I have to say something about it.
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The new Dashboard is stupid. Its badly designed, not interesting to look at, and a good exercise in irony. In fact, I would probably say that every single Dashboard design change since the launch of the system has been bad. The original blades system was the best designed, most efficient and most visually pleasing of Xbox Dashboards - not to mention the one with the best themes. While the updates may have added interesting/useful feature, the designs of the actual dashboard have just been getting worse and worse.Some more so than others (anyone besides me remember that great white monstrosity they had shortly before this newer look?), but generally bad.
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I mean....look at it right now. Its basically a carbon copy of the PS3 Dashboard, but with a different font and instead of nice, neat drop-down menus it has a bunch of rectangles and squares with random crap on them (that, BTW, can't be customized at all). They say its "better for the Kinect"....but lets be honest. Not a lot of people really give a crap about the Kinect - the Wii ate that market right up (and doesn't require an accessory that costs $150), and the older Dashboards, including the Blades system could've easily have been adapted for use with the Kinect. Its not a reason - its an excuse. Microsoft. We get. You're proud of yourselves for coming up with an interesting interface for phones and tablets. It works really well there, and is nice on those kinds of systems. But you know what? It absolutely sucks ass on anything else - its not appealing the Xbox 360, nor on actual laptops/desktop computers. You had the 360's interface right the first time. There was no reason to change it.
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And then, speaking of the PS3......lets talk about the content of the Dashboard now. Back when the Xbox launched, it was, and gave the appearance of, being totally devoted to games and gaming. Games were front and center, media had its own little tab, and there was the marketplace which usually had a little ad for whatever newest content had just come out. But now?
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Ads take up damn near 95% of the screen. The games I bought and paid for or might be interesting in literally get a little box in the corner that takes up maybe 3% of the screen space, while ads for music, videos, random products and other crap I (and most people like;y) have little interest in buying get damn near the whole screen on every. single. tab. You know what the supreme irony of this is?
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We freakin' pay for this. Of the three systems....the only one that you have to pay for online is the one that absolutely bombards you with ads. PS3? No ads unless you're in the PSN Store. Wii? A little ad in the Nintendo Store/Nintendo Channel that you can delete if you want to. Xbox 360? Ads. Ads as far as the eye can see. I'm pretty sure there are ads within ads on the 360 - its Adception up in here. Why? Microsoft must know all it does is frustrate people - and that it is a failing strategy because no one gives a damn if the Xbox 360 can have ESPN or Netflix or Hulu or Music - anyone savy enough to get those things to work on their Xbox 360 already knows places to get those things faster and cheaper or already has them.
-
I'd honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point if I started getting pop-up ads in the middle of a freaking game.
This has been bugging me for a while now.....but today finally just got to the point where I have to say something about it.
-
The new Dashboard is stupid. Its badly designed, not interesting to look at, and a good exercise in irony. In fact, I would probably say that every single Dashboard design change since the launch of the system has been bad. The original blades system was the best designed, most efficient and most visually pleasing of Xbox Dashboards - not to mention the one with the best themes. While the updates may have added interesting/useful feature, the designs of the actual dashboard have just been getting worse and worse.Some more so than others (anyone besides me remember that great white monstrosity they had shortly before this newer look?), but generally bad.
-
I mean....look at it right now. Its basically a carbon copy of the PS3 Dashboard, but with a different font and instead of nice, neat drop-down menus it has a bunch of rectangles and squares with random crap on them (that, BTW, can't be customized at all). They say its "better for the Kinect"....but lets be honest. Not a lot of people really give a crap about the Kinect - the Wii ate that market right up (and doesn't require an accessory that costs $150), and the older Dashboards, including the Blades system could've easily have been adapted for use with the Kinect. Its not a reason - its an excuse. Microsoft. We get. You're proud of yourselves for coming up with an interesting interface for phones and tablets. It works really well there, and is nice on those kinds of systems. But you know what? It absolutely sucks ass on anything else - its not appealing the Xbox 360, nor on actual laptops/desktop computers. You had the 360's interface right the first time. There was no reason to change it.
-
And then, speaking of the PS3......lets talk about the content of the Dashboard now. Back when the Xbox launched, it was, and gave the appearance of, being totally devoted to games and gaming. Games were front and center, media had its own little tab, and there was the marketplace which usually had a little ad for whatever newest content had just come out. But now?
-
Ads take up damn near 95% of the screen. The games I bought and paid for or might be interesting in literally get a little box in the corner that takes up maybe 3% of the screen space, while ads for music, videos, random products and other crap I (and most people like;y) have little interest in buying get damn near the whole screen on every. single. tab. You know what the supreme irony of this is?
-
We freakin' pay for this. Of the three systems....the only one that you have to pay for online is the one that absolutely bombards you with ads. PS3? No ads unless you're in the PSN Store. Wii? A little ad in the Nintendo Store/Nintendo Channel that you can delete if you want to. Xbox 360? Ads. Ads as far as the eye can see. I'm pretty sure there are ads within ads on the 360 - its Adception up in here. Why? Microsoft must know all it does is frustrate people - and that it is a failing strategy because no one gives a damn if the Xbox 360 can have ESPN or Netflix or Hulu or Music - anyone savy enough to get those things to work on their Xbox 360 already knows places to get those things faster and cheaper or already has them.
-
I'd honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point if I started getting pop-up ads in the middle of a freaking game.