Malik
(11/20/08)
This year saw a
lot of the term "lipstick on a pig". I think it's appropriate since
that's what NXE (the new 360 dashboard) feels like to me. Yes, it
does have some good features, but I don't think they are really
requiring the new dashboard to implement them.
NetFlix streaming
is nice. I tried it last night and enjoyed what it could do. True,
it would be a whole lot better with the addition of some good movies
to the NetFlix streaming library. Most of the selection reminded me
of the videos one could check out from a library in the 1980's; old,
tired, and not worth the time it takes to watch them. I guess there
is a few good items...but I'm not all that impressed and never
really was with the NetFlix instant watch thing.
As far as how it
works with the 360, however, is good. It streams pretty quickly and
the buffering is nothing beyond what you'd see with smaller files
found on Youtube. So, all in all, the NetFlix NXE features are
good...but they could have been done on the old dashboard.
I cannot try the
installation feature for games. This looks like another cool
feature, especially from what I've heard of how it works with my
precious Rock Band 2. It lowers loading times on most games, and
greatly reduces them on a few major titles. However, if you're a RB
addict, like myself, and love to download DLC, then you better have
a HDD larger than 20GB. I have 0.1GB less than needed for RB2
install (around 9GB of DLC and RB1 tracks kills a 20GB HDD in a
hurry). However, I doubt this also required the facelift found on
the dashboard.
As for the rest of
the NXE update; it's all crap or forced changes. The menu system is
straight out of the PSP...but with major menus going up and down and
sub-menus going left to right, instead of the opposite found on the
PSP. Most things are now found in a cluster of sub-menus that feel
clumsy. I mean if NXE was supposed to make things more user
friendly...then why did we go from 5 menu blades to about six main
menu screens loaded with potentially hundreds of sub-menus? The
"potentially" is due to all games you have achievements for having
their own separate mini-menu item. It's a huge clump of stuff that
is not quick or easy to sort through.
As for the changes
to the layout, there is nothing making this more streamlined than
the old dashboard. If I am feeling generous, I'd say it's the same
level of complexity for casual gamers and less for the standard 360
fans. However, being less than generous today, I can say it's overly
convoluted for both sets of gamers. It is like lipstick on a
pig...same old thing as the old system, but requiring more attention
to detail (you want that lipstick to be on straight and not be
smudged, right?).
The other big
change is the avatar system. I don't know it and don't aim to. If I
wanted a Mii, I'd be playing the Wii more. Since I don't, I skipped
the avatar system completely. In case you're thinking, "but you have
to make an avatar", you are wrong. When it brings up the forced
"make an avatar" screen when you log in, just hit the guide button.
It should all sort itself out after you hit either "b" or the guide
button a second time. Then again, I may make a quick and
ugly as sin avatar to just not be prompted again...it does get
annoying.
Speaking of which,
the guide button seems poorly utilized. The old use was simple and
made sense. The new one is basically a system that brings up
something like the old dashboard...but not. You get, for the most
part, all the same features as the old dashboard, but with a few
tiny pieces missing (like the bulk of the configuration options).
Worst of all, in
my eyes, is what comes up when you use the guide button, try to
delete a file, or do anything else that would bring up a prompt of
some sort (like making a purchase or download). It's a box straight
out of a DOS Shell application in the early 1990's (pre-Windows 95).
While the NXE is trying to put lipstick on a pig, the new prompt box
is putting shit-stick on a pig. It's ugly, feels out of place, and
is so damned intrusive (like a warning message on Window). Most of
all, considering Microsoft was trying to make NXE look so pretty, is
that this seems to be defeated when these ugly as sin prompts come
up. I would design better looking prompts in my days of trying to
unsuccessfully learn Visual Basic.
That comment isn't
me trying to sound like I'm better than Microsoft, because I was
really bad at Visual Basic. It's actually me trying to explain that
Microsoft, with their giant budgets, are worse than me at something
so damned simple.
On other notes of
interest;
NXE seems to like
to occasionally freeze for up to a minute if you dick around on the
friends avatar menu. Don't hit anything beyond the d-pad/left-stick,
A, or B on that menu and you'll be fine. Otherwise, just grab a soda
or a beer and it'll be back in a minute.
The frequent
reminders of how much HDD space you have left is nice. So is the
constant reminder of any messages or friends online in the top
corner.
If you were
foolish enough to spend money on an old theme, you're shit out of
luck on this one. The themes will be mangled, but will show to some
extent. If you only liked the middle of the images on your theme,
then you'll do fine. Otherwise, I'd expect there's going to be a
call for Microsoft to refund purchases of themes. Doesn't mean
anything to me since it does say that once you buy it you're stuck
with the purchase...but I could see people being annoyed with this
change.
I don't know if or
how this also effects gamer pics, since I don't care. My friends
change their pics a lot, and I use free shit that I've only changed
once (from the free monkey to the free RB2 guitar symbol). I think
these pics still show, but not as obviously as the avatars...which I
also care nothing about.
Most of all, I use
my 360 to play games. I've watched a couple videos from my PC on the
360 and will use the 360 to stream a couple NetFlix movies. However,
since subtitles tend to get cut off on my configuration (unless I
want the video to be in a tiny "native" resolution), I don't use it
too often. So, with games being important, I couldn't care less
about what happens to my dashboard.
Still, with this
level of change, I think Microsoft could have used doing the Hotmail
approach. Hotmail allows for you to use an Outlook looking UI or the
old simple UI. The 360 could use this same option of using the
blades or the NXE system. The only good changes here are the
installation (I think) and the NetFlix feature. With that in mind,
the old system would work just fine.
Then again, in
this modern era when the Wii is the best selling console, Microsoft
will have to try something to win some casual gamers. Too bad for
them it's not the dashboard that matters. That only matters when the
casual gamers are fleeing the 360. When you need to attract them to
begin with, the answer is what it's always been; making the console
seem simple and fun from the beginning...not from the first time
it's turned on. A purchase must be made before something like NXE
would even come into play.
Malik |