They need to check out how snappy the PS3 navigation is.
Ballmer moves faster than a 360 menu! Takes a minute to just rely to a message in game!
They also need to fix the Xbox site.
As in Forums. Login to xbox.com, and click forum. Wait for it to load. Wait. Look the Ketchup is out already. Wait. WTF! Why not just make tabbed sections and Alphabetical listing nav.
This is what you do MS: Completely rip off the XMB. Seriously I'm amazed at how much easier it is for me to navigate my PS3 menus and find what I'm looking for in comparison to the clusterfuck that is the NXE.
Like what? I would argue the PS3 has it's fair share of exclusive options to sift through what with all the video and audio tweaking there is. Even supposing the 360 does have more options they'd still be easier to find in a well organized XMB as opposed to the NXE where doing something as simple as inputting a redemption code for MS points or bonus content is buried underneath a convoluted menu system.
It wouldn't be difficult to set up a disk defrag utility that we could occasionally use to defrag large files and push stuff like dashboard files, game updates, game installs, and game add-ons to the edge of the disk for faster loading... but even if it didn't do that, defragmenting the disk would speed things up a lot...
This is why the original dashboard resided on a chip inside the console itself... Once we had to move parts of the dash to the HDD, that's when things began to crawl...
@Shinta: How could you not? The NXE is basically DLC that sits on top of the old blades system. I bet if you MS let you wipe the NXE from your console the OXE would be sitting right there still.
Aye, but the man to do that would be some kind of Voyager. Maybe they'll go Around the World to find 'im. If they do find someone Alive who's capable, I think it'll be The Prime Time of his Life.
Maybe if they pulled all the ads out, it would run better. But hey, the worlds largest software company has to to pile ads in all over the place and charge people $50 a year to keep it going.
@Pyrefly: without charging people? only if you want it to work worth a fuck. PS3 people can HAVE....HAVE their free network. The flaming POS that it is. I'll gladly pay 50 bux a year, to have voice messaging in game. I type enough at work all day, dont need to do it when I get home too.
@Daniel Pizarro Sánchez: As an owner of both i can second that. PSN is a damn fine system and runs extremely smoothly compared with how 'premium' xbox live is. Both systems are easily competitive and comparable.
@Pyrefly: Before I sold my 360, I preferred the blades to NXE. the blades were easier to navigate even if I didn't care for the visual look of them. Function made them acceptable. NXE, gives better atmosphere and a bit more character but at the cost of speed and clarity as it's easy to get lost in some aspects or it.
When it's all said and done, I'm shocked that MS didn't just op for a cleaner design focusing on speed and easier custom theme use (read: themes that compliment the icon and text layout a bit better). the upgrade from Vista to Win7 shows that MS knows the importance of ease of use, speed and clarity in navigation. But these aspects didn't exactly translate to the NXE.
Some form of Explorer would have been nice and mouse and keyboard support. I never cared that PS3 didn't get Netflix because PS3 has Hulu through the browser. Since PS3 has Flash 9 support, I can watch movies, television shows and anime on a variety of sites, free of charge because of the browser. the negative of the PS3 browser which MS could have easily capitalized on, is the PS3 browser is unstable to this day. When it works, it works great, but when it doesn't work, it will lock up on a page, stuck in a constant loading phase or it will cause the PS3 to flat out crash to the point where the power has to be cut. Not cool.
Personally, I prefer the XMB. Custom themes work better on the XMB and there are legions of them (www.ps3-themes.com) You can mix and match theme components (God of War background with Metal Gear Solid4 icons and sounds) it's faster overall, easier to navigate and find what you need and I like the option of having all of your content organized in folders with custom icons. Having all of your video folder running thumbnail sized previews is awesome too.
The slow loading times that have become a normal part of the "new" xbl dashboard just plain blow monkeys, and are getting more and more irritating. The slow done ever occurs when I access my own game library, which makes no sense.
If MS can/will rectify this, then they will make me a tad happier.
I still find a few things a little hard to find, and usually have to go into the pop-up blades to do things that should be better managed outside of that, but whatever.
I don't have a 360 to flip through moronic desktop content.
@MrBionic: Is there even a place to put in "redemption codes" in the main NXE? I looked for way too long before I realized I could do it by using the old blades layout by pushing the guide button. I swear its the only way too do it.
@liquid_kore: Ah yes, that's one of the things that is impossible to do from outside of the blades.
Also, if you click on anything to purchase it, but only have a Points Card, you cannot then click "redeem code" and enter the code. It won't accept it. You have to back right out and go into it from the blades in order to redeem your points, THEN go download the game/DLC/whatever.
About fucking time. Sometimes it takes 45+ seconds of waiting for the thing to respond. It almost seems like it is locked up. The useless Friends channel is the worst. They should just remove that POS. Who wants to see a bunch of sleep avatars that all basically look the same. Actually, I bet if the removed avatars altogether, it would run great.
@KillerBee: Not to mention if a friend is in a party, and you don't know that friends avatar very well, you see a bunch of strangers in a group and aren't sure which one is your friend. Your friends word bubble is almost guaranteed to be the last one to pop up every time.
@KillerBee: I hate that damn friends channel too. To this day I still fuck up by trying to find the friends list under the "My xbox" channel. If I want to know who's on, I just use the blade interface. It's even more inconvenient if you have a lot of friends but want to find one specific person for whatever reason. Scrolling through all those avatars is a pain in the ass. There's no good reason to use that channel.
06/22/09
They need to check out how snappy the PS3 navigation is.
Ballmer moves faster than a 360 menu! Takes a minute to just rely to a message in game!
They also need to fix the Xbox site.
As in Forums. Login to xbox.com, and click forum. Wait for it to load. Wait. Look the Ketchup is out already. Wait. WTF! Why not just make tabbed sections and Alphabetical listing nav.
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
Like what? I would argue the PS3 has it's fair share of exclusive options to sift through what with all the video and audio tweaking there is. Even supposing the 360 does have more options they'd still be easier to find in a well organized XMB as opposed to the NXE where doing something as simple as inputting a redemption code for MS points or bonus content is buried underneath a convoluted menu system.
06/22/09
06/22/09
It wouldn't be difficult to set up a disk defrag utility that we could occasionally use to defrag large files and push stuff like dashboard files, game updates, game installs, and game add-ons to the edge of the disk for faster loading... but even if it didn't do that, defragmenting the disk would speed things up a lot...
This is why the original dashboard resided on a chip inside the console itself... Once we had to move parts of the dash to the HDD, that's when things began to crawl...
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
Aye, but the man to do that would be some kind of Voyager. Maybe they'll go Around the World to find 'im. If they do find someone Alive who's capable, I think it'll be The Prime Time of his Life.
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
@SuperD: +1
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
When it's all said and done, I'm shocked that MS didn't just op for a cleaner design focusing on speed and easier custom theme use (read: themes that compliment the icon and text layout a bit better). the upgrade from Vista to Win7 shows that MS knows the importance of ease of use, speed and clarity in navigation. But these aspects didn't exactly translate to the NXE.
Some form of Explorer would have been nice and mouse and keyboard support. I never cared that PS3 didn't get Netflix because PS3 has Hulu through the browser. Since PS3 has Flash 9 support, I can watch movies, television shows and anime on a variety of sites, free of charge because of the browser. the negative of the PS3 browser which MS could have easily capitalized on, is the PS3 browser is unstable to this day. When it works, it works great, but when it doesn't work, it will lock up on a page, stuck in a constant loading phase or it will cause the PS3 to flat out crash to the point where the power has to be cut. Not cool.
Personally, I prefer the XMB. Custom themes work better on the XMB and there are legions of them (www.ps3-themes.com) You can mix and match theme components (God of War background with Metal Gear Solid4 icons and sounds) it's faster overall, easier to navigate and find what you need and I like the option of having all of your content organized in folders with custom icons. Having all of your video folder running thumbnail sized previews is awesome too.
MS should totally rip some of those aspects
06/22/09
06/22/09
If MS can/will rectify this, then they will make me a tad happier.
06/22/09
I don't have a 360 to flip through moronic desktop content.
06/22/09
06/22/09
Also, if you click on anything to purchase it, but only have a Points Card, you cannot then click "redeem code" and enter the code. It won't accept it. You have to back right out and go into it from the blades in order to redeem your points, THEN go download the game/DLC/whatever.
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/22/09
06/01/09
06/01/09
New, Reebok shoes, only 150 points!
Gap shirts, 200 points!
Tom Cruise bomber jacket from Top Gun, 1000 points!!!! (Or free if you get audited).
06/01/09
Or will I have to actually buy "Blue Jacket" if I don't want my avatar wearing the free "Black Jacket"?