Ah, HERE'S A Proper Look At The Xbox One's UI & Dashboard

[Ironman273]

Ah, HERE'S A Proper Look At The Xbox One's UI & Dashboard

 

 

Microsoft's own video showing the Xbox One's dashboard and user interface was disappointing, because being so heavily staged, it didn't give us an idea of how it actually performed in the real world. This real video, on the other hand, is just perfect.

 

Shot in the middle of a round of Killer Instinct by Gameon Daily, it focuses mainly on how the system's menu and other apps can "snap" in on top of your gameplay, but also shows the user returning to the main menu as well.

 

Looks fast! And, when you simply must resort to GameFAQs, incredibly useful as well.

 

Source: Kotaku

[spenser.d]

Man that looks fantastic.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Wow. It's very responsive. There was almost no delay when the user went back to the home screen.

[spudtrooper]

Fixes my biggest beaf with the 360.. the slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww dashboard / app / navigation experience in and out of content and games.

 

Looking forward to it. Hope we see more announcements and i'd really love to hear about app support. (want my Plex app! hehe)

[firey]

hmm...looks fast and fluid.. but pointless.  If I am playing a game.. I don't pause it to surf the net.. or to talk on skype.   To each their own I guess.

[McKay]

Fixes my biggest beaf with the 360.. the slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww dashboard / app / navigation experience in and out of content and games.

 

Looking forward to it. Hope we see more announcements and i'd really love to hear about app support. (want my Plex app! hehe)

 

Hopefully it fixes my second biggest beef about the dashboard on 360, the fact it's so blurry and low res. When I saw the PlayStation dashboard running at my friends house, my first thought was how crisp and sharp it all was. 

[Ironman273]

Hopefully it fixes my second biggest beef about the dashboard on 360, the fact it's so blurry and low res. When I saw the PlayStation dashboard running at my friends house, my first thought was how crisp and sharp it all was. 

This is blurry and low res?  :huh:  (click for full size)

[McKay]

All writing on the dashboard to me looks so blurry and fuzzy around the edges, same for things like those A and Y symbols. 

 

The Xbox Guide especially looks blurred and low res to me. 

[Ironman273]

[notchinese]

All writing on the dashboard to me looks so blurry and fuzzy around the edges, same for things like those A and Y symbols. 

 

The Xbox Guide especially looks blurred and low res to me. 

 

Fix your monitor. Also, I don't know what PS3 dashboard you are using but its entire UI design language is centered around silly blurring and glowing effects.

[trooper11]

hmm...looks fast and fluid.. but pointless.  If I am playing a game.. I don't pause it to surf the net.. or to talk on skype.   To each their own I guess.

 

 

I think your focusing too much on the apps they switched to.  I'm right with you in saying that I wont be using Skype while I'm gaming, but I think the idea itself could be very useful to me in terms of improving my gaming experience. 

 

I'll give you a couple of examples:

 

The Machinima guys will have an app on the X1 at launch that ties into whatever game you are playing and can offer you access to game tips, etc for that game.  The demo they showed had it off to the side and you could pause gameplay to check out a quick video and then pop right back into playing.  In a related idea, I could see myself pulling up IE for say a Gamefaqs guide to reference something.  Being able to quick switch between this stuff makes that possible in a way that was far to inconvenient this gen.

 

The second example I would give relates to music playback.  I find myself wanting to listen to my own music for some games and the idea of being able to switch to say the Xbox music app or snap it to the side in order to switch tracks, pick a new playlist, etc, is a step up from the way its handled on the 360.

 

I just think that with the right app, there are useful scenarios for users that add something to the experience.

 

Overall, the vid did show it was fast and fluid, allowing gameplay to keep running even when using an app. The fact that you can return to the dash without leaving the game is pretty slick, a big step up functionality wise from the 360.

[Superboy]

is it me or are the seconds on the game counter really slow? i looks like every two or three seconds = 1 second in game? or is it lag?

[XorpiZ]

is it me or are the seconds on the game counter really slow? i looks like every two or three seconds = 1 second in game? or is it lag?

 

 

I see the same here. I would suspect, that it's either a bug in the game or a deliberate feature (sorta like how the minutes fly by in a 2x4 min Fifa game).

[The Evil Overlord]

Ok for a PlayStation fan, I have to admit, that was pretty cool, seemed really fluid in transition from game to whatever the user was doing

[George P Global Moderator]

Just having the option to jump from a running game to the dashboard and to do something else and then jump back into the game like I never left is a big, really big, improvement.   Also being able to snap something to the side to help with your game could be interesting.  Like a map with the location of items marked on it in games like Assassins Creed etc, just look to the side to see the map instead of having to make me look at either my phone or my tablet.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Hopefully it fixes my second biggest beef about the dashboard on 360, the fact it's so blurry and low res. When I saw the PlayStation dashboard running at my friends house, my first thought was how crisp and sharp it all was. 

 

No blurring or low res here. Could be to do with what connectors you're using etc.

[firey]

I think your focusing too much on the apps they switched to.  I'm right with you in saying that I wont be using Skype while I'm gaming, but I think the idea itself could be very useful to me in terms of improving my gaming experience. 

 

I'll give you a couple of examples:

 

The Machinima guys will have an app on the X1 at launch that ties into whatever game you are playing and can offer you access to game tips, etc for that game.  The demo they showed had it off to the side and you could pause gameplay to check out a quick video and then pop right back into playing.  In a related idea, I could see myself pulling up IE for say a Gamefaqs guide to reference something.  Being able to quick switch between this stuff makes that possible in a way that was far to inconvenient this gen.

 

The second example I would give relates to music playback.  I find myself wanting to listen to my own music for some games and the idea of being able to switch to say the Xbox music app or snap it to the side in order to switch tracks, pick a new playlist, etc, is a step up from the way its handled on the 360.

 

I just think that with the right app, there are useful scenarios for users that add something to the experience.

 

Overall, the vid did show it was fast and fluid, allowing gameplay to keep running even when using an app. The fact that you can return to the dash without leaving the game is pretty slick, a big step up functionality wise from the 360.

I assume the game would pause.. if not then you would die if in middle of zombie horde.   Also, most games have maps visibile, overlays etc.  As I say it's a cool concept, and works well for what it does, and there may be cases where it is useful.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The speed at which it transitions to the menu is certainly impressive and one of the strengths of consoles over PCs. However, the functionality demonstrated was terrible. There's little point being able to use websites pinned to the side when everything they display is heavily truncated and not even slightly optimised for the display area. Even Bing, which should be optimised for mobile devices and therefore suitable for narrow widths, was virtually unusable - the logo was cut-off, the navigation was small and cut-off, the page required the user to scroll horizontally and vertically to use, etc. Further, the game's aspect ratio wasn't maintained - it was compressed along the horizontal axis, which could have been avoided by implementing a letter box.

 

Very unimpressed.

[BajiRav]

The speed at which it transitions to the menu is certainly impressive and one of the strengths of consoles over PCs. However, the functionality demonstrated was terrible. There's little point being able to use websites pinned to the side when everything they display is heavily truncated and not even slightly optimised for the display area. Even Bing, which should be optimised for mobile devices and therefore suitable for narrow widths, was virtually unusable - the logo was cut-off, the navigation was small and cut-off, the page required the user to scroll horizontally and vertically to use, etc. Further, the game's aspect ratio wasn't maintained - it was compressed along the horizontal axis, which could have been avoided by implementing a letter box.

 

Very unimpressed.

game aspect ratio is up to the dev. They can pause, letterbox or squish game when in snap.

[theyarecomingforyou]

game aspect ratio is up to the dev. They can pause, letterbox or squish game when in snap.

Fair enough, I was just basing my opinion on the video shown. I really dislike it when the aspect ratio is messed with.

[chrisj1968]

Hopefully it fixes my second biggest beef about the dashboard on 360, the fact it's so blurry and low res. When I saw the PlayStation dashboard running at my friends house, my first thought was how crisp and sharp it all was. 

 

you must have a bad 360 but I use my 360 on HDMI at 1080p with clarity on a JVC 42" screen. were you drinking perhaps? things get blurry when one drinks...

[PGHammer]

hmm...looks fast and fluid.. but pointless.  If I am playing a game.. I don't pause it to surf the net.. or to talk on skype.   To each their own I guess.

Are you saying that you have never had a call come in during a game?  Ever?

 

I can't say that - and I don't own a console.

[incendy]

My takeaway from the video is that ie11 really struggles with that site :D

[spudtrooper]

Hopefully it fixes my second biggest beef about the dashboard on 360, the fact it's so blurry and low res. When I saw the PlayStation dashboard running at my friends house, my first thought was how crisp and sharp it all was. 

 

If its blurry and low res, it's your tv probably.  Make sure its not in cinema mode, has the correct resolution and color depth selected.

[firey]

Are you saying that you have never had a call come in during a game?  Ever?

 

I can't say that - and I don't own a console.

I've never had someone call me on skype while playing a game no.