On December 6, Microsoft’s will officially release a new Xbox 360 dashboard update to all Xbox users. We’ve played around with it for a while now and can say that the Xbox has never looked so good.
And it’s all thanks to Metro. What’s Metro? It’s the design language that’s giving Microsoft software a gorgeous sheen. Heavy on typography and flat squares and live tiles and swiping, Metro lives in Xbox, Windows Phone 7 and the upcoming Windows 8. It’s a fresh yet familiar take on UI; Metro looks so good because you already know how to use it even if you’ve never used it before.
What’s New
The looks. The UI. It’s better. It’s Metrofied. And that’s a very good thing. With Metro on Xbox, Microsoft can elegantly pack more content onto one screen. A horizontal menu details the various categories on your Xbox (Games, Video, Music, Apps, etc) with each category getting its own hub organised neatly with independent tiles of content. Games will show tiles for games. And so on. It makes complete sense. You shift over to a tab and you’ll see exactly what you want to see, all in one hub. Metro keeps everything tidy and up front, there isn’t much stuff hidden beyond what’s on your TV screen which means you’re no longer scrolling for days anymore. Even better, there’s a new Quickplay tile on the home screen that can launch recently used apps. So even less scrolls! There are a lot of ads though.
All Kinect Everything
The new Xbox 360 dashboard places a huge emphasis on Kinect. From gestures to voice to design, Kinect has become front and centre in controlling the Xbox. Or I guess, you are now front and centre in controlling the Xbox (without a controller). Just wave your hand and you can swipe screens and access any tile you want without having to jump into the separate Kinect-only screen of yore. Kinect is integrated nearly system-wide now so you can Minority Report your Xbox to your hand’s desire. Very cool.
What’s most impressive about the Kinect controls is how well voice controls are implemented now. You can actually talk to your Xbox and it’ll do things for you. And though the initial startup phrases are inelegant, it’s easily the best way to navigate around the system. You initiate voice control by saying ‘Xbox…’ and then you can say Videos or Games or Apps to navigate to that specific tab. Useful!
Games? What Games? Say Hello to Apps
What’s perhaps the boldest change in the new Xbox software update is something that’s been building for a long time: the Xbox is not all about the games anymore. Seriously, in the hierarchy of categories, Games comes after Social and Video. That’s purposeful. Along with the new software update, there’ll be a ton of great looking, Metro-inspired new ‘apps’ from different content partners too. From ABC iView to ninemsn to Crackle to YouTube and more, you don’t even have to buy one video game to enjoy an Xbox anymore.
For gamers, that may be annoying. For the rest of us, say hello to the pay TV box of the future.
Here’s the full list of content partners:
Dec. 6:
• EPIX. United States
• ESPN on Xbox LIVE. United States
• Hulu. Japan
• Hulu Plus. United States
• LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
• Netflix. Canada, United States
• Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
• Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
• Telefónica España – Movistar Imagenio. Spain
• TODAY (MSNBC). United StatesLater in December:
• 4 on Demand (C4). United Kingdom
• ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Australia
• AlloCiné. France (AlloCiné), Germany (Filmstarts), Spain (Sensacine), United Kingdom (Screenrush)
• Astral Media’s Disney XD (Astral Media). Canada
• blinkbox (Blinkbox). United Kingdom
• Crackle (Sony Pictures). Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
• Dailymotion. Available in 32 countries globally
• Demand 5 (Five). United Kingdom
• DIGI+ (CANAL+). Spain
• GolTV (Mediapro). Spain
• iHeartRadio (Clear Channel). United States
• Mediathek/ZDF (ZDF). Germany
• MSN. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom
• MSNBC.com. United States
• MUZU.TV. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
• ninemsn. Australia
• Real Sports (Maple Leaf Sports). Canada
• Rogers On Demand Online. Canada
• SBS ON DEMAND. Australia
• Syfy. United States
• TMZ. Canada, United States
• TVE (RTVE.es). Spain
• UFC on Xbox LIVE. Canada, United States
• Verizon FiOS TV. United States
• VEVO. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
• Vudu. United States
• YouTube. Available in 24 countries globallyEarly 2012:
• Antena 3 (Antena 3 de Televisión). Spain
• BBC. United Kingdom
• CinemaNow. United States
• HBO GO. United States
• MLB.TV. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
• Telenovelas/Sports. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom
• Xfinity On Demand (Comcast). United States
I stop paying for XBL and they get iView?
Dammit.
PS3 has had iView for ages.
Cool, bro. That's, uh... cool.
Super cool story, bro. 0.o
Do Australians have full voice control with Kinect yet?
From what I heard, that's finally coming in with this Dash update.
It works, however its just a very cool way to navigate features you'll never use.
This thing really needs to integrate with Media Center.
I have never (and never will) use their 'market place' to purchase video's and Music so navigating through your network is still via the controller.
Will this update interfere with a flashed console, not that I have that but just curious.
yes ...or no ...you're asking at the wrong place
Metro. Metro everywhere!
It's such a shame to see they wont give us an option to rearrange the categories. Not that it's a big deal or anything. Just sayin'
Tis a sad day when GAMES come after social and video on a GAMES console. Also annyoing the I bet at least half of these apps will be US only.
Wow.....looks like an Apple site now. Way to go Microsoft. Emulate the competition....as usual.
Metro looks like Apple are you Fn serious?
It looks like WP7 and Win 8 other MS products.
Award for first pointless comment comparing M$ to Crapple goes to........ JAMES!
Way to think about what you write before you press post!
James, do tell us how there is such a glaring resemblance to an 'Apple site'...
I tlooks like a skin available on media browser (and probably other media apps) http://www.mediabrowser.tv/ looks good though.
I wish I could just put my 360 back to the interface I bought it with.
There is not one single element in this lot that I have any use for whatsoever.
But then, I only use my 360 for playing single player games. Nothing else.
It's what I bought it for in the first place. and now it's becoming cluttered up with a whole swag of crap I don't want and never asked for.
I don't loose sleep over it or anything though. I've just got better things to do than sit on my A watching stuff. Not to mention being hammered with yet more advertising for products and services I have zero desire for.
jeez man ... make a sandwich !
By not wasting my time watching all that crap, I CAN make a sandwich.
AND enjoy it. In peace.
it actually reminds me of the Giz look ! (a little bit)
Not having it integrated into your media makes the voice control useless. I can say "xbox music", then "xbox music apps" or whatever which is all good, but after that point it just says "you'll need a controller from this point, ok?"....
Such a lack of real world testing IMO. I'm sure it was tested lots with folks in the US who don't already have large media libraries and who also are happy to pay to have it streamed etc. But testing with the geek population who just might comprise a fair proportion of your demographic...? Not so much.