What’s that you say? A new dashboard? For me? *swoon*
Over the next several days, I’ll be posting some observations I’ve made after poring over a couple of videos that have been released regarding the NXE (the New Xbox Experience, which I believe is the nom de plum of the new dashboard, out this fall):
As appropriate, I’ll highlight some of the marketing department-worthy features such as Avatars, Netflix support and so on, but the purpose of these articles is to identify what the experience will be like when compared to the current state of the dashboard. Mind you, most of this will be conjecture based on logical assumptions (read: all of this is subject to change), but it’s still fun to do some detective work on the screenshots and videos that have been released.
To start off, let’s review what the options will be within the NXE. A couple of things to note, though. First off, if you see a “???”, that means it was not legible in the screenshot/video. If something is in italics, it means it is a very specific piece of content that will more than likely cycle over time based on the day and the user’s content.
Inside Xbox
Inside Xbox (Current Edition)
Insider Moves
???
Major’s Minute
???
Video
More Video
Netflix
Harold & Kumar
Jericho
???
Community
List of friends
Game
Games
“Featured Title”
“Featured Title”
“Featured Title”
New in Arcade
???
Primetime
1 vs. 100: LIVE
Video Game Trivia
Primetime Guide
Sports Legends
1 vs 100
???
Spotlight
Inside Xbox (Current Edition)
“Play Uno Rush”
Netflix
Jericho (TV show)
Too Human
My Xbox 360
Disc in Tray
Gamercard
Games Library
Music Library
Video Library
Photo Library
Windows Media Center
System Settings
As the post title implies, my first review will be on the “home screen” when the Xbox is turned on. Here is a screenshot of the My Xbox 360 option.
What we know:
- There is a PS3-style slide at the top of the of the deck; this will let you launch the game in your tray immediately, even if you have your console set to launch to the NXE.
- Your new gamercard is next up, but seems to replace your 5-star reputation with the arguably more important recap of the last few achievements you’ve received. Oh, and your Avatar’s there too.
- Next is your game library. As you can see in the screenshot above, you will start at a Recent Games subtile, and a Collections subtile will bring you to the other normal groupings we’ve become accustomed to in the current dashboard, only now in one list.
- The Music Library, Video Library, and Photo Library are next. I’m very happy to see these moved to closer to the top of the NXE, since Microsoft is positioning the Xbox 360 as a digital entertainment device (not just a gaming device) for the living room.
- The ability to use the Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender is also still available. This is a great additional benefit of the 360, and I’m glad to see that it was not lost when creating the NXE.
- Finally, the System Settings tab. This looks almost completely unchanged, but again could have changes by the time it launches.
What we don’t know:
- Will the main slide have a similar running animation to the small videos that run in the PS3 games list?
- Will the Games, Music, Video and Photo Library slides be dynamic? I’m sure it will be pretty easy for the games to display their respective “art” in the Games slide, but what about the album art on the music and video slides? Are they from recently accessed content? And are those photos also recently viewed photos? And if all of the above are true, will it also work with networked content *fingers crossed* ?
There you have it, a quick look at the My Xbox 360 option. Anything I’ve missed? Any other questions you’d like to see answered?
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