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Revealed: Xbox 360 User Interface

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

May 20, 2005, 12:46 AM

Xbox 360 User InterfaceBehind closed doors on Thursday, Microsoft demonstrated to BetaNews the user interface on its Xbox 360. The Dashboard, which can be customized using themes, offers access to four main panels: System, Games, Media and Xbox Live.

System contains standard configuration options for the Xbox 360, including linking up with network devices and setting parental controls.

The action starts from the Games panel, which displays the user's GamerCard containing their reputation, Gamerscore and Zone. Gamerscore points can be accumulated by playing Xbox games and downloaded arcade games. The Zone is chosen by the user, depending on their style of gameplay.

The Games panel also offers access to already downloaded content such as demos and trailers, as well as listing played games and accomplishments. The primary focus of the Xbox 360, however, is Xbox Live, which has taken center stage.

Xbox Live serves as the center for connectivity on the Xbox 360. The main screen lists messages and contacts, and a link to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Marketplace is Microsoft's new clearinghouse for selling virtual in-game merchandise, interface themes, and game add-ons such as maps.

Microsoft has not linked its online music store from within the Xbox 360 interface, but has left the option open for future upgrades. The company says it can remotely update the Xbox Live interface as needed.

Eventually, Microsoft plans to offer up gamer profiles and scores to the Web using RSS feeds.

When not gaming, users can load the Media panel to view photo slideshows or listen to music. Content can be stored on PCs networked to the Xbox 360, or viewed directly from a portable player - including Apple's iPod. Microsoft has also developed full screen visualizations that can be manipulated using the Xbox controller.

View the Xbox 360 User Interface Slideshow

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Score: 0

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Score: 0

By zenaphex

posted May 21, 2005 - 7:08 PM

Very clean and professional looking user interface. It looks usable but I can't really judge that until I personally use it. Props to the designers.

Score: 0

By Couscous

posted May 21, 2005 - 5:48 AM

Official Xbox Magazine is going to need to really amp up the content on their demo dics from what I can gather. To this point the Demos and Trailers were their biggest selling point. Now all of those things can be downloaded from the new interface. This is good for us subcribers though because they may start offering more premium content for free on the demo dics. Kind of like that Full Spectrum Warrior update from a couple of months ago.

Score: 0

By mcbazza

posted May 20, 2005 - 2:36 PM

Heh-heh.
I already have some of those proposed features (music/video streaming, visualisations) on my xbox thanks to EvoX replacement dashboard!
All running at 1080, too.

Score: 0

By Altman

posted May 20, 2005 - 1:47 PM

This looks really cool. I currently have a PS2 and this looks almost convincing to go with the new Xbox over the PS3. My issues are though, it said that a silver subscription is available for free for Xbox live. One issue I have is currently you have to pay to do online gaming for Xbox. All these monthly bills add up, Internet, plus cable, plus Xbox Live etc. That's why I liked PS2. What will the silver membership bring? Also one other issue I noticed in the screenshots was it said "The Media panel of the Xbox 360 Dashboard offers access to music, photos, as well as content stored on a networked Windows Media Center PC." Does this mean it MUST be a media center edition or will XP pro or home work. I would like it to currently interface with what I have and not have to buy a media center PC.

Score: 0

By JustDanMI

edited May 22, 2005 - 5:29 PM

As far as the monthly bills adding up goes, if the new subcription is anything like the current, it's a mere 50 bucks a year. My god, that's less than 5 bucks a month. I think that's a hell of a deal personally

Score: 0

By Altman

posted May 23, 2005 - 2:13 PM

Sony offers online gaming for free, I think that is a hell of a better deal.

Score: 0

By NumBa1Stunna516

edited May 20, 2005 - 2:26 PM

1) Yes it will offer a free subscription for Xbox Live. But there are restrictions such as no video chat.

2) Looks like you need the Media Center PC to watch TV etc. But if you want to spend $131 USD you can get the Media Center upgrade.

There ARE restrictions BUT Xbox Live has been running for about 4 years which means its reliable, and they know how to run it as opposed to Sony, who will be brand new to the Online gaming with voice etc. Sony may be able to make a better console with bigger configurations but what it comes down to is who can provide the most entertainment for you and there is a clear cut answer to that.

Score: 0

By endersgame

edited May 23, 2005 - 12:21 PM

You said:
Xbox Live has been running for about 4 years which means its reliable, and they know how to run it as opposed to Sony, who will be brand new to the Online gaming

I reply:

Yes, Sony has never run any sort of online game ever. I mean, SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) dosen't host three of the largest MMOGs ever (Everquest I and II, and Star Wars the MMOG.) They don't have almost a dozen online multiplayer games (the 3 MMOGs already mentioned, Cosmic Rift, Tanarus, Infantry, etc.)

I'd never trust Sony to provide a reliable online experience, beause Sony's software is like swiss cheese when it comes to it's security against viruses, trojan horses, adware, worms, and phishing attacks. Oh, excuse me, I meant to say MICROSOFTs software.

When it comes down to "who can provide the most entertainment for you" the clear cut answer is MICROSOFT (assuming you're one of the people who are writing worms, adware, etc.)

Score: 0

By athome

posted May 20, 2005 - 1:35 PM

With the integration with all the online games that can be played, shouldn't we be concerned about adware/viruses? I sure hope they have thought this through, but it does look sweet.

Score: 0

By frankthetankwsu

edited May 20, 2005 - 2:54 PM

That doesn't make any damn sense. The only way the xbox 360 could get a virus was if someone wrote a specific virus for the xbox, which is a threat regardless of if the system links up or not.

You will not need a media center edition PC to stream MP3s, Videos, and Pictures from your windows PC, only for Media Center Content (Recorded live tv for example). The other content will operate like a standard network share. You will browse the network for the PC, and will be able to access files in its shared folders. You will simply have to share the folders on your PC (and enable network file sharing if you haven't allready) with the content you want to play on the xbox. You can see examples of how this will work if you have a modded xbox and have ever used Xbox media center.

Score: 0

By cbruscato

edited May 24, 2005 - 7:21 PM

Niave, xbox has hardware locks that prevent homebrew code from running, no one to date has ever written an xbox virus, and even if they did it could only infect a system that has a modchip - since ANY software running on xbox has to be digitally signed by microsoft to run. The funny thing is, ps2 didnt have hardware locks, thats why ps2 can just use bootloader cds, and doesnt neccesarily need a modchip. Of course they reevaluated the idea, and put serious hardware locks on ps3, the sort that no one even knows about yet.

Score: 0

By Murphy71984

edited May 20, 2005 - 11:14 AM

Nice!

Score: 0

By dreamchaser

posted May 20, 2005 - 1:03 AM

Thanks for the screenshot !!

Score: 0

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