Be Excellent To Each Other

The old one as in this....



It was easier for me to navigate through than this crappy newer one with the flip boxes and the different boot-up sequence. I really hope Microsoft at least gave you an option to switch back to the old interface and bootup sequence if they won't let you downgrade the dashboard itself. As the 360 is not a constant-use machine for me I felt no need to update and use Live or anything like that.

I only went and installed the update included on Dance Central because the mother was badgering at me to get it done and so desperately wanted to play that game. Even though where we've set it up atm there's barely any room to, you know, move.

In a foul mood now as I feel like considering the console "damaged goods" and/or passing ownership onto my mother, since it was she who bought the Kinect and wanted to use it in the first place.

Grrrrrr.

That interface went two years ago. If you're looking for an option to switch back, I'd start whistling

If you press the guide button on the controller you get a sort of mini version that lets you do most things. I'd try to not let it upset you as much as it is doing, though. Especially seeing as you never use the thing anyway.

The blades interface was changed long before Kinect was even in development. The Kinect dashboard is the one you get to when you wave at your xbox, the standard dashboard you don't like has been about for ages

What was wrong with it exactly? Why force people to re-adapt to new interfaces? Why not give them an option to at least switch interfaces while keeping the dashboard revision the same? I hate sudden change, I always have.

When Dance Central asked to be able to update my console I was only expecting a tiny update that, you know, didn't radically change *everything* about the console. Pissed off with myself, my mum and Microsoft. I don't feel like even touching the thing with a barge pole now. Wankers.


I didn't update the console since getting it in Christmas 2008 as I only had a small selection of games for it, none of which were recent enough to demand an update.

That's what I use most of the time. I was a little annoyed by them moving Quick Launch to another menu in the last update, meaning it took more button presses to access, but it's a minor moan. It does seem to take longer to sign into Live with each update though.

FFS, no other console - past and present - forced a totally different interface on you and brushed off its userbase with "Deal with it, innit".

At least when Sony changed the XMB slightly on the PSP they provided an option for users to switch back to the old style. I'd presume it's the same with a PS3 also.


So basically I've lost the Blades forever and ever now, haven't I? Even more reason to disown the fucking hunk of junk.

The games are pretty good though, apart from all the Kinect shite.

I can't answer that, as I bought my Xbox a very short while before the new interface was rolled out so didn't get chance to see the real differences, bar the obvious extreme visual change. I'm sure somebody else can remember it properly and give a proper opinion.

The 'blades' interface was great. I particularly miss being able to scroll down my XBLA games and seeing the leaderboards on them.

I loved going through them when I wasn't sure what to play and trying to up my scores. Now it's a case of waiting for the list to load up and then having to go into each game, which takes a lot longer.

I think we did this:

viewtopic.php?style=5&f=3&t=6453


In Summary:
Stage one (Denial) Urgh, WE FEAR CHANGE
Stage two (acceptance) Meh, it's not so bad after all. And who cares.

You're still on phase one. Give it a day.

It's a dashboard. You use it to launch stuff. The 'stuff' is the important part.

No.

Also

Ah, memories.

Didn't they get rid of the blades thing because it was essentially a closed shop? They couldn't cram anything else into there (without, like, adding more blades), so they went for a redesign to make navigating the massive XBLA library easier and stuff.

Would be lovely though if Microsoft appealed to users who dislike NXE/Kinect by providing a full option to switch the whole interface back to Blades.

The point being? You saying "new interface" is required to do anything with a 360 other than boot it up? =P

They only ever change it when they have a financial incentive to do so.

They changed to the NXE ages ago so they could push xbox marketplace stuff at you more, and promote avatars (which in turn earn them money when people (idiots?) buy tat for them).

They changed it to the new one to push Kinect.

If you don't like it, you have two choices:
Sell your 360.
Put up with it.

I opt for the second choice, and grumble about it occasionally.

(Very cool people)

A company that really understood their users would provide a fully-customizable GUI - one that allowed you to choose your boot animation, interface style etc (possibly even download pre-customised ones off the web as, say, game promotions et al), all without forcing anything on you.

They never pulled this shit off with the original Xbox, if I recall correctly.

I can't believe you've managed two years without upgrading to the new dash. How is that possible? Also, the new dash is fine.

Albeit, fine with some unexpected laser eye surgery. Although I don't seem to notice that anymore.

Well yeah, but we all got free Ultralase appointments for upgrading two years ago. I think that offer has expired now though.

That means they'd have to support both, though. And if you're going to do something like this, you're best doing it with some conviction instead of giving people yet more options in-case they don't like it.

I would wager that they know what they are doing, and that the majority of their customers don't care enough to spend less money on their products, and the increased money they make from the changes in the dashboard more than offset anyone spending less money on their products because of the changes.

I liked the NXE in general. I have a few relatively minor complaints about it, and wish it took me straight to the option to play a game, rather than tell me "what's new".

The Kinect remix of the NXE is less attractive than the old one, and slower. This is also a minor annoyance.

If you want to be able to fiddle with your stuff, you'll be wanting a PC, not a console.

Still, Sony are true pioneers in reducing functionality of your console, at least Microsoft aren't removing features that were advertised on the box of the console.

You're saying it's not possible for a human being to resist all updates out of concern over the possibility of an update trashing something you liked or disabling some functionality along the way? Fans of homebrew are often (if not always) advised not to just blindly charge on and update straight away.

(Yes, I know Sony is king when it comes to disabling functionality after functionality but then I don't have a PS3, so never had to be affected by it.)

Anyone ditching a console because the interface (which is mostly online stuff that you're not using) has slightly changed is, well, a bit special.

"No other console - past and present - had the ability to dynamically upgrade its UI, adding new functionality and navigation experience!"

Eye of the beholder, innit. You're beholding it wrong.*



*(c) Steve Jobs 2010.

If I don't go with the idea of ditching, I may just try and hunt down a 'brand-new' Elite on eBay and pay whatever money for it. Meaning I get 'my' 360 back, and the other one can be free to fuck itself up with dashboard update after dashboard update.

Ah, is your Xboxen hacked?

LLOL

The point was that you should probably spend less time looking at it & more time playing it

2.

in 6 years

Just because your new idea of a GUI improves functionaly and navigation, doesn't mean you can just go ahead with the belief that everyone will unanimously accept it without a single complaint, and force it upon them. People have opinions, believe it or not. It's like the equivalent of, say, ITV choosing one year to fill the Autumn schedules with wall-to-wall X-Factor 24/7, because of the personal belief that "it's what our audience want!".

800M$P to buy back the old dashboard would be an option maybe?

I'd happily lose the avatars.

No, but installing every update that comes along probably won't help make that a likelihood in the future.

Well, no, but two years? As someone who uses the Xbox for online gaming (one of its best features), two years without updating is impossible.

Actually, you can. And if you've done a good job of estimating that more people will be pleased than narked, you can pat yourself on the back and call it a job well done.

Except in my case it isn't "slightly changed", it's "threw out the interface you liked because we and everyone else thought it was naff and since when did your opinion ever matter, citizen?".

The old interface is still there. Press the guide button.

I'm still of the belief that any radical GUI overhauls should be optional, not mandatory. Do you honestly believe everyone immediately updates their Facebook profiles to every new interface that comes along? I certainly don't.


The way to win everyone over is to say "look, we designed this new interface that we feel would work a lot better for you, but as we can tell that not everyone will be chuffed with it, we'll implement an option for you to switch between the styles whenever you like".

You're under the mistaken assumption that they want to win everyone over. And also the mistaken assumption that building functionality into multiple different legacy UI builds is anything other than an invite to bug proliferation and rising costs.

i hate that it tries to sell me stuff, for the rest it's far better then the blades thing, and ofcourse supporting the old version is the last thing they'll do.. it got worse with the last update though...

I much preferred the Blades to the current dashboard , and I think if you came here and complained about it when it happened you would have a lot more "yeah" , "me too" type posts.

Virtually everyone else has updated and got used to the new one.

Word of warning for buying an old console is that the upgrade has been around since 2008



So I doubt you'll find any in the shops with the blades , and most 2nd hand ones are going to be running at least NXE - unless you find someone like you who has avoided the updates.

If it's old enough to still have blades, it'll probably glow red hot and explode as soon as you turn it on.

I must say, I also do rather miss the blades UI. Not quite as much as MarzSyndrome here, but there you go.

I could point out that Sony have made several fairly large upgrades to the PS3 dashboard without at any point totally changing the whole UI - but then they've still managed to make the XMB flash up with new shit for you to buy at boot just like Microsoft have done with NXE/Kinect.

What happens if you turn an older Xbox 360 on without an HDD or memory card inserted? Does it go back to the blades UI then? I was under the impression that NXE only worked if you had some kind of storage system installed, but then I could very well be getting my wires completely crossed.

In other news, I notice that they have changed the writing on the cups in McDonalds, again.

BOYCOTT

Yeah, saw that on Wikipedia. Yet my 360 was bought and given to me as a Chrimbo pressie in 2008, so in a way I'm surprised it still had the Blades interface, and even more fucking saddened that I went and updated the thing under pressure from an irate parent who couldn't think of anything else but strut her stuff to bloody Rihanna (with the limited room space we have).

Piss poor comparison to make there. Better one would be if some youngster updated their (let's say) handheld Disney entertainment device and it changed the kid-friendly green interface into a more complicated red one that hid half the useful options in some dark corner elsewhere, and changed the wallpaper from old-school, vintage Mickey to this.

Me too.

How on earth could you not update the thing for *two years*? Doesn't it badger you every time you start it up?

Also if you're sharing an xbox with your mum, perhaps the answer, like, presents itself.

Your mum presents herself.