[ineedcolor]

Wow! In prep for Kinect, MS saw fit to redesign the xbox dashboard.

What does everyone think?

To me, it looks like Windows 3.1 ...a very simplistic design and lots of pastel colors.

It's almost like MS is trying to emulate the Wii...yuck!

 

[rpr]

Meh. I don't spend hardly any time in the dashboard anyway, so for me it's a non-issue. I play two different games, so the only time I see the dashboard is when I switch games.

 

[spun14]

Very boxy.. not a huge fan, liked the last version much better. Guessing from the pics i've seen that the windows 7 phone has a similar boxy interface so must be the direction they're going.

 

[Bdub]

I can't bring my self to love it or hate it.

 

[nospam]

Even though just about everything is in exactly the same place, the new boxy, simplified look feels like the Dashboard has been dumbed down to support the motion based controls of Kinect.

I am not sure why they felt the need to change the way movie and game titles are displayed, because I really liked the perspective based view. Previous Kinect demonstrations showed the device interacting with the old version of the Dashboard just fine, so why change it?

 

[FrostyButters]

I don't mind the new dashboard. I did find the previous dashboard to be a little more dynamic, but the new one seems ok to me.

The main thing I like about the new dashboard is that is that it does feel a little quicker and more responsive.

 

[mark]

I'd like to see an option for a darker colour scheme for the new dashboard, but I agree it does seem faster than the previous one.

Overall I'm happy with it.

 

[the hawk]

To me this dashboard is a step backwards. It's like they dumbed everything down in an effort to make everything look simple for kids. For one, there's too much use of white. I don't like how they simplified all the button icons (B, A, X) All those icons had a nice three dimensional look to them.....now they're all flat looking in dull colours. Same goes for the new boot screen......it looks just like the screen that comes up when you exit playing a movie. The old boot screen looked far better IMO. It may be a new dashboard but lit ooks dated already.

And for the love of all things holy, please bring back the option to tweak colours like we could back in the 1st gen dashboard.

 

[Steve604]

not a fan way to bright in a dark room

 

[Bdub]

Does changing the theme affect the brightness? Can't you change that?

I think there are free themes.

 

[Dioneo]

Maybe my theme is helping me out. The menu windows are whiter, but I have colourful backgrounds at least.

I agree the new boot up screen is pretty dull. Maybe they are freeing up some RAM with the flatter, simpler, look.

 

[spec seven]

I like the new dashboard over the old. Everything seems more muted which suits me. And it might be my imagination but it seems the video rewind works better when streaming Xvid using WMP as my media server.

 

[ClarkNova]

Can exclude games from partental controls.

I like the new feature where you can exclude games from the Parental Controls. My 8 year old son likes to play Trials (Rated Teen - not sure why) which I am OK with him playing - but don't want him playing anything else T or Higher. This way I can exclude that particular game and he isn't prompted for my "passcode" everytime it launches. I like that.

 

[Danster]

It doesn't matter what Microsoft does with their dashboards, it will never please everyone. What they need, if it's even possible to do, is have a basic model to pick and choose and be able to modify it according to your taste.

That way, maybe everyone will have something that they like.

 

[spec seven]

What I'd like to is to get rid of the avatar.

 

[Joxer]

New scheme is garish and ugly compared to the previous, can't see a single area of improvement.

 

[sharpnfuzzy]

I think they should have thought twice about the very light coloured background behind everything. For example, and achievement tiles that are all dark (i.e. Red Dead Redemption) are now just black squares compared to the background.