Xbox 360 New Interface and Avatars

It seems like a fair time to revisit my previous post about the Xbox 360 digital facelift.

I started off by lamenting the work-in-progress nature of console interfaces these days.  Well generally the new Apple-style interface does seem an improvement over the very confusing ‘blades’ system, and the upgrade process was pleasantly fast and effortless.  Could they have fixed their previous interface without totally redesigning it?  I would say yes, but this isn’t so much about redesign…  

It’s immediately evident that the real objective for Microsoft is about introducing their avatars and opening up their marketing/sales opportunities for downloadable content. Most notably, while there are some usability improvements here, the amount of ads and sales channels are borderline irritating and introduce needless steps between turning on the console and playing a game.

Referring again to my previous post, I was concerned that Cover Flow wouldn’t work for the complexity of the menu options. I think I was half right there.  In addition to left-right navigation of the current menu, which is very pleasant and fits very well, they’ve added an up-down channel selection carousel which is rather less successful.  It’s definitely visually pleasing but I often find myself lost.

Comparing the avatars to the Miis on the Nintendo Wii, I’d say they made some mistakes:

Flexibility – Wii avatars allow for detailed customization (eg, choose exactly how far apart your eyebrows are) whereas the Xbox avatars are quite limited in their flexibility (I doubt we’ll see caricatures of famous people on Xbox)

Optional – Wii avatars are an option in many games and are found under a sub-section of the main menu, whereas Xbox avatars are forced upon you and shown front-and-centre whenever you start the console

Style – Although the Wii avatars have a cartoony cuteness about them, their high level of  simplification allows for a wide range of character styles to be made, whereas the Xbox avatars are firmly set in a cute, family-friendly style

Ulterior motive – there’s no doubt that the Xbox avatars are part of a plan to introduce monetized content (ie, pay for clothing upgrades)

Overall, I’ve no doubt that the target audience they are now aiming at will lap this up. The monetization and downloadable content features are also very impressive, if a little too geared towards Microsoft’s interests than the customer’s enjoyment.  One of the biggest factors in brand affinity is simply the question ‘is it me?’ and while they’ve given a new consumer segment good reasons to say Yes, I suspect there’s a large number of people from the established base who are a little doubtful in their answer now.

PS – I’ll save the usability horrors of the PS3 interface for another day – just so you know I’m not only about Microsoft-bashing

Filed under: 3D, folly, presentation, style, trends, user interface, user-centred , avatars, downloadable content, microsoft, miis, monetization, ui, usability, user experience, user interface, wii, xbox 360

I love-hate MSNBC’s new visual newsreader

I’ve just played with MSNBC’s new ‘visual newsreader’, which they have named Spectra.  

I love…

• simplicity and elegance of the design – it’s one visual concept, uncluttered by controls and embellishments – which I’m a big fan of
• gorgeous use of colour reminiscent of Adobe’s new product branding – adding the slight gradient to each colour block makes it vibrant and delectable
• the third dimension – perhaps inspired by Apple’s forays into 3D like Coverflow (although why couldn’t they have put more 3D in the Apple TV interface?) – adds a delightful sense of depth in a natural, instinctive way

I hate…

• The inappropriateness of this as a news reading device!  I scan through probably 50 to 100 news stories on my feeds each day, which I could never do with this
• I chose ‘order by time’ but I can’t tell how the order is represented
• Clicking on an item before it flies by can be pretty challenging
• When I pick an item it flips over as it comes to the foreground – so shouldn’t it now be upside down or back to front?  
• Even though it’s 3D I can’t zoom in or rearrange it – which I would like to as half the stories are off the top of the page

The mere fact that they’ve built this is very exciting, and I see on Organic’s blog that it was made with Papervision, which is a very neat extension of Flash that I’ve been watching for a while.  This is definitely one of the most interesting projects built on PaperVision but it saddens me that they were so carried away with the high concept that they couldn’t keep it practical too. 

P.S. For this topic I’ve created a new category – Folly – in the architectural sense 

 

Filed under: creative delivery, folly, style , 3D, adobe, apple, apple tv, coverflow, folly, msnbc, newsreader, papervision, rss, spectra, usability