Just downloaded the new dashboard... not impressed

[JamesD]

First of all, the download failed over and over.

Then XBOX Live is down.

And to be honest, I don't care for the new interface at all.

It's kinda like the blades but without blades and more awkward.

[JamesD]

I do like the option of the cloud storage for game saves though.

<edit>

Oh... it requires a Gold subscription. Understandable.

But what happens to your "cloud" profile if you go back to silver?

Edited December 7, 2011 by JamesD

[Austin]

Haven't downloaded it yet, but from what I can tell in screens, it looks better than before to me. Never was a fan of that last update and preferred the old "blades" inferface over it.

[JamesD]

You'll still prefer the old blades interface over this one.

[JamesD]

If I owned Kinnect I would probably prefer this one over the last one.

[HammR25]

Yeah, it's pretty annoying since I don't have Kinect. I'm sure I'll get used to it though like I did the last one.

[onlysublime]

I've been using the dash for over a month (in the beta dashboard program). Once you get over the learning curve, everything is faster in the new dash. There's less nesting and more shortcuts to all the places. Unfortunately, some of the shortcuts require Kinect. But even if you don't have Kinect, you should be able to do anything faster than before. But yeah, it took me awhile to figure everything out.

[Austin]

Once you get over the learning curve, everything is faster in the new dash. There's less nesting and more shortcuts to all the places.

 

Having not even used it yet, that's what I can tell just by looking at the screens. There are a lot more options on the screen, it seems, and it looks like there will be a lot less sifting around needlessly now.

 

**edit (an hour later): I went ahead and grabbed it. Overall, it's quicker to get to most of the basic things IMO. The marketplace itself seems to be more cluttered than before though, if you'd believe that, haha. It also looks like they are listing things in the marketplace that aren't yet out. For instance, Sonic CD in the arcade section is listed, but with no option to buy it (usually it just appears on Wednesday morning).

Edited December 7, 2011 by Austin

[onlysublime]

the advantage of the new games marketplace is there's actually room for text so you're not having like 5 characters for some dlc item

[HammR25]

The only thing that truly irritates me is all the advertisements.

[Metal Ghost]

I agree about the advertisements, but NXE dashboard had advertisements too. IMO because of the tile layouts, at least now I do not have to scroll by (and therefore on) the ads, but instead can avoid them altogether.

 

As onlysublime mentioned, I've been using the new dash for a while now. I, personally, find it a big step forward from the NXE dash.

 

I do have Kinect, but I do not typically use it (though I'm trying to use voice more often now). I had issues before I started realzing that I should be using the bumper buttons to quickly access the various dash sections. Once I started instinctually doing that, as opposed to trying to scroll across each section and therefore all the stuff within each section, the improvement this dash update represents really jumped out at me.

 

I still feel silly speaking commands with my wife in the next room, but as I get over that, then yes, the Kinect voice features represnt an even further refinement. But I personally don't think you have to have Kinect to enjoy that.

 

My biggest suggestion to everyone: use the bumpers!

[Ghost Soldier]

Very unimpressed with the new dash. I prefer the old layout over the new interface. It feels thrown together and certain things feel like a afterthought. I'd like to see more of the screen used for the preview windows/ads/buttons. Instead everyting is tiny and different sizes. The new sounds when your flipping thru menus is annoying. The Neflix layout is unappealing. It truly is ugly and I dislike how it automactically starts playing when you click on something. What if I don't want to watch that episode but scroll thru them before I make a choice. Instead it starts playing the next episode and I'm stuck listening to it in the background while I look at others. I'm sure there are other things I'll like/dislike but my initial opinions are negative on the update.

 

On a side note I'd like to purchase Sonic CD but MS doesn't want my money right now.

Edited December 7, 2011 by Ghost Soldier

[Skarrj]

Wishes blades were back, Ive hated everything since.

[Metal Ghost]

I agree with Ghost Soldier regarding Netflix....I checked it out last night and was surprised that you clicked right into the episode instead of into the little info window, as before. However the new Netflix interface was designed by them, not Microsoft.

[Metal Jesus]

I often go over to a buddies house to play Rock Band 3, and having the ability to easily use my own Profile at his house will be very cool!

 

I'm also looking forward to watching my YouTube subscriptions on my HDTV in a few weeks.

 

...and if you are subscribed to my MetalJesusRocks channel, you will too!

[onlysublime]

My biggest suggestion to everyone: use the bumpers!

 

no kidding. my friend was griping about how slow it was to move around via the thumbstick but I told him to use the bumpers and he felt sheepish afterward.

 

and then he'd rattle off one gripe after another and then I told him how it's supposed to be done in the new dash. and then he was starting to feel comfortable after he knew how to do things.

 

you really do have to let go of old habits to embrace how it's done now. it's just the anxiety of totally changing everything. the only familiar thing is the guide menu and that even has some changes. People talk about how the old blades dashboard was intuitive to them. But that's because they were used to it. I didn't get a 360 until 2009 when the blades dashboard was gone. Before that, I had played at my friends' places and at the store and the blade design confused me. I'd just tell my friend to just load the damn game. It's not intuitive at all but people got used to its design.

[moycon]

I like it. The download did time out for me a few times. I tried again after an hour or two and it worked fine. Something about millions of people trying to access content networks don't like. Go figure.

 

My initial reaction was "change BAD" just like most people. Ever been on Facebook after they make a change? 80% of posts are bitching (it was great as was, why did you change? put it back. ) which all goes away in a few days after people get used to it then the next chage they say the same thing. (it was great as was, why did you change? put it back.) Luckily MS rarely changes the interface so you don't see much complaining.

 

Like anything, you have to explore and get used to the interface, I think this one is far supeior to the last change. Having fun playing around with it, I suspect it'll be even better when I get Kinect set up. I managed to snag one of the $149.99 Kinect bundles off Amazon over Black Friday. SWEET!!! Although admittedly I have little interest in Kinect save using it to browse Netflix.

 

I'm really digging the cloud saves, but honestly probably won't use it much. Most of my gaming is done at home. Might come in handy when away on trips, obviously the biggest drawback is you need to be online to access. Not always possible. I'll probably just stick to USB drives.

[onlysublime]

Like anything, you have to explore and get used to the interface, I think this one is far supeior to the last change. Having fun playing around with it, I suspect it'll be even better when I get Kinect set up. I managed to snag one of the $149.99 Kinect bundles off Amazon over Black Friday. SWEET!!! Although admittedly I have little interest in Kinect save using it to browse Netflix.

 

I'm really digging the cloud saves, but honestly probably won't use it much. Most of my gaming is done at home. Might come in handy when away on trips, obviously the biggest drawback is you need to be online to access. Not always possible. I'll probably just stick to USB drives.

 

where cloud saves are truly useful is if you have multiple consoles. Now I can play Rocksmith and not worry about keeping my progress in sync between the two consoles. For my must-always-have-access, I'd probably keep the save on the hard drive or on a flash drive in case I didn't have Internet access. But for something like Rocksmith or anything with a long career mode, I think I'll migrate it to the cloud. Or do as my friend suggested (which I haven't tried) which is have 2 copies of the game save (one on the hard drive and one in the cloud). in that case, you'd have to do the manual syncing.

 

As for Kinect, just wait. You'll be impressed. And in Netflix, maneuver around the video with your hand. It's a godsend. Gone are the days of scanning like a DVD at 10x, 20x, etc. Just grab the slider and drop on the exact movie frame you want.

 

the thing is to be creative to find new techniques with the new dash. like I never thought of using the bing search to go immediately to one of my XBLA games.

[moycon]

where cloud saves are truly useful is if you have multiple consoles. .

 

I currently have multiple Xbox 360s (too many) and unless it keeps your Gamertag profile in the cloud somehow I still don't see how it's very useful in that case since you would have to have a Memory card or USB drive with your profile on it anyways. In the past what I did was keep games I was currently playing, arcade game saves and all my music game (Lips, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, etc...) on the memory card along with my gamertag profile because a person with multiple consoles can't keep their gamertag local without recovering it every time they move to a different unit. If I have to swap memory cards anyways, why do I care if my save is on the cloud or the memory card? Now if a person could save the gamertag to the cloud, along with the saves, that might be a different story, but if you are able to do that, and you don't have a copy of the profile local, what do you do if there is no internet access? Your game saves are tied to your profile. Without being able to log into it, any saves you have on the HDD are useless I'd think. No?

 

We recently ordered a new 50" 3DTV and I think I'm going to wait for that to be delived to hook up my Kinect, but I am looking forward to it for sure. I should be well aquanted with the new dash by then I hope.

[Reaperman]

I haven't downloaded it yet, but I have looked at some youtube clips of it. As a new 360 user who never really got used to the last one, this dashboard is organized in a way that makes a lot more sense to me.

[onlysublime]

where cloud saves are truly useful is if you have multiple consoles. .

Your game saves are tied to your profile. Without being able to log into it, any saves you have on the HDD are useless I'd think. No?

 

That's not true at all. The game saves are independent of the gamertag profile. In the old days with hard drive saves, when I switched between the systems, I had to keep redoing things that were done on the other console. The achievements are tied to your profile. But not your game saves.

 

And you can still be "logged" into your account when you're offline. When I boot my 360, it defaults to my profile even if I'm not online. You'll notice this when you have a network connection problem and have to run the test connection option. It'll say "signing out", then it'll run the test to try to diagnose your login problem.

 

So when you're "logged" in, with no Internet connection, you play your game, get your achievements, etc. Then when you can actually connect to Xbox Live, it'll upload everything you did achievement-wise to XBL.

 

As for your gamertag in the cloud, it already is! And your gamertag is not part of your cloud game saves storage so you don't have to worry about your gamertag taking up space (my gamertag is 17 MB). No more having to do recover gamertag. If you have multiple systems, you do have to download your gamertag once to each of your systems. But after that, it's merely signing into your account to switch back and forth. And you can have it save your email/password so you don't have to retype it each time. And they hid the characters so someone playing on your 360 can't choose your profile and copy your email/password.

[Metal Ghost]

where cloud saves are truly useful is if you have multiple consoles. .

 

I currently have multiple Xbox 360s (too many) and unless it keeps your Gamertag profile in the cloud somehow I still don't see how it's very useful in that case since you would have to have a Memory card or USB drive with your profile on it anyways. In the past what I did was keep games I was currently playing, arcade game saves and all my music game (Lips, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, etc...) on the memory card along with my gamertag profile because a person with multiple consoles can't keep their gamertag local without recovering it every time they move to a different unit. If I have to swap memory cards anyways, why do I care if my save is on the cloud or the memory card? Now if a person could save the gamertag to the cloud, along with the saves, that might be a different story, but if you are able to do that, and you don't have a copy of the profile local, what do you do if there is no internet access? Your game saves are tied to your profile. Without being able to log into it, any saves you have on the HDD are useless I'd think. No?

 

We recently ordered a new 50" 3DTV and I think I'm going to wait for that to be delived to hook up my Kinect, but I am looking forward to it for sure. I should be well aquanted with the new dash by then I hope.

 

You don't have a cloud profile, as opposed to the saves, which are in the cloud. What you can actually do now, however, is save a working profile on as many consoles as you want. Before you could just move your profile from one console to another, or if you recovered a profile on one console it was deactivated on the other console. How it's controlled is that you can only have your profile signed in on-line for one console at a time.

 

If your internet goes down, you can still use your profile to play games, and then they would sync when access was restored.

 

As far as Bing search is concerned, I love the search funcationality when using a chatpad or on-screen keyboard, and I love voice commands when using it to say commands that are actually appearing on screen, but since go-live last night I've had VERY poor experience with full Bing Voice Command Search functionality. So for example, if I go <XBOX>, <SEARCH>, <CATAN> I end up either getting all sorts of other search queries, or else it doesn't register and times out. I've tried searching using just voice for multiple queries and it just hasn't worked well for me. BTW, I have no accent to speak of and spoke loud and clear in a quiet room, tuned the Kinect, etc.

 

But that's the only thing I don't like so far, and it's really not that I don't like the idea, just hasn't worked well for me

[onlysublime]

As far as Bing search is concerned, I love the search funcationality when using a chatpad or on-screen keyboard, and I love voice commands when using it to say commands that are actually appearing on screen, but since go-live last night I've had VERY poor experience with full Bing Voice Command Search functionality. So for example, if I go <XBOX>, <SEARCH>, <CATAN> I end up either getting all sorts of other search queries, or else it doesn't register and times out. I've tried searching using just voice for multiple queries and it just hasn't worked well for me. BTW, I have no accent to speak of and spoke loud and clear in a quiet room, tuned the Kinect, etc.

 

But that's the only thing I don't like so far, and it's really not that I don't like the idea, just hasn't worked well for me

 

I'm pretty sure the voice recognition for bing search has to be done in the cloud by lots of servers. otherwise, it's friggin amazing. I've used speech recognition for a long time (with Windows and with Dragon Naturallyspeaking). For those that haven't, you had to build a database and a profile based on your own voice. which meant you had to do things like read paragraphs so that the system could figure out how you say things. it was time consuming and for words that weren't in its dictionary, you had to add the word to the dictionary. So I could set up Dragon Naturallyspeaking to work perfectly for my voice but for my brother to say something, it wouldn't recognize it no matter how much he tried to say it like I say it.

 

but Kinect is much more flexible than that. there's no training. there are no profiles. I still can't get how they do that. so I figure it has to grab a sound clip from your voice, pass it to the internet, process it and then spit back the response. but then again, it's really fast so I have no idea how it's done.

[onlysublime]

 

We recently ordered a new 50" 3DTV and I think I'm going to wait for that to be delived to hook up my Kinect, but I am looking forward to it for sure. I should be well aquanted with the new dash by then I hope.

 

 

here are some tips I found from personal experience. I've had a rock solid experience with the voice commands even when volume of the TV or sound system was high.

 

1) if you can have the speakers away from the kinect, of course, you'll get a better result

2) the kinect mics are underneath the body of the Kinect so if you have the Kinect at eye level or higher, results tend to be better. when I set it low (like below the TV), I had to bark more often. but more often than not, I speak at a normal voice level and can even approach soft, near-whisper level with the Kinect above my TV (Kinect is about 6.5' above the floor).

3) make sure you run the audio and kinect mic calibration at the sound level that you play your audio. this is to create a noise cancellation profile based on your volume. if you're running the calibration test with audio at 15 but you play games or play ESPN at volume 30, you'll have more problems than you should

 

all these tips are from personal experience so maybe they're not correct. but I follow these tips and I have no problems with the Kinect recognizing me. The only time I have problems is with sporting events and when that happens, the only thing I can do is lower the volume so that the Kinect can hear me better. But the most important thing is to raise the volume of the TV or stereo to the correct level when calibrating.

 

the big advantage of voice commands is not to eliminate the controller (though that is a benefit). it's to get to things faster. like the Forza 4 producer said, with a Kinect, you can go straight to what you want. you don't have to go through nested screens by scrolling and hitting "A", scroll, hit "A", or press "A", "A", "A", etc. to pass through screens.

 

You'll want the Kinect placed high anyway because the gaming performance will be better.

 

because what happens is the Kinect needs to see the floor and it needs to see the farthest part of you (seeing your fingertips when you raise your arms above your head). So when the kinect is placed high, it's looking downward so it's easier to see the floor and you. But if you put the Kinect below the TV (and the kinect's view is like a cone), to see both the floor and your whole body, you basically have to step further back. So you can probably trim a foot or so off your distance from the Kinect.

 

here's an article that describes it well:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40097124/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/kinect-your-kids-what-works-what-wont/#.TqLedt5KOTM

 

 

"For starters, you should mount the Kinect camera box above your TV, as high as 6 feet if possible. Since game play has to happen 6 to 8 feet from the camera, raising it up closes the distance required between the TV and the players. At the same time, it makes it easier for the camera to track people of different heights, since it is looking down, and not across.

This is also a good tip for people who find their quarters a little too cramped for Kinect. Even an average sized living room like mine could benefit from the tighter camera space, and for city dwellers, it's a must."

[JamesD]

I had the bumpers figured out before my 2nd post, that's how you navigate the blades interface.

The interface is cluttered.

 

I do like the addition of bing... though I don't see why a content search has to be called bing since you aren't searching the whole web.