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The psp interface was a bit clunky in my opinion, not that it was horrible but its no better then the 360 blades.
Just a psp interface, psp was small so you did not have too much space for everything..
Now with ps3 they use same interface..
So much space wasted.
360 has just everything well set.
And the browser, yea sure Wii was going to use Opera's good fast browser, so as always Sony had to copy Nintendo like they did for everything else.
And wheres the online system?
Ah yeah they are still working on it?
Will never get any close to xbox 360 with xbox live.
I was also concerned about how it would manage large amounts of content, but if you watch the video, the pictures and music are divided into sub-folders, just like on the 360.
Have you used a PSP? Yes, it looks sleek, but Sony really did put together a good interface on the PSP. There may be a dearth of quality games, but the PSP does well as a media player, even with large amounts of content, IMHO.
To assume the PS3 UI will be perfect and everything logically arranged is naiive to say the least!
You have to give credit where it is due, the blade ui of the dashboard is pretty good, especially relative to past MS efforts. This rant should have had a few more iterations in draft, and perhaps even been delayed until you had a real play with the PS3 UI.
Comparison between actual use and a video and invalid!
Oh, I have many more criticisms of the Xbox 360 Dashboard. The thing really does look like a cereal box. That's not a good thing. I could go on and on about the Xbox Guide, as well (the thing that pops up when you hit the Xbox button on the controller). Not to mention the horrid video player controls. The recent update improved SOME of the media player functionality, but not nearly enough to even be comparable to what was on the PS2.
Look, Microsoft doesn't get interface design. Open up MS Office, and pull up the options. Pretty horrible mess of checkboxes in there. There is a lot that could've been more logically arranged in there.
To assume the PS3 UI will be perfect and everything logically arranged is naiive to say the least!
A valid concern, but I don't personally believe that the PS3 interface will be perfect. There are no assumptions here. It's pretty clear from the video that the interface IS INDEED logically arranged. At least, IMHO.
You have to give credit where it is due, the blade ui of the dashboard is pretty good, especially relative to past MS efforts.
I agree completely that it's better than past efforts, but because MS sucks so bad at design, that's not saying much.
This rant should have had a few more iterations in draft, and perhaps even been delayed until you had a real play with the PS3 UI.
Comparison between actual use and a video [are] invalid!
I appreciate the criticism. However, my opinion is that the comparison IS valid, especially when the comparison is focused on overall graphic design nad layout, as opposed to any comparison of feature lists.
Can't work the blade interface? Perhaps if you go really slowly and sound the words out...
"Can't work the blade interface? Perhaps if you go really slowly and sound the words out..." - atomheart
But isn't that a waste of time? Wouldn't it be better if you just have recognizable icons and nice pictures to go with the item your looking for? For people against the PS3's interface are just looking for complains. "Unefficient?", "Clunky?", How? that's the question I have for them.
I think you did a great unbiased review of the PS3 interface. You backed up your arguments very well. Good job
So again, its really a matter of what people like. Both the 360 and PS3 interfaces will get the job done right, but im really not a fan of the flashy interfacethe 360 sports. Let the games have the spotlight, and the interface do its job.
Stupid nub, sony annouced his web browser for the ps3 years ago.
Monty Python joke aside, couldn't agree w/you more about the how the PS3's interface looks. I've RARELY had a problem finding what I'm looking for on my PSP.
The XMB interface is awsome. I love it on PSP. I have something like 11 albums on my PSP and tons of folders for pictures. Its very easy to use. It doesnt waste space either. Especially since we'll have wallpapers. Id much rather have a small sleek design that lets me customize than have some big gray interface. With PS3 you can leave that screensaver move in the background which would look really relaxing on a widescreen tv. Very sleek. Or you could put a wallpaper of you and your family. The interface is easy to navigate when needed and easy to blend in when your not focusing on it and the PS3 at the moment.
Its very easy on the eyes.
in the other hand,in the xbox360, to get from (for example) "settings" to "Blink 182 - Adam's song" you have to change blade then select music and then look for your song. think about it, simple is better.
The xbox360 interface NEVER has things put on the right or left when pushing right or left would bring you to a new 'blade'. Ever. The blades keep it nice and organized and were great from day 1.
The confusing thing about the xbox360 interface was (as mentioned in the article) exactly which systems settings are where, which is generally something you don't play with day-to-day anyways.
wake up dude.
I'm further bothered by your Apple/Microsoft metaphor, in that you show a tremendous flaw in your logic by asking the reader to "try to find QUICKTIME movie trailers" (emphasis mine) on the Apple site. Find someone who doesn't use computers often and ask them to "try to find movie trailers" on the Apple website, and you'll probably get to watch them click through every link on the page until they accidentally find them. Quicktime is a brand name that is only associated with movies by Mac owners and the relatively computer-savvy.
Errors abound in your arguments, and all your straw men are starting to become a fire hazard.
I do think the ps3 interface is nice, on first glance. however, as its been pointed out, what if I have a mess of content on my PS3, seeing as its going to be a computer, how am I going to navigate easily through that content?
Can I see my music sorted by artist? or how about by year?
the blade interface isnt perfect, and I agree there are issues (many that have already been solved, and more improvements to come), and the PS3 one looks cleaner. But is cleaner always better?
I cant stand iTunes, for the very reason I suspect I wont like the PS3's interface.
That said, Im not buying a PS3 anyways, its too expensive. I do love the PS2 though, even after they killed off the dreamcast (those evil evil...)
Go to Sony.com and try to find the site for Sony Financial, one of the larger and most profitable arms of Sony. Let's see...
(Hint: It's http://www.sonyfh.co.jp/money/english/)
Now that i have cleared the wrong ways of your logic. let;s look at the main sotry here. Xbox Blade vs PS interface. Are they both nice to the eye. Yes. SO they both get a point for inovation.
Are they both easy to find what you are looking for. Now here is where the question lies... sure. sony's interface is streamlined, now as said by Neshill the interface is now going to get extremely confusing when looking for a particular song or particular album as you will have to scroll down to find what you are looking for. and with the album arts this makes it evne more frustrating. especially those gamers that have a screen b/n 20 - 32 inches. How big a screen was the demo proped on. now tell me. if you are sitting 5 feet away. are you gonna be able to tell what you are on. Yeah you did not think of that did you. all the icons have the same shade and basically the same size. now the xbox 360 on the other hand. has different coloors for each blade. now although this is good. it also has it's problems. and this is where i agree with you. the 360 bigges fault in the blades is that stuff are scattered. when i first got my 360 i saw 2 different video links. i did not understand the resoning. or the stupid person that thought it wil be cool. to place a video link for those to view all video on the hardrive and a video link to display all video downloaded. wtf.. this is where microsoft grows dim. useless stuff in useless places.. but all is not lost for them. even though they have stuff scattered. let me ask you.. If you are looking for an aracde game where will you look. in the game balde right. wow. guess what it's over there. if i wish to change my video settings where should i go. Setttings blade right.. ANd there you have it.. why does microosft offer other setings in like the guide window. cause it's for quick reference to change a setting that is most commonly gonna be changed.
now tell me isn't that simple. the mian difference b/n the two is that one has chosen a text way of presenting the information whihc is easy on the eye , and the other has choseens a graphical method of telling you what you cna do under there. They both achieve the same thing. the main confusion is that one company has put severeal hotlinks to go to other sections( which is uncalled for and not needed) and one has taken that out to give you the bare minium design. now what i want to see. is how much i can changed the ps3 startup page to suit my need. this is where i think it's gonna get messy..
ohh and just as a last bit there was a person ohh yeah George. I think you need to be slapped. If you are trying to compare an old product to a new one then there is something wrong with you.. Just incase you did not already know. GO and try using Office 2007 yes it's in beta. and guess what they have a new interface.. now does that show you that someone is trying to redem them selfs. i don't belive we were comparing the 360 blade to the ps1 main menu where we. so if you want a good comparison use something that can relate. They know they did a bad job at interface design and guess what they changed their ways.
Enough Said
and the xbox isnt as bad as he was makin it sound but the PS3's interface is much much better!
If i had to fork out THAT much for a console, i'd wanbt a bit more than something i can get on a bloody handheld....
I mena it is nice... for a video.. what happens when i have thousands of songs on there?? how does it sort them? what kind of review or comparison was this.. Better off posting that he had a nice video of a PS3 inteface...
PSP is made by sony, and the PSP has a good interface so y would u completetly redesign it? a couple of improvements here and ther.
Lets talk PRICE.
how much for a PC with all that?
i kno that just Sony just released a notebook with a Blu-ray drive. and its $5,500 in australia... the PS3 is only $999 in Australia... and i kno that ther is no way that notebook can do as much as the PS3.
* Am I going to my downloaded demos, or am I going to the demo download page?
* Why doesn't Live Arcade have its own blade - it's an integral part of the 360?
* Why have blades at all when items then open pages that are outside of the blades - navigation should never take you OUT of the navigation?
* Where do I change the theme again? In the system settings? Where the hell is... oh, right, I have to press the central controller button for that particular blade - the hidden blade!
An complete and utter mess.
Sorry dude, but if you can't work out how to use the Xbox 360 dashboard then I can only assume you don't meet your own criteria.
I'm not saying the dashboard is perfect but most 360 owners I know love it.
What a pendejo...
As was mentioned before, when did you start reviewing the websites of Apple and Microsoft? I thought this was a review of SONY's UI for their next video game console... Apparently I was mistaken, since fully two-thirds of your article deals with anything but Sony or the UI for their video game console.
That being said, the video does make it look like it will be a pretty simple interface to use, and it definately looks better than the 360's. I haven't even touched a PSP (I already have an MP3 player, thank you), so I can't comment on how easy it is to use.
However, I do spend a decent amount of time listening to music and browsing the marketplace on my 360, and I haven't really had a significant problem with the interface so far. The 360 does a good job of organizing my 3000+ songs and 600+ albums (or maybe WMC does this) and letting me find what I want in a short amount of time. I can understand how someone could have problems with it, but I don't think any of the issues you brought up were enough to call the 360's UI "horrible." Am I wrong?
However, in their defense, this article is clearly biased. Just because something is already good (or at least is considered to be adequate by many) does not mean there isn't a better way to do things. And that's what Microsoft is about. Sony holds a near monopoly on the game industry because of people like you that are afraid to try something new. I appreciate a feature rich interface when I pay 400 dollars for a product. It's easy to criticize new ideas because they force us to change. 360's UI may have its problems, but it introduces ideas that could become standard in future UI's. It's unfair that one company gets beat up for taking the chance of establishing these new standards. 1 point for Microsoft.
Ps3's does look cooler, but you cant figure out 360's? Sounds as if its the user's head space to me..........?
Ok. Except it's not just a console anymore, is it? Microsoft and Sony don't see them as just things to play games on. If I'm going to buy stuff and watch stuff via a console, I'd like it to be as intuitive as possible. But go on and take everything as a personal insult and deride all naysayers as fanbois. Let me know how that works out.
I work developing and analysing web based UIs week in/week out and the 360 one is one of the best I have seen.
Using the Microsoft website as an example as to why the 360 interface has any shortcomings is ridiculous.
If you even think for a moment the Microsoft website developers and the 360 dashboard developers even breathed the same air while the 360 was being created then your thought process obviously evolved in some kind of dark stinky room.
I will agree the PS3 interface looks nice and easy to use. Just as the 360 interface IS nice and easy to use.
Then explain why instead of drowning us in ad hominem attacks. Give us the principles of HCI the interface meets. I see a bunch of people in-thread claiming they're UI designers, but I don't hear any UI talk. If you bust out 3rd-rate websites in Frontpage for some 3rd-rate local web company, don't play like you're reppin' Cupertino, CA. Tell us what you know. Explain why the article's wrong instead of defending your $500 investment.
Why's it gotta be so personal in this thread? It's your mom's money anyway.
(yeah I see the hypocripsy)
The comparison between Apple and Microsoft seems valid in that it is not about what they offer, etc. as some of the previous comments have used as means to discredit the validity of this article, but more about the difference in design presentation. I would agree that Microsoft sometimes misses the boat on design, even if I do make my living out of using their software.
A couple of side notes: It is amusing to me how fervently people come to the aide of Microsoft. I am sure they can take care of themselves.
It also amuses me that individuals will call someone an idiot and ask that the receipient to not take offense. I am sure the writer could care less about some of the disorganized comments that accompany this article, but being a noob observer to new world I have been recently introduced to in the last year...I find them a bit melodramatic. So thank you to those who made comments, it has given me insight into the gamer-blogger world.
but I use a 360 and i have no problems with the UI
i kinda agree on the bright colors thing. but once i apply a theme it looks much better.
but please admit you really bashed the 360.
(on a side note, one of the reasons i think the ps console has always been more appealing is they ( developers arent afraid of using dark dingy colors.)
the xbox and gamecube have always had many games falboyantly colored
ps on the other hand has been able to use dingy
darker color hues on their games for example take tekken 5 vs dead or alive.
In Leet:
\/\/3 4r3 477 |\|00b5 1|\| 50|\/|3 \/\/4y 17'5 7r|_| 1 5p34|< t3h 1337.
In English:
We are all noobs in some way it's true I speak the Leet.
Or just get fat and play video games.
Sure we can all bust our chops and throw out a bunch of acronyms that maybe 2% of the posters here would care to comment on OR we could maybe try and level the playing field and use some real world terms.
You sir, are a fanboy
1. Stick to reviewing the PS3 interface and not going of track on comparsions of another interface.
2. What does MS's website have to do with the interface of the PS3?
3. "(Sounds like a simple thing, but the Xbox 360 interface sends you flying through various "blades" when all you wanted to do was select the little highlightable window on the right side of the screen.)" Blades or direct menu's; you are still going left or right. Sorry if you did not know that already.
4. "Why add a bunch of "pages" or "blades" when a simple horizontal menu will achieve the same results, but in a more predictable manner?" -Still left or right...Ummm
5. "Or, on the other hand, does it look and feel more like a cereal box?"-Personal opinion...No facts...
6. "Settings blade, or buried somewhere in the "Xbox Guide"." Setiings: Console Based...Guide Personal Options...
7. "Microsoft has a lot of work to do, there.
It looks like someone over at Sony has a clue about how interfaces should work." Um, and Sony put work into it as much as MS...Ya, update a PSP nav and through it up; or create a new interface; you tell me what takes more work...
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8. "ACib: order and arranged in such a way that you dont have to do anything but press "right"or "left" to get to them" -Um I believed she DID click left and right to change menu's...
9. And for that one person who can't start a game in the tray...And don't know how; get some inteligence (sp) as it says Launch Game/Movie on the bottom of the screen.
10. You can't review a interface on a movie; come on, this is more of a preview/FIRST LOOK!!!
11. Later
I find it quite funny.
Especially when talking design.
So that's a no on any actual HCI knowledge then? And what makes me a fanboy? The PS, PS2, X-Box, 360, GameCube, Powerbook, Linux box or 3 Windows computers? Keep attacking the posters instead of discussing the topic. Love the "audience is too dumb to understand". I guess logical fallacies aren't a subject you'd care to discuss either?
lol, If I trouble figuring out the 360s dashboard I would be way to embarrassed to write about it.
I understand that all the people that support the 360 can't afford a PS3, and that is ok LOL, but I am not going to buy a second rate console.
I agree with the previous post and think that xbox360's is the second choice machine! that is if you cant get your mits on a PS3!
The blade UI is good for the input device it caters too, that being a 12 button gamepad. It is well thought out and crams a lot of stuff into a small area.
You can argue there are to many features etc. however I'd argue that the UI designers who received the feature set that was allocated for the interface did a good job.
To see how MS is improving in UI design look at Vista (somewhat better), and then look at Office 2007, which is frankly an amazing interface that has been designed very well and with hindsight.
I too am a software engineer with a specialisation in interface-design.
Finally I admire the simplicity of the PS3 interface, but I don't think it's much worse or better than the blade system in the context of its usage.
If anything it is a worse system overal because it puts things like a web-browser into a system that will not cope well with it. The web was designed for a keyboard and mouse, I fail to see how anyone could make it easy to use with a gamepad.
If I was editor, I'd delete all the bullshit posts from obvious fanboys.
I noticed there was nothing related to this supposed unified online service that Sony goes on about. No messages, friends lists, or game invites. Whine all you want about settings. When it comes to features, your video shows that Sony is really far behind.
But then, MS is a OS creating company with years and years of UI experience, so it would be expected to see them on top against companies that know next to nothing about creating an OS.
For a start, you said "And those controls need to be arranged in a way that makes sense. It needs to be Intuitive. With a well designed interface, a specific feature should appear exactly where the user expects it to appear."
Now, I looked at the E3 video slapped on your blog here, and I didn't see ANY form of information regarding utilisation of features, like for example the multi page web browsing... What button do you press to get that up again? Oh wait, they don't tell you, you have to guess which button it is to do different features in each area of the UI. Same again, how do you start a slideshow? or How do you rotate the picture? How do you play MP3's while navigating through the Dash or while playing games? Intuitive my ass. No text labels on ANYTHING means it's going to have a long accustomisation time. Far longer than the 3 / 4 hours the 360 blades take with their clearly text labeled options.
"If the user has to constantly hunt and peck through the interface to find a desired feature, it's possible the interface is poorly designed." Yes, you're right, therefore, my previous comment merged with your own statement verifies that the PS3 UI, while pretty to look at, is poorly designed.
Anyone with a PC will know that those lovely MP3 menus and Photo menus will be fantastic on PS3 for a while, until they start to fill up. Put a few thousand Mp3's and a few hundred photos on it, and scroll through to find a specific item on that dashboard. You'll soon realise how poorly implemented it is. It takes ages to scroll down and the hard drive will take time to bring previews up, either with a long pause at the start, or (similar to the PSP) slapping a white placeholder on the image till the HD catches up.
Scrolling through those "intuitive" and "simple" menus will be a pain in the ass.
Now, onto the 360 dashboard :- "With a well designed interface, a specific feature should appear exactly where the user expects it to appear. Music should appear under the Media category along with Videos. Demos should appear under the games category."
HELLO?? Have you even USED a 360's dashboard???? It's PRECISELY as you wanted a well designed interface to be. Music is in a Media blade along with photos and videos. Demos are in the Games blade along with Demos and game stats, and Messages, friends lists, and Marketplace are all in the XBL blade.
This "Review" can lead me to 3 possible conclusions.
A: You don't know what you're talking about you rate a UI on pretty swirls and effects in the background rather than functionality.
B: You're an MS hater / Sony fanboy.
or C: You're being paid by Sony to talk shit.
Anyone with your prequisite of "moderate intelligence" can clearly see that one of those rings true. I'll leave the other readers to decide which one it is.
How can the 360 interface be complicated?
4 blades "XBOX LIVE" , "GAMES" , "MEDIA" , "SYSTEM".
If you want a video you go in media ... etc
How can this be complicated!!!!
Before writing review like this ask yourself "Do I Know exactly what im talking about"
Also, your review was awful. You know how jornalists always refer to the decline of writing skills in "supposed" game blogs? You're a prime example. Don't quit your day job.
Learn how to do your job! This article was suppose to be about the PS3 interface. So what do you talk about