Aeropause Games - Latest Comments in Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Nicholas — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 01:00:51 -0000

The 360's blade system and PS3's XMB are good GUIs. Arguing which is better is stupid and you should appreciate both for what they are, it

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Josh — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:59:30 -0000

George,
Learn how to do your job! This article was suppose to be about the PS3 interface. So what do you talk about

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

gamer andy — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:27:07 -0000

When it comes to interfacing with next-gen consoles simplicity is the key, and Sony got it right. Their interface is a thing of beauty, so simple and yet so funcutual. I have an xbox 360 and I never have a problem with the dashboard It's an excellent design but sony's looks alot better.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Endehas — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:56:14 -0000

Personally, I like the style of the PS3 interface, looks nice and neat. It fits the console. The blades fit the 360 and what it's supposed to do. I've never had trouble navigating through them, and have grown quite fond of them.

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

RC Master — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:53:32 -0000

Now, i admit to not being an expert on UI, but i REALLY don't like how the menu for things like 'pause' 'start' etc appears near the middle of the screen over the video. I personally prefer it to be tucked away, while still visable and fuctional. Like, at the bottom of the screen.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

thoughtso — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 14:47:15 -0000

It's pretty obvious how much of a fanboy you are. You haven't even used the PS3 interface and already it's 'worlds better' than the Xbox 360 interface. What about the Nintendo Wii interface, they have always had great UIs!

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

nords — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:12:03 -0000

My god ... its sure you do not know what your talking about.

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"

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Andrew Ogier — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:02:50 -0000

Totally biased, uninformed, and misguided "review" here.

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

YOU SUCK — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 03:18:00 -0000

Is this a review for the Microsoft website, or the PS3 UI? 80% of your review was a rant about the MS website... I think you need a new line of work.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

SE7N — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 03:04:46 -0000

Looks like crap to me. I own a PSP and have never been a fan of this style of UI. Sony originaly showed images that looked like they completely ripped off Xbox Live. Seems like they should have continued to rip MS off, because this looks horrible.

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Knight Rider 2K — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 22:51:29 -0000

George,

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Scott — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 21:11:33 -0000

Hold on, from the looks of the video you can't listen to music and play the game at the same time? With the 360 all you have to do is choose the album or song, back out and it continues to play, i love it, does the PS3 not have that capability?

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Max Howell — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:14:57 -0000

Jesus, some bunch of 12 year olds found this article then.

If I was editor, I'd delete all the bullshit posts from obvious fanboys.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Max Howell — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:13:17 -0000

MS in the past haven't cared for UI design, but times are changing.

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Blue — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 09:50:13 -0000

who is this retard going on about how poor microsoft is at making software for pc's and consoles? they are a software company and thats what they are best at - why the eff do you think Windows is on almost every computer instead of linux or OS X? Maybe because its well designed? The 360's interface has had lots of praise and is well made and is focussed around the user - a long line of options on a plain black background is well made and quickly accessable for a psp, but for a home games console is just plain lazy and sh!t. getit together mate.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Keyboard and Mouse — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 06:43:20 -0000

Play games like a PC!!! I love my 1st person shooters, can a XBox do dat BIATCH!

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Your joking right — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 06:42:04 -0000

I saw a comment above saying that PS3 won't ever get close to XBox Live. The thing that will smack it down (Like the way i smack yo momma!) is that it is free!

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!

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

XBOX? — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 06:35:48 -0000

I want to go out and buy the console that is slower and dosnt support HD movies etc... I should get an XBox 360 then LOL

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.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Cliff — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 01:50:18 -0000

I own a PS2 and did own an XBox before I recently sold it to make some tabletop-realestate available for the 360 I'll be getting in a few weeks. I'm an avid gamer and have invested tons of money in my Playstations, my Xbox, and my PC as well. I really enjoy all the consoles and find no reason to pick one over the other, aside from sheer price. This review, in my opinion was VERY biased and as stated many times, was used to bash Microsoft repeatedly. Sadly, this anti-Microsoft review makes itself for obvious reasons the last of your reviews I will ever read.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Darcey — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 16:24:34 -0000

Why is it that the only pro PS3 articles I ever see, are all outrageously biassed Microsoft bash fests?

lol, If I trouble figuring out the 360s dashboard I would be way to embarrassed to write about it.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Raule — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 16:18:06 -0000

Wow, this has to be the biggest piece of Sony Fanboy Trash I have read in a long time! Are you being paid by sony to be such a Fanboy, non of your arguments make any sense, they are all based on a heavy Sony bias and a bunch of Rhetoric!

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

born for this day — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:34:30 -0000

I have no plans to get an Xbox ever, I own both a PSX and a PS2, but the bias in this review against Microsoft is simply blinding. Not only do you critizise the Microsoft website design (which is completely unrealted to console interfaces) but you compare it to the ipod and the apple site. I would bet the writer bought a Mac just to spite the "Evil Microsoft Empire".

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Michael Jackson — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:38:58 -0000

Wow you have trouble with the 360 blades. I didnt know four clearly marked blades were so hard to navigate. Perhaps you should go back to the snes. NO menu to worry about. I love ps3 fanboys. They are so dumb

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:32:54 -0000

the xbox 360 overall realy adds nothing new to gaming exept for slightly better graphics. in terms of gameplay its actualy a downgrade from the original xbox since it doesnt have a standard harddrive. if the 360 cant even outsell the ps2 how in the world is it going to outsell the ps3.

Re: Console Interfaces: It’s Simplicity, Stupid!

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:25:20 -0000

Anyone can figure the 360 ui eventualy but what makes the ps3s better is the fact that you dont have to. whats worse is the fact that microsoft has way more experience making software than sony.