In Defence of the Dashboard

[Riku'sTwilight]

I recently read an article which stated that the Xbox Live Dashboard, with all of its apps is no longer needed if you have a Smart TV. When I came away from the article I did find myself agreeing with the main point of it. A Smart TV these days has most of the apps that the Xbox has (Xbox does have more though) and so if you owned both a 360 and a Smart TV then one was moot while the other flourished.

In any case, I started to then think about how many people had an Xbox in their home/bedroom/living room when compared to those with a Smart TV.
The correlation between the two cannot be very high. While I have no statistics here other than my own personal experiences and perceptions, I do know quite a few geeky, gamer people and only 1 out of 20 that I know of has a Smart TV. A couple have 3d tv's, and most have HDTV's and a few stragglers still have SDTV's but if that's the case for the entire xbox-owning community, then 1/20 is a very low number to say that the Dashboard is pointless to.

In reality, Smart TV's are expensive. Mostly about £500-1000 minimum, and not many people are willing to splash that kind of cash onto a TV which in the current exponential growth of technology, may or may not last you 3 years.

We pay £50 a year for Xbox Live, with all of its apps but do you remember the days way back in 2005 when we used to pay that kind of money for the same service WITHOUT all of the apps? Many people complain that the apps are pointless, that they aren't used, and that they detract from the main gaming point of the console. All of those can be valid points, yet all of them are also false.
On my friends list I regularly see people on one of the apps, sometimes even for the whole night. They are using their xbox not to play games, but to watch Smart TV, without having a Smart TV.

As much as people may not like the change, evolution is a natural thing and if you don't like them on your console either don't play a console (as now all three of the main home consoles have multi-media apps) or simply just ignore them if you don't use them.

I personally don't use the apps on my 360, not because I have a Smart TV but because I have my laptop to watch the exact same things on.

 

[Pink Gregory]

All relevant points, but I think some of the beef comes from that you have to pay the full price even if you're not going to use half of it, at least being presented with the choice would swing some people off the fence, paying for XBL Gold.

That and the thing being plastered with ads, in a service that we pay for.

Options would be nice, is what I'm saying.

 

[Dandark]

I used to like Xbox live and the dashboard but ever since the update that plastered it with ads and generally made it a pain in the *** to use I have just moved to PC. I pretty much only use my Xbox for old games now and I will probably only pay for one more year of it since I still play games with old friends on their sometimes and my sister likes to use it.

It's a pretty **** service now.

 

[PanasonicYouth]

The ads are killing me. I know it shouldn't really bother me, but it really fucking does.

 

[EmzOLV]

I have heard the adverts have become bigger with the new update, but for people like me with short-sightedness and a habit of breaking/losing my glasses, at least I know what they're for now....

Just kidding.

I have no qualms with the adverts. I know exactly where everything I want is, and I simply move around the adverts and absorb them no more than I would a billboard at a bus stop or an advert on a website.

I see the dashboard for all of 20 seconds, the amount of time it probably takes me to load up, put a game in, and either watch it load or hit 'play game' - aside from that, nothing has changed with playing with my mates, the other functions are a nice bonus, but that's what I use it for, and always have done. The changes they make, although a bit weird because it's 'change' and I hate 'change' like everyone else, don't actually have any effect on what I've always used Xbox live for.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Here's the bullshit. I just want to play games online. That one service is likely a fraction of the overall cost that I'd pay the $50 for. They need to move all the useless shit to Xbox like Platinum and make gold cheaper. Otherwise, there's no point in having it.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

All relevant points, but I think some of the beef comes from that you have to pay the full price even if you're not going to use half of it, at least being presented with the choice would swing some people off the fence, paying for XBL Gold.

That and the thing being plastered with ads, in a service that we pay for.

Options would be nice, is what I'm saying.

Yes, would love to see more options. Like some kind of menu type choosing.

What you choose dictates what you pay for the service. If I only like the avatar stuff, playing with friends and other people, and watching youtube videos on occasions when I've taken my 360 to a friends house and I'm not at a computer, then that is what my subscription fee should reflect.

On the ads stuff, I'm okay with it, but only if it is one of those things where it is some kind of contest or I get free stuff, where I'm entered if I download a nice looking theme or gamer picture, or I just get that stuff. Cause I remember when BBC America did an ad campaign for the sixth series of Doctor Who, and I got a really cool theme and gamer picture. Until then, I couldn't have had cool Doctor Who stuff like that on my 360. For almost a year, my gamer picture was the TARDIS.

Random ads that are regular ads should not be on there.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

It's fine that all these extra bits and bobs exist, but I still miss a time when you put a game in your machine and it would just play the god damn game. I borrowed my dads PS3 this weekend so I could rent Dishonored, and was surprised to find the play game button three menus in. Why is the primary function of the machine buried under all this crap? From screenshots I occasionally see, Xbox is even worse. Even the PS1 could be used as a CD player, but you didn't have to manually skip by it each and every time you turned it on.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm wondering if the author of that article was talking about today, or in the future. Because yeah, right now smart TVs are rare. But by the time the Xbox 1080 and PS5 are on the way? Maybe even half way through the Xbox 720/PS4 era? It's questionable, but I don't see how they wouldn't be common. I mean, it's not like smart phone level electronics are expensive to integrate into a big screen HDTV. At least not compared to the rest of what's in there. And the price tag is just going to go down as the years go on.

 

[squid5580]

I have heard the adverts have become bigger with the new update, but for people like me with short-sightedness and a habit of breaking/losing my glasses, at least I know what they're for now....

Just kidding.

I have no qualms with the adverts. I know exactly where everything I want is, and I simply move around the adverts and absorb them no more than I would a billboard at a bus stop or an advert on a website.

I see the dashboard for all of 20 seconds, the amount of time it probably takes me to load up, put a game in, and either watch it load or hit 'play game' - aside from that, nothing has changed with playing with my mates, the other functions are a nice bonus, but that's what I use it for, and always have done. The changes they make, although a bit weird because it's 'change' and I hate 'change' like everyone else, don't actually have any effect on what I've always used Xbox live for.

No actually the ads are smaller. There is just twice as many of them now

 

[GloatingSwine]

If the Xbox home screen was like the actual Metro start screen that's on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, where I could arrange my own tiles on it to have, for instance, whatever XBLA games are in vogue with me at the moment, and my messages and friend notifications on live tiles, and maybe even things like achievement feeds that would be great.

But, y'know, there would be no room for ads then.

 

[savageoblivi0n]

anc[is]*snip*

Actually on the 360 the highlighted option on the menu as soon as you sign in is the "play game on disc" button...least it always has been on mine.

anc[is] I borrowed my dads PS3 this weekend so I could rent Dishonored, and was surprised to find the play game button three menus in. Why is the primary function of the machine buried under all this crap?

On PS3 you can put "Auto-play" for inserted disks.
Many (like me) prefer that function turned off though. Not sure about XBox though.

and yeah there's an auto-play on 360, I usually keep it on but it can be disabled

 

[Jynthor]

I used to have a 360 and I have to say, the original dashboard is still the best, I miss it. They just kept adding all this unnecessary crap.
Recently got a PS3 and I like how clean and easy to use the dashboard is

 

[devotedsniper]

I recently repurchased an xbox and all I have to say on the matter of the dashboard is I miss the original blade dash, they have made the new metro style one so hard to find things at times and adverts....ADVERTS AHHHHHHHHHHH.... I can understand adverts for games but for movies come on.

I also hate how all these apps require gold, for example 4od, 5, youtube, iplayer are all free on pc (iplayer free on Wii too last time i turned it on) yet I have to have gold to use the things which are free from most TV's now a days.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

On PS3 you can put "Auto-play" for inserted disks.
Many (like me) prefer that function turned off though. Not sure about XBox though.

Well don't I look like a dope, thanks.

 

[Evil Smurf]

The ads are killing me. I know it shouldn't really bother me, but it really fucking does.

You pay and they still give you ads? that is messed up.

 

[EmzOLV]

No actually the ads are smaller. There is just twice as many of them now

Oh I am going to need to get a new pair of glasses...