PS4 user interface offers a 'quantum leap' over PS3 XMB

PSU writes:

"Fergal Gara, head of Sony Computer Entertainment UK, has said that PlayStation 4’s user interface offers a ‘quantum leap’ over the PlayStation 3’s Cross Media Bar."

[SillyYou]

Cool fact: the XMB won an Emmy.

[CRAIG667]

Huh?

[negative]

Who knows. All I know is the XMB is a POS - especially when accessing it in-game. Glad to see they have abandoned it.

[SillyYou]

The interface won the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for "Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of Personal Media Display and Presentation Technology" in 2006.

....Aaah my favourite subject area.

[NewMonday]

The best thing is the speed, everything from the PSN store to watching live game streams is fast and almost instantaneous.

Also you get live updates on the games you have like activity info and DLC without launching them.

[JackStraw]

http://www.emmyonline.tv/me...

[darthv72]

That is some really great improvements they made. I like how both xb1 and ps4 are streamlining their OS/interface to make getting into something (games/media) much more efficient.

and even better is there is room for improvements over time like we have seen on the ps3 and 360.

[ShinMaster]

The XMB is a great interface. It's simple and versatile. Which is why it won an award back in 2006.

The issue was the PS3 itself, limiting it. Also, it wasn't meant to run in-game. That's why some people view it negatively. There were things added to it while the hardware remained the same.

The PS4's UI is being designed with a lot more in mind this time around.

[gaffyh]

I actually love the XMB interface for the most part. There are some areas where there are options in places that don't make sense. I'm really glad that they didn't get rid of it entirely, because the bar itself is so simple and easy to figure out where everything is.

[Kleptic]

Whoever was handling the UI at Sony since the PS3 was released...i really hope got some valuable feedback from some managers...

The problem was that they took all requests almost too literally...we said we want 'in game xmb'...but we didn't mean we wanted an in game version of the xmb that showed every single icon and option, but only had 3% of them functional...the rest requiring to back out of the game...in which case, why even show it?

it was a disgrace for what should've been simple tasks...over 10 button presses to read, reply, and send a simple message?...stupid...all that pointless text and icons hogging up precious memory in game (they only had like 40mb to work with in game)...why not just design a very simple in game menu that ONLY shows what you can actually do? Don't show me all 300 video options when clicking on one requires me to back out of the game...

either way...the PS4's looks much better...and hopefully is easier to use...the xmb as a home OS was great for a controller...but what they added as a menu during gameplay was almost a bad joke since day 1...

[Mikefizzled]

Interesting fact good sir.
Follow up fact Xbox Live also won an Emmy. And the Halo 4 live action series Forward unto dawn is also nominated for an Emmy in September.

Hooray for new media!

[Magicite]

Forward unto dawn was such a cheap and boring movie.

[FragMnTagM]

Good, I always hated the XMB.

It is about time they revamped it.

[hkgamer]

It does look great, however I wonder how it would look like with 30+ games.

PS3 UI looks terrible with more than 5 games.

[PersonaCat]

You do know you can create folders on PS3 right?

[ZodTheRipper]

But it's pretty inconvenient and hard to figure out. The XMB was a good first effort but there is definately a lot of potential. Reading such statements and seeing the video from Gamescom, I'm really looking forward to PS4's UI.

[infamous-butcher]

Hard to figure out?
Do you not know your alphabet?

[ZodTheRipper]

What I meant was making custom albums, I totally forgot that you can group them by presets :P

[hkgamer]

yeah but folders kinda make the XMB pointless.

I don't know, I mean XMB is cross media bar not multi tiered media bar that isnt a cross anymore. Well it is my opinion and i'm sure a few others will agree with me, I'm also sure alot of people still love the XMB as well.

[ShwankyShpanky]

Highlight game -> triangle -> album -> enter name

Square -> sort by album

I definitely pity the souls that haven't figured this out, and are scrolling through scores of games to find what they want to play. It would certainly be tedious flipping through my 200+ games without folders. (yes, I am a digital hoarder. I've only really started deleting stuff to make room since my 500GB got close to filling up this year. Huzzah for PS+)

Action/Adventure
Chill
Classics/Retro
Fighting
FPS/TPS
Game Shows
Puzzle
Racing
Shooters
Sports
Strategy
x : Minis
x : PSOne Classics
x : Software

[hkgamer]

@shwankyshpanky

Folders on my PS3 keeps going back to ddefault settings after every update. Its annoying and I am not bothered to change it everytime.

[BlueBlood17]

There are 33 launch titles...

[hkgamer]

I meant how the GUI will look like after having a bunch of games installed on your HDD. I was just commenting on how ugly my PS3 XMB looks like with a bunch of games in the games list.

[BlueBlood17]

Yeah I just think you need to put them in folders. The only thing that really bugs me about it is that you can't sort them alphabetically. :)

I think I slightly misunderstood what you meant concerning the number of games lol sorry.

[Jac5al]

I think the main menu just shows your most recent played games.

[PSN-JeRzYzFyNeSt]

it does look great. cant wait to see it in action again.. this time i want a walk thru

[TesMgsFan]

It looks great and the ps3 xmb looked good but this is like a updateted version :D

[nukeitall]

Yeah, the updated version looks like Windows 8 Metro interface with a different coat of paint!

What happened to all the fans of XMB?

[ZodTheRipper]

What? It still looks like the XMB, stop trolling.
http://img.gawkerassets.com...

[hkgamer]

looks nothing like Windows 8 metro. the xbone looks like metro.

PS4 looks more like windows media center mixed with facebook.

[rainslacker]

Looks more like the current PS Store with a few enhancements, then taking that concept, integrating that into a more XMB type interface.

Metro is nothing like that. Metro is crap.

[thrust]

Does ziggy come with it?

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Oh boy.....

[HolyDuck]

Does look really nice.

Honestly, the PS3's interface was so clunky (for me at least) I always hoped they'd update it but recently heard it wasn't possible from somewhere.

This gen certainly does offer a lot more accessibility and looks to flow really well, curious to see how social it is and if it's ever going to get in my way because, I hate socializing outside of an actual game/party chat, and by that I mean, I don't care what my friend just bought or the trophies they've just gained.

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

Nope. XMB is still way better than PS4's crappy interface. It looks about as bad as 360's interface.

[ZodTheRipper]

You seem to have missed out on the actual interface
http://img.gawkerassets.com...

It does not like Windows 8 or XBL at all. It is an updated XMB.

[310dodo]

all these articles are killing me...
I need a freeze sleep machine, "wake me up Nov.14th"

Midnight launch is something I have never done for a system, until this year!

[MonChiChi]

Camped out for PS3 for a several days. Thank god for pre-orders this gen.

[310dodo]

damn thats dedication.

Yeah as soon as I saw what the system looked like, I drove to gamestop and paid it off lol.

Nov. 15th cannot come fast enough

[WeAreLegion]

PLEASE give us dynamic themes on day one. I love dynamic themes!

[BlueBlood17]

Anonymous... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr >:(

But I agree.

[WeAreLegion]

I should change my avatar. I'm more referring to "we are legion" from the Bible...which is where Anon got it, obviously. Lol. I consider the actual Anonymous hacking group to be a bit hit-or-miss. Sometimes, they do awesome stuff. Sometimes, they're just screwing people over.

[ShwankyShpanky]

Would be nice if they'd let us use our own animated .gifs or video loops as wallpaper.

[PersonaCat]

I'm not sure why people are complaining about the xmb being gone when it was clearly shown while yoshida was demoing the UI...

[CocoWolfie]

I actually really like the xmb, it was nice :) glad to see it return in some form

[chopples999]

Having a nice ui is swell but if anything what needs a quantum leap is the online infrastructure

here's hoping

[Nocando]

So its a small leap?

[Jdoki]

I'll miss you XMB my old chum... The endless scrolling through Trophy lists. The almost impossible task of finding old content to re-download through the account management screen. The nooks and crannies where options were hidden away was harder than finding diamonds in Minecraft.

Actually I won't miss you at all you glorious bastard!

[ShwankyShpanky]

Good lord I hope they update the Download List for the PS3. Gonna take a bit of scrolling to find those free PS+ games I marked once I pick up a Vita. God forbid I ever want to re-download something old... I think my download list has 400+ items on it.

[rainslacker]

The download list is my only real gripe about the PS store. Filters for god sakes Sony...please. The search feature being more like iOS devices would be one too, but at least the search functions pretty well.

Another feature I wouldn't mind having is being able to just select what I want to download from the list and then start it, kinda like the PS vita does in content manager. It's annoying when you need to redownload everything and have to go through several menus for each item.

[Primal Rex]

Etch A Sketch has a better user interface than PS3 XMB

[silkrevolver]

I like that the core of the XMB remains, but everything surrounding it is completely changed and updated.

[ginsunuva]

XMB was boss!!
Who complained about it??