Jason Chen on why the New Xbox Experience won't sell Xboxes

Jason Chen, editor of Gizmodo, says: "The complete user interface overhaul of the Xbox 360 is almost upon us. Come late November, every single Xbox user will have their familiar blade interface - oft touted as a smart design choice because it mirrored the "inhaling" shape of the console itself - changed to an entirely different navigational structure. A structure, in our opinion, that seems to be a lot less structured and a lot more free-form. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it even matter?"

[jaysquared]

I dont think MS made this to be a system seller. Gamers buy consoles to play games not to play with the User Interface. Gamers dont care about Miis/Avatars or Home. They care about games..

[InMyOpinion]

Not Jason Chen. He is all about interfaces, big TV's, top-end HiFi and tiny d...

[ceedubya9]

I'm in complete agreement with you Jay.

[Bnet343]

lol Gizmodo. Go back to humping your iPhone.

[Milky Joe]

But if MS didn't do it to sell systems, what did they do it for?

I think MS developed this to attract the casual gamer. What no one seems to realise though is that people don't buy the Wii because of all the neat features it's got, they buy it because it's a Wii. The 360 won't be able to tap into the casual market because, surprisingly enough, the 360 ISN'T a Wii. That goes for the PS3 as well before anyone tries to take offence at this.

Unless MS make waggle sticks, buy the Mario franchise from Nintendo, produce their own Xbox FIT games and recase the 360 in a Wii-esque shell they won't make any impact on the Wii-hungry market. Simple as that.

[Monchichi025]

Besides being poorly written, it doesn't support anything. His only arguement was "Ask yourself this, did you buy your console for the interface or for the games?"

It's not that simple. Consumers are a lot more complicated then this. I myself have spoken with 3 people who will be picking up the 360 because of the new Netflix deal. There not huge into gaming,but being able to stream movies to there T.V.'s easily sold them.

[The Lazy One]

That this system is going to support XNA community games, making the XBLA library practically explode, and xbox primetime, which provides free games for real prizes.

Nobody's going to care much about the interface as a selling point, but the added customization and features will sell consoles. If you just look at it as a new way to scroll through menus, you need to go back and look at everything that's coming with it.

[dylantalon]

one of the reason my chick bought a PS3 for herself was because of PS3 home. my point is this, nxe sucks, and wii's mii character customization sucks. they have all been killzOWNED, another thing i must say, gears of war 2 sucks more than gears of war 1, it might just be me but gears 2 is rubbis.,i do like the graphics and thats it, reminds me a lot of a backyard bar-b-q,cause the back-ground is full of smoke,my opinion.killzone 2 is the best shooter game in the world,it even looks more realistic than the iraq war even visually. xbl- dylantalon. psn - dylantalon.

ps. the talon stands for talented.

[edhe]

...and i'm trying to rid you of it.

Begone!

anyway no they won't get sellthrough of this unless they put out an ad-campaign that's large.

It'll improve word of mouth effect though.

[Kill Crow]

avatard

[P4KY B]

everyone should click show and read dylantalons comment.

He is the reason padded cells shouldn't have internet access.

[AngryHippo]

.....article. Its not trying to sell xbox's. The games do that, why don't people seem to realise that its games that sell consoles. PS3 and blu ray i can understand, but Home, Mii's and the NXE are NOT system sellers.

[whoelse]

Home is different. When you see Home, you want to try it out! When you see NXE, its just an interface. Home and NXE are completly different and until Home gets released, they will continue to get compared to each other when they are very different.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Can't the same argument be applied to home. What is the point of user interfaces? It has never been advertised to potential buyers. Everything I have seen has been directed at current 360 owners for participants online and offline.

[Ps3Fanboy777]

Its not like Sonys home though its a pretty pathetic avatar system. Im just glad I maybe dont have to click through 19 windows to download a demo. The current user interface blows chunks compared to the XMB.

[DJ]

It's about improving the user experience, not selling consoles. The NXE simply makes it easier to navigate the system features (as well as quite pretty). The avatar system is fairly worthless though; not sure why Microsoft added that in.

[Kill Crow]

... so maybe the avatars and sing along thing is a new marketing avenue for 13 year girls etc ....

It's just not my bag ... Avatards or Home aren't games ....

[PS360WII]

It might help sell bigger hdd though :) burning games onto the harddrive is a big win for me as I just picked up the 120gb because of this impending update :)

Yet I'm in agreement with all of you that this NXE is not made to sell consoles it's to make a new UI that you may or may not like better.

[JasonXE]

couldn't hurt. My sister looks customizing her miis and rockband character. Who knows..

[divideby0]

I am fine with the present setup. Dont need to see more ads

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

"Then there’s cool stuff like Avatars (think Nintendo’s Miis, but with fewer customization options and slightly more teen-like"

Is that right, I thought the 360 avatars would be more customizable. They sure look like they have a lot more detail.

Apart from that, he just gave us a run-down of the NXE and supprted the title with a question.... I don't think people buy a gaming console to watch movies unless you are buying a PS3. However, it is the overall package that sells the console, if gamers see value in the system other than just games. That is why the PS3 is selling so well. People think, I can buy this blu-ray player and then play games on it as well or they think I can buy this console and play movies on it as well. Either way, it is added value and that is what the NXE does.

The netflix feature is a welcome addition. Cleaner interface is also nice and finally saving my dvd-rom from wear/tear and noise is the most important upgrade to me.

[Death]

I'm not sure where the author got his information, but from using both I can definately tell you the Avatars are much more unique.

-Death

[Death]

The Xbox as a brand has always been associated with hardcore gamers. The dash was a very straight forward no frills 2D experience that hardcore gamers that just want to boot up and play games with really loved. The new interface will help re-brand the Xbox image to appeal to more of the casual gamers. The NXE combined with the mass-market friendly $199 price tag of the Arcade will help to sell Xbox 360's, but ultimately it will come down to the games and the over all experience. The Avatars of the NXE aren't just place holders for your name. These Avatars will be used in the more open and casual games like like those in the Live Primetime game show channel.

-Death

[shikwan]

???

[Bladestar]

Totally baseless... The ability to stream Netflix movies directly to your TV without needing a PC will sure sale some consoles... I have a friend who's not really a gamer that currently have a PC attached to his TV just to be able to watch Netflix movies... he was interested on the Netflix device that serves the same purpose as the xbox 360 that Netflix sells... Wait until Netflix and the media start advertising this capability and I asure you that 2 things will happen... Some netflix subscribers will buy a 360... and xbox 360 owners who are not Netflix subscriber will subscribe to netflix... this is a win win situation for both microsoft and netflix... netflix subscribers will probably double once NXE comes out....

[anubis12]

like home wont sell ps3s i agree

[ceedubya9]

But we won't really know for sure until its out there. There could be a small amount of gamers out there who actually look at this as the selling point for their console purchase. Things like NXE and Home are adding to the total package of their respective consoles.

[DevastationEve]

NXE isn't really meant to sell consoles...I mean, imagine the scenario!

Customer: "Hi, I'd like to buy an NXE!"

Clerk: "um, we don't sell that. We sell the Xbox 360, which you can view it on."

Customer: "Okay, but I WANT NXE!"

Clerk: "um, you mean you don't want any of the games you just want NXE?"

Customer: "YES! Screw the games, I want NXE!"

Clerk: "um, if you don't buy any games we won't make any money."

Customer: "...oh, right. Give me Halo3 then."

[GWAVE]

I don't think anyone except the most blind fanboys and rabid M$ PR reps would ever claim that NXE was meant to sell consoles. It's simply meant to appease current 360 owners and that's it. After all, who buys the Wii for the Miis? If you do, you're an idiot. Who buys a PS3 for (the yet to be released) Home?

NXE is just another one of Microsoft's "me too!" developments.

[JohnnyChimpo]

Who is Jason Chen, and who really gives a sh1t?. Second What is the Xbox 360 and who really gives a sh1t?

[running rampid]

well no sh!t! of course it's not a system seller. it wasn't designed to be one, it is an interface dipsh!t.

[BYE]

Good copying:
Take a product from another company and take it to the next level.

Microsoft copying:
Take a product from another company and make it worse and tasteless. In this case Miis and Apple's Cover Flow get Microsofted.

[pain777pas]

The existing owner will like it. I think that M$ is on their last legs. Even with a price drop they are not even gaining on the WII and the PS3 keeps gaining ground. What is really curious is that the PS2 is STILL selling and that is hurting this gen the most by far. I was playing FF12 the other day on the PS3 and I can see why. Graphically no word of a lie the game looks good even by todays standards and the production values are right up there. Gears2 is for the current owner I don't even care about it got Fallout 3 and I don't like it. I don't know I like oblivion better and the thing is that the PS2 has so many games that I like to play. Xbox has halo played all three I'm haloed out and played Gears one and ME. Oblivion is why I liked the xbox now that I think about it. That game came right when at the nick of time where I regreted getting the system and then the overhype for every single exclusive full of bugs like ME. I know I'm wasting my time bashing the xbox because people love it. I just don't even know why I did in the first place the ebgames reps told me its so good then it RROD and couldn't read discs and scrated discs or just plain ruined them by the heat or something my Gears 1 disc just got ruined somehow and I could not use the game again same with PGR3 which I thought was so good because of the graphics but I hate the kudos system. By and large xbox is of no use to me and the PS3 at least has great features right out the box so I got BC so I love the PS3. Don't be suprised later on that you don't care about the NXE because you really didn't need nor did you want it except for Netflix people and I rather have Bluray thanks.

[pain777pas]

Where are the XNA games? They are somewhere covered by red tape. You know that M$ sucks as a company now that Gates is gone I see the company declining in not only popularity but most of all quality. We need competition in the OS market as well I hope that someone dethrones them. Sorry M$ I'm bitter over the quality of your Xbox this gen. Never again I tell you never again. I was an early adopter better yet one of the idiot fanboys that heard of SF2 turbo online and got all gitty. Game was broken because of lag. NO MAJOR LAG ON the PS3 that I don't pay for. Seriously M$ you suck.

[SixAmpFuze]

I dont think the NXE was made to " Sell " systems but certain fatures were put in to lure them like the netflix