I hope this is a good thing
The Xbox One dashboard is getting a major revision this holiday season and it is shaping up to be…something.
A completely new guide (think popup dashboard from the Xbox 360) is being added that slides in over games versus the currently available snap that resizes the game window. Snap is still being included, though I think I’d rather have the guide work like snap than cover up my game experience. It seems the guide works basically just like the apps you can snap as it allows easy access to friends, messages and parties.
Also being added is Cortana, Microsoft’s Windows 10 voice-based assistant voiced by Jen Taylor and Master Chief’s AI sidekick. Cortana can provide information and automate some tasks, at least on Windows 10; her specific functions for Xbox One have yet to be detailed.
Microsoft is promising faster performance, partially by having menus be more vertical instead of horizontal. I’m not sure having to scroll down is faster than having horizontal sections like it is now, but hey, I’m not a UI designer. Also included are new community and trending sections so you can see what your friends are doing and if they are trendsetters or not.
Best of all? Avatars are back but modernized, whatever that means. Maybe you can see their feet now…oh wait.
Check out the official Xbox One Experience page or this conversation with Xbox’s Major Nelson from E3 for more details.
