home - more beta invites going out

[Shin-Ra]

I prefer the original Xbox's dashboard from a style point of view, they outsourced it's visual design unlike the 360's so that's no surprise to me.

What bugs me most about the 360 dash is the speed and layout of navigation. To get at system options or even just starting up a demo you have to go through many full screen, too-long transitions and dig down through several layers of headings. With the XMB you zip across the icons with lightning speed and nothings hidden more than three layers deep - and it all branches out so you can see where you are in relation to the layer of options above.

I find the dashboard hiccups with pauses during screen transitions, like I'd expect from a PC, not an optimised, fixed hardware spec console.

Don't get me started with the Guide, with its low-res blurriness, slide in/out jerkiness during games, tearing, long pauses without control response and generally-looks-crap overlaid on games appearance.

But maybe I'm picky? I think MS's designers lack the eye for style and polish.