thoughthead

In Part 3 I talked about content access related dashboard features MS should consider implementing into the Xbox 360 dashboard. Today I’m going to discuss the final five features in my list, these features cover ideas for improved usability as well as user created content.

IMPROVED USABILITY

16. Switch Virtual Controller Ports
OK this might sound like a cheap feature suggestion but it seems pretty damn basic to me, which means it’s simplicity offers no excuses for it not having already been implemented by now. If my wireless controller is connected to the console on “port 1″ I have no way to move it to “port 2″ Back in the days of last gen we could pull out the cable and put it in the other slot, we can’t do that any more and it bothers me that I can swap which port my controllers are attached to.

I really have no idea if this is possible through a dashboard update or not. Ideally I think using the built in Sync button on the controller would be the best bet. Holding it down few a few seconds might start the ring of light blinking, then I could push it briefly to change “ports” until I find the one I want, letting it sit for a few seconds would then lock it in. This would allow me to not interfere with any other buttons on the controller and having to hold it would keep me from accidentally hitting it during gameplay.

Without intimate knowledge of the inner-workings of the Xbox 360 controller (yes, even I don’t know enough about it) I can’t say for certain if a change to the controller’s design would be necessary to enable this functionality through the sync button. Though, even an option built into the guide would be helpful.

17. More User Friendly Guide Layout
The guide is great because it allows quick access to loads of information whenever I want it. The problem with the guide is that the layout is slow and clunky; so if you’ve only got a few seconds to get some info or change a setting it doesn’t really do you any favors. Here’s a common scenario:

I’m playing online, the game is loading between rounds and I want to quickly switch from a private chat with my friend in another game to the game chat so I can talk with the other players. I have to open the guide, (loading), scroll down a few options, select chat, (loading), scroll to my private chat, end the chat, (loading), and then exit the guide, (unloading).

Considering I have to enter all those commands and wait through a few brief loading periods the guide goes through; hoping that I’m done before the game starts rarely works out. Another scenario is maybe I want to quickly check my achievements for the game before the round starts to see what I’m missing:

Open guide (loading), select my Gametag (loading), select games played (loading), select the game I’m currently playing (loading), scroll down the list of achievements (slowly or I’ll have to wait for the list items to load) until I find the ones I’m looking for, click on an achievement to read it’s description (loading).. then exit the guide (unloading).

Fat chance I’m going to get what I need out of the guide before I have to just give up and exit less I miss the start of my game.

I propose a “ring” selection system. Think of a circle in the guide I can push any of 8 directions on the left stick to highlight the option I want then the A button to select it. This not only allows for more discrete options available on the guide but it also allows quicker access with a simple 2 button combination to select any of the options. particular sub menus could be setup in a similar fashion. Now if I want to end my voice chat I simply open the guide push the appropriate direction +A to select voice chat then I see a ring with my open chats, and I push the appropriate direction +X to end my chat. Two quick button combos and I’m done with the guide. You could probably even take it further by making available 30+ options for the guide menu and allowing gamers to select which 8 options they see and where they appear. Context sensitive options could be available to. So maybe if I’m in a private chat one of the main options is to switch to game chat or one option could be to go directly to the achievements for the game I’m playing, etc. This would not only make the Guide much quicker to navigate but by only showing the items I care about would make it quicker to load as well.

Content Creation

18. Face mapping built into profile
If you’ve played Rainbow Six Vegas raise your hand. Keep it up if you thought mapping your real face with the Xbox Live Vision camera was a cool idea; me too. OK now raise your hand if you’ve ever played with a Wii. Keep it up if you thought making a Mii that looked just like you and having it as part of your profile across multiple games was a cool idea; me too. I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Microsoft has gone on record a few times encouraging Sony to mimic their Xbox Live service. Saying that there’s nothing wrong with imitating a system that works and works well. I think MS needs to start taking their own medicine. One of the many cool and unique features of the Nintendo Wii is the ability to make a Mii. For those of you who don’t know what a Mii is, it’s essentially a 3D caricature of yourself used as your profile with certain games. You make the Mii in the dashboard and then when you play games like Wii Sports you can use that Mii in the game. Obviously something like a Mii is a little too cartoony and would undoubtedly cramp MS’s style, but why not use something along the lines of R6V’s face mapping system? With something like that you’d only have to scan and tweak your face once. Then you could pop in Gears of War with you looking like a COG, or pop in PGR3 and have Gotham TV watchers see your face behind the wheell as you race down the track, maybe the faces in the crowd of that race are the real faces of the people watching the race on Gotham TV? Maybe it could even take your general proportions and apply them to other races, so you could see what you’d look like as an Argonian when you play Oblivion. Any game where you’re allowed to customize your appearance would benefit from this. I could see my face on my Fable 2 protagonist, on my Huxley warrior, on my Tony Hawk skater, maybe it’s my face under Master Chief’s Helmet in some big Halo 3 finally.

Customization is a big part of this generation and with face mapping technology having reached the level it has, the Xbox 360′s camera attachment, and the profile system, all the stars are in alignment to make this sort of thing happen. They just need to DO IT.

19. Save Your Own Themes and Gamerpics
While we can buy themes and Gamerpics online for some us it’s much more compelling to roll our own. This is allowed in some capacity, you can import pictures from a USB storage device or streamed over the network and set the background in your Theme, and if you’ve got the Xbox Live Vision camera you can take a picture and set it as your Gamerpic (which is kind of cool). Neither of these solutions are anywhere close to what I would call robust. Dashboard themes aren’t exactly all that customized anyway. Why can’t I choose a unique image for each background in the dashboard. Why can’t I choose my own color pallet using a typical color selector with the ability to enter in the hex value if I know it. Better yet give me a dropper so I can pull colors right out of my background images. And when I’m done let me give it a name and save it along all of my other Themes. Maybe I could even modify the themes I’ve downloaded from the marketplace. For instance I really like the PGR3 Theme but I can never see the status bar because it’s color is too similar to the background… let me tweak that and save it as a new theme.

Gamerpics could deal to have some similar functionality. I can snap a pic with my camera tweak it a little with some really really basic filter functions and set it as my “Personal Gamerpic” but that’s about it. There are a couple of things that bug me about this. First of all I can’t use a picture that already exists, why can’t I stream a GOOD picture of me from my desktop and use that? Instead I have to make my Gamerpic out of something within 9ft of my console using the not exactly spectacular picture quality of the Live Vision camera. Then once I’m done I can’t save that Gamerpic. I really like the Gamerpic I made with my Vision camera. I’d consider trying to make a new one but I’d loose the one I have now, that would suck, especially if my new one doesn’t turn out so well and I want my old one back. Simply being able to save what I create shouldn’t be something I need to request as a new feature, it should just go without saying.

And while we’re on the subject of creating and saving our own Gamerpics I’d like to know why we can’t save just any old picture from the vision camera, I don’t even understand how that functionality was left out. Better yet why not give us the ability to take screenshots from within any game. Maybe when you push the guide button it takes a snapshot of the frame buffer just before it sends the guide button command to the game. Then you can view that snap shot in the guide and decide if you want to save it as a picture. Or maybe that’s all just wishful thinking.

20. Create and Sell Your Own Content Online.
Think back, back to a time before the Xbox 360 (scary I know) remember when we didn’t know anything about it and that shiny headed, posh, mac-lover promised that people in the Xbox 360 community would be able to sell virtual t-shirts to the citizens of a Tony Hawk world? I remember, quite well… whatever happened to that? I’m quite handy, and with the right tools I could make and sell some pretty sweet themes, GamerPics and virtual T-Shirts. But alas, I have no tools to get these things onto the console and no tools to sell them in the marketplace.

At this point the marketplace is really more like the Microsoft Store. They’re just selling other people’s products. Marketplace implies that there are multiple stores some selling similar content at competitive prices, other selling unique stuff, some stores are popular, others are not, etc. Where did that dream go. I want that to happen. Even if I’m just selling goods for MS points I’d be cool with that. Even if my content had to go through a paid verification process, I’d be cool with that. Just let me be a part of the marketplace like you promised!

Honestly I wouldn’t even have this thought in my head if MS hadn’t put it there. They promised a lot, they delivered a lot, but there are still a few things missing and this is one of them.

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20 features I’ve proposed, what are the odds we’ll actually see them all make it to our dashboards? What are the odds we’ll actually see half of them make it? What are the odds MS actually reads thoughtead.com? I actually think we have a decent chance at seeing maybe a quarter of theses actually happening. At least that many are common sense features which I think makes for a good possibility. As for MS reading thoughthead.com? You might laugh but I’ve received emails from a few different MS people who felt the need to comment on things I’ve said or offered to answer questions (if any of them actually got around to answering those questions rest assured I’d post it here). So if you’re listening… I’d be more then happy to accept a plain ticket to Redmond if you’d like me to tell you more about what you’re doing wrong or ideas for where you could go next. How well do you REALLY listen to your customer base? Or are well all just outsiders looking in?