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[Jinfash]

Functionally it does all sound great, but I just hope it's all fast. Specifically hopping from game to app back to game etc. It is/was my big hope for next-gen handheld gaming, and it's perhaps more important in that context than elsewhere.

I'm in absolute agreement. None of this will matter if the OS is snappy. One of the biggest reasons why most people hate the 360's clutter and favor the barebone'd XMB is because it drags the performance of the former considerably. A lot of people wouldn't mind the ads if it didn't take them forever to reach their destinations.

 

[bathala]

The only thing I didn't like was the bubbles and the first PSN store pic (cluster and unpolished), but everything else is cool

My favorite was the bookmark like menu

 

[Majine]

Wow. It's like they've gone out of their way to make the UI as inconsistent as possible. Some nice ideas in there, but what a mess!

Yeah, it seems there are so many people on the UI team, and everyone of them has their own idea of what it should look like, and they just agreed to everything.

 

[Rolf NB]

Why am I seeing close buttons in the top left corners of things? Has Apple made the whole world stupid?

 

[Pizza Luigi]

That's terrible. It's so cluttered and riddled with all kinds of unnecessary icons and information. I do like that it's not just the XMB and that they've made it more user-friendly maybe, in the sense that they're actually using icons and everything is there and not buried in twenty different menu-options, but it's way too messy for my taste.

Are the weird balls still there that represented the OS in the earliest shots of the device?

 

[Metalmurphy]

Now I see why they mentioned both Group Text chat AND group messaging. That actually sounds kinda cool.

 

[54-46!]

How's the battery life in stand-by? is it viable to use it as a phone with Skype?

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Shrug, I found that UI to be all over the place, messy and cluttered.

What really worried me is that the unit had trouble recognizing some touch gestures, let's hope it's just because it's a pre-production unit.

 

[spats]

I really like the way it looks.

 

[Jinfash]

I'm still siding with people on the design being "too busy/cluttered" but I'm not sure if everyone realizes that some of these screen are of separate apps, like Party and Near, each having its own UI. Not that the few screen showing the actual OS menus are worlds better, but yeah...

Forcing a single design on all the native apps would do a great in giving the impression of cohesion though, on the other hand having a different color scheme or wallpaper for every screen is mind-boggling. I really hope they give me some control over how that works.

 

[WillyFive]

It looks excellent. Very Nintendo-like.

Not only that, it looks to be fully featured as well.

 

[Somnid]

Put me in the cluttered camp. I can't quite make out what certain shots are of, and nothing looks consistent. If anything it looks intimidating.

 

[Jinfash]

... UI concerns aside, is anyone else overjoyed over the robustness and promising feature-set of the system? I'm glad they came up with something unique in the end, instead of following Nintendo or Apple's footsteps (for better or worse lol).

 

[AranhaHunter]

It looks excellent. Very Nintendo-like.

Not only that, it looks to be fully featured as well.

Not a good thing IMO.

I think it looks pretty horrible and clustered. The PS Store looks more clustered than what it is now.

 

[Truth101]

Am I the only one who thinks it looks like a cluttered mess?

 

[Cartman86]

So is there any indication that Sony is going to get cloud storage right for the Vita? They obviously have it in some form for games that you can play on both the PS3 and PSV. If you have to do any sort of copying it's useless in my eyes. The way the PS3 does it is one of the dumbest things i've ever seen. It's not cloud storage. It's manual backup.

 

[Jinfash]

Not a good thing IMO.

I think it looks pretty horrible and clustered. The PS Store looks more clustered than what it is now.

I actually think the PS Store looks a lot more conservative and than any other app, if not predictable. It almost looks like the iPad's AppStore, which makes you wonder if companies have concluded that this is the most suitable interface for portables, and it's as good as it can get. :\

 

[Tiduz]

i need this
frickin half year wait

 

[gofreak]

So is there any indication that Sony is going to get cloud storage right for the Vita? They obviously have it in some form for games that you can play on both the PS3 and PSV. If you have to do any sort of copying it's useless in my eyes. The way the PS3 does it is one of the dumbest things i've ever seen. It's not cloud storage. It's manual backup.

This is how it works in Ruin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDFISUrcsns

Save on one, load on the other and it works. Hopefully save-time is slightly shorter in the final product though.

 

[pharmboy044]

I really like the UI. I also love that it's packed with features.

I really hope these features are ready for launch.

 

[Dunan]

I'm surprised so many people like the XMB. I hate it because (1) it's not customizable and we're stuck staring at icons and even entire menus for things we have no use for, and (2) we can't even reorder the menu items -- hint, Sony: the PS3 is a games console. The "Games" menu should be front and center and I shouldn't have to press the right arrow five or six times to get to it. Similarly, turning off the machine shouldn't require me to press the left arrow a bunch of times and the press up twice.

I'm hoping for a lot more cusomizability with the Vita's menu. The PS3's XMB is the equivalent of a Windows machine pre-installed with all kinds of trialware and cruft, only with the added bonus that that garbage can't be removed or even made invisible.

 

[Metalmurphy]

I'm surprised so many people like the XMB. I hate it because (1) it's not customizable and we're stuck staring at icons and even entire menus for things we have no use for, and (2) we can't even reorder the menu items -- hint, Sony: the PS3 is a games console. The "Games" menu should be front and center and I shouldn't have to press the right arrow five or six times to get to it. Similarly, turning off the machine shouldn't require me to press the left arrow a bunch of times and the press up twice.

PS3 always defaults to the game section. Also, HOME button > Turn off system.

 

[Respawn]

Liking what I see in OP

 

[Xena]

I like it so far, and I see a lot of features I'd use.

Really hope though to start hearing about upcoming rpgs on it...

 

[Slayven]

I want more info on Near.

 

[Dunan]

PS3 always defaults to the game section. Also, HOME button > Turn off system.

"Home" as in the PS button on the controller?

I've... got to try this. My mind has been blown.

 

[digita1alchemy]

I think most screens are pretty cluttered and ugly. My Windows Phone has spoiled me. Won't keep me from buying the system (if they ever announce any games I want).

 

[TheExecutive]

I am not quite sure what to think about the screens. I need this UI in my hands before I make a decision. I can see what people are talking about it being noisy but as long as everything flows well who cares?

 

[Metalmurphy]

"Home" as in the PS button on the controller?

I've... got to try this. My mind has been blown.

wow :lol

You have to hold it for 2 seconds. You can also turn off the controler, turn off vibration, and change it's number.

 

[Always-honest]

apart from a lack of homogeneity in icons and it being a bit chaotic, it does look nice.

 

[JakkuFurosu]

Im sure Sony will sell us cute little themes to change that god awful mess they showing us. I would definitely prefer a cleaner xmb style if it gets a little tweaking compared to the psps

 

[Barrett2]

Looking through those pics, all I keep thinking is: my god, I can't even send a message to someone on my 3DS friends list.

 

[antispin]

And I thought the 3ds had an inconsistent, cluttered, and ugly UI. Feature packed though! Maybe it makes sense in motion...

 

[iamshadowlark]

I honestly don't see much wrong with it. It looks fine for a touch screen UI. *shrugs*

 

[Dragon]

PS3 always defaults to the game section. Also, HOME button > Turn off system.

You can also turn off the system by holding the HOME button for like a minute.

 

[Forsete]

Next Generation Portable indeed. Looks fab!

 

[Ydahs]

I asked this before, but didn't get an answer. Does the Vita use a modified Android OS? I remember Sony mentioning something about Android around its reveal, but I could be wrong. Probably am since Google doesn't return many results.

 

[Jinfash]

Looking through those pics, all I keep thinking is: my god, I can't even send a message to someone on my 3DS friends list.

Fwiw, most of these apps and functionalities won't be out by launch. They'll be coming in the May update.

 

[Vyrance]

Lots of features, I like.

 

[chubigans]

Looks great, can't believe how many people would prefer the XMB.

The XMB was great for the PSP/PS3 back when it didn't have too many features...nowadays it's packed and cluttered with stuff. I don't want XMB in any future Sony console/handheld ever.

 

[Ark]

 

[pharmboy044]

Looking through those pics, all I keep thinking is: my god, I can't even send a message to someone on my 3DS friends list.

Exactly.

There is so much double standard when it comes to Nintendo it's not even fair but whatever. I'm glad Sony is taking social gaming seriously with the Vita.

Fwiw, most of these apps and functionalities won't be out by launch. They'll be coming in the May update. .

Whachu talkin about Willis?

 

[VanWinkle]

I think it looks nice myself. Seems like a lot of features to delve into, which I'm excited about. The only thing I don't like is the bubble part (Live Area), but I guess I'll just have to get used to that.

 

[chubigans]

Oh, and I totally plan on posting full Eurogamer articles w/o a link from now on. Bastards.

 

[genjiZERO]

I think Sony makes a good interface. XMB was pretty awesome. This looks little less parsimonious, but pretty good too.

 

[Jinfash]

Whachu talkin about Willis?

Spoiler

"Wait for May's update" 3DS joke.

 

[H_Prestige]

This. Personally I can't understand how someone would prefer this over PS3's XMB. This looks like an inconsistent, stylistic mess.

XMB would suck as a touch based UI. You need big icons for that, and that's always going to look more cluttered than XMB.

 

[Oppo]

XMB would suck as a touch based UI. You need big icons for that, and that's always going to look more cluttered than XMB.

You can actually try out the XMB as a touch interface now; just find a Wacom tablet and plug it in. It's running in "mouse mode" by default but it's fairly usable. That said, I can see why they didn't go this way with the touch interface. But they could have maybe styled it more consistently with the XMB.

I'm liking the stuff in the Vita frames (Foursquare, etc) but some of the rest is fairly inconsistent. It actually looks like we are looking at many iterations of GUI here. The ones with the toned-down colour scheme in the Vita frames look more mature. The Near stuff looks really good, too.

I'ma actually shocked more than anything by the level of functionality on display, they have really been working hard at this thing, and it shows.

 

[Dunan]

XMB would suck as a touch based UI. You need big icons for that, and that's always going to look more cluttered than XMB.

While I admit to not having explored all the intricacies of the XMB (^_^;, it seems like adding touch would be one of the XMB's saving graces, since you could get to the icon you want with just two touches instead of having to remember which menu it's under, horizontally navigate over to that, and then vertically navigate to your desired icon.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Everything here looks like it kills everything else out on the market.