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Do you like the new XMB, or prefer the PS3 era XMB?

G

GalacticaN7

Banned
Have had my PS4 for little over a week now.

I don't hate the updated version of the XMB (honestly not sure if that is what Sony is calling the OS), but I was a big fan of the clean, crisp look of the PS3 UI. Everything was filed nicely, ready to be accessed. Now It seems as though everything is just out there waiting to be scrolled to. Even the friends list feels like far more of a chore compared to PS3 XMB. Mind you, I don't think the new UI looks terrible, as not much info is shown until you scroll over an item, and I love the tidbits of info that pop up for every game, quick access to DLC, etc.

Just wondering if I'm alone, and if not, what are some things you would like to see Sony improve on the UI side? For me, I would revert to the old XMB almost completely.

And just for obvious comparison sake:

PS3:
th



PS4:
135297.jpg
 
C

CorySchmitz

Junior Member
At first I liked the XMB way more, but now I think I like Orbis OS more. It's really easy/fast to get around.

For improvements, different backgrounds would be nice, as would sorting/folders.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
I like that they re-arranged the concept of the XMB while keeping the mechanism.

Old PS3 XMB looks good on paper – a column for each type of activity... Video, Audio, Games, Network etc. But in reality this proved to be confusing for a lot of people, in part (I think) because of the old organization method people are used to on PCs, which has you accessing a particular drive, and drilling down (or accessing a Start button/Dock shortcut).

On PS3 XMB, what this meant was that a USB key containing video, images, audio, and saved files would appear in four different XMB columns. Which was confusing. Furthermore, Sony messed up their own structure early on, by splitting PSN out into it's own column, when there was a perfectly good Network column already. Probably a decision arrived at by suits wanting to flash their shiny new (craptastic) PSN Network logo.

The PS4 "XMB" in comparison, is neatly constrained to Network, Social and Settings tasks. Everything about the PS4-XMB has to do with communicating with the network or changing the way the PS4 behaves. This makes for an easier conceptual hook than the old column method, which never really had proper sorting anyways.

They have lost a little flexibility in that they have not yet included filtering/sorting or "pinning" with the current Recently Accessed sort of carousel display, but that is easy enough to address, and made sense to push back on initial release, due to simple dearth of content.

They ought to update it soon though. I'm getting a little irked. I like to think they are going to roll out fewer and bigger/more substantial updates for the PS4 (for features releases anyways) due to player irritation at there being quite a few updates on the PS3.
 
B

biggersmaller

Banned
PS3 XMB is my favorite gaming OS. So simple. So clean. My background and icon style made it beautiful.

PS4's Orbis is just a blue mess...but it could be worse.
 
R

Ricerocket

Member
I like the simplicity of XMB on PS3.

The PS4 suffers from having to scroll left and right the more games you have from what I've seen. Pretty bad that they missed that.
 
J

Jut

Banned
I don't like the new XMB. I think games, apps, etc need to be separated. Its probably my only complaint about my ps4.
 
L

LAA

Member
Not so much of a problem right now, (at least to me), but needs more sorting options...
Perhaps there can be multiple "rows", like...PS4 games, Downloadable games, Demos etc. which you can set up yourself.

I think I do like the XMB layout better, but I think the function row in the new OS is better, makes sense to me to have all the OS functions at the top in their own row and have games in their own row. They just need to add some sort of sorting to that row, cause it may be very long/hard to navigate through it when theres a lot of games for PS4.
 
G

GalacticaN7

Banned
CorySchmitz said:
At first I liked the XMB way more, but now I think I like Orbis OS more. It's really easy/fast to get around.

For improvements, different backgrounds would be nice, as would sorting/folders.
Click to expand...

Now I'm torn on the second idea. I liked the filing system on the old XMB, but if I'm thinking about whether I would file things on the new version.....considering we already have 2 separate menus, it seems to be counter intuitive, where the old version....you had the horiizontal line of categories for quick reference, not bouncing between 2 separate lines of categories.

So for me, I don't think a file system would help. Mind you, I like things very clean, not a fan of clutter such as XBone UI and in some ways the PS4 UI.
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
I prefer the PS4 XMB personally but we'll have to wait until there are a lot of games and see how well it works. I never liked the PS3's boring, giant lists. Also, I do not miss customized backgrounds or themes either. I ended up turning them all off on PS3 because they seemed to just layer on top of the standard background on PS3 instead of actually replacing it. Every time I'd come out of a game or something I'd see the standard stuff and then a second later my theme would layer on top of it. It was slow to load as-is so why add to the burden. I just don't like the old XMB, I guess.
 
G

GalacticaN7

Banned
TimeEffect said:
-Reorganize the tiles:

ps4newui_zps730ce851.jpg


-Give us colours/themes
-Give us a simpler, overlayed in-game XMB
Click to expand...

This looks alright in theory, but if you're going to do separate categories, you are going to have more than the 3 shown, so it would take me back to "why not just go with the simple Horizontal XMB". Just me though, and I'm sure the consensus thought is that the PS3 XMB is too archaic in form, but not for me. :p
 
A

ArkkAngel007

Member
Can't say, though I want the XMB to improve by allowing more control by the user in regards to organization.

Also, that What's New section needs a serious overhaul.
 
M

Majine

Banned
It looks fine, but that horizontal row of games/apps will be a fucking nightmare to navigate through in a year or two.
 
H

HueyFreeman

Banned
It's great that it's so punchy and useable, but it needs some major functional overhauls - it's way more restrictive. The fact that there's no media section just bothers the shit out of me.
 
L

LAA

Member
GalacticaN7 said:
This looks alright in theory, but if you're going to do separate categories, you are going to have more than the 3 shown, so it would take me back to "why not just go with the simple Horizontal XMB". Just me though, and I'm sure the consensus thought is that the PS3 XMB is too archaic in form, but not for me. :p
Click to expand...

Well you can't have it both ways, ha ha.
I'm going on the presumption you'd be able to create as many new rows as you want.
I'd probably go for PS4 Games, PSN Games, Demos, Multimedia
 
A

Alchemy

Member
I've always liked the PS3 XMB. The only real problem I had with it was performance, but that was more of a result of trying to kludge the OS together to work like the 360 version when it wasn't designed to be that way originally.
 
G

GalacticaN7

Banned
LAA said:
Well you can't have it both ways, ha ha.
I'm going on the presumption you'd be able to create as many new rows as you want.
I'd probably go for PS4 Games, PSN Games, Demos, Multimedia
Click to expand...

Okay, if I have control over my tile sets, the above idea is pretty cool.

Carry on then.
 
M

moltonasty

Member
The new one kinda sucks..bad. It's just so boring. Looks extremely empty. And where's the customization? PS3 was much better in that regard.
 
Ein Bear

Ein Bear

Member
The XMB is still my favourite console UI.

All they had to do for the PS4 was make it run faster, and give you the ability to sort things alphabetically. I'd have been much happier with that.
 
J

jonabbey

Member
I was a big fan of the XMB, and I think it's a beautiful interface, but it's amazing how much they were able to simplify the PS4's PlayStation Dynamic Interface, while providing support for multiple users logged in at the same time, multiple programs in memory, and etc.

Part of that is due to smarter network auto-configuration, auto-configuration of the display by requiring HDMI and using that to query the display, and etc.

Part of that is due to dropping things like themes, printing, albums, custom video clips for videos on the disk, the user menu at times other than when a user is turning on a DS4, the separate columns for photos, music, video, and games.

The biggest win is just that they've moved all of the details that you only occasionally will want to look at to the row above the apps, streamlining the experience of running games and apps.

Given how fast and smooth the PDI is, how rock-solid reliable it has felt, and how cool the "what's new" and "playstation live" features are, I think I have to give the edge to PDI because of the usability.

The XMB is still the more beautiful interface to me, however.
 
Reallink

Reallink

Member
Both PS4 and Xbone's OS UI's are worse than horrible. I'm not even 100% sure of their organizational structure as both of their "Home Screens" seem to either randomly populate or randomly reorder by last played--I'm not entirely sure. I don't want it doing either and have no idea why anyone would. It's like every time you turn on your computer/phone you get a random roll of your desktop or home screen. Why in the fuck?
 
Schrade

Schrade

Member
I actually like the XMB better.

I might like the new OS interface better if I had the ability to move things around to my satisfaction. Customizing it just a little bit could really improve things.
 
C

Commanche Raisin Toast

Member
I haven't seen the new XMB but I like my PS4's Dynamic Menu a lot better than XMB despite some of its short comings.

Shows way more promise than the XMB initially did. Hopefully we get missing features added in by E3 and find out what else they gave planned for it.
 
A

AgentLampshade

Member
I loved the PS3 XMB UI. Sleek, open to customisation and easy to navigate. That's all I want in a UI.

The PS4 one to me is (no doubt because I don't own one yet and haven't actually used it yet) a mess. I have no idea what's where and how useful it is for an offline gamer like me.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
Reallink said:
Both PS4 and Xbone's OS UI's are worse than horrible. I'm not even 100% sure of their organizational structure as both of their "Home Screens" seem to either randomly populate or randomly reorder by last played--I'm not entirely sure. I don't want it doing either and have no idea why anyone would. It's like every time you turn on your computer/phone you get a random roll of your desktop or home screen. Why in the fuck?
Click to expand...

It's not random. I can't speak to Xbone (don't own One) but PS4 is simple. Order by Last Launched (chronological), left to right, with sole exception of game in the disc drive, which is always first. Library is always furthest right.
 
C

Creaking

He touched the black heart of a mod
I like the old one a little better, although the freshness of change is good. Still, I prefer better organization and more customization over giant icons. I do however like all the stuff you can access just by viewing an installed game.
 
R

RdN

Member
The new one is 200% better. The old XMB is stuck in 2005.. Antiquated, slow and ugly.

It still baffles me that Sony went the entire generation without updating their UI. Hopefully it won't be the case with the PS4.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
RdN said:
The new one is 200% better. The old XMB is stuck in 2005.. Antiquated, slow and ugly.

It still baffles me that Sony went the entire generation without updating their UI. Hopefully it won't be the case with the PS4.
Click to expand...

It was a cross-org attempt to have a unified experience across a bunch of devices. TVs, phones, PSP etc. they just weren't very consistent about it.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
TimeEffect said:
-Reorganize the tiles:

ps4newui_zps730ce851.jpg


-Give us colours/themes
-Give us a simpler, overlayed in-game XMB
Click to expand...
It wouldn't really work, though. For example, in the image posted, if you were to press down from the Killzone icon, you would go into the game's page and would scroll from Start to the other options for the game.
 
G

GalacticaN7

Banned
Really, I'm most interested in seeing the evolution of the new UI. What it looks like now as opposed to say 2017.

I remember the first few years of PS3, how excited everyone would get when Sony would announce a new update coming in a week!!!

Every time we waited for that Cross-game chat, but it just wouldn't come. :(
 
D

Dunkers92

Member
At this point in time I prefer the old XMB. Don't really like the application tile system they have going on now. Pretty sure it will be updated with folders etc, and then my preference may change.
 
Reallink

Reallink

Member
Nerfgun said:
It's not random. I can't speak to Xbone (don't own One) but PS4 is simple. Order by Last Launched (chronological), left to right, with sole exception of game in the disc drive, which is always first. Library is always furthest right.
Click to expand...

The disc exception must be what was throwing me off as I'm rarely aware of what's in the console. Need you to buy an Xbone and explain it to me cause it's the one I truly have no idea how it's ordering things.
 
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