The current Xbox is home to millions of gamers as well as the go to media-device for hundreds of families, but the system we know now isn't the one that we bought back in 2006 (more so literally than figuratively). The console has been redesigned, updated, patched, and hacked into oblivion, and the rubble left behind is glorious. Whether you're a Netflix lover or an Achievement Hunter we can all appreciate our prized Xbox 360's. But, we can probably all agree that there are a few nagging omissions from the system and the OS that they should bring into the next-gen console. Here are a few things I want to see in the next system.
1. Blu-Ray Support
With the increase of Microsoft pushing the Xbox 360 toward being the center of all our entertainment needs, it's odd that we still have to break out our PS3's or Blu-Ray Players to watch The Avengers in 1080p. True, the Xbox 360 does have the capability to stream HD video across multiple services, but that currently requires a Gold Account as well as an Internet connection that can support the bandwidth that HD video requires. Not to mention that streaming, although with all the benefits it has, is a lossy format, and because it is based on internet connections it can be prone to inconsistent experiences. Blu-Ray's simply look better, and the gaming implications are phenomenal. With quadruple the size of the current Xbox discs and the newer beefy GPUs that the Next-Gen Xbox will support, we will be able to throw a crap-ton of gigabytes toward HD textures, and generally a better experience.
2. Fix the Dashboard
Remember the blades? Those 2D color-coded blades? No, well what about the NXE? Ok well what about the tiles you just saw twenty-minutes ago? The Xbox 360 dashboard has been through tons of revisions, some people thought that the original blades were a broken GUI, so Microsoft issued the New Xbox Experience. The NXE further turned the GUI into a graphical showcase and turned the horizontal blades vertical while letting the user access them by pressing the Xbox Guide button. Now Microsoft has released the New Entertainment Experience, while retaining some of the design elements of both NXE and the original blades, the *ahem* NEE *ahem* brings the Windows 8 Style tile-based interface (or the Artist formerly known as Metro) to the Xbox. Users have generally rejected the new tiles based on the amount of confusion the new design has created, as well as the amount of advertising that is being pushed toward consumers without any advantage for the consumers. I don't know what Microsoft could do to fix the design aside from wiping the slate clean and starting anew. However, it is interesting to note that the Channel metaphor that Nintendo uses in both the 3DS and Wii still hold up, as well as Sony's XMB. Why can't Microsoft do this? I can only hope that Microsoft cleans up their act come the next generation.