As one of many users who was dismayed at the poor and unintuitive layout of the current Xbox 360 Dashboard, this writer looks forward with great hope for Microsoft's new Dashboard, which the company has now confirmed will be leaving beta and heading our way December 6th. This marks the third significant Dashboard redesign since the console's release.
Sadly no, Microsoft has not suddenly picked up the phone and answered the call from its gaming public to change the Dashboard; instead this redesign is part of a push to align the feel of its console with that of other Microsoft products such as Windows Phone 7 and, to a lesser extent, the upcoming Windows 8 desktop platform.
The new dashboard will at last feature full Kinect integration; currently only certain, special areas of the dashboard can be controlled by and navigated with the hands-free device, though no more, as the entire menu system is laid bare to the small infra-red black-box. Other changes include the roll-out of new TV and movie services, including but not limited to, YouTube and Bing Search support, BBC iPlayer, HBO, Lovefilm and 4oD. New Cloud saves, Facebook sharing and other features will also be present, expect a full list to become available around release.
The new interface certainly appears easier to navigate, what do you think?
