Back in 1994, there was a lot of hype, a lot of hype for a little console called the Sony
Playstation.
Of course there was also hype for the Sega Saturn and Nintendo's upcoming 64 bit console,
but the Playstation was making waves before it had really even begun.
Arriving just before 1994 was out in Japan, it would be 1995 before it made its way to
Western regions, and this is where my view of these modern consoles would begin to form.
My gaming route had been a strange one, I'd shifted from the ZX Spectrum in the 80s, to
the Master System in the 90s, back to a Commodore 64, then a Mega Drive, before an Atari ST
and Amiga.
Flip flopping between console and computer if you will, but before 1995 was out I'd managed
to land the ultimate prize, an IBM Compatible PC, just as the Playstation was arriving.
Now this had a dramatic effect on me, because as I was blasting through Doom, Mechwarrior
2 and Descent, Playstation owners were still dabbling in cut down, low resolution versions,
which subconsciously made me think of the Playstation as a toy.
I mean, I had happily been playing far less powerful consoles only a year earlier, but
now here I was with a proper machine, a machine which required you to configure and re-configure
DOS memory on a regular basis.
To understand how I/O ports worked and to understand the ins and outs of CD-ROM drivers
before you could get anywhere.
Those kids with their Playstations, they were years behind the curve.
This smugness, led me down a route of disdain for the Playstation.
It was completely ridiculous and unwarranted, but I couldn't help it.
It was a sub-conscious thing, rooted in societies odd materialistic tenancies of keeping up
with the Joneses.
It wasn't until the Xbox arrived in 2001 when I actually started looking at consoles again.
See, this was the year I first moved out of my parents house, and lugging my PC about
just didn't feel right, so impressed with the Xbox graphics, and the relatively low
price as Microsoft tried out gain some market share, I bought one, and played Halo to death
on it.
From there, I just stuck with Xbox consoles.
If you will, I had become a "FAN BOY".
So time went on, various Xbox consoles came and went, including several variations of
the 360 (DAMN YOU RED RING OF DEATH), all taking place in my lounge, for relaxing gameplay,
whilst my PC was stuck in different room, for PC things.
It was a glorious pairing.
But I noticed something, something which began to upset me...
Microsoft would change the Xbox dashboard often, and more recently those changes have't
always been for the best.
In fact, let's go through them...
Ahhhh, the original Xbox dashboard.
Green.
Green is the theme, and really, I didn't use this much.
Although the Xbox was at the forefront of online multiplayer, I didn't really dabble
at this stage.
I was too busy drinking Metz or Smirnoff Mule.
Something horrific in a bottle.
In 2005, the Xbox 360 appeared and the Dashboard was suddenly more of a focus, more important
if you like.
To help convey this importance, we had BLADES.
It was quite nice, it fitted the physical aesthetic of the 360, and we could navigate
from left to right with ease.
Everything had a place, and although it wasn't the MOST user friendly, it was functional
and really, a design of its time.
So in 2008 Microsoft updated us to a more neoteric design with lists, big blocks of
content we could select, and a three dimensional aesthetic which felt modern, clean and straight
forward.
This is really where we see the Xbox beginning to borrow design elements from Windows, with
this design being rooted in the Windows Media Centre design principles.
It made us feel like Kings, in command of our own destiny...
well, close anyway.
Now I quite liked this design, although it felt a bit trudgey at times.
A bit long winded getting to certain places
But by 2010 Microsoft had decided that FLATTER was the way to go.
They had chosen their future path, and the Kinect Dashboard was the Xbox's interpretation
of this early metroesq landscape.
Apart from a new boot screen, it wasn't much different to before, although there were tweaks
here and there, and of course, a new menu for the Kinect device.
Which brings us to the Metro tiles launched in late 2011, to coincide with Windows 8 and
its own Metro design, naturally.
Now things were really flat.
Flatter than had ever been seen before, so flat it was modern - at least, that's what
I presume Microsoft's angle is.
Now this wasn't for everyone, but it worked for me.
I found content easier to access, and the layout was intuitive, simple and somewhat
dignified.
Rather than scrolling through long lists, we now had blocks and pages, allowing better
use of directional space and providing logical access or applications and games alike.
It makes perfect sense then that this dashboard was dragged across to the Xbox ONE - more
or less - and that was fine.
It wasn't a huge leap of imagination, but it allowed easy access to what we needed.
Then in 2016 things began to change, and by 2017, based on the new fluent design system,
they had changed a lot, and changed for the worse.
Seriously Microsoft what even is this.
We went from an interface which was consistent in both design aesthetic and navigation to
an illogical MESS.
It's like 4 operating systems have had an illegitimate love child and swaddled it with
a blanket of confusion.
Where do I even begin?
Well, the snap feature is gone to start with, as is the live tile, which really helped mesh
gaming with the dashboard.
A bit like the incredibly simple implementation of carrying through the Windows 8 desktop
background through to the Metro interface.
Y'know, it just helps continuity.
But these aren't the worst backward steps.
Microsoft states that this design is in response to user feedback, but if that's the case then
all they've done is taken a handful of random feedback suggestions and smashed them together
into a nonsensical disparate wedge of shonky madness.
On one hand we have huge swathes of wasted, space, alongside forefront icons which are
rarely used.
Whilst on the other hand we have clutter, disarray and unmatched design choices which
just make the whole interface difficult to navigate.
We have a clunky menu to the left, with menus hidden within menus, and even some of the
places I use most often tucked away in here, surely their place should be permanently on
the front page?!
Not stashed in a bunker of obscurity.
"New tab flyouts make it easier to see more content quickly and switching between tabs
is effortless"
No Microsoft....
It's nonsensical, it's not user friendly, it lacks the simplicity, intuitiveness and
cohesiveness I liked about the Metro interface.
Now, I might be exaggerating a little to make a point, but it was enough for me to question
my life choices.
It's with this in mind that when I heard someone tell me "Moving to a PS4 was like breaking
out of Interface prision", I thought, F*ck it.
Let's go down the Playstation rabbit hole.
I mean, it's now 2018, I can shake off those feelings of disdain towards the Playstation,
can't I?
YESSS.
That's the spirit!
So here it is, a white PS4, in all its Sony glory.
Ahhhhh, unboxing, yesssss.
Shedding the box.
Plugging in the wires.
Setting up the things.
Isn't it glorious.
I mean there are channels hundreds of times more popular than mine which do just this.
WHO DOESN'T LOVE watching an internet person YANKING SLABS OF PLASTIC FROM A CARTON MADE
OF FELLED TREES?
And I'll be honest, from the go, there are touches and tweaks that I wasn't expecting
from this slab of Sony plastic.
Things which made me smile.
Like the first time I played a Mega Drive.
That sort of innocent excitement based around technology packed into a chunk of plastic.
From the built in speaker on the controller, to the way you can use the motion sensors
to guide a cursor around the screen.
These are NICE features.
It makes me smile, like the shape of a Mega Drive controller ALWAYS does.
I like this.
What's more the PS4 interface really is a design leap over the current Xbox incarnation.
It's almost as if they had a design goal in mind and worked collectively towards it to
create an intuitive and visually pleasing navigation layout.
The space is used in a useful, yet uncluttered way.
You don't have to click for hours and hours to get to somewhere you didn't actually want
to be in the first place.
You can access your games easily, your subscriptions easily, your friends easily.
Look how there's a separate strip of menu options for settings and user options just
above the applications strip.
It really is a delight.
Of course, not everything is perfect.
The search function feels a little BBS like, and the inability to prioritise downloads
frustrated my bursting internet connection.
I dunno, maybe you can prioritise and I couldn't find it, but in any case, it wasn't clear
to me.
But these are minor niggles.
The fluidity of this environment, combined with the soothing background music feels like
an elevated experience.
Now, my reason for obtaining a PS4 isn't just because of an interface.
That would be absurd.
Difficulties and challenges are the spice of life...
no, no no....
I've got some items to review on this platform, AND really my Xbox ONE belongs to my offspring,
so I'm not actually abandoning the Xbox.
For all the negativity I've just laid upon it, I still like the damn thing.
But I did want to illustrate how the Playstation has pleased me, and how it's eliminated 23
years of disdain towards a platform which maybe I should have given more time to over
the years.
This video is really an awakening for me.
A chance to accept that it didn't matter the graphics weren't up to PC standard in 1995,
that it doesn't matter that the original controllers felt a bit small compared, especially compared
to the DUKE, or that they didn't offer the expansive options of a keyboard.
What matters is Sony had a clear strategy, a clear mindset and a clear plan, and that's
something which has continued until today, regardless of where ideas have been borrowed,
or competitors have clashed.
All platforms have their place and all platforms have helped forge us to the era of gaming
we are currently experiencing.
So, it looks like I have some catching up to do.