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The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

vale.rocks

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Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#31

Post by fredoralive »

asimovDev wrote: post #11

I was greatly disappointed to learn back in 2020 that PS5 didn't even support themes. The only customization it offers is disabling / enabling sound and changing a background to a screenshot for one of the menu items which is a dashboard (with customizable widgets at least) with your friends' activities, new store arrivals or whatever you choose. Changing to an appropriate theme when there were holidays or when I bea…

It does now have a limited set of themes based on previous consoles. Initially a 40th anniversary special feature that ended up sticking. But yeah, it’s a bit odd we’ve gone from Sony providing the tools to make your own theme with the PS3 to basically nothing with the PS5.

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#32

Post by Forgeties79 »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #10
Pay08 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. That sounds amazing. Yeah, it's annoying, but I'd imagine it's much safer for epileptics.

Yes, BUT: Ubisoft's is not actually a click through and the amount of text on it means they show it for quite a long time, with no way to click past, and THAT is fucking obnoxious. I'm quite glad those warnings exist, don't get me wrong. I am not en epileptic, please do not try and force me to read your 3 paragraphs about epilepsy kthnx.

Blame the lawyers then. I imagine very few games do it out of genuine concern for those with epilepsy. Accessibility is an after thought as well for many devs.

I personally applaud any company that is attempting to increase accessibility and chooses to put up warning signs. I can press an extra button or two. It’s not the end of the world.

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#33

Post by havblue »

The settings are a lot more intricate than they used to be, especially video settings. So I'm guessing a lot of the intent is to present the information as clearly as possible and call it a day. Direct users towards big pictures for the games and for the store and hopefully have a wizard for the user to get on the internet.

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#34

Post by fredoralive »

tom_ wrote: post #5
nottorp wrote: post #4

It's also the games. Let's count them: 1. A collection of logos of the 30 studios that contributed to the title somehow, skippable or not. 2. A bunch of EULAs that you have to click through at least on the first run. 3. An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. I'm looking at you, Paradox and Vampire: Bloodlines 2. (For the record, I bought it extremely cheap, not at the launch price.) 4. On Playstat…

The Press Any Button screen is there so the game knows which input device is being used, and therefore (one way or another) which user, so it can apply any parental control/accessibility/etc. options required.

Games having a title screen where you “Press Start Button” is a slightly odd convention going back to the arcades, even on games where there’s only one set of controls.

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#36

Post by nottorp »

iamtedd wrote: post #17
Pay08 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. That sounds amazing. Yeah, it's annoying, but I'd imagine it's much safer for epileptics.

If I were an epileptic, I would appreciate seeing the warning before I buy the game, not once I've launched it. Which, by the way, invalidates Sony's return policy.

Do you think epileptics really need to be told every single time they start the game? I’d bet they’re as annoyed as non epileptics.

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#37

Post by dfxm12 »

I miss when you turned on your console and booted directly into the game. Sony's XMB is a terrible UI. Things are unintuitive to find and take forever to get there even when you do know where you're going. Something like the NDS UI is at least fast and easy to use, aided by the touch interface. However, I bought a console to play games, not to click through a bunch of settings (that's what a PC is for!).

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#38

Post by Pay08 »

nottorp wrote: post #36
iamtedd wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were an epileptic, I would appreciate seeing the warning before I buy the game, not once I've launched it. Which, by the way, invalidates Sony's return policy.

Do you think epileptics really need to be told every single time they start the game? I’d bet they’re as annoyed as non epileptics.

I drop and pick games back up after a long time very frequently, I'd certainly appreciate it if I were affected. Plus, what about borrowed/Steam family shared/whatever games?

Re: The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces

#39

Post by donatj »

When I got my Switch years ago my reaction to the UI was basically "This is it?" It felt like an un-styled working prototype. My thought was "Nintendo rushed this thing out the door to stay in business, surely they'll add some character over time" as they had done with the 3DS (the 3DS started out good but got better).

Nope? I'm still waiting. The only real big change they made was the introduction of their terrible virtual cartridge licensing system.

I genuinely hate the Switch home screen. I would rather be booted into the "More Games" UI instead of this dumb horizontal scroll of a handful of most recent games and then having to scroll over to pick "more games". If you want to be minimal, at least make it easy to pick the game I want. I've got a 65" TV, give me the grid, not 4 titles at a time!

Most of all, BRING BACK THE FUN. Colors, music, silly interactions. Sure, add the option to turn it off, because a vocal minority hate that stuff, but how many of us have the Wii store music burnt into our brains?

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