MS: New dashboard not just for Kinect users

Although clearly conceptualised with Kinect in mind, this autumn's redesigned Xbox 360 dashboard update will improve the experience for regular controller users too, Microsoft has said. That's according to Xbox Live's senior director Jose Pinero, who told CVG in a recent interview the new backend is a "happy medium" of motion sensor and controller functionality. Asked if the new Dashboard will improve the Xbox experience for controller-only users, Pinero replied: "Yes. Anecdotally, before I came here I was showing it to my wife and she was like, 'oh, that's a lot easier'. We can't make it too easy for people, so we made it easier for someone who's not a gamer or a tech enthusiast and then it'll be easier for the gamer too."

He added: "I think it's a pretty happy medium and that's been our goal since the launch of Kinect, to make sure we're creating great content like Star Wars, Sports and great family content, but also making sure we're not losing the Gears of War, Halo and Call of Duty fans that really built the Xbox brand.

"So making sure we've got great content for both audiences in a combined platform is a big challenge. I think the new dashboard is still super-fast to navigate around."

Microsoft's official philosophy for the new dash is "all the entertainment you want, with the people you care about, made easy."