Better late than never...?

Written by LorD

Monday, 26 October 2009 02:26

About the Xbox 360.
Facebook has been aiding and abetting stalkers since 2004, while Twitter has been letting celebrities interface with their fans more directly since 2006. We're on Facebook, we're on Twitter and it's fair to say that most people are probably on one, if not both. And the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, so why has it taken the console, with its famously closed attitude to online interfacing, four years to catch up with the rest of mankind and let its users do something that PS3 users have been able to do from the word go? And is it too late for them to do so?

Read more to find out...

Having a browser within its user interface, the PlayStation 3 has been able to present Twitter, Facebook and others onto your TV screen, into your living room without the hassle of downloading any extra applications. It also brings you your other favourite websites, news sites, forums, blogs and more porn than you can shake a sticky willy at. YouTube works really well on the PS3 browser and indeed BBC iPlayer has its own application, which is just a link to the PS3 browser. While Sony made a well-deserved song and dance about their browser when it appeared first on the PSP, they haven't got the bunting out since, and if they did say, "hey by the way, you can get Facebook and Twitter on your PS3" and make a big deal about it, you'd expect them to do so for YouTube and all the rest of the sites you can point your browser at.

So is Microsoft's attempt at getting down with the kids, heralded with fanfares and convention audience applause, rhetoric about how your social circle will be complete and other forms of self-adoration for such an amazing accomplishment, being performed with a thin veneer in front of a slightly red face? When Facebook and Twitter references permeate popular TV shows and are mentioned on the news, then is it not, for a cutting-edge games console with a PR spin of being an entertainment centre, too late to get in on the action?

The interfaces are pretty cumbersome as well. Pretty visuals, but pretty cumbersome. The fact that text entry on the Xbox 360 is a lengthy process at best, means that to use Facebook and Twitter on the 360, you're going to need the messaging peripheral or a USB keyboard to speed things up a touch. In the Twitter app, there's no posting of pictures to TwitPic like I did here, without problem, from the PS3. Facebook will, we're told, with compatible games, be able to send screenshots to your profile to share with your friends. But look! This is nothing new. I uploaded this from my PS3: a screenshot taken using Wipeout HD's photo interface.

The Facebook application is more than a little awkward. You can't get to groups or applications, you're just limited to the news feed, photos, friends and your own profile. Again, it looks nice and it's quite pleasant to have your avatar there, but really, what good is it. Can you access Facebook and Twitter through the Xbox button in-game? No of course you can't. You'd have to quit out of the game you're playing and go in through the dashboard. Sure, you can't do that on the PS3 either, but Microsoft have had a good few years to make this lightweight enough to run on top of games, wouldn't you agree?

So, precisely what is Microsoft offering here that you can't get on your PS3? Hell, what's it offering that you can't get on your mobile phone?! It all seems so forced and awkward, like hearing David Dimbleby talking about YouTube and Twitter on Question Time. While sleek, the interface is hugely empty, sparse and full of BIG LETTERS and gaps where stuff could be if they'd have bothered to actually put more features in. Microsoft looks as though it's muscling in on the sites' popularity when really, anyone with an Xbox 360 almost certainly has a mobile phone and a PC and uses Facebook and Twitter through either of those devices. It's an awful embarrassment, like your grandmother calling them Twipper and Facelook; it's a middle-aged man wearing Heelys; it's a communist country trying to look as if its citizens are free and happy; it's just wrong and laughable.

Last Updated on Monday, 26 October 2009 03:55

Comments (3)

I think that the majority of 360 gamers couldn't care about having Facebook or twitter on their system - I know I don't and all my friends who have one don't either. It is just a desperate inclusion yeah but not sure if it's one to compete with the PS3 or just something they feel they have to do. I don't even see why a gaming system needs facebook or twitter seeing as, like you say, most if not all gamers have a phone or PC that can do it better. Much like how I wouldn't touch the PS3's browser since my iphone does it better. The 360 excels with it's online service from multiplayer to simply downloading demos that yes you may have to pay for but from my experience, it's money well spent. I doubt this shameful inclusion of social network services will hurt the system when it does the gaming experience so well.

I feel I must add a smiley face

otherwise from what I've written you may think I'm being bitchy!

No, I agree, it doesn't harm the system and you've nailed my point, they feel they have to do it, not to compete, but to catch up with these trends. It just seems more than a little desperate and a bit of a waste of time.

The 360's online service is pretty good, but £40 a year is still too much.

I was just talking about the song and dance they've made about something that everyone can already do on their PCs and mobile phones and then I wondered if it actually had any value in being better than what the PS3 offered, which is why I tried out those features on that console as a comparison. A PS3/360 contest was not the basis for the article, Microsoft's general tardiness with getting this on, and how clunky it is, was the focus.

And you're not disagreeing, so no need for anti-bitching smilies!

You just sounded a lil miffed at it all though I may have read it wrong. I think at this stage in the 360's life Microsoft don't have a lot to say anymore so they're grabbing anything they can! Guess what? The 360 comes with a controller too! And...er...a plug! Woot! I think they should have been honest and said "Yeah you can do all this already but hey, now you can do it here too". But then I'd question their motives for such honesty!