Xbox recently upgraded its dashboard, adopting Windows metro style UI. It was a necessary change, as Microsoft needs to align its products with its operating system. However there were early complaints that post-upgrade, users were seeing inaccurate colors and poor HD streaming quality.
And according to EuroGamer, Xbox was ignoring these complaints from beta testers. So why would Microsoft issue an unfinished product? Consider the fact that there is building pressure for console systems to fill many voids: not only are these devices used for gaming, but they’ve becoming the digital hub of the living room, used for streaming content and watching DVDs (and in the case of the PS3, Blu-ray movies). Xbox and PlayStation don’t only have each other and Nintendo to compete with–they have smart TVs with built-in app and Internet access as well.
The brand has also been under pressure to release its metro UI update and offer more connectivity for Windows Phone 7 users–it needs to be able to leverage everything it can for its mobile platform, which has struggled to add more apps.
So it seems that Microsoft prematurely pushed the update, and now there is no word on when it will be fixed–just that it will be. “We’re aware of the colorspace issue w/some Xbox video apps & are working on a fix,” said Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb via Twitter. “No ETA yet but we hope to have an update soon.”
The fact that some Xbox 360 users are dealing with poor color reproduction and the inability to play 1080p content at native resolution on the dashboard player definitely puts Xbox at a disadvantage. These malfunctions have slid (somewhat) under the radar for awhile, but it’s soured by how long the company is taking to address it all and give a real timeline on when an update will be issued.
