Topic: The Wii U Dashboard

From 2009-2010 I was a hardcore Microsoft fan. I lost interest in Nintendo, and became a Sony bashing guy.

I still have my Xbox, but I haven't touched it since November. It's a fun system, and Xbox Live works well, but when you pay $60 a year, there's no reason that you should have to see ads every time you turn on he system.

The Xbox 360's dashboard works, but there are far too many advertisements, which takes away from the experience. I like my Wii U dashboard best.

Let's say I am playing Mario, and I want to watch some hulu. I need to press the home menu, then press the "go to home menu" button, then wait 20 seconds for it to load, then open hulu, then wait for hulu to load up. What needs to happen is something like the 3DS, where I am in Mario, then press home, then open hulu. The Wii U slow loading times don't help it either.

I like the Wii U dashboard, but more customization would be nice. The Xbox 360 interface is designed well, but I don't appreciate having to look at a wall of ads when I turn on my console. I think Microsoft should pay attention to what Valve is doing with Steam and allow the user more freedom in customizing what is displayed on their dashboard..Steam lets me disable ads, and I'm not even paying Valve a subscription fee.

Everyone is going on about the 360's dashboard, but at least it's still better (less soulless) than Windows 8...
Anyway, as for the Wii U dashboard, I really like it. I don't really think it's fair to sepearate the game selector and Plaza. I think that they blend together wonderfully. I liked the Wii Menu so I really like the Wii U one as well.
I played around on the 360 one. I don't like it. I haven't liked any of their dashboards since the one I inboxes the system with, actually(which I can't even remember right now!). It looks clunky and it's filled with ads... I know what I want to buy, and you already have money from me, thanks.
I prefer the Wii U one to the 3DS one to the 360 one. I've never used or even seen the PS3's for a long time.

But again wouldn't the 360 dashboard is mostly focused for people who don't spend every waking hour on sites like nLife or GAF . I mean I don't really keep up with music as much as I should so those music ads appeal to me. Just started listening to this awesome band called joy formidable because they were spotlighted.

Also windows 8 isn't soulless. I can customize it how I want.

Like many on here, I prefer the Wii U's simple interface to the 360 one. The main annoyance of the 360 dashboard for me isn't so much the presence of ads, but rather the quantity of them. They are EVERYWHERE! They make the interface feel cluttered and chaotic, and rather than make me interested in purchasing anything, they make me want to run and hide from the madness. And don't get me started on the ads that blare gunfire or pop music at louder volumes than your games whenever you have the misfortune of accidentally scrolling over them.

That said, I think the Wii U menu could use a few improvements. A folder system would be greatly appreciated. Also, I would like it if the interface was a bit more consistent. Even though it isn't a big issue, it kinda irks me how some of the OS functions, like the Friend List, can be operated with the GamePad and/or Wii Remote, but others, such as the eShop and Internet Browser, can only be operated via the GamePad.

Not to go off topic again, but, after reading 360 dashboard stuff with ads...
People with gold are essentially PAYING MS to give them ADS, so yeah, I hate MS really. Their console really has nothing to offer me exclusively anymore, I have to pay to go online, etc. I do like their marketplace however, as it feels very well integrated into the dashboard, but is it worth £30 a year to use, probably not, so if MS continue to charge for gold, I wont buy 720. If they have nothing really exclusive worth getting, I wont buy 720. They actually have a lot to do to win me over, I doubt they'll do it, but we'll see.

As for Wii U, I like the OS. One thing however, I do wish the Wii U menu's icons were animated, apart from that, I like having a 2 screened OS. Another cool feature would be to perhaps show developer comments on the wara wara plaza first (When that feature is out), relating to game. So it could be like, new dlc out now, double xp, etc. etc., then to show user posts afterwards, I think that would be cool.

P.S. Speaking of wara wara plaza, I noticed I had deafult nitendo icons there for a few days now, anyone else had the same problem?
I noticed on my brothers NNID, it works like mine used to, on mine it doesnt. I read it could have been related to getting a miiverse post moderation (not had that), so I dont know why its happened. I read a solution was to delete your user account, make another one, then link that to your NNID, but I dont want to lose all my saves and etc. Dont know if anyone else found a solution?