With this current generation of hardware getting close to end-of-life, within 2-4 years I'd say, I thought it would be a good time to look ahead and do some wishing. The original Xbox was clearing a stepping stone to the Xbox 360, and while I don't believe a third console to be such a dramatic change there is lots of improvements I would love to see come forth.
I would like to see:
Hardware Upgrades
- Graphics
- RAM
- Processing power
- Manditory, user replaceable HDD
- A 'Legacy' DVD drive (more on the in a bit)
- Clickable buttons (power, open tray). I hate the touch sensitive ones on the new slim 360's
- I love the 360 controller. But how about adding a slide-out keyboard or 2-3" touch screen.
Software
- Online Status: So I can let people know I'm busy, or I'm looking to play Halo, or that my kids are watching Netflix not me.
- Friend List Organization: Let me filter my friends list into groups: SSG, IRL, GGN, family, work, etc... Also included is a higher cap, say 200. 500?
- Notification Filtering: With that many friends I don't need to see notifications from all of them. Let me choose by group (or individual) if/when I receive notifications from them.
- Notification Flexibility: Let me choose notification sounds, position, color, for each person/group. Also how about smartphone apps? Let someone ping my smartphone to let me know they want to play a game with me if I'm away from my console.
- Chat: Upgrade cha audio quality. Also add universal filtering (team/party) so I never have to hear timmies again, no matter what game I'm playing.
- Party Up: Show me, via my friends list, whom is partied together. So if I have 10 friends playing CoD show me that they are partied up 6 and 4, or 8 and 8 even showing the full party including people not on my friends list. A la Halo Reach.
- Games: No more discs. Screw DVD. Screw Blu-Ray. I want day-and-date on-demand online delivery. Imagine this: You can buy games directly from your console via your broadband, or if you'd rather head into Best Buy/GameStop and buy games there via a kiosk that transfers to your own USB device, which is then transferred to your console at home. (Credit: CodeMonkey) Make a 'legacy' Blu-Ray/DVD drive that is an external excessory to the console for old 360 games and movies. New games can also come out on discs for physical media lovers/collectors but digital and physical copies launch at the same time.
- Kill The Cable Box: Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, HBO. Give me these services and more, so I don't need my cable. Also these should all be "free" or included with the third tier XBL (see below)
- XBL Tiers: Keep Silver and Gold, add Platinum.
- Silver Tier: ($0/year) Gets you matchmaking, but more advanced features are restricted and premium services are a la cart.
- Gold Tier: ($50/year) Gets You matchmaking and all the advanced features but premium services are a la cart.
- Platinum Tier: ($150/year) Gets you matchmaking, advanced features, and all premium services.
- Day Pass: Let users pay for a day/week pass to Gold or Platinum.
- Premium Services: Netflix, Hulu, HBO, CoD: Elite, ESPN, EA Sports Season Pass, Pandora, etc.
- Social Media: Better, full, integration with social media. Facebook, twitter, G+ and any new hotness that comes out. Let me customize which services I used and customize which and how I receive notifications from these services.
- Web Browser: Let me get on the web. I should be able to "click" on URL's within messages and bio's.
- User Ratings: Give me a rating system that works. Currently everyone on XBL has 5 stars, the system is broken and never worked. Make feedback relevant. Let douchebags play with douchebags.
