PSLS Retrospective – Birth of the XMB
On December 13, 2003 the PSX was released in Japan. The PSX was essentially a Sony DVR with a PS2, and PSOne built right in. It also boasted some serious specs (for 2003), supported many file formats, had up to a 450GB HDD, and came equipped with photo, audio, and video editing software.
With only a Japanese release the PSX wasn’t a major commercial success, yet it’s legacy still lives on today. Something that sill today thrives in many Sony electronics, including the PS3, Bravia HDTV’s, Receivers, and the PSP was born on the PSX. That something is the XMB.
Every time you boot up your PS3, or PSP, you are greeted to the user-friendly, slick, and simple graphical user interface called the XMB, which stands for Xross Media Bar. The XMB is a perfect fit for a device that offers so much functionality, as a visual interface was needed as to not confuse the average consumer. It still is today in many of Sony’s products, and as more devices offer multiple functions, the XMB will be needed. The XMB hasn’t changed much in the past 6 years, and thanks to it’s ease of use, and impressive looking presentation, we don’t see it changing much in the future.
Check out the screens below for a sampling of the many different variations of the XMB:
11 Responses to “PSLS Retrospective – Birth of the XMB”
that’s one ugly console.
Which themes are pictures 4 and 5 ?
Just duct tape a PS3 on top and all 3 generations are covered! sweet & easy mod
duct tape rules.
It may be an ugly looking system, but its damn sweet for the time. I would have bought one in a heartbeat.
5/5 Sev. Great topic. I had no idea the XMB has been around for so long.
I love the XMB. I never like 360s Blade system “You can access this feature on any of the blades. Of course it gives you 32 different ways to access each feature, which only clutters up and complicates the whole experience overall as you end up getting lost and confused in some way with no real strong structure anywhere…”
The XMB is fast and simple. As for the NXE… not a big fan. Apparently a lot of people like to go back to the blade. The NXE is just weird to me. I haven’t used it much but if I recall it’s still overly complicated. I just want press over to games, and select one. Not navgate through menus and sub menus. I could be wrong about the 360 since I didn’t use it THAT much (but what I did use I hated before hte NXE and the NXE didn’t look THAT much better) but the PSP and the PS3 XMB have always been extremely straight forward.
XMB looks exactly like the ps3/psp ones.
It looks like a white Xbox originall with a different case and a slot fed cd player.
Cool freakin article Sev
Mom Blogs – Blogs for Moms…
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Hooray for Mom Blogs!
Anyway, great article Sev.
Agreed, darkangel269, I sure would have gotten one.