Some tips for the Xbox console system

1.- Interface Design. I have always preferred the minimalist design to the pretty one that eats up system resources. And let's be clear: the resources on a console system are never enough to satisfy all needs. We must not lose our way, video game consoles are for playing games and running applications (a novel use in recent generations –Netflix, Disney+, HBO, etc.-). Everything that is not strictly this must be optional and not exist at the cost of consuming more system resources that will affect the execution of games/applications. I mean that when you start the console the only thing that should appear directly is the list of installed games/applications and somewhere the options to go to the complete library, configuration and everything that is not exclusively the simple list of games. I have come to see in my home interface a banner advertising a game, another suggesting an Xbox Game Pass game and another in which I informed what my friends were playing, they are exactly the contents that I consider totally expendable and optional ones that consume unnecessary resources and take away from the minimalist experience of what an interface should be. We could also discuss the drop-down menu option of the guide button and its pros and cons in resource consumption compared to other options, but I don't have specific consumption data for each functionality either. If you want to see examples, I think that the interface of the Nintendo Switch or the PS5 are fantastic examples of what a minimalist interface focused on consuming as few resources as possible should be like. I think that an option of a minimalist design for the Xbox interface should be worked on in the test rings and to be able to change from a current design to this minimalist and that users choose which one to use. They can try both options.

2.- The resource consumption of console applications. There are certain applications that do not work correctly due to the limitations they have to access all the system resources as the games themselves have. I am referring to these limitations in UWP powered apps https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/xbox-apps/system-resource-allocation We all know that there are applications that are used simultaneously while playing (or can be) and others that are incompatible with running games (or should). In the first case, I am referring, for example, to applications such as Spotify that can be executed in a single way or to listen to music while we play a game. And the others are applications like Netflix that no one is going to watch a movie or series while playing a video game. Just as there are different uses of the various applications, and their respective consumption of resources, there should also be a difference in their execution. With all this, what I mean is that there should be two states of execution in the applications in the console that allow one of them to access all the available resources, both at the CPU, GPU and memory levels, and the other in limited running state as it currently is. Right now practically all applications are limited in the use of system resources and it may be the case that the user does not want to run a game while running certain applications and is interested in them working consuming all system resources for a correct execution. The system should allow these applications to run under “full privileges” if the user so wishes and the use of the application requires it. This has slowed down the arrival of many applications on the console and some that have arrived work unstable. Another assumption is the consumption of resources by the Edge browser. We live in the transition in which many of the applications are no longer desktop applications and become web applications, with browsers at the center of this movement. I think that Edge should optionally be able to run in a full console resource consumption mode to be able to run these types of applications taking advantage of all the system resources. Obviously while the applications are running in this mode it is not possible to simultaneously run games or other applications, and if they did, the system would close the application automatically as it currently does when running a second game while a previous one is running.
I also believe that this new execution system that I propose can make much more versatile use of Quick Resume technology, being able to also include applications and that this transition between the execution of games and applications with total resource consumption privileges is transparent to the user.

3.- New hardware options. We all know that Microsoft is working on a device focused only on cloud gaming via streaming and that for the new generations of televisions it is possible to include an integrated application to be able to play in this way. This is all well and good, but Microsoft needs to be aware that there are still a lot of niche gamers who want to play on the go and an Xbox handheld with the huge catalog currently available on the Xbox platform would be fantastic. Clearly we all know that this is so because the sales of Nintendo Switch prove it, because Valve has also seen it with the Steam Deck and because Microsoft has tried to patch this lack by using mobile phones as if they were portable consoles with controls and supports. adapted. As an option, that's fine, but ideally, Microsoft would release its own portable console where gamers can bring our entire current Xbox library of consoles and PCs to this new device and continue our games while on the go or away from home.
I know the fear of not selling enough is always there, but Microsoft is above simple console sales, it needs to keep opening up and keep giving gamers choice. Its ecosystem goes beyond being the leader in sales of portable consoles, it is to put new options on the table from where its community can enjoy its video games and clearly a portable console is a missing option. You don't need to release exclusive games for her, or become number one in sales. Simply what already exists to be able to reach this new option.

:)