One of the big requests from gamers has been custom user interface themes for the Xbox One. It was something that gamers had been begging and pleading Microsoft for since before the launch of the console, and in a recent interview Xbox division boss Phil Spencer has acknowledged that custom UI themes are coming.
In an interview with The Inner Circle [via Xbox Mad], Phil Spencer acknowledged the request for custom themes, saying...
“You will see , I’ll announce it here, I was told themes and background pics are something that we are working on, and screen shots!”
The talk about themes really kicked into high-gear when a concept video from YouTube user Prime Ghost Gaming posted the following promo piece for the Xbox One.
So far, gamers are kind of stuck with some pretty generic visual setups of the Xbox One, with the only notable change being the color scheme.
With the inclusion of using screenshots and background images to customize the dashboard with, that would be pretty cool; if not for functionality at least for the sake of aesthetics.
Phil Spencer actually had a lot to say about the Xbox One, including briefly discussing the Xbox One and DirectX 12, as well as discussing the very controversial parity clause for independent games. In fact, in relation to the latter topic, Spencer stated that the whole point of the parity clause is to keep Xbox One owners from feeling like second-rate buyers, stating...
"...I'll be honest, the thing I worry about is I look at all the people who buy an Xbox, who invest their time and their money in Xbox One, and as millions of people own Xbox One I want people to feel like they're first class, because they are."
As some of you may know, a lot of indie titles have been coming out on the PS4 and Wii U at intermittent times. For the Xbox One, the clause ensures that the Xbox One version releases along with the other systems or it may not release at all.
Of course, Phil acknowledges that there are some instances where indie studios just can't accommodate simultaneous releases across multiple platforms, and noted that Microsoft does encourage smaller studios to reach out so they can discuss a release schedule for the Xbox One, like what happened with Outlast...
"That said, I have a lot of friends who run small indie studios, and I get that time lines around done, or 3 games, 4 games depending on how many platforms they're supporting. So I always just say let's have a conversation and it's worked. I think we've done a good job working with the indies that had strict parity concerns."
The entire interview covered some really important topics for the Xbox One and it's well worth a listen if you have the time.
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