World Usability Day: XBox 360

Chal​lenge

User Centric and the partners of the UXalliance conducted a global usability study of the Xbox 360 to uncover usability issues of this console, compare them with the original Xbox and establish a benchmark for studying future consoles. They also sought to ascertain in what ways usability is affected by cultural differences between test countries France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

User Centric Approach

The UXalliance partner in each country conducted a lab-based usability test. Each participant was presented with a series of tasks to perform on both the Xbox and the Xbox 360, including set up of the system and system controls, and using the system for gaming and other media playback.

Result

The study revealed that despite a range of new features supported by the Xbox 360, the usability was not degraded. There seemed to be little cultural difference between users in test countries, although some user behavior differed based on the accuracy of translated text. Even though initial setup took a long time, participants found the process to be relatively straight-forward. While many participants, especially those with less experience, had trouble understanding the difference between the various identities required to use the Xbox 360, gaming and other media functionality was well-supported. On the whole, the Xbox 360 performed to a similar usability standard as the Xbox. 

The international partnership of the UXalliance utilized local knowledge to compile and compare a reliable international dataset and complete the study in a short timeframe.

Download full study.