I’m more for the minimilistic elegance of the XMB. Though I understand that they will want to make a touch interface, and the XMB won’t wor with touch. That said, their current mock-up looks terrible. Surely they can design it better with better aesthetics. Or why not allow users to customize their interface? They can probably have the touch bubble interface as the default but allow users to switch to a dpad controlled XMB if they choose.

Apple’s and Nintendo’s interface looks great on iPhone/Pad and 3DS. NGP’s simply doesn’t. The circle bubble things just look amateurish and the colour scheme is ghastly. I’m sure this is just a mock up they tossed together, but man is it ugly! If they’re going to imitate their competitors, then at least imitate them correctly. Use blocks instead of circles. It’s easier to organize and matches your machine. Choose a more monochromatic colour scheme for your background, interface and icons. I dearly hope this changes a lot for the better when we see it again, either at GDC or at E3.