There has been a flood of new Android frontends coming to fruition this year, and I'm all for it. It really feels like these affordable and powerful Android handhelds are now mainstream, though, as mentioned in many of our reviews, stock frontends and launchers are usually low quality.
So, in typical gaming fashion, the community has got to work and is making some great ones, such as Socket, which prioritises cartridge and disc art, that launched in Alpha this year. The newest indie-developed frontend to be announced is one that wants to replicate the XBOX 360's dashboard, all while syncing to your apps, emulators and media.
"X 360" is currently deep in Alpha and being developed by ByteBunny. This Alpha can be accessed, but is behind a Patreon paywall for approximately $10 or $6.99 a month, which is becoming the norm for things like this, and is a way for creatives to earn some revenue when developing things like this. I am all for it, and think it's a great way to make some pocket money, but only if it isn't infringing on copyright or trademarks, and this could be seen as it's not "inspired by" Microsofts 360 IP, and is indeed copying it, but I am no lawyer, I just know this to me, feels like it's flying a little too close to the sun.
That said, it's clear that ByteBunny's first Alpha is deep in development and looks just like the iconic dashboard, which we all spent too much time on back 20 years ago. The app organises your games, music, apps and more in the iconic boxed grey/green, floating dashboard, even going as far as teasing your Avatar that will likely be customisable in future updates.
When organising your ROMs, it looks like it will pull box art too in a minimal way that resembles the XBOX 360 dashboard. You can pin it to your home screen, change box art, save screenshots in a gallery, edit settings and sync which Android emulator you want to open it with.
"There's a lot that isn't finished yet, and frame rates will drop", states the developer, so don't go expecting this to work flawlessly; it's very clear that she's still developing this and has opened up her Patreon for those who want to follow along with her journey alongside early access to the APK file.
This thing looks clean, and I can imagine once original Xbox and Xbox 360 emulation becomes mainstream and reliable on Android, this will become a very popular choice for those obsessed with Microsoft's retro consoles. I love seeing these frontends come to fruition, especially something so nostalgic as this.
