One big new feature for Xbox gamers this generation has been the dynamic background option for Series X and S consoles. Microsoft, along with various third parties, regularly drops free dynamic backgrounds for us to enjoy, but do you actually use them? Or, are they a bit pointless with the current Xbox dashboard?
In theory, we're big fans of this feature. We used to love some of the cool backgrounds you'd get back in the 360 days, even if they were often a premium purchase back then. PS3 and PS4 had some great options as well, and generally speaking, we've always liked the idea of more 'dynamic' images on our Xbox dashboards.
Having said that, we still think the Xbox home screen is a bit cluttered to make proper use of dynamic backgrounds. If anything, the last dashboard update seems to have added even more content to the home screen, especially if you venture beyond the main page. A screen that makes better use of our backgrounds would be great, Microsoft!
Back to that point about past examples - although Xbox 360 and older PlayStation systems often had paid backgrounds, they were usually more in-depth. In fact, the best examples often presented themselves as an overall theme, where you had custom icons, animations and even audio in Sony's case. We appreciate the free drops, but if it meant more custom themes, we'd still be up for purchasing the odd one here and there.