Cross Media Bar

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“XMB” redirects here. For the message board system, see XMB (forum).

Cross Media Bar

Developer:	Sony
Use:
Website:	http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Network

Cross Media Bar (also written as Xross Media Bar) officially abbreviated as XMB, is a GUI system developed by Sony. It was originally used in the PSX media center as the user interface. The interface features icons, which are spread horizontally across the screen. Navigation moves the icons, instead of a cursor. These icons are used as categories to organize the options available to the user. When an icon is selected on the horizontal bar, several more appear vertically, above and below it (selectable by the up and down directions on a directional pad). The Cross Media Bar is used as the default interface on both the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation 3. Since 2006, it has also been used in high-end WEGA TVs^[1].

1 Playstation Portable XMB
2 PlayStation 3 XMB
3 Control
4 Gallery
5 External links

[edit] Playstation Portable XMB

On the PlayStation Portable, once a category is selected, its options appear below the icon, selectable by pressing right on the directional pad. Going back is possible by pressing the left directional button or the O button (for European and American version), or X button (Asian versions only). Some items have an option menu that can be displayed by pressing the "Triangle" button. The XMB is capable of limited multitasking. This is accessed by pushing the "Home" button while listening music, looking at photos, etc. This will allow you to watch a video, look at a certain photo, listen to music, and look at the current web page, while browsing the XMB. However, what is in the background will be canceled if any item is accessed on the XMB. The background color on the XMB changes color depending on the current month.

The PS3 XMB - here shown with the neutral black background

Month	Color
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

On hacked and custom firmwares for the PSP, aspects of the XMB can be customized such as the icons, battery and volume meters, the text displayed under each menu item, the animated wave in the background, and the bitmap for each month can be changed.

[edit] PlayStation 3 XMB

The PlayStation 3 XMB is very similar to the PSP XMB except for that it features two additional items: Users and Friends. The PS3 has enhanced multitasking, unlike the PSP. This includes listening to music while looking at photos, browsing the web, and looking at the friends list, for example. Unlike the PSP, multitasking is triggered by the "PS" button, rather than a "Home" button. The background color on the XMB changes color depending on the current month, and it is similar to PlayStation Portable XMB, except the brightness change depending on the time of the day. The color change occurs at the middle of the month, gradually. For Example, the color for January is grey, the color starts to change from Red (December) to grey in the middle of December.

[edit] Control

Generally, the XMB requires 7 different options on a controller. A 4-way directional pad is used to choose categories (using the left and right directions) as well as highlighting options or actions within these categories (using the up and down directions). Two additional buttons are required to select items which are highlighted, as well as to return to the previous "level" of menus (Usually "Cross" and "Circle"). Another button is required to display an option menu on a certain item. (Usually "Triangle") . Some items might not have an option menu.