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Dell is hitting reset on the software bundled with its Alienware Alpha gaming desktop. The console-like desktop is ditching its Alpha UI user interface for a new version, called HiveMind, which adds extra multimedia functionality and many more customization options.
Packing gaming components into a small square box for around $500 in the US, the Alienware Alpha hardware originally shipped with a custom software layer on top of Windows 8, allowing gamers to boot it up and launch right into a menu for playing games.
While the "big picture mode" version of Steam, designed for use on television screens from 10 feet away, worked well, the Alpha UI was a different matter. In our original review of the Alpha hardware, we said if its custom UI: "The Alpha interface is clearly first-generation stuff. Its heart is in the right place, but it's also clunky and awkward. For example, only the small directional pad on the game controller can navigate the UI, not the analog sticks, and you need a mouse plugged in to even access the traditional Windows 8 desktop view."
In contrast, HiveMind was easier to use and responded quicker to user input during our brief hands-on test session at E3 2015.
It adds many features that previously required booting into the traditional Windows 8 desktop to find. A new start menu adds icons for videos, music and software apps, and the games menu can now directly access games, rather than simply forcing you into the Steam software interface. It's built on the Kodi open-source home theater software package (formerly known as XBMC), so you can add icons for many media apps and services, and the video and music sections automatically add content from the relevant Windows libraries.
Background images, colors, fonts, and even controller mapping for the supported Xbox 360 controller will also be included in the new settings menu, as well as tutorial videos for advanced setup tweaks.
Current Alienware Alpha owners should see the new interface as a free automatic system software download sometime in the next several weeks. Dell says that future updates will add support for games from services beyond Steam, such and GOG and EA's Origin.
Dell is also releasing a version of the same hardware but with Valve's own Steam OS as the Alienware Steam Machine. That system, which will use Steam as its primary interface, will be available in November of this year.
