Stability! That’s the name of Sony’s game whenever a new system update pops up, while Microsoft is instead going for a more substantial retooling to its snappy console operating system. Said update is now out, and for the price of 700 of your most mega of bytes, you’ll be able to grab some cool features.
Like life and people who think that they’re first comedian to ever tell male scooter owners that they can enjoy feeling the wind in their lady parts, this payment is mandatory and there is no escaping it. Embrace the download. Anyway, the first few items on the list are more dynamic backgrounds, of which you’ll get six new options.
Some of these new backgrounds are going for the nostalgia dopamine rush, harkening back to ye olde Xbox days. Is there a UI that allows me to use Xbox 360 blades again? No? Dammit. You’ll also now be able to pre-load Xbox Game Pass titles, there’s a new Activity tab that tracks your achievements, you’ll be able to add family member accounts during setup, and games that are optimised for the new console will now have this shiny new X/S button:
Meanwhile, I’ll be wearing this badge when I take your mom out to supper:
The biggest addition though is Auto HDR. The Xbox Series X/S will let you know when a game is using the specially-tuned algorithm that will apply HDR to games that didn’t previously use the technology to create a better image. Not every game can use it, but those that can will have an icon in the upper right of the screen whenever you open your guide menu.
These aren’t major changes to the Xbox Series X/S generation, but they are welcome ones as next-gen finds its footing.
Last Updated: December 1, 2020
