The current crop of consoles may be keeping in tradition by fielding the same hardware for the next five or so years, but the software on the inside will have a ton more evolution in the months and years to come. The Xbox One has a new system update on the way, that once agains tweaks, twerks and toggles with software to add some new features. Here’s what’s on the cards.
According to Xbox’s Major Nelson AKA Larry Hyrb, Game Hubs will be the big new addition. Essentially circles for like-minded people to meet up and chat, Game Hubs will also allow for content to be shared, games to be played and for various other folks in the local industry to complain that Geoff is mean to them online.
Here are the full details, from the Major:
- Game hubs – New in preview this month, game hubs are the go-to centers for all sorts of interesting content around your favorite games. Every Xbox One game will have a game hub where you can see which of your friends are playing the game, compete with your friends in game leaderboards, dive into the coolest game clips and game broadcasts, and follow the game’s VIPs and top players.
- Custom backgrounds and tile transparency – We listened to your feedback and added additional tile transparency to the Home tiles to make your background images more visible. As a reminder, to set a custom background, go to Settings > My Xbox > My background. Note: some items can’t be made transparent due to usage rights/restrictions for certain images.
- TV updates – We’re releasing a lot of updates to the live TV experience and features are being released to additional countries in preview this month:
- OneGuide for the Netherlands – Support for OneGuide will continue in preview for the Netherlands and the missing channels for the Netherlands OneGuide listings will become available over the next few weeks.
- TV trending in OneGuide – As you scan the detailed OneGuide TV listings, you can see which shows are trending by a “Trending on Xbox” note and associated icon. Xbox – live TV trending is based on the number of Xbox One owners currently watching that show in each country, pulled from anonymous data collected at a national level. Currently, Xbox TV trending is available to all members in the U.S., UK and Canada.
- Live TV trending (new countries) – France, Germany, Brazil and Mexico will begin seeing live TV trending data in Xbox OneGuide.
- Improved control of TVs, set-top boxes and audio/video receivers – Xbox One will work even better with more devices. This month’s preview release contains updates to the IR blasting database for new models and addresses issues reported by our fan community.
- “Trick play” with Xbox One Digital TV Tuner – Preview members with the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner in supported countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will now be able to see video frames when fast-forwarding or rewinding paused TV on your Xbox One consoles.
- Live TV streaming on Windows Phone and Android – We are continuing the preview of live TV streaming on Windows Phone and Android devices for Xbox One Digital TV Tuner owners in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Cue the TV TV TV jokes. I dig the idea of Game Hubs, which sounds far more enticing than all that TV nonsense at the bottom. But if there’s one update that I’m eager for, it’s an idea from the PlayStation book. Specifically, with patches. If you ever need to patch a game on the PS4, you can do so with background downloading while you still jam your favourite title.
On the Xbox One however, you need to either update or go offline, which can bugger up other downloads in your queue. It’s a damn annoying feature, and one that I want to see squashed. Anyway, if you happen to have the preview app on the Xbox One, you can check the new updates out right now.
Last Updated: January 14, 2015
AnimeAfrica
January 14, 2015 at 09:06
And yet the Party Chat is still buggy as shit
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 14, 2015 at 09:13
I’m assuming the next update will bring the porn hubs.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 14, 2015 at 09:26
On TV
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 14, 2015 at 09:32
Where the Kinect can watch you, and judge.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 14, 2015 at 09:44
creepy
DrKiller
January 14, 2015 at 12:02
And give you achievements based on your… “activities” while watching
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 14, 2015 at 09:25
Lol. I love how there are more TV updates than gaming related updates. So funny. I don’t have to make TV TV TV jokes. They did it for us
Admiral Chief
January 14, 2015 at 09:26
You forgot to say TV three more times. You know, to get to 7…
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 14, 2015 at 09:28
darnit. How long before the joke gets cold?
Wait, don’t tell me, at least 7 more times/days/weeks?
Admiral Chief
January 14, 2015 at 09:29
😉
attaboy
Quo Vadis?
January 14, 2015 at 09:47
7 decades might not be long enough ;P
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 14, 2015 at 10:33
FFUUUUUUU
DarthZA
January 14, 2015 at 09:26
Wait, on the PS4 can you download a patch for the game you are currently playing? Because on the XONE you can download a patch for one game while playing another game, but the way you have worded it above is that you can patch the game you are playing, which just sounds like magic… very very good magic….
The D
January 14, 2015 at 09:38
Well, sort of. You can download the PS4 patch while you play the same game of the patch in question, but you have no PSN features until its done.
Brady miaau
January 14, 2015 at 10:29
ok, that is cute. But so far Xbox One patches for my few games have been, as on the Xbox 360, tiny. My buddy with a Ps3 complains of 6gb updates the whole time. I that still the case on PS4?
DrKiller
January 14, 2015 at 12:03
You should get that new AC game 🙂
Pieter Kruger
January 14, 2015 at 10:31
Simply light years ahead of the Unplayable Station’s OS! Goeie werk kerels, goeie werk!!
CAE9872
January 14, 2015 at 11:05
Stop being a troll dammit. I have both an Xbox One and a PS4 and BOTH are excellent machines and BOTH which can do with some tweaking here and there.
I actually find the PS4’s OS way, way better than the Xbox Ones. However, the “Pin to Home” feature is a clever feature – but the menu upon menu of the One is laborious you must admit.
It is OK to accept that one machine may have some features that are better than the other – world won’t end!
Francois Knoetze
January 15, 2015 at 10:45
Prefer the PS OS myself. It is a lot more simpler. know how to navigate both now but it took me a while on the xbone. Looking forward to the dashboard upgrade news at the end of the month.
Mon
January 14, 2015 at 10:33
my step-sister m.kes $87 /hour on the computer . She has been without a job for 7 months but last month her pay check was $15297 just working on the computer for a few hours. hop over to this web-site;.And yet…
Michelle
January 14, 2015 at 11:55
How big is this update?
Seeker
January 14, 2015 at 21:28
Only if they could make Xbox video available in SA. That would be great.
Guava_Eater
January 15, 2015 at 08:07
There is a way to get Xbox Video, Seek and ye shall find…. LoL
lygamnt
January 19, 2015 at 08:26
The hubs seem like an idea that will get better as they mature. The forza hub app has proven to be really good. Keep up the good work MS.