Home Gaming A sneak peek at the Xbox One’s November update

A sneak peek at the Xbox One’s November update

6 min read
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NovemberRain

The Xbox One gets regular, monthly updates. That’s great news for people who love features and like to see their consoles evolve with time. It’s bad news for those who’re on a bandwidth budget though; the Xbox One is quite the internet hog with its perpetual patches. Here’s what’s coming next to eat your data while making your Xbox One better.

According to Major Nelson, these are the new features you can expect in the November dashboard update, which is available to previewers right now and will be hitting your very own Xbox One next month. Those features include things like annoying, in-your-face Twitter integration, customised backgrounds, Smartglass updates and a better Internet Explorer. Here’s a handy-dandy video showing what Xbox One owners can expect:

For those of you without video-watching rights at your soul-crushing places of employment, here’s the list of new! and improved! things coming to the system:

Show Who You Are –Some of the most requested features being released this month include the ability to customize your Xbox One background and showcase and share some of your favorite achievements and game clips.

  • Custom Backgrounds – The #1 fan-requested feature is making its initial debut for preview members. For the first time, each account on your Xbox One can have a customized background.  You can choose a custom color or achievement art as your background on Xbox One, with more customization options coming down the road.
  • Gamer Profile – You can now share your location and bio as part of your profile. You can set these options on your Xbox One console and use Xbox One SmartGlass to browse to other people’s profiles and check out their showcase items. Additionally, you can now select a set of showcase items that are displayed when other gamers look at your profile on an Xbox One console. You can use Xbox One SmartGlass or Xbox One console to add or remove up to six game clips or achievements that will be displayed in a carousel format.
  • Tweet about your Favorite Game Clips – You can now share your favorite Xbox One game clips with your followers on Twitter. Use the Share button on any game clip you have created and select Twitter to compose the Tweet.


A New Way to Watch TV
– With new Live TV and Twitter integration, you can discover new shows to love and see what people are saying on Twitter about shows in real-time.

  • Live TV Trending – Starting to roll out today for preview members in the U.S., Canada and the UK, a new tab will be available in OneGuide that displays the top 20 most watched TV shows, with the list filtered down to the shows that are currently available to you based on your OneGuide settings. The Live TV Trending list is updated by the minute, so you can easily discover shows that are popular with other viewers. The Trending tab in OneGuide is updated to display Twitter – Live TV trending first and Xbox – Live TV Trending second. You can tune to a specific show by pressing the A button.
  • Twitter TV Trending – New this month in preview, you can see what Live TV is trending based on the highest number of tweets. Twitter TV Trending will initially be available to preview members in the U.S.
  • Xbox TV Trending – The Trending tab in OneGuide is updated to display Twitter trending first and Xbox – Live TV Trending second. 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.
  • Tweets in MiniGuide – See the actual tweets for the Live TV shows in real time and quickly find the Twitter #hashtag to join the conversation.
  • Recents and Favorites in MiniGuide – MiniGuide has been updated to include your favorite TV channels in a combined Recents and Favorites area and MiniGuide can now be activated via voice by saying “Xbox Select – MiniGuide” while watching TV.


Store improvements and SmartGlass updates
–We are also excited to roll out these cool features:

  • Store improvements –The Store pages on Xbox One have been improved to enable you to more quickly browse and find content. The navigation buttons were moved to the far left so you can find them easier. You can also more quickly find game add-ons, perform store specific searches and recommendations are more prominently displayed. Finally, store categories have been standardized so you can easily see the top items in each query at a glance.
  • Friends’ Game Activity on SmartGlass – You can now see a list of your friends that have played a given game within the Xbox One SmartGlass experience.
  • Games with Gold & Deals with Gold on SmartGlass – For gamers with an Xbox Live Gold subscription, you can browse “Free Games with Gold” and discounted content with Gold and initiate download of the content to your Xbox One console from your mobile device.
  • SmartGlass Store Improvements – We added a new section for Apps to make it easier to find and download apps for your Xbox One, as well as adding a Coming Soon filter for Games and Add Ons to make it easier to see upcoming Xbox One releases sorted by anticipated release date.


Internet Explorer updates
– There are a few improvements Internet Explorer available this month:

  • Snap IE – From the Address Bar in Internet Explorer, you can now easily snap from a full screen experience and move Internet Explorer into snap mode.
  • Featured sites – Now, Internet Explorer will show a number when something is newly-added to featured sites. Newly-added sites will also display a badge until you launch them or seven days have passed since the site was added to the Featured list.


Updates to the Preview dashboard app –
We’re gamifying the Preview dashboard. Here are some new features we are adding:

  • My Stats – If you are in the Preview program, you will now earn points for providing feedback, including points for completing Quests, Surveys, Quick Poll questions, and rating the update. These will be shared in the Preview dashboard under My Stats. The more points you get, the more you level up, and the more rewards you’ll earn. Keep checking back for special bonus point opportunities.
  • Leaderboard – We’re also adding a leaderboard that shows how you stack up against your friends based on the points you have earned. If you don’t have friends in the Preview program, we’ll show how you stack up against others in the program. Keep checking back – more things are coming to the My Stats page soon.

Last Updated: October 21, 2014

55 Comments

  1. Captain JJ in the shadow

    October 21, 2014 at 08:06

    I think I’m only surprised by the fact that most of these weren’t already available on release. But I suppose that’s what’s to be expected these days.

    Reply

  2. Captain JJ in the shadow

    October 21, 2014 at 08:16

    I nominate this header for header of the week

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 21, 2014 at 08:20

      A bit early in the week, don’t you think?

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 08:20

        It’s never too early for Guns ‘n Roses

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          October 21, 2014 at 08:25

          Reply

          • RinceThis

            October 21, 2014 at 08:32

            Oi!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 21, 2014 at 08:34

            IT’S APPLICABLE!

          • RinceThis

            October 21, 2014 at 08:43

            You are not Storm Rothschild!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 21, 2014 at 08:47

            Neither is he 😛

          • RinceThis

            October 21, 2014 at 08:58

            How dare you!

    • RinceThis

      October 21, 2014 at 08:32

      Alas, it’s an old one he’s used before!

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 08:34

        Damn it Geoff. You almost had it.
        Blame Rince for exposing you.

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          October 21, 2014 at 08:41

          Apparently he hasn’t used it before. Either the Asian has issues with his memory or I’ve accidentally seen into the future…

          Reply

          • Captain JJ in the shadow

            October 21, 2014 at 08:42

            Both sound plausible.

      • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

        October 21, 2014 at 08:37

        It is? I JUST MADE IT.

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          October 21, 2014 at 08:39

          Ignore him, it’s after 8:30 which means he’s drunk.

          Reply

  3. Cadis Etrama Di Umar

    October 21, 2014 at 08:19

    This is the cool side of updates though. Back in the day you were set with what you had. I know Companies abuse updates sometimes but its pretty awesome to have regular updates adding new features to a console.

    Reply

  4. Captain JJ in the shadow

    October 21, 2014 at 08:22

    I’m sitting with a delimma. Get Beyond Earth on release or wait for the Steam Halloween Sale and buy LOTS of things.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 21, 2014 at 08:25

      You know what I am going to tell you….

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 08:26

        Please, this is not the time for romance Admiral.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          October 21, 2014 at 08:29

          IT IS ALWAYS TIME FOR STEAM(y) ROMANCE!

          XDXDXD

          Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 21, 2014 at 08:25

      They’re having a halloween sale? The only reason to get excited for the stupid event.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 08:25

        They usually do. And for once I actually remember that.
        I hope they do.

        Reply

    • Ryanza

      October 21, 2014 at 08:32

      If a game is leaked to a Steam account then you don’t buy it new or on day 1. You wait for a Steam sale before you buy it.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 08:34

        Wait what?
        Did I miss something?

        Reply

        • Ryanza

          October 21, 2014 at 08:42

          Too early. linked not leaked.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ in the shadow

            October 21, 2014 at 08:43

            Oh. Alright. Got it.
            Maybe I’ll wait the week. See if the Halloween sale happens on the 30th and then go from there.

    • Mossel

      October 21, 2014 at 08:56

      Steam Halloween sale! O_O I completely forgot about that! Crap I was doing so well, I’m up to 66% complete on the backlog.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ in the shadow

        October 21, 2014 at 09:06

        76% here.
        Need to spend more time on Shadow of Mordor though before then.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          October 21, 2014 at 09:12

          52% here

          🙁

          Borderlands keeping me bizzayyyy

          Reply

          • Captain JJ in the shadow

            October 21, 2014 at 09:14

            Don’t worry, I’m juggling Half Life 2 on the side. AGAIN.

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 21, 2014 at 09:16

            And don’t get me started on your TFU…

          • Captain JJ in the shadow

            October 21, 2014 at 09:18

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 21, 2014 at 09:32

            Dude, just get it over with, sure the gameplay is not the best, but OH MAN THAT STORY!!!!

          • Captain JJ in the shadow

            October 21, 2014 at 09:34

            Well, the fact that it’s still installed and I haven’t ticked it off my backlog list yet means that I’m still serious about finishing it.

          • Mossel

            October 21, 2014 at 14:11

            I still need to finish Borderlands! Was super tempted last night to join in with you, but then ME3 called. I don’t know ME3 for me so far is pretty damn good, more fluid than 2. But it doesn’t feel as open worldly as ME2 and 1 yet, I’m still fairly early in the game.

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 22, 2014 at 10:03

            Finish ME3, and then we can do some co-op in BL2!

  5. Admiral Chief 0

    October 21, 2014 at 08:22

    TV TV TV TV

    TV

    TV TV TV

    TV TV

    TEEEEEEEEEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

    Reply

    • Captain JJ in the shadow

      October 21, 2014 at 08:22

      I hear you can use televisions for that too.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 21, 2014 at 08:23

        SURELY YOU JEST?????

        Reply

  6. Admiral Chief 0

    October 21, 2014 at 08:23

    There goes my ambition to get a eierdoos, IT HAS FLIPPEN INTERNET EXPLORER ON!!!

    GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

    Reply

    • Captain JJ in the shadow

      October 21, 2014 at 08:23

      *an

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 21, 2014 at 08:25

        Hah, well played, was thinking XBOX in my mind, but I am back to calling it the eierdoos

        Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      October 21, 2014 at 09:18

      IE on Xbox is the best Smart TV experience, even better than the gimmicky one on Smart TV’s.

      Reply

  7. ReaperOfSquirrels

    October 21, 2014 at 08:48

    We’re getting Pizza Hut in the country… go go Xbone ordering system!!

    Reply

  8. FoxOneZA

    October 21, 2014 at 09:19

    Each system update weighs a humongous 230mb!

    Reply

    • CAE9872

      October 21, 2014 at 17:54

      Will give that to them – updates work very nicely on the One I must say. I like the new Friends tab which allows me to check progress against others, etc instead of being hidden away.

      Don’t have tons of friends but a few to keep track of…

      Reply

  9. Hammersteyn

    October 21, 2014 at 09:28

    Ugh IE 🙁

    Reply

  10. Hammersteyn

    October 21, 2014 at 09:30

    They’re still pushing SmartGlass?

    Reply

    • Captain JJ in the shadow

      October 21, 2014 at 09:31

      Seems a bit more like AveragePerspex from what I’ve seen.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        October 21, 2014 at 09:35

        lol

        Reply

  11. GooseZA

    October 21, 2014 at 09:43

    These are nice and all, but I want #XB1Share.

    Reply

  12. Brady miaau

    October 21, 2014 at 12:58

    • Left4Dead

      October 22, 2014 at 09:59

      Ahhh…Slash!

      Reply

  13. JustAnotherGamer

    October 21, 2014 at 19:24

    This is… so .,.. lame

    Reply

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