Those who are not in the Xbox One Preview Program can now enjoy the latest update to the Xbox One user interface. The update began rolling out this weekend to all Xbox One users, and Mike Ybarra, Head of Platform Engineering, says that this update will “give gamers more choice in how and where they play.” Like with most updates, new features were added, old features were tweeked, and, of course, things have been moved around so that you can no longer find them at first glance (gotta love that part…).
According to Ybarra’s post on Xbox Wire, the following improvements have been made to the Xbox One:
- Background Music: Today’s update brings the ability for the highly requested feature of Background Music, which lets you listen to your favorite music in the background while gaming on Xbox One. The Pandora app, launching soon, is the first of many partners who will support Background Music, with Groove Music, iHeartRadio and other apps coming later.
- Cortana on Xbox One: Cortana is now available on Xbox One in the US and UK With Cortana, gamers can expect more from voice commands on Xbox. In addition to more commands and greater accuracy with natural language and text dictation, Cortana provides the ability to use a headset or Kinect. You’ll be able to use Cortana to find great new games, see what your friends are up to, start a party, accomplish common tasks, turn on your Xbox One if you’re using Kinect, and more. We’ll continue to build more Cortana features over time as part of our vision to have Cortana be your personal digital assistant for gaming.
- Improved Game Collection: We’ve updated the Game Collection interface to make it faster and easier to find and launch the games you’re looking for. Now you’ll be able to sort, manage and see more of your Game Collection easily, quickly access your own ‘Ready to Install’ tab, update your games or apps using the new ‘Updates’ tab, and get more information about titles in your queue.
- Language Region Independence: Based on overwhelming fan feedback, we’ve enabled Language Region Independence to give gamers even more control over their Xbox experience. Language Region Independence allows you to choose any supported language on Xbox One, regardless of the location. For example, if you’re in the U.S. and move to Germany, you can now keep your language set to English on Xbox One and enjoy your experiences in English.
- Xbox and Windows Store convergence: We’re starting to combine the best of the Xbox Store and Windows Store to give gamers a single cohesive experience across their devices. On Xbox One, we’ve streamlined the shopping experience to help you find the games you love faster and at the best prices. You’ll be able to filter search results by genre, read reviews written by fellow gamers – including those voted “most helpful” by the Xbox Live community–easily recognise what titles are on sale with strikethrough pricing in lists, and more. We’ve also added several new channels to help you discover the content you love even faster.
So, are you excited for the changes made to Xbox One? Which features would you like to see improved? Let us know in the comments down below!
