The Xbox One August Update is currently rolling out to preview participants, WPCentral has reported on some of the content. It contains a pretty sweet new feature regarding content downloads, as well as a couple of other bits.
It seems that if you have your console set up in "Instant On" mode, when you purchase an app or game via Xbox.com or SmartGlass, the console will wake up and download it for you, without you having to do a thing. Also, this means that you will be able to preorder titles. You preorder and pay, and when the product is released, it'll download to your console, ready for you to play.
Also new are a low battery notification which will appear on-screen when the controller is low on gas, and the controller will now vibrate a little when you hold down the Xbox button, in order to provide a bit of extra feedback.
You'll also be able to disable notifications whilst playing a video, and the Blu-ray app will be updated to support 3D Blu-ray movies. Brazil, Mexico, Austria, and Ireland will be getting OneGuide Live TV listings, as well.
The activity feed will get an overhaul too. A single column list will be on the cards, with the ability to post text and to "like" and comment on feed items. Private and public clip sharing will be available, and notifications will appear when people like, comment, or share your items. Also, your friends list will show how long it's been since a friend was online.
Going into an EXTENDED preview is a new "Friends" scrolling list for the homescreen. This will apparently not make it into the August update proper, but is being rolled out to preview accounts with the goal of adding it to a final update either in September or October. The new panel will allow you to see more details about your friends and what they're playing, as well as "trending" games, and interestingly, a Gamerscore leaderboard.
Major Nelson takes you through the changes, in the video below.
[source wpcentral.com]
Comments 9
Sounds like a great, much needed update, keep at it Microsoft
Although it would have been nice to have some of these features from this and previous updates at launch, Microsoft has been doing a great job improving the OS each month with meaningful updates (not just bug fixes). Hopefully music on Xbox One will be updated in the next couple months, preferably by providing more streaming options than just Xbox Music (I currently use Beats).
This just may be the best update yet. Would have thought the external HDD support would be, but since you can't play back media yet from an external, I'm reserving overall judgement on that one. Honestly, I had been under the impression that the auto-download feature was available at launch. Imagine my surprise the first time I paid for a game via xbox.com while at work and got home and then had to wait half an hour or so for the game to download. Better late then never and to bundle it with pre-ordering, which I presume may indicate pre-loading(?), this is a fantastic update.
Also the activity feed update has me hopeful that I may finally find a reason to ever look at it. Does anyone know if it's possible to filter the feed to only show Xbox One activity that friends have had? The majority of my friends are still on 360, and seeing a ton of that really doesn't interest me when I'm on the Xbox One.. so it would be nice to either hide that or sort it by console if possible.
@Generik That's a good question. I'll have to check the options next time I boot up my Xbox One. Not sure I ever tried to mess around with that stuff before.
These updates are getting better & better! Being able to play media from my external HDD would be fantastic though 😊
Im sure that media playback from a external drive is coming soon. the only catch is you will have to use one hard drive for playback while the other is for games. which honestly is no big deal. Xbox keeps listening to the feedback which is always a good thing.
So Xbox One gets 3D BluRay before PS4, kind of hilarious. I'm hoping the Sony drones will call the company on this one. PS4 is lacking so many features PS3 had it's beyond unacceptable and the updates are abysmal compared to ones like this.
3D BLU is a start, showing that Mic. is responding to feedback... personally I believe MOST games are also better in the third dimension and hope the XB1 gains some support for 3DTV's game-wise very soon!
Im actually happy with the New media player app thats in BETA. i was able to watch all my video files but MKV as they stated they will have mkv support by the end of 2014.
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