Xbox is always looking to improve the Series X|S dashboard, and the latest update for Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead Insiders resolves quite an irritating issue.
If there's a game that requires an update, when you boot it up, you'll no longer be presented with the game closing or the game attempting to load in. Instead, you'll now immediately receive a message informing you the game requires an update, and the file size of the download will also be presented just a few seconds later.
Xbox Engineering Lead, Eden Marie, shared a look at this update in action via social media:
So, there you go - provided you're part of this program, next time one of your games needs an update, you'll be informed the minute you boot it up. This update will no doubt be rolled out on a much larger scale at a later date.
What do you think of this small but signficant update? Leave a comment down below.
Comments 8
YES! one of my pet peeves. Especially as it would sometimes pop up about 5-30 seconds later which was super confusing.
Oh yeah, this annoys the heck out of me. Glad to see it's finally being addressed.
This is a great update, the way it works now is very clunky.
I'm glad that the OS for the Series generation is the same as the One gen as they had got to a good point by the end of last gen, so ripping it up and starting again would no doubt have introduced lots of new issues and short comings. They are just refining and adding features now.
The other benefit is that most features are still added and updated on the One consoles too, so QoL is improved for everyone.
Glad this is sorted so it works as it really should.
@JetmanUK Horses for courses I guess. I can see benefits in both ways honestly, but personally would have preferred a fresh start designed just for new console.
Not least I never liked the Xbox One Metro tile based UI which was designed to unify PC, Mobile, Xbox & Kinect etc. From a design standpoint that never made sense as each have different control schemes with different levels of accuracy, the design shouldn't be the same for all.
While it's true it's feature rich - that's the main benefit, it also inherited a lot of bugs from XBO generation too like this, sluggish menus and more which shouldn't be the case if they started from scratch aiming the design at XSX|S and the SSD. You also end up with a bloated codebase.
Yes they're slowly fixing these but you can only polish a flawed design concept so much imo.
@themightyant I def read about a lot of PS5 owners unhappy with it's new OS due to its lack of features and design, I saw some owners saying they had rather that Sony had done the same as MS.
I was happy that they kept the old dashboard for the launch and some time beyond. No rushing firmware out that is buggy and featureless.
I do agree that a redesign going forward is the way to go, but when the XBO gen is left behind.
They will no doubt have a new dash being worked on in parallel with the current one, but without a confirmed release date it can continue to be improved and refined ready for the next New Xbox Experience, as they like to brand it.
I just feel that the new console received a less troublesome launch and the old gen has had a nice benefit too. For me they've played it super smart.
@JetmanUK It's always going to be subjective.
Yes PS5 UI certainly had it's teething problems for some (thankfully wasn't one of them) and launched without some features present in PS4. But I love the speed of it, it just feels snappy and responsive. Even the store effortlessly merges into the main UI. I also haven't had the same issues with it i've had with Xbox - like this issue, the sluggish side menu, store not loading, Rewards app bugs, and more. That's not to diminish anyone who found the opposite. We all have different experiences.
The fact I never liked the Metro UI design ethos probably adds bias to my view too, whereas I love the sleek design of the PS5 UI. Of course that is subjective, I prefer the minimalism of it which seems elegant to me, while others prefer the customisation of the Xbox UI, which seems overly busy and cluttered to my eyes. Neither solution is 'right' it's just an aesthetic preference at the end of the day.
There's definitely pros and cons each and thankfully both are at least functional and stable.
@themightyant Building on existing product is pretty much the central heart of MS' entire design philosophy across the board, though. Starting fresh was a menace in the 360 era and at odds with the entire MS approach to anything. It wouldn't fit in as an MS product if it didn't continuously build on the past and just restarted every new product. Windows 11 is still built on Vista's introductions, which itself was an overhaul over existing Windows XP which itself was just an overhaul atop 2000 which itself was just an overhaul atop NT4. The last "totally new" thing they did was....I guess NT itself? Win95 was "new" but still built atop DOS just as 3.1 was, it was just a new shell mostly. NT was made separately in parallel. The DOS kernel continued through 98 (do we have to mention ME?) and then just stopped. The NT kernel is what we're still using today just with 25+ years of improvements and replacements on it. So...1993, something like that was the last totally new OS with NT1? 10/11 is still based on it. Which....is what the XBOS is inside, too.
To me XBOS is basically Windows. Well, it literally is Windows. Which is the whole point. Preference or not, that's kind of the whole point of the platform is that iterative mentality in design.
PS5 OS is so Apple it hurts. And I can't stand the non-functional arbitrary limitations on everything Apple does simply to not confuse the barbarian primates that are the mass consumer market I don't use the OS, it just permits me to do specific things in specific ways someone else decided is right. PS5...it's a fine launcher. If you only have a few games installed. Which I do because the SSD is so tiny. And the store is....well integrated. The OS isn't the store's worst problems. But it doesn't really do very much else at all. And file management is a mess that feels like it came from DOS. You literally have to sit and watch a progress bar as you copy files to a slow HDD or delete something. You can't minimize, can't multitask, can't even power down and let it do it in the background sleep state. It's an OS designed for 1995. It would be at home on the PSX. VITA is more functional! (I still say Vita was the single best OS/UX Sony ever made. So it's, of course, the one they ignored 6mo after launch. If they based everything on Vita, I'd be happy. Honestly I think Vita had the best UX of any mobile device I've used.
FWIW, I also hate Metro UI with a disgust I can't put into words or risk banning However current XBOS, though it retains some Metro elements, is a whole other animal that's evolved far past the Metro nightmare. You just haven't used a real Metro interface in too long if you don't remember how bad the real deal is. I have a Win8 (not 8.1, 8.0) box I have to use at times. It's such a nightmare. Those were dark, dark days at Xbox, and Windows.
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