Since its announcement, the Creators Update for Xbox One has been long awaited by users of the console who weren"t in the meritorious (and confusing) Xbox Insiders program. Now, it seems that the floodgates have opened as Microsoft is rolling out the update to all the users on the platform.
The new features in the update include:
- A new Home: One of the major features of this update is a new UI for Home. The new Home is faster, and looks sleeker. Microsoft has optimized the speed and prioritized gaming content for the users. The company has provided users with "a smaller icon for the game with options to dive deeper into the community surrounding the game, as well as the ability to interact with your Club or find Looking for Group posts, view your Achievements and more". This update also brings backgrounds to your Home, which will highlight the game you"re playing, if you don"t have a custom one set.
- Faster Guide: Another welcome change seems to be the quicker guide. Now, pressing the guide button doesn"t take you to the Home page. Instead, it comes as an overlay on the left side. According to the company, the new experience "puts the features and functionality that you use the most right at your fingertips". The first page of the guide includes your Games and Apps, Home, Store, your recently launched applications, the latest Games and Deals with Gold for Xbox Live Gold members, and your top Pins.
- Multitasking: Long Live the Snap Mode, the Snap Mode is dead. Microsoft has killed the lesser used mode for a new compact overlay mode. The Redmond giant claims it did so "to simplify discoverability and to make it easier to get to the things you care about most, our multitasking features were designed with the new Guide in mind". It includes a new achievement tracker that allows you to follow and select multiple achievements all while you"re playing the game.
- Beam integration: One of the key functionalities of this upgrade is the ability to stream being built into the platform. You can now stream on Beam directly from the Guide. The company adds, "With Beam, we’re inviting Creators on Windows 10 PC and Xbox One to stream gameplay and interact with the community in near real-time using Beam’s ultra low-latency – no extra hardware or software required". The streaming service is known for its low latency between the stream and the chat.
- Accessibility: Your Xbox now has a copilot feature "which allows two controllers to act as if they were one". The company believes that this makes the console "more inviting to gamers who can benefit from playing along with another person, more fun for families by adding cooperative controls for any game, and easier for players who need unique configurations to play". There are also several improvements for Magnifier and Narrator which, along with other accessibility features, can be found in Settings > Ease of Access.
There are several other functionalities such as Screen Time Limits which allows parents to set a daily time allowance, and limits for each child, and bitstream pass-through, which allows your receiver to decode audio natively coming later next week. The upgrade is rolling out to all users today and can be downloaded from the settings on your Xbox One.
Source: Xbox