Microsoft has been pushing out Preview updates for the Xbox One quite a bit lately, but they"ve mostly been full of bug fixes. Today, the company is offering an update to Preview Program members that actually brings new features, build rs1_xbox_rel_1610.160901-1900.
We"ve known since early June that the Anniversary Update for Xbox One would come in two different phases. To be very clear, this is a preview of the second phase of the update. The new features were announced at E3 2016 later that month, and they include Clubs, Looking for Group (LFG), and Arena (although news about Arena is coming soon).
Microsoft says that you"ll see Clubs for just about everything. Any gamer can make one and create a community of people that enjoy the same things that you do. You"ll be able to "set up parties, play games, share content, and easily communicate using voice and text.
You can search for or create a Club in the Community tab on the Xbox One, or in the Clubs section in the Xbox (beta) app. There cannot be two Clubs with the same name, so if you want to set one up, you should reserve yours now.
LFG is designed to help you find people to game with. As Microsoft says, "It"s like posting a gaming "want-ad" to the Xbox community." Of course, you can also choose from an LFG that someone else created to join in on the gaming action.
But that"s not all. There are also changes coming to the Gamerscore Leaderboard. While Microsoft is promising that it is faster and more reliable, it will also reset at the beginning of every month, rather than the rolling 30-day period that it currently uses. This is meant to give you and your fellow gamers a "clean slate" to compete against each other each month.
Finally, if you"re an emoji enthusiast, today is your lucky day. Today"s Preview build will bring emojis to the virtual keyboard on the Xbox One. You can get to them by pressing the right trigger while using the keyboard. Pressing and holding on an emoji will provide different variants of the character, such as the more diverse emojis that we"ve seen.
While all of these features are coming to Xbox One Preview Program members today, users of the Xbox (beta) app will get them as well, but in a few weeks. The update is slated to go live for the public this holiday season, for both the Xbox One and the main Xbox app.
Update: Article was updated to include the build number.