Xbox One: April 2018 Update (Public) & May 2018 Update (Insider)

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

April 2018 (Public)

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The Xbox Spring Update Begins Rolling Out to Insiders Today

by Bradley, Xbox Insider Team Lead Posted on March 1, 2018 at 2:22 pm

 

Spring is almost here, and another update to Xbox One is not far behind. In fact, if you’re in the Xbox Insider Alpha Ring, your first look at the Spring update for Xbox One arrives today! As always, we’re listening to fan feedback and developing a brand-new set of features to make your Xbox One experience better than ever. Corporate Vice President Mike Ybarra and Partner Group Program Manager Kevin Gammill have already teased some of these new features, but we’ve also snuck in a few surprises for you to enjoy.

 

Support for 1440p Video Output

Xbox One X and Xbox One S now support output at 1440p resolution for games and media; 1440p resolution, sometimes referred to as “2560x1440” and “QHD,” is a popular choice for PC users. With over a million and a half more pixels than 1080p, this resolution fills the gap between Full HD and 4K displays.

 

A New Level of Mixer Interactivity

Introducing a new form of Mixer interactivity: Share controller. Soon, Mixer streamers on Xbox One will have the option of sharing their controller with a Mixer viewer who is watching through Mixer.com. Streamers can share their entire controller (except the Xbox button) in the Xbox game they are playing, and a viewer can take control through the on-screen gamepad or by plugging a controller into their PC. Viewer and streamer can work together in the game, or the viewer can cause trouble – resulting in hilarious chaos. It’s your choice!

Share controller isn’t the only new feature for Mixer in this release. Broadcasts no longer stop when you switch games. Your Mixer stream will now pause when you switch games or exit to the dashboard; your viewers will see a pause screen until you jump back into a game, and you’ll see an indicator on your broadcasting overlay to let you know that your stream has been paused automatically. Additionally, you can now start your Mixer broadcasts from anywhere on Xbox One, whether you are on the dashboard, a game’s splash screen or within a game itself.

 

The Cutting Edge

The Microsoft Edge browser on Xbox One has been updated to a new look that’s modern but still feels familiar. We know how important a good web browsing experience is for you, so we’ve doubled down on making Microsoft Edge easy to navigate with a controller. Improvements to the Favorites and History experience make it simple for you to return to your favorite sites. We’re also very excited to announce that you can now download and upload pictures, music and videos from Microsoft Edge on the console; your downloaded content can then be browsed with the File Explorer app. Other new features to note are tab muting, read aloud and autofill. We’re always looking to improve the browsing experience on Xbox and look forward to your feedback.

 

More Immersive Audio

If you’re the type of person that loves to rock out to a music playlist while playing your favorite games, we have good news for you! You now have an option to selectively balance game audio against background music within the Guide. Turn down the game volume, crank up the music volume and rock on. But that’s not all. The system sounds on Home and in the Guide have been completely revamped to support spatial audio, so the audio cues from your surround sound system will match the actions you see on-screen.

 

Powerful Invite Filtering Tools for Club Owners

Club administrators can now filter invitation requests based on various criteria, including reputation, Gamerscore, and recommendations from existing club members. Are you setting up a club for hardcore PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds players? Set a filter to only show invitees with over 200 hours of playtime.  Maybe you’re looking for Gamerscore completionists in Forza Motorsport 7? Filter requests to only show invitees with over 900 Gamerscore. These filters will persist until the administrator changes them, so if you set or edit club filters, they’ll still be there the next time you sign-in. Club invitees will also now appear in a vertical list, with details such as their Gamertag, Gamerpic, Gamerscore, a line noting if the new invitees were recommended by an existing club member, and a reputation indicator.

 

Smarter Feeds

You will soon be able to sort your club feeds to show you “what’s hot” and “top posts.” Use the “what’s hot” filter to see trending content in the club feed that’s popular right now. Filtering by “top posts” will show you the most popular posts of all time in that club.

You will also soon be able to disable comments on your feed posts across clubs, Game Hubs, and Community, so the only person in control of the narrative is you. Finally, we’re cleaning up your feeds by hiding posts for broadcasts once they’ve ended.

 

Open Tournaments

Tournaments are now available directly in Game Hubs, so you don’t have to be a member of a club to start or join a tournament.

In the February update, we told you about a few more features that a subset of users may find – we call these “experiments.” We’re adding even more experiments to the Spring update. These features are only enabled for a portion of the Xbox Insider audience to gauge interest and collect feedback. Last month, we previewed a brand-new collection experience for Xbox Game Pass in My Games and Apps. This month, we’re revamping the experience for Xbox Live Gold as well! You’ll now have a dedicated tab to quickly view and access all your redeemed Games with Gold that you can install. Quickly scroll through all your previously redeemed games and install them with just two button presses.  All of this, and more, will be rolling out to Xbox Insiders over the coming weeks. Thank you, Xbox Insiders, for all your feedback. Your participation in the Xbox Insider Program helps us make the work-in-progress content and features coming to Xbox even better.

 

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/03/01/spring-update-rolling-out/

 

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May 2018 (Insider)

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May Xbox Update Adds Groups, High Refresh Rate, and More

by Bradley Rossetti, Xbox Insider Team Lead Posted on April 20, 2018 at 12:08 pm

 

E3 is coming up quick, and the team is hard at work on a bunch of exciting new things that we can’t wait to show you in June. But before E3 arrives, we still have a chance to add in a few more exciting features onto your Xbox One that we think you’ll enjoy.  Some of these build on the new features we introduced last month; others are new ideas that the team has implemented for you, the Xbox Insider community. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect in the coming weeks:

 

120Hz Comes to Consoles

In April, we added variable refresh rate, 1440p resolution support, and auto low latency mode. But we aren’t done just yet. In May, we’re adding support for additional panel refresh rates. Gamers with gaming monitors and televisions that support a 120Hz refresh rate can now turn on 120Hz support for 1080p and 1440p output resolutions. This high refresh rate option means you can now take full advantage of displays with 120Hz capabilities.

 

Group Your Games and Apps

Our fans asked for new ways to organize their library of games and apps. In response, we’re introducing a powerful new enhancement to Pins which we call “Groups.” With Groups, you can create multiple collections of content made up of anything from within My games & apps. You can also assign custom names to each Group, organize and order them, and add individual Groups to Home. Groups will appear across My games & apps, Home, and Guide, so you’ll be able to access your Groups at a moment’s notice. Best of all, Groups are tied to your account, so they will automatically sync across multiple Xbox One consoles. We’ve started you off with a Group that should look very familiar — your Pins!

 

We’re doing something a little different with the rollout of this feature: Groups will not initially be enabled for everyone in the Alpha ring. In order to gauge interest and collect feedback, we will instead gradually roll out Groups over time within Alpha.

 

Trim Clips Directly in the Guide

Last month, we added a new sharing feature that helps gamers upload their captured screenshots and videos directly to Twitter. This month, we’re improving on the sharing experience even further; you can now trim your recent game captures directly from the Guide, so you won’t need to switch to Upload Studio to make a quick cut to your saved clips.

 

Improved Family Settings

Xbox One is also helping parents keep their family safe with updates to family settings. We’re adding a “Details” page where parents can easily find and manage all family settings on Xbox One. Parents will easily be able to tell which family and content settings are set up and configured. Important setting that are turned off or require attention will be flagged as well. Some settings, such as activity reports and screen time limits, can only be accessed through the web: We’ll identify those settings and provide links where parents can easily set them up.

 

Improvements to the Xbox Accessories App

We’re also modernizing the Xbox Accessories app to make it easier to navigate, and to look and feel more consistent with the rest of the Xbox One dashboard.

 

Intuitive Button Commands

We’re also making changes to some of the button commands throughout the dashboard. For example, you can now use the View button on Home to edit the order of blocks or reorder items within Groups.  Pressing the “View” button on the main tab of the Guide will also now display additional capture options. If you group your collections in My games and apps by letter, you will now need to select a letter to view all groups.

 

As usual, a subset of users may also see additional experimental features that we didn’t mention here. These features are only enabled for a portion of the Xbox audience to gauge interest and collect feedback.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/04/20/may-xbox-update/

 

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[DrunknMunky Veteran]

The April Xbox Update Begins Rolling Out Today

[George P Global Moderator]

3 hours ago, Andrew said:

The April Xbox Update Begins Rolling Out Today

Should probably change the title of this from Spring to April update.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

New Preview Alpha 1806 System Update – 5/22/18

 

New Features:

While anticipation for E3 continues to build for a fantastic lineup of new games for Xbox players, we’re sharing some great new features in development that will begin to roll out to Xbox Insiders today.  Not all of these features will be available immediately, but will be added over time in system update 1806 (June Update).  The team at Xbox is always striving to improve the platform, and these features developed from fan feedback will continue to be shaped by Insider previewers.  Enjoy these new features and giving your valuable feedback as we count down the days to the Xbox E3 briefing on June 10th!

Group Your Games and Apps

 

With so much content available, fans have asked for more options to organize libraries of games and apps.  Today, we’re introducing a powerful new enhancement to Pins, which we call “Groups.” With Groups, you can create multiple collections of content made up of anything from within My Games & Apps. You can also assign custom names to each Group, organize and order them, and add individual Groups to Home. Groups will appear across My Games & Apps, Home and Guide, so you’ll be able to access your Groups at a moment’s notice. Best of all, Groups are tied to your Xbox Live account, so they will automatically sync across multiple Xbox One consoles. We’ve started you off with a Group that should look very familiar — your Pins!

 

Improved Search Functionality

Searching for content is now even easier!  Now pressing the Y button anywhere in the dashboard will bring up the search dialog.  This process is found in many apps, but now you can do it anywhere within the dashboard.  Not seeing enough results for your search? Hit enter or click the “more results” button to view a full page for your search results.

Multiple Wi-Fi passwords

 

The team at Xbox wants to enable gamers to hop online and play with ease.  This feature enables users to store multiple Wi-Fi passwords on their console.  This will make jumping between networks even easier and give you even more reasons to pack your Xbox on your next vacation!

 

Additional Accessibility Options

The Narrator feature on Xbox One now supports five additional languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch. We’re also adding an Australian version of English language for Narrator, so Australian users will no longer have to select US or UK English in order to use Narrator.

 

Improvements to Family Settings

New features will allow for the right experience for child accounts.

 

Experiments

A subset of Xbox Insiders may see some experimental features in addition to what’s listed above.  These are designed to gauge interest and solicit feedback from a more focused group.  For example, some users will be able to share game-specific stats amongst your friends right on your home page.  While others may find greater functionality within Clubs.

As always, thanks to all the Xbox Insiders for your feedback.  Your insight and input is both critical and crucial to making a better Xbox experience for gamers around the world.

 

 

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Also worth noting that MS retired Xbox 360 Smartglass on every platform.