Earlier today, Microsoft rolled out the 12-person Party Chat feature to everyone on Xbox One, as well as the Xbox App on Windows 10. But that’s not all. Microsoft is also rolling out a bunch of exciting new updates to the New Xbox One Experience (NXOE) Preview. Here’s a list of new features you should already be receiving if you are a part of the select group of initial NXOE Preview testers:
- Party text chat adds more communication options. In the New Xbox One Experience, text chat joins voice chat as a way to communicate with your friends. At the bottom of the ‘Your Party’ page, you will see a button to ‘Show text chat.’ This will let you participate in the conversation. Party text chat will also come to the Beta Xbox App for Windows 10.
- A streamlined Game DVR experience. We have combined the functionality of the Game DVR snap app and the former Upload app into one easy-to-use app called Game DVR. In full screen mode, you can use this app to view your game clips and screenshot captures. When snapped, you can use Game DVR to start or stop recordings.
- New animated avatars. They are back and better than ever. You showed us that you are passionate about Avatars with many requests on Xbox Feedback. The new avatars will be animated on your profile and will start showing up in other new places in the new experience. If you prefer a gamerpic, you can easily switch your image.
- Updated menu for quick access to common actions. The menu button on your controller lets you pin an app or game to Home, launch a recently played game, or quit an app or game with just the touch of a button.
- Access new settings in the Guide. Adding to settings already included in the guide, like adjusting the headset volume, you can now turn your console off or restart your console directly from the Guide.
You can check out some of the new menus and experiences below. For example, this update adds new sorting options for your games and apps, as well as new quick access power options. There are new black toast notifications, which are fairly nice, as well as a new Xbox Accessories app and new keyboard look. Check out some of the pics below (courtesy of JackFry on Imgur).
These updates are based on user feedback, so please continue giving Microsoft your valuable input. The company plans to roll out more invites this week, according to Microsoft’s Partner Director of Program Management, Mike Ybarra. “And yes, more invites are going this week. We will scale to a lot of folks soon. Thanks for being patient as we develop this!” he says on Twitter.
Currently, those who are enrolled in the Xbox preview program and have historically submitted the most feedback will be the lucky ones to snag the NXOE Preview update. Microsoft wants to get feedback from an initial group of testers, then roll out the update to larger groups for additional feedback over time.
Microsoft is sending invites to the update to preview members via an Xbox Live message. Once an invite is received, you can launch the Xbox Preview Dashboard and select the registration option. From there, you can opt-in by selecting “Preview – New Xbox One Experience.”
Are you currently testing the new Xbox One experience?
