Xbox One November Update Outlined

Published: September 10, 2015 9:15 PM /

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New Xbox One Experience Novermber Update

Today Xbox Wire outlined what changes will be made in the November Xbox update.  This update will be a complete overhaul of the current Xbox Dashboard, as well as adding new usability and features. The update will be slowly rolling out soon to Xbox Preview members before its official November launch. The post talks about the continued merging of Windows 10 and Xbox stating:

The New Xbox One Experience will be powered by Windows 10, elevating the gaming experience on Xbox One. Integrating the speed of Windows 10, the New Xbox One Experience will get you to popular gaming features up to 50 percent faster. Instantly start a party, see what your friends are playing, and get updates to your recently played games from Home with no wait time.

You may have seen screenshots of the new dashboard during E3, but the design has changed slightly even since then. 

New Xbox One Experience E3 vs Now Comparison
Courtesy of Reddit user AS_Empire

The main changes coming with the update are: 

  • Backwards Compatibility – Over 100 Xbox 360 games will be available to play with more being added continually. Every game will be able to be streamed, screenshotted, and are compatible with the game DVR. You will also be able to play multiplayer with your friends still on the Xbox 360. 
  • New Guide – The new Guide will be streamlined so that you don't have to go through a ton of apps to do what you actually want to do. You'll be able to access it at Home by pressing left, or by double tapping the Xbox button to overlay it over your game. You'll be able to access Friends, Party, Settings, System Notifications, Messages, and more from Home or without leaving your game.
  • The Redesign – The Home will be getting a major face lift. The redesign isn't just for aesthetics, it will also make it easier to go to recently used apps or games, share achievements and game clips, see what your friends are up to, and access Game Hubs to get updates and news from developers and the community. 
  • New Community Section – The new community section will show what your friends are doing, track games you follow in the new Activity Feed, and use the Trending section to see the top posts from Xbox Live players. 
  • The New OneGuide – OneGuide will now be able to go full-screen when showing TV listings, and also allow you to use a picture-in-picture mode to search for a new show while still watching your current one. It will show the TV shows with the most viewers at the moment and will show the best new movies, TV shows, and deals across Xbox One apps. The new App Channels will look at the apps you use the most and show the latest TV shows, movies, and videos from those apps. 
  • New Store – The Store will now have four areas: Games, TV & Movies, Apps, and Music. It will have a vertical view to show more things at once and will have new categories for Staff Picks, New Releases, Top played, Top rated, Coming Soon and Recommendations to help you discover new things. 

The post also lets Xbox Preview members know how the New Xbox One Experience will be rolling out, which will be through an invite message that will allow you to opt-in or opt-out of the update. If you opt-out, it WILL NOT remove you from the Preview Program, you will still get regular updates. 

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Quick Take 

This update is a very much needed thing, and not only because it looks way better than what we have now. Currently it is way too convoluted a process to create a party, or invite friends to a game, so it's good to see Xbox listening to gamers and making it easier. Also I hope that the store will be able to showcase a more varied selection of games so that I can find new games I otherwise never would have known about. Time will tell if they deliver on all of these promises and improve the experience, or if they have me wishing everything was the same as the old Xbox 360 system. 

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Kyle Downey TechRaptor
| Staff Writer

Staff Writer looking to keep you both informed and entertained. Favorite games include: Pokemon, Overwatch, Golden Sun, Portal, and Elder Scrolls.