With the release of Windows 10 just weeks away, and with Microsoft having big plans for integration for Xbox One and Windows 10, it stands to reason that they would once again look to redesign the Xbox Dashboard.
In the video below, Xbox LIVE’s Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb sits down with Richard Irving from the Xbox Engineering Team to discuss some of the key changes to the Xbox One Dashboard when the update hits later this year.
The most obvious and immediate change you will notice is the layout and design. Gone are the tiles and the side scrolling menu, and in their place is a sleek looking side menu that doesn’t take up too much space, and the home page is now a list of all your recently played games, and who among your friends has been playing them.
What you will also notice, as you scroll down the list, is that each game has had additional information added next to them which will display messages from the developers if there is an update or DLC available, or if you have any clips ready to share with your friends.
The next major change you will notice is in the Community tab. This has been completely redesigned to make the activity feed centre stage. You will now be able to see with a lot more ease which friends have unlocked what achievements, what clips have been uploaded, and also if any of your friends have said anything – the example used in the video below is someone asking if anyone is down for some Halo 5 (which, let’s face it, we all would be).
To the right of that is the brand new Trending section. On here you will be able to see what games and videos are currently trending over Xbox Live. You will also be able to see if there are any players that are currently achieving big things: for example, any gamers that have shared any decent clips and have gotten lots of views.
The final major change that you will notice isn’t one you will exactly see, and that is the introduction of Cortana. That’s right, Master Chief’s blue A.I. companion is coming to the Xbox One, with her main aim to make things EVEN easier. Cortana will be able to check if friends are online, start and invite friends to parties, and even create and share game clips for you WITHOUT you even having to press a button.
These are of course just the major changes coming to the Xbox Dashboard and Xbox LIVE later this year. There is currently no date set for when preview member will be able to get hands on, but our guess is sometime late August/mid September.
Check out the video below for even more details regarding the new dashboard.
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