As of the 23rd of January, Microsoft is rolling out its new, Creators update to the Xbox insider program, which was announced late 2016 at an event in New York City. The update is aimed at helping gamer’s share there gaming experiences by making it easier to broadcast on the most reliable multiplayer network. The update will roll out to the wider Xbox audience in spring of this year.
Players are currently able to bring there, funniest, most prizes gaming moments to there friends via screen shots or Game DVR but the hope is t bring Beam broadcasting for any player almost instantly. Microsoft hope that bringing this feature to Xbox, will create a more interactive experience for all on both the Xbox and Windows 10 platform. With Beam being built into both platforms, it should allow anyone to become a game broadcaster, or to allow others to watch more streams and allow watchers to interact in real time with content creators.
The Creator update should see a range of new improvements aimed to boost performance, streaming and encourage competition via Arena. Arena is a place where gamer-created tournaments can be created and played live, allowing the creator to define the rules, invite friends, and track progress across both Xbox and Windows 10. With thousands of servers to help reduce lad, cheating and deliver the best possible performance, combined with the new Club feature, Looking For Group (LFG) and the Arena, Microsoft want to make it easier than ever to find, join and connect with gamer’s everywhere.
The update is to feature a new style home screen, a speed driven UI hoping to bring more options from the Game Hub to the surface allowing you to access your Club, LFG and achievements easier from your game tiles. When not using a custom background, hero art will display of the game your playing.
By pressing the Xbox button on your controller you’ll be able to see the new Guide. New features have been added to improve access to other content from the new Start page, such as the Store, Home, recently played games, apps and Pins. The new guide will overlay on the left of the screen no matter what your doing. bringing up the Guide and pressing “X” or “Y” will allow you to record your gaming moments as well as track you favorited achievements or access Beam.There is still so much more included within the update, New Multitasking will make it quicker to get the things you want most, working with the new guide allowing for quick access to music, screen shots and GameDVR.
Cortana is getting enhanced to make the Xbox One smarter, giving you the ability to set alarms and reminders so as to never miss gaming sessions or streams. An improved update system will allow gamer’s to easily understand the steps for updating there console, when a new update is available and chose to keep there games, console and apps updated based on there chosen power mode.
New audio options will also be enabled for developers allowing for a range of new audio outputs which will be made available to Xbox one users soon, this should make for a more immersive experience. The blu-ray player will have beta for bitstream format supported also to allow the receiver to decode audio naively and this will include newer ones like Dolby Atmos.
The last featured to be covers however has to be one of my favourites. Aimed at making Xbox one accessible to all, a new copilot system will be implemented to allow for two controllers to work as one output. This will allow for people who need a little extra help. This will allows players who need an a unique set up to play if one controller is to restrictive or simply not a viable option. I could also see this feature, depending on how its implemented, being a great way for content creators, friends and family play one game together, allowing each player to control separate aspects of the game.
In all this update should make connecting with other, like minded gamer’s much easier as well as boosting performance for the console, greater connectivity and and easier to navigate UI, much more user friendly. Microsoft has turned its attention to making its Xbox one and Windows 10 gaming platforms much cleaner and easier for all to use. I look forward to seeing the update myself in the spring.
Come and join our XBLG Community Group on Facebook, or you can follow us on Twitter @XBLGAMERHUB
//
