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Xbox One Preview and Xbox Beta app to receive new features this month

by on January 19, 2016
 

Mike Ybarra, the Director of Program Management at Xbox has announced a whole load of new features that are coming this month to Xbox One Preview and the Xbox Beta app this month. So without further ado, here are all the new features in a concise and delectable fashion (maybe):

Xbox One Preview updates and enhancements:

  • See who’s in the party – You’ll now be able to see who’s in a party before joining it. Click the ‘Chat’ button which appears below a friend to see who they’re playing with.
  • Gamerscore leaderboard – In Xbox One Preview, go to the Achievements section of your profile to find a revived Gamerscore Leaderboard. It’ll be easier to see how you stand up against your mates and who’s gained the most points over a 30-day period.
  • Rearrange pins on Home and access them offline – In preview, you’ll now be able to rearrange individual pins and launch them off line if you so wish. Pretty neat, huh?
  • Update your activity feed – Clicking the link of your activity feed in Xbox One Preview will take you straight to the top, letting you see the latest posts keeping you up to speed with all things Xbox.
  • Joinable Twitch broadcasts – In preview, Game Hubs as well as the game title will now let you watch any broadcasting buddies by launching Twitch easier.
  • Improvements to suggested friends – There’s a new Friend Suggestion area in Community and the Friends list that will suggest folks you may know and content creators you may want to follow. Suggestions include the gamertag, real name (if shared), gamerpic and the reason for the suggestion.
  • Hide games from ‘ready-to-install’ list – Hide content you know longer want to see like old betas, trials, games and apps. The feature’s back. Hurrah!!

Updates coming to Xbox One Preview and the Xbox Beta app that make gaming on any platform better:

  • Avatar store – Equip your avatar with new items in the newly-integrated Avatar Store. The Store is built right into the Xbox Avatars app on the console. Likewise, you can access the same app to do so on PCs and phones. You can preview any items on your avatar before buying, so you know whether those Halo loafers are going to look good or not.
  • Xbox news – You’ll be seeing new Xbox News posts in your activity feed to make it easier to stay on top of all that Xbox goodness, like release dates, new hardware and tournaments.
  • Improvements to trending – On both Xbox One Preview and Xbox Beta app this month, you’ll start to see new access points for trending items to the right of the Community tab on your console and to the left menu area on the app. It’ll take you to a dedicated Trending landing page featuring the most splendid of videos, screenshots and achievements.
  • Suggested friends – If you click ‘see all’ or double tap on the shortlist of friend suggestions  in any scenario, you’ll be pointed to a full-screen view of suggested friends. January will also bring Trending topics and friend suggestions into your activity feed.
  • Compact mode for Xbox app – Ybarra and friends have moved additional functions to compact mode which will enable you to quickly switch between your friends’ view, your party, messages and activity alerts. Keep checking up on business with a little click and still do what you got to do on your Windows PC!