For those of you in the Xbox Insider program, the details of what new features to expect to be rolling out this month were revealed today. Let’s have a gander!
Every month, updates deliver newer features for the community to enjoy, thus enhancing their Xbox One experience. This month, from today onwards, Xbox are rolling out a whole host of fresh features such as a brand new Party overlay, some much requested improvements to the Activity Feed and the ability to host Killer Instinct tournaments on Xbox Live powered by Arena. But that’s just us skimming over it, here’s everything broken down for you…
Arena
Arena is Xbox’s way of making esports available to the masses on Xbox Live, no matter their skill level. More of the Insiders will have access to World of Tanks tournaments in the coming month, whilst Killer Instinct enthusiasts will also have tournaments to look forward to. Not only can the chosen Insiders find and register for official and user-created tournaments via Clubs across Xbox One and Windows 10, but they can also create and host their own as long as they are admin of said Club. It’s as easy as filling out a bit of information, before publishing it for members or guests to join on either Xbox One or PC.
Keep your eyes open for more details on Xbox’s first public Arena-powered prized tournament, The Killer Instinct Battle for New York. Eight of the top KI players will win a trip to compete for over $10k in real money and prizes at the New York Microsoft Store studio. Don’t be surprised to see other games get the tournament treatment in the future, games like Halo Wars 2 and SMITE. Xbox Live is only going to get more exciting and competitive!
Party Overlay
Remember the Achievement tracker, where you can choose a position on-screen for the achievement to appear as an overlay with your own choice of transparency? Well, Party overlay will work much the same, but instead it’ll show you who’s speaking from within your Party. It’ll only show the Gamertag of the talking player, then going invisible when all is quiet. It’s surely a useful feature for those playing alongside unfamiliar voices.
Fan-Requested Feature Updates
Many fan-requested features are also set to be rolling out, with Xbox constantly looking to use the input of the community to improve the current features. Below is a list of the incoming updates:
- Share your Looking for Group post on the Activity Feed or through a message
- Unfollow a Club or Game Hub directly from your Activity Feed
- Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.
- For Beam and Twitch broadcasts, you will now have an option in the Guide for your Kinect to locate you automatically.
- Captive Portal support for wireless internet is coming to Xbox One, which allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser. Ideal for colleges, hotels, or other public Wi-Fi locations.
- Filter posts on your Activity Feed on the Xbox app for iOS and Android
- On the Xbox app for Windows 10, the added option to select the audio input and output sources for Party chat.
As an Xbox Insider, you can expect these updates and new features to be rolling out from today onwards. Be sure to let us know what you think of it all via the comments section or on social media…
