Xbox Brings New Features to Xbox One Preview and Beta App

Back in November the new Xbox One Experience rolled out to everyone.  Some liked it, some hated it.  But one thing’s for sure.  We all got used to it pretty fast because there was no turning back the clock.

Now, can we honestly say that we’d like to go back to what it was?  We’d all like to see a few more tweaks and additions to the new dash but I don’t think I could go back to the way the system used to look now.

With that in mind there are some changes coming to the Xbox One Preview Program and the Beta App this month.

These New experiences will start to roll out to the Xbox One Preview:

See who’s in a Party: Remember when we could see who someone was in a party with?  Well, soon we will be able to do so again.  Simply pull up your friends list and click on the friend you want to see then click the Chat button under their tag and see who their in with.

Gamerscore Leaderboard: Once again you’ll be able to check out how you stand against your friends on the leaderboard.  Go to the Achievements section of your profile and click on View Achievements to see how you stack up against your fellow gamers.  You’ll be able to see total gamerscore as well as how much you’ve earned over a 30 day period.

Re-arrange Pins on Home and access them offline: Preview members will be able to start rearranging their pins again.  The pins have also been revamped so you’ll be able to launch them when you’re offline.

Updating Activity Feed in Xbox One: Got new items in your feed?  The system will now inform you that they’re there.  You can click the link and be immediately taken to the top of the feed list to see what’s going on.

Joinable Twitch Broadcasts: If you have friends who are broadcasting on Twitch.tv then those in the Preview program will be able to easily join the viewing audience from either the Game Hub or the Game Tile.

Improvements to Suggested Friends:  If you are looking for new people to follow or just want to see what top content creators are doing then you can find them more easily with the new Friend Suggestions.  Check out the Friend Suggestions area in Community and Friends list in the Guide on Xbox One.  You can find them by gamertag, real name (if they shared it), gamerpic or Xbox Avatar image.

Hide games from ‘ready-to-install’ list: I don’t know about you guys but I certainly missed the ability to hide the things in my ready to install list that I no longer wanted to see (ie. out of date game betas and demos).  Well, that feature is headed back for us all to enjoy.

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

Avatar Store: You’ll be able to accessories your avatar with the latest items in the new Avatar Store.  The store will be built right into the Xbox Avatar App on the console and on Windows 10 PC’s and phones you can access it via the Xbox Avatar App.  Check out the catalog of new older items which include free items.  You can also preview the items on your avatar before you buy them.

Xbox News: Xbox News is your one stop area for getting information on updates, upcoming games and game tournaments.  Now Preview and Beta App users will have Xbox News items sent directly to their feed so they can stay up to date on current Xbox events.

Improvements to Trending: Xbox Preview and Beta App experiences on the console and Windows 10 PC’s and phones will have a new access point for Trending items.  The access point can be found to the right of the Community tab on the console and in the left menu area of the Xbox app.  The dedicated Trending landing page will have the most popular topics across Xbox Live which will be at the top of the list and then will be followed by an assortment of videos, screenshots, achievements and more from members of the community.

Suggested friends: Xbox One Preview and Xbox Beta App users will find it easier to get details on suggested friends.  This month, if you click See All or double tap the shortlist of friend suggestions you will head to a full screen view of all suggested friends.

Compact mode for Xbox App: This new update to the Xbox Beta App has additional functions moved to compact mode that will allow you to switch quickly and easily between friends view, your party, messages and activity alerts.

That’s all that’s been listed for now.  Keep an eye on us, majornelson.com or news.xbox.com for more information.