System updates are an important part of continued support for consoles, and Microsoft is not skimping on the Xbox One. Last night Microsoft announced a handful of new features coming to the Xbox One in a system update to be released at some point during April, probably in the next few days.
First, the Xbox One Blu-ray player will now support 50 Hz video output for content recorded at 50 Hz.
Secondly, new controller and headset firmware updates will be rolled out to reduce audio static and improve wireless connectivity.
Finally, your Xbox One will now silently reboot after all system updates. This means if your console is in Instant On, a power mode that boots up your system quicker, updates will automatically happen and then return to its standby setting, meaning you won’t have to power on your console after future updates. An option will also be added to the settings page for you to take future updates when available, instead of waiting for your system to do it on its own.
Now lets take a look at what had already been announced for the April update as outlined on NeoGAF by user Banjo-Kazooie. Users will be introduced to a game save progress bar that tracks the status of your saved games, as well as gives you a quick look at what games or apps are currently being or have recently been updated.
Notifications, familiar to those who played on a Xbox 360, will be added so gamers can see when their favorites and friends sign on to Xbox Live and Friend List players who are in multiplayer will be visible.
Kinect will see some voice and movement improvements and the GameDVR (a feature that allows you to capture video clips of your gaming) will see an increase in video quality. Xbox One device management issues controlling TVs, set top boxes and receivers have been addressed and new audio tuning controls how much the volume is lowered when Kinect is used for communication purposes.
Microsoft also announced yesterday that the YouTube app would receive an update today integrating it with GameDVR and Upload to make it “easier than ever to capture and share game clips with the world”.
“The engagement from our Xbox One community continues to be incredible, in large part thanks to the input and feedback from our fans,” Microsoft said in their announcement. “This feedback continues to help us make the future of Xbox One yours as much as ours. So thank you to those who shared their thoughts with us and, hopefully, are having a little fun in the process.”