The Xbox One is getting a new update today that makes some big changes. This update was actually teased last week by Microsoft in an Xbox Series X video, though it seems both consoles will utilize this same layout.
In a blog post on Xbox Wire, Jonathan Hildebrandt spoke about creating a unifying experience for all Xbox gamers. It seems this August update is another step towards that goal, which streamlines the party system, guide system, and overhauls the visual design.
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Naturally, Xbox gamers are extremely excited to see what lies in store for them this coming holiday season. Now that the Xbox Series X specs leaked online, players may have a better idea of how they can possibly expect the console to actually perform. While Microsoft has been generally more forthcoming about information on its next generation console than Sony, there is still plenty that fans don’t know about the Xbox Series X. Now, it seems that fans will have a concrete idea of the system’s UI, at the very least.
It was initially reported that Xbox Series X will retain Xbox One’s dashboard, but a better way to phrase it would be that the Xbox One dashboard will evolve to match the Series X’s. The Xbox One August 2020 makes some changes to the Xbox UI that will carry over to the Series X. The biggest draw of the update is a general change in the overall visual design and aesthetic of Xbox One dashboard for members of the Xbox Insiders program. The update also changes the overall feel of the Guide dashboard, with changes to the notification inbox which now combines all alerts into a single feed.
Next, some changes were made to the party and chat system. Now, messages will show a brief preview of their contents and each party member in the party will have individual volume sliders attached to them. Finally, more aspects of the Guide have been streamlined for consistency with more shortcuts and more button commands overall. The overall tone of the Xbox blog post and the update as a whole makes it seems like Xbox may be catering to fans who won’t have a chance to buy the Series X at launch. Rumors that an Xbox One S revision may be coming might show that Microsoft is gearing up for that possibility.
Some fans may feel like the Xbox Series X isn’t a big enough leap in technology, using the recent look at Halo Infinite as evidence, though 343 confirmed that Halo Infinite will be on Xbox One. Seeing as the game is cross-generation, some of the less impressive graphical elements start to make a bit more sense. Regardless, it seems like this update is just Microsoft taking another major step to unify the Xbox experience across all of its platforms.
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Source: Xbox Wire
