As we carry on ploughing through the month of May, Microsoft have released the latest patch for the Xbox One, accompanied by a video demonstrating some of the additions and changes.
The video found below has Major Nelson showing off the big new features such as voice messaging and powering your console on and off with the use of Xbox One SmartGlass. What’s particularly interesting about the introduction of voice messaging is that Xbox One players can use this feature with their friends who are playing on an Xbox 360. It’s nice to see that Microsoft do still care about those playing on the older system.
Moving on from the SmartGlass feature, Nelson discusses dedicated servers for Party Chat. Although still not ready to roll out, he notes the team is busy on bringing this feature to everyone and not just the preview members. He demonstrates the ability to check whether a Party Chat on a dedicated server is being affected by a moderate or strict NAT setting on someone’s Xbox One. Better to know what’s going on and who’s making you all lag like hell rather than be in the dark.
The full notes of the Xbox One May update can be found below:
Voice Messages – You can now send and receive voice messages from the Xbox One messages app. This is the No. 1 feature requested in the Friends and Parties area on the Xbox Feedback site.
Power On/Off from Xbox One SmartGlass – The Xbox One SmartGlass app for Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android are being updated to let you power your Xbox One on and off when your devices are on the same home network as your console.
User Selectable Power Mode – We are also altering the initial setup experience on Xbox One worldwide to enable you to select your preferred power mode between Instant-on or Energy-saving mode.
Dedicated Servers for Party Chat – We will start to expand the availability of the party chat relay services beyond preview members to a broader audience as we continue to fine tune the feature and scale out the servers needed to support party chat relay services.
What is interesting to note here as well is the addition of user selectable power modes. Looks like Microsoft took all that criticism on board a few months back about the console’s power consumption problems.
What do you think about the additions to the Xbox One in the May update? Let us know in the comments below.
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