Microsoft Announces New Features for Xbox One Coming November
posted Sunday Aug 9, 2015 by Scott Ertz
It has been no secret the PlayStation 4 has continually outsold the Xbox One. Microsoft is not unaccustomed to this position, having been outsold in both of their previous generations, only to gain the upper hand as they improved and added to the platform. For example, Xbox 360 sales really took off after the NXE (New Xbox Experience) in 2009. The Xbox 360 ended up being the undisputed leader of its generation.
We know that this year, the Xbox One is set to receive its equivalent of the NXE - Windows 10. Along with Windows 10 will come a slue of new features and capabilities, similar to what the 360 received with the NXE. At Gamescom 2015, Microsoft gave a lot of information about what we can expect to come along with said upgrade.
First will come an NXE-level overhaul of the controversial dashboard. While some, like myself, have loved the interface in theory, others have hated it. The changes won't be as visually drastic as the 360's transition from blades to tile groups, it will be a welcome change for most. The important change will come in its speed - a complaint that every Xbox One owner has had. Enhancing that aspect will make everyone's life easier.
As I predicted, Cortana will be taking over voice commands from the Kinect after the update. That will certainly enhance the capabilities of the voice commands above their already impressive response. It should also give more capabilities to the browser, which I assume will be swapped from Internet Explorer to Edge in the update. This means we could see the ability to draw on the web using Edge and the Kinect.
Xbox 360 backward compatibility details were also expanded. We know that around 100 games will be available at launch, and starting now all Games With Gold for Xbox 360 titles will be included in the backward compatibility list. That means that the free games included for the 360 will also be playable on the Xbox One. That will enhance the catalog of free, playable games on the Xbox One. While we may not know all 100 titles coming, we do know that all games in the Gears of War franchise will be included.
Also drawing from the Xbox 360, Microsoft showed off a Chatpad. It looks nearly identical to the one for the 360, which is a positive as the original was popular and efficient. It will clip into the controller in the same way, but adds the new features of the console, such as screenshot and 30 second video backup. The Chatpad will work on the console and Windows 10, and will be available sometime in 2016.
The most exciting information was the release date for Windows 10 on Xbox One. The new platform will release to the world in November of this year, with the preview program having begun for a very small group of testers, rolling out to more in the near future.
