Xbox One Preview Program Members Getting New and Updated Features Soon

Written by Brandon Hofer on March 01, 2016

News: Microsoft has revealed what new and updated features we will be getting in the month of March on Xbox One.

Microsoft and Major Nelson have just revealed what Xbox One Preview Program members will be receiving soon for the March update. There are some improvements with social features, achievement tracking within the Xbox One guide, being able to buy Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One and more. It seems like a pretty good month for Xbox One gamers coming off of the month of February which also had some nice additions.

Xbox One Preview Program members will have access to the following in the near future:

Purchase Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible games on Xbox One - This is a feature that people have been wanting for quite a while, myself included. Once this feature launches you will no longer have to purchase backwards compatible Xbox 360 games on Xbox.com or on an Xbox 360 itself. You will now be able to do it on your Xbox One in the Xbox store.

Output your Party Chat to headset and speakers simultaneously - You will be able to select your preference for where Party Chat audio is heard whether it is your headset, speakers or both. Once this feature launches you can find it in Settings -> Display & Sounds -> Volume.

Include Party Chat in Twitch broadcasts - This was one of the most requested features on the Xbox Feedback page and is finally coming. If you happen to be broadcasting on Twitch from your console and in a party, you can invite others to include their chat audio in your broadcast. If someone in your party doesn’t want to do that they will still be able to chat in your party, they just won’t be heard on the broadcast. If you happen to be the party leader you will also have the option to mute a party member’s chat audio, even if they have opted-in. You can also include party members on Windows 10 PCs in your Twitch broadcast.

Track Achievement progress in the Xbox One Guide - With this new update in the new Achievements area you will find a quick link to see all of your Achievements and you’ll be able to track your Achievements progress in real time directly in the guide, without having to snap a separate Achievements app.

Customize Game DVR Recording Length - Since the launch of the Xbox One you have been able to quickly capture some of your greatest moments when playing a game by either saying “Xbox, record that” or doing it manually. The problem some people had was this only recorded the previous 30 seconds of gameplay. This seemed to be ok if you just scored a touchdown in Madden but there are other instances where you simply need more time. With this new update you will now be able to adjust this “automatic” recording length and be able to select 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes.

Video Playback Directly in the Xbox One Activity Feed - With this update you can now play an entire video inline rather than having to leave your feed to launch it. You can even “like” a video if you so choose by pressing the “X” button. When you do choose to launch a video from the activity feed you will also have the option to pause and restart as well as have a full-screen playback option.

Xbox 360 Achievements in Xbox One and Xbox app Activity Feeds - Xbox 360 achievements will automatically post to your console and Windows 10 PC Activity Feed. Just like with the Xbox One Achievements, the Xbox 360 Achievement graphic will feature a description of the Achievement, the game you earned it from, and the Gamerscore associated with it.

There are some other features as well but those are probably the biggest ones. For the full list you can check out Major Nelson’s website. Are you happy with this list? What do you want to see added in April? Tell us what you think below.

source: Major Nelson