Xbox One March Update Now Available Brings Community Requested Features

Written by Brandon Hofer on March 23, 2016

News: Microsoft has just released their latest update which introduces some popular features that the community has been requesting for a while.

The March update for Xbox One is now live according to Major Nelson. If your console hasn’t already downloaded it then it should in the near future with all of the new updates that have been added for the month of March. Some of the highlights for this month include the following features:

Purchase Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible Games on Xbox One

A feature that many have been asking for (including myself) is finally here. Once you download this latest update you can now purchase Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One console. The games have to be backwards compatible of course but this makes it much easier for some people to download the free Games with Gold titles every month that are playable on Xbox One, not to mention potentially buy Xbox 360 games that are on sale and playable on the Xbox One.

Party Chat in Twitch Broadcasts

You will now be able to broadcast party chat while you are streaming to Twitch using the Xbox One Twitch app. If you are broadcasting from your console you can invite others to include their chat audio in the stream. If they don’t want to be a part of the broadcast they will still be able to chat in your party, their audio just won’t be a part of the Twitch stream. As the party leader you will also have the option to mute a party member’s chat, even if they accepted your invitation to have their audio on the stream. You may also include party members on Windows 10 PCs in the broadcast as well.

Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Improved Thumbstick Precision with Firmware Update

Microsoft has created a new method to calculate the position of the thumbsticks consistently, enabling thumbstick response that is more in line with what you are expecting. This was a feature request from the community and this new method measures and uses the distance of the thumbstick position relative to the center focus point of the thumbstick base, instead of the standard method, which calculates the measurement using a two-dimensional plane.

Customizable Game DVR Recording Length

Another feature request from the community, you can now configure the length of your Game DVR recording. Currently the Game DVR recording is fixed to a 30 second duration. Now you can adjust the length to 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes. To change this setting simply go to Settings -> Preferences -> Game DVR & streaming.

These are just a few of the new features that are now available as part of the March update. What would you like to see added in the April update? Tell us what you think below.

source: Major Nelson