The Seven Best Additions to the Xbox One Firmware
Thanks to the internet, no device these days remains the
same as it was the day it was sold to you. Phones gain new features, games
consoles are re-configured and my TV even updated itself the other day!
Of all the transformations seen, however, the Xbox One’s
might just be the most impressive. In the three years since the console’s
launch, it has added new features galore as well as tweaking what was already
there to improve the user experience. Here are my personal top 7 additions:
External
Hard Drive Support
Its hard to believe that back in 2013 to early 2014 we were
stuck with a measly 500GB of storage. At the time of writing however I have 4TB
connected to my Xbox plus the standard 500GB in reserve. Before this feature
was added you could easily spend more time shuffling games around your hard
drive than actually playing them! Thankfully, Microsoft added this function
fairly early on in the console’s life cycle and the criteria for an external
drive was simple: It has to be USB 3.0 compatible and at least 256GB in size.
Just plug it in, format it, and you’re good to go.
Redesigned
Xbox One Marketplace
When the console shipped the store was a mix of tiles, with
multiple bundles of the same game being listed alongside each other and Bing
search functionality was hit or miss – the whole thing was just generally a
mess. In December 2015 this was all changed to encompass four specific areas:
Games, Movies & TV, App and Music. This made things infinitely easier to
find, and also introduced categories based on rating, staff picks etc. This
kind of curating goes a long way in a store which is being updated on a new
constant basis.
Gamerscore
Leaderboard
Achievements have long been a part of the Xbox DNA – since
the launch of 360 in fact. There’s nothing more satisfying that the sound
effect and on-screen cue to tell you that you got through a mission without
dying or that you smashed a lap time. But what about your friends? What if
there was a way to calculate which of your friends or members of your community have nabbed the most achievements? Thanks to this update there is
and, now that its been tweaked a few times since it’s inception, the
leaderboard is a great chance to test yourself against the best your friends
list has to offer.
Looking For
Group
Disclaimer: I used this feature for the first time
yesterday. Verdict: Its fantastic. Hopping into Destiny, I decided to be brave
and find myself a pair of Guardians to play the Nightfall with. Now, for those
who don’t know me, using a mic is often an issue due to anxieties although many
parties require one. So I created a new post using LFG (straight from the party
tab on the snap menu) and had a full fireteam within around 90 seconds who knew
what activity I wanted to attempt, what light level I was and that I had no
mic. From there I achieved completion of my first ever Nightfall and am now
planning to build myself towards a raiding party – something I never would have
attempted before this feature was added!
Backwards
Compatibility
Ever play The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion? How about Mass Effect?
Call of Duty: Black Ops? At the time of writing you can play 300 Xbox 360
games, including all of these, on your Xbox One. The announcement raised the
roof when it was made at E3 2015 and the library has grown month on month
since. Each game is emulated with Xbox Live multiplayer intact but with
improvements such as Game DVR recording which are only available when played on
Xbox One. You can even play with friends if they are using an Xbox 360! All
credit to Microsoft on this, and here’s to another 300!
The New
Xbox Experience
Not so much an addition as a refresh, The New Xbox
Experience was a huge shakeup to make your most common features more
accessible. The “My Games and Apps” tile was moved to the top and opening it
provides a much clearer view of titles owned. You can also track download
progress right from the home screen, and the snap menu now features more
helpful items than ever in a way that isn’t unintuitive or too dense. Add
“Cortana” to the mix (Microsoft’s digital assistant is baked in to almost every
area of the OS) and it’d be a real struggle to revert back to the old system
firmware.
EA Access
Ok, so this one is kind of cheating – its an App that can be
found on the store. It also requires a subscription (£5 per month or £20 for
the year). Microsoft and Sony were both pitched EA Access but Sony turned it
down, so I think Microsoft deserves some credit for not only allowing it, but
helping the service grow through things like Backwards Compatibility. At the
time of writing, EA Access offers unlimited access to THIRTY EIGHT games in
it’s vault, and once they are in there, they don’t leave. This makes it ideal
for new owners, giving them an instant collection of great and varied titles.
Among these games are the Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Inquisition, two
Battlefield games, Star Wars: Battlefront and almost all of EA’s growing
catalogue of sports titles. As if to sweeten the deal even more, EA Access
subscribers get free trials to most EA games several days before release and
10% off digital purchases of games and DLC.
So those are my seven favourite Xbox One features which have
been added over time. What are your top features, and what would you like to
see added?
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