Kicking off the New Year, Microsoft has unveiled details on the next system update scheduled to hit Xbox One consoles. Iterating on the changes introduced in Xbox fall update last October, members of the Xbox Insider Program are set to receive a wave of new features, starting with those in the Alpha preview ring.
As detailed in a post to Xbox Wire, Microsoft has announced several new additions on their way to Xbox One, with further "cool new features" to follow in the weeks ahead. While no major features debut with this first preview build, the update introduces welcome improvements to Achievements, Game Hubs and Xbox Live social features.
The biggest changes of today's update affect the Xbox Guide, with two new widgets that increase information served within the pop-out menu. The first of these, "Next Achievements," provides an accessible location to track upcoming Achievement unlocks across your games library. Filtering options are also available for this feature, allowing users to sort upcoming unlocks by closest, rarity, highest value and more.
The second change brings Xbox Live's Game Hubs to the Guide menu, with condensed "Mini Game Hubs" offering quick highlights. Through this widget, players can access upcoming Achievements and Looking for Group posts, without opening a full-screen application.
Extending the social elements of Xbox Live, this latest build introduces a "Do not disturb" mode – a long requested feature which first made a debut on Xbox 360. When enabled, incoming notifications will be muted, while remaining online and notifying other Xbox Live users. This is an especially welcome feature for content creators, or those simply looking for a quiet night of gaming.
Several other features are also making their arrival with this update, with tweaks to the Community tab of the Xbox dashboard and console power options. As expected with Preview builds, a substantial list of issues are have also been detailed, on a post to the Xbox forums.
Like many previous builds for the Xbox Insider Program, today's update will begin rolling out from 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on January 8. For those who use the Xbox One's "Instant On" mode, the update will begin automatically downloading to your console. If you choose to manually install the build, navigate to "All Settings > System > Console Info & Updates" and check for an update. Read on for the complete list of changes, fixes, and currently known issues.
DETAILS:
OS version released: rs3_release_xbox_dev_1802.180105-1503
Available: 6:00PM PST 1/8/18 (2:00AM GMT 8/1)
NEW FEATURES:
We're excited to return in 2018 with new features that impact the way you access your games and Achievements, how you let your friends know whether you're able to play, and much more. Over the next several weeks, Xbox Insiders will begin to see a variety of cool new features they can interact with and provide feedback on. Here's a look forward at some of the excitement still to come:
- Starting today at 6 p.m. PST, Xbox Insiders enrolled in the Alpha ring will receive the latest Xbox One system update (1802.180105-1503). With this update, you'll be able to use the "Next Achievements" feature in the Guide, which enables you to view and sort a cross-games list of upcoming Achievements. Easily see which Achievements you are closest to, and quickly launch the game to obtain them. Sort filters allow you to prioritize next Achievements by closest, most common, rarest, most common rare, and highest Gamerscore.
- Mini Game Hubs will soon be available right in the Guide. With this feature, you'll be able to access great content for the games you've played recently from a Game Hub without ever having to leave the action. Mini Game Hubs provide an easy way to see friends who are currently playing, upcoming Achievements, Looking for Group posts, and more.
- Sometimes all you want to do is avoid all distractions and focus entirely on your game. We'll be including a "Do not disturb" online status, which will suppress notifications and let your friends know that you're not available for another game or activity right now.
- We're tweaking the community feed to make it easier to view comments. You'll soon be able to see a peek of the most recent comment on community posts, with comments rearranged to place those that are most recent at the top. You'll also be able to see who has liked your comments.
- To address user feedback, we're adding additional inactivity shutdown options to the Power mode & startup menu. In addition to shutting down the console after one or six hours of inactivity, you will be able to select options for two, three, four and five hours.
- Alongside the updates listed above, which will work their way naturally through the Xbox One Preview Update rings, a subset of users may also see additional experimental features. These features are only enabled for a portion of the Xbox Insider audience to gauge interest and collect feedback. Your participation in the Xbox Insider Program helps us make the work-in-progress content and features coming to Xbox even better
FIXES:
Narrator
- Narrator can read large amounts of text.
KNOWN ISSUES:
Guide/Home crashing
- We are aware of the Guide and Home crashing and determined the root cause. A fix is being worked on.
- Workaround: In the interim please HARD Reboot (Hold the power button for ten seconds)the console to fix this issue.
Games Installation
- Some users are encountering where some games that are installed are failing to launch.
- Workaround : If the games are installed to an external drive please copy the game to the internal drive or attempt to delete the title and redownload to fix the launch error.
Display
- We are investigating the inaccurate RGB colors that have been reported when displaying in 4K HDR mode when playing a UHD disc.
Tournaments
- The left and right navigation for selecting date and time during Tournament creation is currently reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
- Left and right navigation in Tournament twists is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
- Left and right navigation in the bracket view of Tournaments is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew
Avatars on Home
- Users wishing to represent themselves as an avatar can do so by changing their settings under My profile > Customize profile > Show my avatar.
