The November Update should soon be making its way to the Xbox One, but Microsoft has said that it is not planning an update for the console in December, although its monthly updates will resume in the new year. The company has been steadily improving the Xbox One with updates every month, delivering many new features including the recent addition of a new Media Player app, which includes MKV playback support.
As the Xbox One's one-year anniversary approaches, Microsoft today took the opportunity to remind everyone just how many enhancements it's made to the Xbox One over the last year.
Microsoft's Larry Hryb - better known to gamers as 'Major Nelson' - said today: "When Xbox One launched, we said we were deeply committed to our fans and our ongoing service updates have delivered hundreds of new features throughout the year."
With background images and custom themes among the new features coming soon to the Xbox One, Microsoft clearly isn't planning to rest on its laurels. But even as Xbox One owners look forward to what's on the way, Major Nelson wanted to highlight some of what Microsoft has already delivered to the console so far during its first year of availability.
He listed over a hundred updates that have been rolled out to the Xbox One over the last twelve months, which he says are "in addition to the hundreds of additional updates made behind-the-scenes to make Xbox One even better this year":
February Updates
1. See and manage your storage space
2. Control your install lineup and more easily manage your download queue
3. Separate My Games and My Apps lists so you can easily create separate queues for both
4. Track how much battery life is left on your controller
5. Support for your USB keyboard with your Xbox One
March Updates6. Friends list moved to front and center on the homepage of the Friends app
7. Party chat turns on by default
8. Chat with friends playing different games
9. “Invite friends to game” option available in your multiplayer titles
10. See a list of “Recent Players”
11. Twitch live streaming support
12. Optical out supports 5.1 Dolby Digital
13. Support for Dolby Digital surround sound over HDMI
14. Support for 50Hz output for TV
15. Tailor the number of volume up/down adjustments
16. SmartGlass updates: Receive notifications of Xbox Live messages, check out what your friends are doing, see their latest highlight clips, and unsnap apps with SmartGlass
17. Support for new Xbox One accessories: Xbox One Stereo Headset and Adapter, Xbox One Media Remote, and third party headsets
18. Browser improvements: Direct link to IE, new gesture and controller features for Bing and Google maps, and search improvements
19. IR blasting of power and volume to TVs/AVRs for all regions
20. Easy sound bar setup
21. View Game Clips in Snap mode
22. Passkey feature to protect user settings
April Updates
23. Support for 50Hzoutput for Blu-ray
24. Controller and headset adaptor firmware updates that reduce audio static and improve wireless connectivity
25. Silent reboot after system updates and system update on demand
26. Improved GameDVR video quality through compression algorithm improvements
27. Kinect voice and motion improvements for quality and reliability of Xbox One commands
28. Game save progress bar shows the status of your game saves
29. See what games and apps are being updated or have been updated recently
30. Notifications to see when favorites and friends sign in to Xbox Live
31. Friends who are in multiplayer are identified in the friends list
May Updates
32. Sound Mixer for apps in Snap mode
33. Volume control when using Kinect with chat
34. Opt-in to help improve speech recognition
35. Take the next system update when you want
June Updates
36. External storage support
37. The ability to add your real name
38. OneGuide and Universal Remote Control added to SmartGlass
39. Select an account for automatic sign-in
40. For Xbox One owners in Canada and Europe, access to OneGuide and more TV, SmartGlass, and voice features
41. Games with Gold & Deals with Gold
42. All Xbox Live members can access popular gaming and entertainment apps without a Gold membership
July Updates
43. Snap Mode for Achievements
44. Double-tap to launch Snap Center
45. Choice of spoken language in New Zealand, Ireland, and Austria
46. Background updates for future digital bundles and compilation discs
47. Ability to like GameDVR clips
August Updates
48. Activity feed updates: New ways for you to interact with friends in the activity feed
49. Mobile purchase from SmartGlass or Xbox.com
50. Low battery notification
51. Disable notifications during video
52. Enabling 3D Blu-ray
53. OneGuide in Brazil, Mexico, Austria and Ireland
54. Last seen time in Friends list
55. Pre-order and pre-download titles
September Updates
56. Expanded Friends area on Home
57. A new Media Player app for USB and DLNA playback
58. Improved Party app with party leader settings
59. New features for SmartGlass: Post status messages from the Activity Feed and comments, share items from both your Activity Feed and Game Clips, personalized Activity Feed added to your profile, threaded messages, record game clips directly from the Now Playing bar, What’s New page highlighting the features of each release
60. “Xbox On” capabilities in Australia, Canada (French), Italy, Spain, Mexico and Brazil
61. Boot directly to television when coming out of connected standby
62. Manage controllers and other accessories under Settings – Devices & Accessories
63. Bandwidth Usage shows users how much bandwidth their Xbox One is consuming over a period of time
64. Choose multiple GameDVR clips to delete at once in the Upload app
65. Save Avatar Gamerpics to users’ OneDrive
October Updates
66. Snap Center updated to include quick access to Friends, Messages, Achievements, Game DVR, clock and battery indicator
67. Friends Snap App
68. Messages Snap App
69. Achievements App
70. See a list of top games in your profile and your friend’s most popular games in the Friend's section of SmartGlass
71. Improvements for TV and video
72. Media Player DLNA and MKV support
73. Live TV Trending based on your country and OneGuide settings
74. USB-attached Xbox One Digital TV Tuner available in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)
75. Stream TV to SmartGlass with the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner
76. Live TV MiniGuide for markets where OneGuide is available
77. OneGuide in 12 new countries
78. Apps with live TV channels include their TV listings within OneGuide and other Xbox TV features work with these apps
79. Universal remote control in SmartGlass
80. Live TV initial setup experience
81. Live TV cable & satellite box auto-detection
82. Updated Devices & Accessories page
83. Firmware updates
84. Find my Controller to easily find (or identify) a controller by making it vibrate
85. Hide Games & Apps on your console
86. Password resets and added protection made easier
November Updates
87. Custom backgrounds
88. Share your location and bio as part of your profile and select a set of showcase items that are displayed
89. Tweet about your favorite game clips
90. Live TV Trending
91. Twitter TV Trending
92. Xbox TV Trending
93. Tweets in MiniGuide
94. Recents and Favorites in MiniGuide
95. Store pages on Xbox One improved to quickly browse and find content
96. Friends’ game activity on SmartGlass
97. Games with Gold & Deals with Gold on SmartGlass
98. SmartGlass Store improved to easily find and download apps for your Xbox One, and a Coming Soon filter for Games and Add Ons
99. Easily snap from a full screen experience and move Internet Explorer into snap mode
100. Internet Explorer featured sites
101. My Stats shared in Preview dashboard
102. Leaderboard added that shows how you stack up against your friends
Microsoft has recently dropped the price of the Xbox One by around $50, which it hopes will help to reverse its fortunes in the ongoing fight against Sony's PlayStation 4.
Source: Microsoft
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