Xbox One

Microsoft’s October update for the Xbox One is now available for download. This update focused on optimizing the system for those who bought the Kinect-free version, but it comes with plenty of other fixes and functions.

Snapping apps is a lot easier now. Just double-tap the Xbox button and a small menu pops up. You can pick an app to snap, change focus between the game and the snapped app, or unsnap it. You can also “press X to record that.” To take advantage of the easier snapping, Friends and Messages are snap-able (snappable?) so you don’t have to leave your game while assembling your party.

There is also a new Friends section on the dashboard that shows what games are popular among your friends, recent activities, and a new Gamerscore leaderboard. The Gamerscore leaderboard shows how many points your friends have gained in the last 30 days and it even shows achievements that you are close to unlocking. Achievements must be unlocked.

The system’s media playback capabilities have been bolstered with DLNA support, MKV support, OneGuide enhancements, a MiniGuide, SmartGlass integration and set top box auto-detection. Many of these improvements bring European territories up to speed with the system’s original vision as a media center.

If you’re like us and own a lot of digital games but don’t always keep them on your hard drive, you can now hide the “Ready to install” icons in My Games & Apps so you only see your installed games. Thank you!

Microsoft has plenty of other ideas to improve the system, and they are always open to feedback.

For a closer look at this month’s improvements, check out Major Nelson’s video below. You can also read the detailed list on Major Nelson’s blog.

Source: Major Nelson