The April update for Microsoft’s Xbox One has started rolling out today, bringing with it a handful of new updates and features.
Included in the update is improved Party Chat, specifically for when it comes to troubleshooting. The app will now help you out with getting your mic operational and will let you know if there are network issues that could be blocking communication with particular party members.
Game hub gets an update this month as well, as now you’ll be able to see activity feed items when any of your friends follow a game. Furthermore, you’ll also be able to get back to a game’s hub from activity feed posts related to the game (e.g. feed items about the game’s achievements, game clips and screenshots). You can also jump into a game’s hub section by following a link that’s now embedded on the game’s achievement page.
The biggest part of the April update is the improvement in Achievement notifications. Instead of having to exit out of a game to check what you did to obtain an achievement, the description of the achievement will also pop up in the notification. There’s been a slight increase in time with the achievement’s notification duration as well, allowing you ample time to read what you’d just done to add to a few points to your gamerscore.
The What’s On area is now available for Xbox One users in the US, Canada and the UK as well, allowing you to check out popular videos, games, movies, tv shows, game broadcasts and clips, as well as Trending TV shows if you’ve configured the OneGuide on your console. We’re hoping this makes a swift entry to the Australian side soon.
The notable omission from the new update is voice messaging, which was pulled from the build but is still available to preview members. Looks like we’ll be waiting a little bit longer to send gloat-filled voice messages to friends about how good that last Halo match was.
The April update should be coming to your Xbox One very shortly. Here’s hoping that voice messaging will be coming in the May update.