Xbox One October Firmware Update Now Available for Preview Members

Written by Brandon Hofer on September 08, 2014

News: Microsoft has begun rolling out the October firmware update to members of the Xbox One preview program.

Microsoft has revealed that they are now rolling out the October Xbox One firmware update to preview members. Some new features that gamers have been asking for are finally getting released along with some updates to existing features and more. This appears to be a really big update from a content standpoint with some of the highlights including:

Snap Updates - They have updated the Snap Center to include quick access to many of the things the fans wanted faster access to when playing a game – Friends, Messages, Game DVR, clock, and battery indicator – as well as making it easier to close and open new snap apps when playing a game. A double tap of the Xbox button on your controller will bring up a menu that allows you to open a new app in snap mode, close the current snapped app, or switch focus between your game and your running snapped app.

New SmarGlass Features - You can now see a list of your top games in your profile. You can also see a list of your friend’s most popular games in the Friend’s section of SmartGlass.

Media Player and DLNA and MKV support - Members of the preview program who have also downloaded the latest version of the Media Player app will now have support for DLNA streaming. With this update, you will be able to easily access and play music, watch photo slideshows or movies stored on home media servers and devices that support the DLNA server protocols. Additionally, you will now be able to playback MKV files stored on a USB device or a device on your home network that supports DLNA streaming.

Xbox One Digital TV Tuner - Previously announced in August, this new accessory will be available for purchase in UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain on October 21. This USB-attached TV Tuner will enable users to watch TV on Xbox One, and pause Live TV for up to 30 minutes. There are a limited number of preview participants in this program due to hardware requirements needed for testing.

Updated Devices & Accessories Page - To access the new page, go inside Settings, where you can Find, Assign, and Update Xbox One accessories. You can now more easily “assign” accessories to specific users, such as assigning a headset to a specific gamer.

Hide Games & Apps On Your Console - You can now hide items in the “Ready to install” list under My Games & Apps. This is a per-console setting and items will reappear in the list if they are installed again from the Xbox Store. To access the shortcut to temporarily show “hidden” items, press X while holding down both triggers and it will show all hidden items until you exit My Games & Apps

These new features and more are currently being sent out to Xbox One preview program members and will be available to the general public in October. What do you think about this new update? What do you want to see in the next one? Tell us what you think below.

source: Major Nelson