Xbox One Summer Update Now Rolling Out To Everyone

Written by Brandon Hofer on July 30, 2016

News: Microsoft has revealed that they have begun rolling out Xbox’s next big update so if your console doesn’t have it yet then keep checking back.

Microsoft has revealed that Xbox’s big summer update has started to roll out to everyone. This is a sizable update that is bringing in some new features as well as rearranging and make existing features easier to use. Xbox Preview Program members have been beta testing a lot of these new features for the past couple of months and the majority of what they have been testing is finally being released to the public. Some of the biggest items in this new Xbox update include:

Background Music - Once the update is downloaded you will finally be able to listen to background music on your Xbox One. The Pandora app (launching soon) is the first of many partners who will support this new Background Music feature with Groove Music, iHeartRadio and other apps coming in the future.

Cortana on Xbox One

Cortana is now available for Xbox One gamers in the US and UK. With Cortana there are more voice commands available to try and make it easier to do what you want without having to touch a controller. With Cortana you can use either Kinect or a headset. With Cortana you will be able to do a number of things such as start a party with friends by simply using your voice, turn on your Xbox One (if you are using Kinect), see what your friends are doing and more.

Improved Game Collection

The My Games and Apps library has been redone so that it is easier and quicker to find a game to play or an app to use. For starters the games are now displayed vertically as opposed to the two horizontal rows that we used to have. You can also change the size of the game tiles so you can see more of your games on the screen at once. The ‘Ready to Install’ section is no longer at the far right of the screen either. It is now conveniently placed on the left hand side along with “Games,” “Apps,” “Updates” and “Queue.” That updates tab is there to make it really easy for you to update your games and apps if you don’t have the console set up to automatically do that for you. You also have more options to sort your game such as being able to sort them alphabetically, by last update, by size and more. The My Games & Apps location has also been moved so that it is on the main home screen as soon as you boot up your console. It is now near the upper right corner of the screen and right underneath it is a box that will give you your download percentage when you are downloading something so that you can see what your progress is at a quick glance without actually having to go into the My Games & Apps section.

Language Region Independence

This allows you to have more control over your experience if you have moved or plan to move in the future. If you currently live in the United States but plan on moving to Spain, for example, this will now allow you to set your home location as Spain once you move there but you can still see everything in English (or whatever other language you had selected).

Top Windows 10 PC Games Show Up On Xbox Live

With this new feature top Windows 10 games will now have their own Game Hubs on Xbox Live. Whether you are on PC, Xbox One or your cell phone, you’ll be able to see what PC games your friends are playing, share your own PC gaming clips and screenshots and message your friends on Xbox Live.

These are just a few of the updates that have begun to roll out to people but they are some of the biggest ones. Which feature are you looking forward to using the most? What feature do you want to see Microsoft add to Xbox One next? Tell us what you think below.