New Xbox One Experience Coming To All Preview Members, Button Mapping Not Limited To Elite Controller
Xbox One Preview Program members received excellent news this weekend regarding the New Xbox Experience (NXE) planned for release to the console this fall. The Windows 10 upgrade for Microsoft’s signature piece of gaming hardware will soon rapidly expand its testing base beyond the initial few that were enrolled. Additionally, a feature previously reserved for the expensive Xbox One Elite Controller will be available for all console owners.
Mike Ybarra, Director of Program Management at Xbox, took to Twitter to reveal what’s in store with NXE and the Xbox One.
When asked by a Twitter follower on when the update will be rolled out to all preview members, Ybarra responded, “We hope in the next few days to everyone who signed up.”
“Our plan, assuming all goes well, is to roll out NXE to more people every day until everyone who wants in is in. Thanks for the patience!” Ybarra wrote in a follow-up on Sunday.
The roll out to additional Xbox Preview Program members is indeed happening. Xbox One owners are reporting receipt of the latest NXE update on Saturday and Sunday, though with some problems reported.
@XboxQwik Had a scare when it hung up during install. Forums saved me. Crisis averted. NXE inbound pic.twitter.com/8MOJkvJZcA
— Ismatic (@IsmsAllDay) October 4, 2015
Users reported the NXE install getting hung up during mid-download. The fix for the problem posted on the Early Access Xbox Forums (permission required) is slightly amusing, as it is not how one would usually recommend treating console issues.
“Engineering has determined the problem from your experiences and a fix is underway. In the interim any user that encounters the system update hanging at 60-80% please do the following:
- Pull physical power (yes, I really mean pull the cable).
- Once the console is powered back on, it will appear to complete an update, then land on a System Update available screen.
- Attempt to take the update again, if it hangs a hard reboot may be required again and try again. We have seen that 3 reboots can complete.”
One welcome new feature coming to the Xbox One is button-mapping. This is something that I called for Microsoft to make standard for its controller after the company revealed the ability for the Xbox One Elite Controller at E3. The ability to map buttons away from the default configuration is not just a convenience issue for gamers, but an accessibility issue for those with handicaps, as well. It’s also a feature the PlayStation 4 supports.
When asked why the ability to map buttons is only for the Elite on Twitter, Ybarra announced, “It’s coming for all controllers soon.”
An exact date beyond “coming soon” has not since been revealed; however, the Xbox One Elite Controller is scheduled for an October 27 launch followed by the New Xbox One Experience launch in early November. It’s likely the ability to configure all controllers will be out sometime around then.
As I previously covered for Inquisitr, the New Xbox One Experience will come with the following changes announced by Microsoft.
- “A new Guide lets you quickly access essentials with just one button press to save time spent weaving in and out of apps. You can access the Guide from Home by pressing left or double tap the Xbox button on your controller to instantly overlay the Guide. You can access Friends, quickly start a Party, get to Settings, see System Notifications, view your Messages, and more from Home or without leaving your game. These are the top tasks Xbox fans do most often, so we focused on making them faster and easier to get to without disrupting your game.”
- “We’re redesigning Home to make it faster and easier to get to the things you love. We’re introducing a faster and easier interface to provide access to games and apps you’ve recently used. At launch you’ll be able to more easily share your achievements and game clips with the Xbox Live community, see whether your friends are playing the same games and get one-click access to Game Hubs to get news and updates directly from the developers and community themselves.”
- “We’re introducing a new Community section to make Xbox One more social.Based on your feedback, this section is optimized to help you tap into what other gamers are doing on Xbox Live and directly contribute to the conversation happening within the Xbox Live community. Check out what your friends are up to or keep track of the games you follow in the redesigned Activity Feed. Explore the new Trending section to view the most popular posts from players on Xbox Live.”
- “The revamped OneGuide will be your single destination for TV, movies and video apps. From OneGuide, you can see a list of current trending live TV shows with the most viewers at that moment on Xbox. TV listings will now come up instantly and in full-screen, and we’ve added a picture-in-picture mode for TV so you can browse for other things to watch without missing what’s happening in your show. We’ll highlight a selection of the most exciting new movies, TV shows and deals from across the apps on Xbox One and the new App Channels area will show you the latest movies, TV shows and videos highlighted by the apps you care about.”
- “We’re optimizing Store to help you quickly find the content you want. To the right of OneGuide, you’ll find the new and improved Store with features including four easy to explore areas – Games, Movies & TV, Apps, and Music – and a new vertical gallery view to bring more listings at a glance. Browse through intuitive categories like Staff Picks, New Releases, Top played, Top rated, Coming Soon and Recommendations to discover new games, apps, and entertainment for your Xbox One.”
Additionally, Microsoft recently released an update that enabled 12 person party chat.
[Images via Xbox]
