Xbox has been on a bit of a tear recently with platform updates, and Microsoft just announced another raft of improvements big and small.
The biggest features recently include boosts to how Xbox Cloud saves work, the ability to record your own voice in gameplay clips, and improvements on Xbox achievement visibility. Announced today on Xbox Wire, we’re now getting some other goodies, set to go live later today to Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha members.
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Here’s what’s new for Xbox Insiders today
- Users can now customize any item in the recent games and apps list.
Using the Menu button (start button) you can remove items from the list of recents apps and games, including the “Play History” segment which some don’t find as useful as others. I personally like it, but understand those who don’t.
- You can also hide all the home screen tiles by pressing the right stick, leaving your dynamic background to take center stage on your TV.
This is a fun cosmetic change I’ve seen people ask for. Xbox has a range of dynamic backgrounds which are hidden by the tiles and ads on the home screen. If you want to show off your dynamic background and turn your wall-mounted TV into an interactive work of art, now you can, simply by pressing the right stick. Would be cool if they could add slideshows to this in the future too. A connected OneDrive photos album might be rad.
- Improvements to local game storage management.
Microsoft is now letting you manage local game saves more easily, giving you the ability to sort save files by size. For those using smaller storage solutions, sometimes games can take up deceptively large amounts of space. In the new Settings > System > Storage > Manage Local Game Saves section, you can now see all of your local saves in one place, and delete them at will.
If you eventually want to play the game again, Xbox will download your most recent save file from the cloud instead, saving you local storage. Xbox Cloud saves are free by the way, unlike many other platforms.
- You can now click into profile badges, giving users an explanation of what they represent.
Xbox profile badges are getting a big improvement. You can now click on a user’s profile badge to see an explanation of what the badge represents.
Part of me is wondering whether this change is designed to facilitate Xbox’s future “Platinum” trophies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the reward for 100%’ing an Xbox game’s achievements comes not with a “platinum” trophy, but instead a custom badge you can place on your profile instead. It would give developers an extra way to let their biggest fans show off some flair for their games, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.
- More wishlist improvements.
Wishlisting games has become a major part of the industry’s marketing layer, with Steam wishlists becoming a cornerstone for financial projections on how well a game is likely to perform. Microsoft is also trying to ride this wave, adding a variety of improvements and visibility options for its own wishlisting system.
Now, purchased games will automatically be removed from your wishlist for example, which I think is a good change considering how often I’ve fallen afoul of this one.
I think Microsoft could/should do more to surface wishlisting features on the web, and I’m sure they’re working on doing more in this space.
More goodies
The Xbox Insider Program has been pretty boring the last few years, with Microsoft’s engineering teams focusing primarily on features like Xbox Cloud Gaming and things beyond Xbox Series X|S. With Xbox CEO Asha Sharma coming on board, the focus has returned to the core user base (namely us), delivering many long-awaited improvements a lot of us have been asking for for over a decade in some cases.
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Microsoft says this update will hit Xbox Insiders on the Alpha Skip Ahead and Alpha rings today, with other updates arriving for all users as well more quickly.
If you want to leave feedback for the Xbox Series X|S OS, you should check out the Xbox Feedback Portal over here.
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