Grab your first look at the great new features coming to Xbox on Windows 10 with this month’s Xbox app preview. New features include access to Game Hubs, Game Bar shortcuts, Friends List changes and more.
Xbox on Windows 10
Avatars – You can now download and launch the Avatars app from within the Xbox app. To do this, from your profile, select Customize > Customize your avatar.
If the Avatars app is not installed, you will be directed to the
Windows Store (Beta) to install it. After the app is installed, select Customize > Customize your avatar
to launch the Avatars app and edit, dress up, and buy new items for
your avatar. There is a new color picker that pops up as a horizontal
toolbar for colorable items, which allows you to choose between
different items and colors, without having to bounce back and forth
between pages.
Friends updates – We’re making it easier to add friends,
designate them as favorites and share your name from the Xbox app. Click
on a friend’s profile in your friends list and click on More >Change friendship to
make them a favorite, or from anyone’s profile to add them as a friend.
The friends list will now also show you which of your friends are in a
party, playing multiplayer games, or broadcasting. You can also now
report or block people from the Xbox app.
Game hubs – Similar to Xbox One, you can now view the
game hub for an Xbox One game and view the activity feed curated by the
game’s community manager. Click on any game tile, under Home > Recently played
or elsewhere in the Xbox app, and you will be taken to the game hub.
There you can also see friends who have played the game, your
achievement progress and more easily get the details on the game’s
achievements.
Game DVR – You can now alter the keyboard shortcuts used
for opening the Game Bar, starting and stopping recording, taking
screenshots, and more. Select Settings > Game DVR > Keyboard shortcuts to make changes. Highlight the Your shortcut
box and use your desired new key combination to create your new
shortcut. Also, you can now view and manage your cloud-based game clips
from the Xbox app by selecting Game DVR > Shared.
Testing streaming – The Xbox team needs your help in
providing information about your PC’s performance and connectivity
characteristics as we prepare to enable game streaming from Xbox One to
Windows 10 PCs. To do this, connect your Xbox One to your Windows 10 PC
using the Xbox app: from the Connect menu, select your Xbox One console then choose Connect. Once connected, click on Test streaming
to anonymously send the team diagnostic information about your PC and
network settings. The team would greatly appreciate if you did this once
on each of your Windows 10 devices.
Turn On/Off your Xbox One Console – The Connect
menu in Xbox app has been updated to let you power your Xbox One on and
off from your Windows 10 devices when they are on the same home network
as your console.
The Xbox app on Windows 10 PCs will automatically update to the May
preview version when it becomes available in the Windows Store. Once you
receive the update, your version number should be 5.5.20022.00000 or
higher. You can verify the version number of the Xbox app under Settings.
The Xbox app will sign in using your primary Microsoft Account and
associated gamertag that you use to sign into Windows 10. If you want to
sign in with a different gamertag, you will need to set up a second
Microsoft account on your Windows 10 PC. The ability to sign into the
Xbox app with a different Microsoft Account/Xbox Profile will be
re-enabled in a future update.
Xbox One updates
The Xbox team is gearing up quickly for E3 in June and we've got
some exciting things to share with you there, but first, this month
we’re continuing to preview a few things while we gather feedback and
work toward making them available to everyone.
Xbox One Digital TV Tuner in 11 new European countries –
The team will continue to test the Xbox One Digital TV with our preview
audience in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, with plans to make it
available to all customers in these countries later this summer.
Earlier this week, we announced the retail availability of an over-the-air TV tuner for the U.S. & Canada as well.
Wireless Display app – We appreciate all the great feedback you’ve sent us and the team continues to make improvements to the Miracast functionality in the Wireless Display app based on that feedback. Keep it coming!
Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, breaks down the updates coming to the Xbox app for Windows 10.
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