MICROSOFT has rolled out a major update for Xbox One, giving fans a chance to try the interface of its newer consoles for the first time.
The “New User Experience” pushed to Xbox One is the exact same interface that players will see when they boot up the Xbox Series X and Series S, which hit shelves next month.
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Microsoft unveiled the UI – the “home” area from which you launch games and apps – back in August.
“This new user experience will be effortless to navigate, accessible and inclusive for all gamers,” the US company said at the time.
“You’ll spend less time waiting, more time playing, and you’ll always be connected.”
Among the changes are a brand new design that looks sleeker and neater. Highlights include new fonts and tiles with rounded corners.
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Customisation is also a key addition, with the new UI allowing you to easily add and remove tiles from the homescreen.
Microsoft has also added Customer Profile themes, which change the background of your interface. You can select those in your settings.
According to Microsoft, the update makes the UI “faster in every way”.
Home now loads over 15 per cent faster when you boot your Xbox, and it’s a third faster to load when you’re returning from a game.
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For the Xbox One, the changes are relatively minor, but the UI will alter gaming as we know it on the Series X and S.
It’ll introduce Quick Resume, a new feature that makes jumping into and out of games easier than ever.
The tool allows players to reboot the console without saving and then almost instantly start the game up again from where they left off.
Microsoft introduced a similar feature with the Xbox One to resume a single game at a time from a suspended state.
The Series X and S, however, will have the capacity to resume multiple games from this state.
Quick resume will also allow players to quickly switch between games without saving. The process takes roughly 10 seconds, Microsoft says.
The Xbox One, of course, does not have the computing power to handle this, and so Quick Resume does not feature as part of its update.
As far as the new consoles go, the disc-free Series S and powerhouse Series X will ship worldwide on November 10.
The Series S will cost £249/$299, while the Xbox Series X comes in at £449/$499.
Xbox Series X games
Here’s a confirmed list…
- Assassins Creed Valhalla
- Halo: Infinite
- Bright Memory Infinite
- DIRT5
- Scorn
- Chorus
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
- Call of the Sea
- The Ascent
- The Medium
- Scarlet Nexus
- Second extinction: Reclaim Earth
- Yakuza: Like A Dragon
- Madden 21
So how does that compare to the new Xbox’s biggest rival, the PlayStation 5?
Sony has revealed the PS5 release date falls on November 12, but not everywhere.
That date only stands for the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
In the UK, you won’t be able to get it until November 19.
The PS5 proper will cost £449.99/$499.99, while the digital edition comes in at £359/$399.
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In other news, Sony recently confirmed that more PS5 pre-orders are on the way.
The next-gen machine sold out within minutes when pre-orders launched on September 17.
And, a PlayStation fan has created an “all black” PS5 that disappointed gamers think looks much better than the real thing.
Are you excited for the new consoles? Let us know in the comments!
