As of yesterday, the Spring Xbox One update has rolled out across the world (well, where Xbox One consoles are available). Dubbed the “multiplayer” update, firmware 6.2.10698.0 adds a bunch of improvements to the Xbox One's multiplayer specific features, such as party and chat improvements, matchmaking updates, and an improved friends list.
As previously reported, the Xbox party chat will now be enabled by default upon console startup. The Xbox Live friends list will see improvements in the form quicker access, a recent players list, the ability to see when a friend is broadcasting their game over Twitch, new menu functions for quicker access to online features, and 54 new gamerpics.
On the live streaming front, the latest update prepares the console for the upcoming Twitch app that's due out on March 11, alongside Titanfall. When the app releases, Xbox One owners will be able to broadcast their gameplay over Twitch with voice support for starting and ending broadcasts.
Along with the social improvements, the update will include some fixes and tweaks to the console's notification center, support for more headsets via the Xbox One controller, new ways to control Bing and Google maps, Smartglass improvements, and support for 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
It's a bit strange seeing such basic features like a Recent Players List, support for optical out, and the option to quiet notifications be added several months after the console's launch. I guess it's not all too bad now that those things have just been implemented, but I'm still personally waiting on PC support for the Xbox One controller. Can you believe that that's still not ready? Anyway, check out the full list of changes below.
Improved Multiplayer & Party chat
- Cross title party chat
- Party chat on by default
- Easier multiplayer invites
- Easier multiplayer joining
- Ability to see what the people in your party are doing
Improved Friends List + Profile
- Improved friends list utility & speed of access
- Ability to see people you recently played games with
- See when friends are broadcasting, including live broadcast thumbnails in activity feed
- Get to a friend's profile faster using type-ahead suggestions
- Contextual app menu actions on friends list and activity feed items
- Enabled more multiplayer (join and invite) actions on user profiles
- 54 new contest-winning gamerpics
Twitch TV live streaming support
- Broadcast gameplay on Twitch.TV through Xbox LIVE (When the updated Twitch app ships next week.)
- Voice support for starting and ending broadcast
Bringing out social in home
- See favorite friends currently online
- See friends broadcasting gameplay
Miscellaneous shell improvements
- Improved notification center experiences including "quiet mode"
- View Game Clips while in snap mode
- Protect user settings with passkey
Browser improvements
- Control Bing and Google maps with gesture and controller
- Quick search when highlighting a term on a page
- When searching from Bing search on the console, direct link to Internet Explorer in order to see additional web results.
New Devices - Driver and Firmware updates
- Firmware update to the Xbox One controller to support the Xbox One stereo headset adapter
- Support for 1st and 3rd party headsets
- Driver updates for the Xbox One Media Remote
SmartGlass Improvements
- Push notification to your device for Xbox Live messages
- Quickly see what a friend is doing including presence and recent
- Enhanced viewing of personal and a friend's game progress and clips
- Ability to close snap from SmartGlass
Live TV
- 50Hz fix - users can set the Live TV app to display at 50Hz for full or fill modes
- Volume up/down adjustments - user can tailor the number of volume increments when using "volume up" or "volume down" commands
- IR blasting of power & volume to TVs/AVRs in all regions
- AVR setup maps to include model number for most sound bars or AVRs when setting up TV
Improved Audio output support
- SPDIF (optical out) now supports 5.1 Dolby Digital - enabling devices such as sound bars with only Optical In to be able to receive 5.1 Dolby Digital from console over optical
- HDMI output now supports stereo uncompressed, 5.1 uncompressed, 7.1 uncompressed or 5.1 Dolby Digital live or 5.1 DTS
