At the moment, Microsoft is continuing to focus on the Xbox One’s community features, to expand on ways to help Xbox fans get together and enjoy competitive gaming. Xbox Arena will be getting its next installment this month and today a new Party overlay will be added for more information during group chats.
Xbox Arena provides Xbox users the ability to join in competitive matches and create their own tournaments. World of Tanks was the first title to be featured in Arena, and this month Killer Instinct will return for select Xbox Insiders. Other games slated to be making their way to Arena include Halo Wars 2 and Smite, and the first Arena-powered tournament with prizes is coming up soon, dubbed The Killer Instinct Battle for New York with $10,000 in prizes.
In addition, Club owners and administrators will be able to create and host tournaments this month using the beta version of the Xbox app on Windows 10 PCs. Simply go to your Club, select the “Tournaments” tab, then “Create tournament.” Once the info has been filled out and published, other members of the Club or invited guests on Xbox One and PC will be able to discover, join, and play in the tournament.
Next up is new Party overlay functionality, which will let users know who’s speaking in a Party during voice chats. Once the overlay is enabled in the Guide, users will be able to decide where to place it on the screen and also set its transparency. The Gamertag of whoever is speaking will then show up and the overlay will disappear when nobody is speaking.
Some other updates making their way to Xbox One, exactly as outlined in the Xbox news post, include:
- Share your Looking for Group post on the Activity Feed or through a message.
- Unfollow a Club or Game Hub directly from your Activity Feed.
- Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.
- For Beam and Twitch broadcasts, you will now have an option in the Guide for your Kinect to locate you automatically.
- Captive Portal support for wireless internet is coming to Xbox One, which allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser. Great for colleges, hotels, or public Wi-Fi locations.
- Filter posts on your Activity Feed on the Xbox app for iOS and Android.
- On the Xbox app for Windows 10, we’re adding the option to select the audio input and output sources for Party chat.
You’ll want to make sure that your Xbox One is enrolled in the Xbox Insider program to get today’s update. If yours is ready to go, then check back at 6 p.m. PT for the new features and functionality.
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