Xbox One August update adds 3D Blu-ray support, improved social features

By Will Fulton July 18, 2014

impending xbox one update brings social mobile features how to connect smartphone feature — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s not all doom and gloom on the Xbox front–Major Nelson is still tending the hearth, and he’s delivered details about the August 2014 system update for Xbox One, which will start rolling out in the coming week to users with early access, and to the rest of the consoles over the following month. The changes are largely derived from the Xbox Feedback channel which Microsoft opened last month to get a better sense of what fans want from the console.

The activity feed on your dashboard for both the console and SmartGlass is getting expanded with more information about what your friends have been up to, such as when they were last online and what they were doing. The feature is evolving to resemble your Facebook wall (or PlayStation 4’s activity feed, if you want to be a jerk about it), with the ability to post text and game clips and “like” entries that pop up. You will receive notifications when your friends engage with your feed content.

Rather than having to wait until you get home to download the hot new releases, you will soon be able to make purchases from the mobile app, which will set your console downloading to have the game ready when you get back. The update also adds support for 3D content to the console’s Blu-ray player.

Check out the full list of features for the August update over at the Xbox Wire.

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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