Microsoft’s Mixer service offers a great streaming alternative to Twitch, with a higher level of interactivity and great video quality, but the service needed more if it wanted to draw streamers away from its much larger rival. With the most recent Xbox One update, Mixer added an additional layer of interactivity that just might make it the best place to stream.
Rolling out now to those in the Xbox Insider program’s “Alpha Ring,” the Xbox Spring Update adds a new “share controller” option to Mixer streamers. While streaming a game through the Mixer app, you can allow a viewer to take control of your game using either an on-screen gamepad emulator or their own controller plugged into a PC. They won’t be able to use the home button to exit your game, but they’ll be able to play through the game on their own or work with you to get through particularly tough sections.
The update also adds the ability to continue broadcasts while you’re switching games, with a pause screen showing for viewers in a similar manner to the Twitch app on PlayStation 4.
If you’re looking to fine-tune your video and audio settings on your Xbox One, the update also has something for you. Specifically, 1,440p resolution is now supported for games on both Xbox One S and Xbox One X, and a new settings option allows you to balance game audio with background music you have running in a playlist.
“The system sounds on home and in the guide have also been completely revamped to support spacial audio, so the audio cues from your surround sound system will match the actions you see on screen,” Xbox Insider team lead Brad Rossetti added in a post on Xbox Wire.
Other changes coming in the update include an easier-to-navigate Microsoft Edge web browser, new filtering tools for clubs, and new activity feed options. You’ll also find a dedicated redeemed Games With Gold tab, so you can easily sort through all the game’s you’ve received through the program and pick which ones you want to install.
Xbox Insider members will get access to the Xbox Spring Update over the next few weeks, and it will arrive to the rest of Xbox One users later this spring.
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