14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Microsoft in charge of the Xbox One home console announces that it is planning to launch a new firmware update for the device in August of this year and that gamers will be able to use a host of new social features for the platform and to buy content remotely.
All the changes will be first offered to a limited number of users starting next week, for testing purposes and the company says that it is continuing to look at all the info offered by the new Xbox Feedback service and that it will implement more changes that the community has suggested soon.
The August firmware update for the Xbox One will improve the Activity feed, which is being changed to a single column scrolling list that includes more content and allows all users to post text, like other posts and comment on them.
Microsoft adds on the Xbox Wire that, "You can share game clips and anything else in the feed with friends either publically (to your activity feed) or privately (as an attachment to a message). You'll also be notified when anyone likes, comments on or shares your items. Each user will get a personal feed on their profile, so you can see what specific friends have been up to."
The Friends area on the Home screen is also being expanded to include the games they are playing and an official leaderboard that will track their performances.
Gamers will also be able to see when a friend has been online last and the company also says that other changes are made to the backend of the device.
The development team is also introducing remote purchases for the Xbox One, allowing SmartGlass users and those who visit the official site to buy video games and add-ons for them and then automatically download them to the home console.
The firmware update also includes a new low battery message for controllers, an option to disable all notification when video is playing and an update which enables 3D Blu-ray functions.
Microsoft adds, "OneGuide in Brazil, Mexico, Austria and Ireland: Live TV listings can be configured for four new countries as part of this month’s Preview program. And now there is an OneGuide Issue Reporter available under the TV & OneGuide settings, Troubleshooting section."
Recently the NPD Group June report showed that the Xbox One is still behind the rival PlayStation 4 from Sony in terms of sales despite its drop in price.