Xbox Live UPDATE: Microsoft’s new Xbox One Experience launch plans revealed

The Xbox One Guide has seen a total revamp based on Windows 10

MICROSOFT’S new Xbox One Experience update launches today and will start to rollout at around 8am UK time.

 

UPDATE ONE: The new Xbox One Experience update clocks in at 1.154 GB, making it much larger than the most recent firmware patches.

Microsoft have confirmed that it will have a phased deployment, meaning not everyone will get it at the same time.

Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson recently interviewed Mike Ybarra from the Xbox engineering team about the New Xbox One Experience, who described some of the new features and improvements included.

The Friends section has been overhauled, allowing users to press left on the thumbstick while on the home page to check on what their pals are up to, using the Xbox Guide.

The entire console UI has also been tweaked, leading to a 50 per cent faster loadup and a better party launch system that allows for joining while in-game.

Ybarra told Hryb: "It's a complete new operating system based on Windows 10. Fans told us they wanted faster easier ways to do common tasks and now we have brought the Guide into the product.

"It's been a long ride and the fan feedback has been awesome. A lot of our fans told us they wanted to stay in-game so we brought the guide back as an overlay."

"Fans also told us that they wanted to make getting into parties and so we added it to the guide."

 

Xbox Live could feel the pressure of the new Xbox One update on November 12

The tech giant has warned that the launch of the new features - including backwards compatibility - will be a phased deployment, meaning fans will receive it at differing times.

However, backwards compatibility support for Xbox 360 titles will be staggered until 8pm UK time, according to Microsoft's Larry Hryb.

Titles will be playable or start to appear in player collections after that time, meaning fans will need to refresh their Game Collection to see pre-purchased, digital titles that are ready to install, or alternatively insert the disc for a supported Xbox 360 game and download it to start playing it on Xbox One.

A lot of work went into Backward Compatibility. None of it was @MartinStarr's. https://t.co/7DrNStvzWBhttps://t.co/697ZMKuIyv

— Xbox (@Xbox) November 11, 2015

 

Hryb explained more on how power settings would affect the update’s rollout, adding: “If you use the Instant-on power mode (available via Settings – Power & startup), your Xbox One will take the update in the background when you put your console into Connected Standby mode.  

“As this is a global rolling launch, consoles in Connected Standby will be updated at various times throughout the day based on your time zone.

“If your console is in Energy-saving mode, your Xbox One will not automatically download and install the update. To initiate the download and update process, you can go to Settings – System to manually check if an update is available and choose “Update Now”.”

 

The Xbox One update starts rolling out later today

The Xbox One Experience update adds plenty of new features for fans to explore, as well as new integration with Windows 10.

It’s currently unclear how large the initial update will be and if it could result in Xbox Live going down under the pressure of a global release, although the phased deployment could help avoid this.

It will also help that fans will not be forced to update today but can alternatively wait until November 23, when it will then become mandatory.