Xbox One owners unite to spur Microsoft to improve system
Switching on your next-gen console you might be surprised to notice it lacks some of the most-used features of its eight-year old predecessor. But that is the case with Xbox One, whose operating system trades many of the Xbox 360's system features for a leaner interface.But rather than moan about it - or, at least, as well as moaning about it - early adopters have begun compiling suggestions for Microsoft to implement. And the company has taken notice.XboxFeedback.com houses a list of issues and missed features which Reddit users have worked together to compile. It was even spotted by Microsoft mouthpiece Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, who commented to say that its suggestions had been passed on to the relevant people. Top Xbox One feature requests
- Xbox Guide functionality to return
- Friends as a tab on the home screen
- Notifications when friends come online, you receive a friend request
- Hard drive management screen
- USB support for storage/media
- View (and easily rate) recent players
- Smarter Kinect phrases ('Play Forza', with disambiguation for duplicates)
- Party chat to be simplified, on by default in parties
- Set game chat to TV, headset (or both)
- Controller battery indicator
- System-wide controller options (rumble off, layout save)
- Avatar store
- Voice messages
- Background music
- Custom backgrounds
- Ability to see Xbox One games/achievements on Xbox 360
The company has already stated that the Xbox One interface is just its first version and, like the Xbox 360, it will be refreshed throughout the console's lifespan. But the console's operating system seems aimed towards further homogenisation with Windows 8, and away from successful Xbox 360 features such as the Guide button. And this is where things run into problems.Rather than having the system's features laid out in the Guide's single, simple interface, core pieces are now spread across separate apps. You must now return to the Home screen to individually load these features (your Friends list, Achievements, system settings) or snap these features using Kinect voice commands (although this doesn't work with everything).Even within these apps, previously easy-to-reach features are now hard to find. Want to see which of your friends are online? You now need to load the Friends app, select "Friends" and click through to the system's confusing list of your acquaintances. Small green dots indicate who's actually online and who's not. This used to be on the Guide button, but was also part of the core desktop - accessible with a simple click of the right bumper.The Guide could also be used to view recent met players - a feature which has been removed entirely. It's a shame, as it makes Microsoft's much-lauded player ratings system pretty much impossible to use without it.Other missed features are even more inexplicable - there's no way to see your controller's battery life, there's no way to get notifications when a friend comes online, and you don't get a notification when other users add you as a friend.A number of applications seem unfinished or lacking functionality which would make far more useful. The Xbox One's Upload Studio is a great addition, but viewing other people's content feels oddly passive. The console has an activity feed but no way of commenting or "liking" content from friends. And while the option to export videos to SkyDrive is nice, PlayStation 4 lets you share content directly to social networks and take static screenshots.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ystem-features
