Phase two of Xbox One April update brings voice messages, dedicated servers for party chat, more
The second phase of the April update for Xbox One is now open to members of the Preview programme and and it looks like there are even more features in store.
Phase one of Xbox One's April firmware update started a few days ago with improvements to party chat and achievements notifications. Today, phase two reveals new features like voice messages and plenty more.
First up, voice messages are back. Not only that, but they can be exchanged between Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Party chat improvements include the addition of dedicated servers when peer-to-peer connections could not be established, though there's no ETA on when this will be available to the public.
Here's the full thing from Major Nelson.
- Voice messages – Xbox One preview program members will be able to compose and playback voice messages in the messages app when snapped on Xbox One. Quickly and easily record audio to send to your friends or others through your snapped messages app accessed through a simple quick double tap of the Xbox button. Additionally, voice messages can be exchanged between Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles
- Dedicated servers for party chat – We’re enhancing party chat with dedicated chat relay servers that will enable Xbox One owners that may have historically had NAT issues to party chat more reliably. Parties where players are unable to form direct peer-to-peer connections for party chat will automatically leverage dedicated server infrastructure to relay traffic. This service is only enabled for parties where one or more members are previewing the April system update
- What’s On – The Xbox engineering team is continuing to experiment with the What’s On area, which highlights popular videos, movies, TV shows and game broadcasts. We’re continuing to test different experiences for preview members in the U.S. and this month, the preview of this feature is being expanded to Canada and the UK as well
Let Major Nelson and Richard Irvin walk you through all the new features:
