Xbox One March Update brings tons of new features and optimizations today; Details here

Microsoft has been testing out a number of new features for Xbox One owners to explore through the Insiders Program, but it’s finally time to take all that testing and make it real. The March Update for the Xbox One is bringing a bunch of enhancements to the console, as well as new features, to Xbox One owners today.

The Xbox’s Home and Guide have been reworked, the Beam feature has been added, the console is now more accessible to all kinds of gamers, there are new multitasking capabilities and more. You can find all the details below.

You can get an overview of the features below:

Written details below:

A new Home:

Xbox has simplified the UI and increase overall system performance with this update. Users will find their home screen optimized for speed and prioritizing the most valuable content for your games. Games will have smaller icons with more options that will push users deeper into the community surrounding the game, in addition to this, it will allow users to interact with their club Club or find Looking for Group posts, view Achievements and more.

On top of all that, if there is no custom background set, the updated Home will spotlight the game that is being played by featuring the hero art as the Xbox background.

Optimized Guide:

The Guide has been updated to be faster and more intuitive. Pressing the Xbox button on your controller will pull up the newly enhanced Guide as an overlay on the left side of the screen. The first page of the Guide is designed will prioritize Games and Apps, Home, Store, recently launched applications, the latest Games and Deals with Gold for Xbox Live Gold members, and top Pins.

The Guide will allow control for music playing in the background from any number of apps, enabling you to control play, pause, rewind, fast forward, and manage volume controls.

In addition to those changes, the new Guide will allow users to capture screenshots and record video with a press of a button and access to captured gameplay and to modify options in the GameDVR menu, as well as a menu overlay that lasts up to 5 minutes and within the Guide, you can also ‘Record this’ for up to 10 minutes while recording.

New multitasking:

The multitasking features were designed to act more like the new Guide and prioritize specific features. A new achievement tracker will be active based on the game being played and allows users to select and follow multiple achievements in an overlay, all while playing a game.

Cortana will also appear as an overlay on the screen, allowing users to set reminders and alarms, access Party controls, and play music with simple voice controls.

Beam:

The Beam app will allow users to stream Xbox gameplay directly from the Guide and will include the ability to manage Beam broadcasts and interact with other gamers or viewers in a chat overlay.

A new Beam viewing app can be found in My Games and Apps.

Accessibility:

This update has made the Xbox One more accessible to a wide range of gamers, by bringing the Copilot feature, as well as enhancements to Magnifier and Narrator and more options over audio output and custom rumble settings on a controller. The Copilot feature allows two controllers to act as if they are one, allowing one player to aid another player during gameplay.

The Copilot feature works with this new wireless controller too.

Screen time limits (Xbox One):

A Windows 10 feature has made its way to the Xbox One, allowing parents to set daily time allowance and limits for children using the Xbox One. It will be enforced automatically and be specific to each child.

Limits can be set by a parent account at microsoft.com/family, via “Screen time.”

Blu-ray player bitstream passthrough:

The Xbox One’s Blu-ray player now supports bitstream passthrough, which allows your receiver to decode audio natively. Additionally, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X will be supported.

The feature will be going live later next week.