Xbox One Update: Arena/Tournaments, Party Overlay and more heading to Insiders this month

Last week the Xbox One saw a user feedback inspired update and before that, a general UI update brought a number of optimizations to the Xbox One. While Insider members test out upcoming features, like Self-Service Refunds, custom gamerpics, and the Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has detailed features that will be rolling out to Xbox One owners over the next month.

Xbox One owners can look forward to the Arena feature hitting the Xbox One with the World of Tanks Arena and Killer Instinct Arena in tow for select Insider Members. The Area feature will allow users to discover, register, and play in both official and user-generated tournaments in Clubs across Xbox One and Windows 10.

Club owners and administrators will be able to create their own arena tournaments and host them through their clubs.

A quick how-to on that:

Download the Xbox app (beta) on your Windows 10 PC, go to your Club and click on the “Tournaments” tab then select “Create tournament.” Fill out your tournament info and publish your event. Other members of that Club, or guests if they are allowed, on either PC or Xbox One can then discover, join, and play in your tournament.

The update will also bring a new multitasking overlay, the Party Overlay. This feature will allow you to see who is speaking in your party without having to open the Guide to check. It will function similarly to the Achievement tracker – you'll be able to choose where to place the overlay and how transparent it will be (the overlay will only appear when someone is speaking).

How-to:

Go the Guide while in a Party and enable the Party overlay.

In addition to these features, fan-requested updated will also be hitting the Xbox One:

• Share your Looking for Group post on the Activity Feed or through a message
• Unfollow a Club or Game Hub directly from your Activity Feed
• Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.
• For Beam and Twitch broadcasts, you will now have an option in the Guide for your Kinect to locate you automatically.
• Captive Portal support for wireless internet is coming to Xbox One, which allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser. Great for colleges, hotels, or public Wi-Fi locations.
• Filter posts on your Activity Feed on the Xbox app for iOS and Android
• On the Xbox app for Windows 10, we’re adding the option to select the audio input and output sources for Party chat.