Xbox November update delivers a handful of new features, improvements

Xbox is rolling out a considerable set of new features that will benefit players across different platforms of the Xbox environment. This month’s update highlights the introduction of wish list gifting and sale notifications features, the new Captures app, and easy access to Discord voice channels from Xbox consoles. Nonetheless, Xbox also tapped other sections of its consoles and gaming platforms, giving players small yet noticeable improvements to the Xbox experience.

The first of the biggest things to try is the Discord support within the ‘Parties & chats’ option from the Xbox console. By linking a Discord account to Xbox, users can see available Discord servers and friends in the voice channel and join them from an Xbox console. Speaking of Discord, Xbox said it is also bringing its noise suppression feature to Discord Voice on Xbox Series X|S, making it possible to filter out background noises like barking dogs and clicking keyboards. And for a better experience, Xbox is bringing a controller rumble support to cloud gaming on PC and Mac via Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers. Xbox also promises to deliver the feature on Samsung TVs soon after rolling out Xbox App support on 2021 models of the TV brand this year.

On the other hand, to further improve the reach of Xbox players to other gamers in the gaming community while staying on consoles, the gaming brand now presents new integrated streaming options. Specifically, the new changes will allow Xbox console owners to choose three live-streaming “Destination” options: Twitch, Lightstream, and Streamlabs. However, Xbox underlined that due to this change, “the Twitch app on Xbox consoles is now dedicated to viewing only.”

Xbox is also introducing another way to share your gaming scenes with others via the new integrated Captures app. Aside from better game capture viewing, management, and editing features, the app allows copying game clips and screenshots directly to an external drive. Additionally, Xbox Series X|S console owners can now experience higher bit rates when they capture game clips in 720p and 1080p.

Tested earlier this month, the ability to receive sales notifications regarding the items on your wishlist is now rolling out, too. Nonetheless, you have control over whether you want to see such alerts. You can check it by going to Settings > Preferences > Store notifications. If activated, the guide will show pop-up messages highlighting the discount you’ll get.

You can also ask your friends and family to buy these wishlist items for you, given that the festive season is just around the corner. Aside from getting notifications, you can also share your Xbox wishlist with others and hope they’ll check it out and buy some of the items for you. If you have folks generous enough, they can choose the “Buy as gift” option and send the item to you.

As usual, the November Xbox update also covers some sections within the Settings. First is the renamed Xbox Assist, which is now called “Xbox Support.” Aside from an updated name, there are also game design changes on the page, and articles are now scrollable. Another small change is the addition of the “Ask to join” option to the user’s profile, so you no longer have to go to the “Happening now” page, where it is still available. 

Xbox players will also now be greeted by a new Recommendations section in Settings. It might sound a bit of a small addition, but Xbox said it contains tips that “you can do to get the most out of your Xbox.” This isn’t the only informative feature added to the update, though. There is also a new improvement in the “Power options” page on the General pages under Settings. Specifically, this change will give users detailed information about the power usage of different modes in Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. In relation to that, it is also now possible for console users to choose a setting that will turn off their units after a specified period of inactivity.

Next year, more features will arrive since Xbox is continuously conducting tests with Insiders. Yet, the future and final versions of some of them are quite unpredictable. For instance, Xbox still seems to be ignoring the endless plea of the Xbox community to have a customizable Xbox dashboard with fewer ads (if not ad-free). In September, it can be recalled that Xbox encouraged fans to help improve the dashboard homepage on the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. However, fans were disappointed in October when it released an almost unchanged dashboard to Insiders in the Alpha Skip Ahead ring, which still featured tons of ad tiles.