The original Xbox One is now reduced to a poultry price of just £179 including two games, perhaps a response by Microsoft to Sony’s excellently recieved PS4 Pro reviews released this week. The new UI features an Insider profile card which showcases player’s milestones, and Xbox with multiple players may also share feedback individually. If the app name and icon reads “Xbox Insider Hub”, you already have the update and just need to fire it up. Whereas Windows, Office, and Xbox all have an “Insider Preview”, the Skype group has thrown that convention to the wind and instead is running an “Insiders Program”. Believed to work in a similar fashion to the Chromecast, the HDMI dongle would allow users to run Universal Windows Platform application and certain games too.
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Microsoft seems to be having a lot of success with its Insider programs.
Prior to E3 earlier this year, rumor had it that Microsoft would announce an Xbox-branded streaming stick – something in the vein of a Chromecast or Amazon Fire Stick. That part of the program will not change. The Xbox Preview Dashboard has also received a name change, and is now known as the Xbox Insider Hub. The Xbox Insider Program is opening to everyone, but system update testing will still only be available to those already in the program. To accompany the new focus, Microsoft has rebuilt the Xbox Preview Dashboard. Before companies like Microsoft had this telemetry capability they depended upon the testers to submit feedback manually but many of those individuals would never submit one piece of feedback despite using the beta software. But before making their public debut, those programs are tested by preview members who trial things such as backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 titles.
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Finally, and most intriguingly, the Xbox Insider Program is opening to everyone, Major Nelson said. For the first time in its history, any Xbox user will be able to provide feedback and suggest features from the console’s interface. Gamers who are still into the games they play on older versions of the PlayStation either decide to stop playing them or purchase a completely new and re-mastered version meant for PlayStation 4, in order to continue enjoying them.
