Incoming Xbox One Tweaks Include Games Filtering, Custom Gamer Pics, New Arena Portal

Members of the Xbox Insider program have spoken out about certain features they would like to see Microsoft implement and lo and behold, the Redmond outfit is responding to the feedback. Over the course of the next few weeks, Xbox Insiders will see a handful of new features they requested, including the ability to filter game libraries by platform (Xbox One and Xbox 360).

"Gamers are at the center of everything we do at Xbox – we value your opinions and want you to help evolve the Xbox experience. Over the past few months, we’ve released brand new features to Insiders including Beam broadcasting through the Guide on Xbox One and the Game bar on Windows 10, the Beam app to watch streams on Xbox One, Game Mode on Windows 10, and a preview of Xbox Game Pass. In addition to adding exciting new features, the team has been hard at work continuing to update existing features based on what we hear from you at Xbox Feedback," Microsoft said.


World of Tanks fans will be happy to learn that they will soon be able to participate in new tournaments on the Xbox One. These tournaments are created by ESL and powered by Arena on Xbox Live. And while on the topic of tournaments, gamers will be able to discover new ones from their Xbox One or Xbox app on Windows 10. They'll receive notifications when their match is ready and be able to jump right them on the Xbox One, with automatic results reporting and the ability to show off results on their activity feed.

Custom gamerpics will finally be making an appearance as well. Once the features rolls out, gamers will be able to update their gamerpics with a custom image from their console, Windows 10 PC, or mobile phone. According to Microsoft, this has been a top requested feature to Xbox Live. With that in mind, it will be in preview longer than other features to ensure it lives up to expectations.

Other changes coming to gamers Profiles and Activity Feeds include:

• New ‘Join broadcast’ button in your profile, one of the many ways to access the game stream of someone broadcasting their gameplay.
• Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.
• In your Activity Feed, we’re adding the ability to hide individual posts, pin posts to the top of your feed, and filter posts by friends, games or Clubs.

A spattering of other features are planned as well, including Captive Portal support for wireless Internet (allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser, which can come in handy for colleges, hotels, and public Wi-Fi locations), the ability to select Kinect auto-zoom for Beam and Twitch Broadcasts, and more.