Microsoft’s Major Nelson has dropped some info on Xbox One’s June firmware update. Specifically, the update will include two major improvements; support for external storage, and the ability to identify friends by their real names.
Though we don’t know the specific date the update will arrive just yet, Microsoft did elaborate on how some of these new features are going to work. The Xbox One will be capable of recognizing up to two external drives, and upon connection a drive will be formatted and properly prepared for use (assuming it’s USB 3.0 and at least 256GB in size).
Perhaps the most exciting feature is the ability to store games on an external drive, bring them to an Xbox One-owning friend’s house, and play them there. You’ll need to log into Xbox Live for this to be possible of course (or verify with a disk), but even so, it’s impressive. Is this really the same company that aimed to destroy game-sharing as we know it less than a year ago? The best part is that the game doesn’t need to be offloaded to the guest console’s internal drive; everything works seamlessly over USB 3.0.
Microsoft says tools for copying and restoring full games (and their DLC) will be made available soon. As for the displaying of real names, the feature appears to be quite customizable, letting you display full names for certain lists or groups, for individual friends, or for everyone by default. Luckily, names won’t actually show up while playing games against strangers (or stranger Xbox friends), so your real-life identity should remain secure.
There are a handful of other features confirmed for the update too, including OneGuide and Universal Remote Control for SmartGlass, as well as an auto sign-in feature. Additionally, apps like Netflix and Hulu will finally be made available to non-Gold subscribers. As someone who will eventually buy an Xbox One solely to play Halo 5‘s campaign, that is pretty excellent news.
