Xbox One Beam Game Streaming And Revised Dashboard Arrive With Creators Update

Microsoft had a vision to unify different hardware under a single platform and little by little we're starting to see the benefits of that. The upcoming Creators Update for Windows 10 will really set in motion what Microsoft had in mind. Not only will the Creators Update bring fancy new features and improvements to Windows 10 desktop users, but it will also benefit Xbox One owners. Some of those features are already arriving on the Xbox One, including an overhauled dashboard and Beam streaming.

"We’re excited to announce that we are shipping new features to the broader Xbox One community today. This is a big release, and includes Beam streaming, an updated Xbox experience with the new Guide, home improvements, and much more. One major goal for this release is to make streaming your Xbox gameplay even easier," Microsoft stated in a blog post.

The first thing Xbox One owners will notice with the update is a new look for Home. Microsoft made changes to simplify the user interface and increase overall system performance. And in an effort to prioritize games, the company shrunk the game icons with options to dive deeper into the community surrounding whichever game you feel like playing or interacting with. If you don't have a custom background already set, the Xbox One will spotlight the game you're currently playing by using it as the background image. Pretty snazzy.


There is also a newly enhanced Guide. When pressing the Guide button on your Xbox One controller, the new Guide appears as an overlay on the left side of the screen. The first page of the Guide gives users access to Games and Apps, Home, Store, recently launched applications, the latest Games and Deals (for Xbox Live Gold members), and Pins.

Media controls will be featured here as well. If you're playing music in the background, you can bring up the Guide to pause, rewind, and so forth. You can also capture screenshots and record video from here.

In a bid to go after streaming services like Twitch, Microsoft is bringing built-in broadcasting to the Xbox One through Beam.

"We’re committed to making great gaming experiences that unify players across the Xbox One console and PC. Beam is a key example of this unification, and is available for console gamers starting today, releasing more broadly to PC gamers on April 11. With Beam, we’re inviting Creators on Windows 10 PC and Xbox One to stream gameplay and interact with the community in near real-time using Beam’s ultra low-latency – no extra hardware or software required," Microsoft added.

Xbox One users can start using Beam today, which is also accessible via the Guide.

This is a big update and with plenty of other features added in as well. If you own an Xbox One, check it out and let us know what you think of the updated experience.