It’s been almost two years since the Xbox One released, and while Microsoft has been pretty solid in updating the system to the needs and wants of the community, there’s still one big feature that was missing: voice messaging. After next month, that will no longer be an issue.
In a news post today, Major Nelson announced that the April update for the Xbox One will be rolling out over the next week, and voice messaging is finally making its return to the console. It seems as if Xbox parties will also be getting dedicated servers, which should make stability a (hopeful) non-factor. You can view the full list of features as well as a video detailing the coming updates below:
- Voice messages – Xbox One preview program members will be able to compose and playback voice messages in the messages app when snapped on Xbox One. Quickly and easily record audio to send to your friends or others through your snapped messages app accessed through a simple quick double tap of the Xbox button. Additionally, voice messages can be exchanged between Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles.
- Dedicated servers for party chat – We’re enhancing party chat with dedicated chat relay servers that will enable Xbox One owners that may have historically had NAT issues to party chat more reliably. Parties where players are unable to form direct peer-to-peer connections for party chat will automatically leverage dedicated server infrastructure to relay traffic. This service is only enabled for parties where one or more members are previewing the April system update.
- What’s On – The Xbox engineering team is continuing to experiment with the What’s On area, which highlights popular videos, movies, TV shows and game broadcasts. We’re continuing to test different experiences for preview members in the U.S. and this month, the preview of this feature is being expanded to Canada and the UK as well.
