The console wars between Playstation 4 and Xbox One is bringing the best out of the two giants.
In its bid for supremacy and desire to keep its players happy, Xbox One released its latest Creators Update, with its first batch for the Xbox Insider Program members. This update is packed with features that focus on performance, competition, streaming, and the best of all, people.
Most notable of these updates is the Copilot Mode. This feature allows "two controllers to be recognized as one." According to Scott Henson, Xbox Partner Group Manager, "One important area for us with this release is to enable Xbox One to be able to be used and played by everyone." As an accessibility option, the mode shall allow players freedom to "assign two gamepads to the same player."
Emphasizing on the people-friendliness of the console, Henson also added that Copilot will make it "more inviting to new gamers needing assistance, more fun by adding cooperative controls for any game, and easier for players who need unique configurations to play."
Simply put, controls can be handed over from one friend to another in order to finish a difficult game, for example. If a friend is lost on a particular part of the game, he can share it to a friend. That friend can give assistance by taking over the game controls. This can be done online via game streaming. In other words, it is like giving your physical gamepad to your friend - but online! This feature draws similarities with Playstation 4's Shareplay concept.
So what else is in the Creators Update? A new look for Home. Reacting on feedbacks from gamers, the Home page was revamped and simplified. This streamlining is designed to increase overall system performance by making the UI simpler and more intuitive.
The Guide section has also been updated to help players in their games. With one press of the Xbox button, one can pull up an enhanced Guide overlay on the left side of the screen. The guide page "designed to get you to the content you care about most, including your games and apps, Home, Store, your recently played games and apps and your top Pins."
Another feature is the evolved multitasking system. The idea is to simplify discoverability; the feature also allows to sync with the new Guide.
Xbox One was released on January 23, 2017. For more information, check out the official Xbox One news site.
