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Microsoft Reveals Xbox One Friends List Features
In a new video, Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb detailed the way Xbox One's friends list will work. In addition to all the features we're using now like seeing what your friends are doing and their achievements, the Xbox One includes new social opportunities.
In addition to friends, you'll be able to follow people. These individuals will be added to your activity feed, and you'll be able to see when they upload new videos. Should two people follow each other, they'll automatically be considered "friends." For privacy purposes, you can disallow your account to be followed.
There is also a new favorites option. This allows you to tag friends for a more exclusive list. This way, you'll have easier access to those people you play with most often.
You can also snap the activity feed to the side of the screen. If you're playing and waiting for a friend to come online or start a specific game (or just want to jump into what they are playing), you can see it easily without leaving your game. For more on Xbox One matchmaking, click here.
In a blog post on Xbox Wire, Hryb also states that Xbox usage has increased 17 percent year-over-year with over 20 billion hours used. Microsoft is also crowing about an August NPD online gaming report that reveals that of gamers that play online 50 percent more use Xbox Live than PlayStation 3.
[Source: Xbox Wire]
Our Take
As we get closer to launch and the slate of games becomes solidified, we turn our attention to the user experience. We still have much to learn about how we'll interact with both of the new consoles. Videos like this are quite helpful in demystifying the experience.
The new friends and followers features offer far more usability than the current Xbox Live experience. They also complement nicely with the snapping feature of the new dashboard and the upload studio offerings. I look forward to giving all of this a try for myself.
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