Microsoft will launch a new update soon for Xbox One and Windows 10 users introducing several major new features for both platforms. On the Windows 10 side they have the new Game Mode coming, and on the Xbox One side they have the new Guide button features. Both platforms will receive the Beam streaming option soon.
Over on the official Xbox New Wire, platform engineering lead for the Xbox, Mike Ybarra, explained that they have a number of new features on the horizon in the next major OS update for Windows 10 and Xbox One.
The one main feature they discuss is the Game Mode, which will supposedly enable Windows 10 systems to operate more efficiently when playing games. The simple explanation of the feature is that…
“Our vision is for Game Mode to optimize your Windows 10 PC for increased performance in gaming. This is a big update for Windows; we’re looking forward to Insiders getting their hands on this new feature for further testing, and we’ll have much more to share on what it is and how it works soon, so stayed tuned.”
Supposedly the Game Mode will alter how the kernel prioritizes content so that games run more efficiently when in Game Mode on Windows 10. Whether or not this is true will depend on when the benchmarks are released after gamers get some hands on time with the new feature.
The improved Guide feature is also coming for the Xbox One, enabling gamers to quickly open up a sidebar and quickly modify things like background music, check friend stats or perform other tasks no matter what you’re doing.
Both Windows 10 and the Xbox One will receive the new Beam feature, making it easy to live-stream your content by pulling up the game bar in Windows 10 or using the Xbox Guide button to stream your game.
These features will roll out over the next few patches for the insiders and then roll out further for general users. The Beam feature basically adds a Steam Broadcast-like option to Xbox and Windows 10 users. Of course, they would have to be convinced to give up using Steam in order to make use of it.
