14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Microsoft in charge of the Xbox One home console announces that at the moment it is hard at work on making sure that the November firmware update for the device is delivered with no issues and explains that the same content for December will be smaller.
The Christmas period also means that gamers will have to wait until some point in 2015 to get access to the much awaited screenshot tool.
Phil Spencer, the leader of the division working on the Xbox One, tells IGN that his team is aiming to take some time in December to deal with the expected influx of new users and make sure that their experience with the platform is solid, before returning to the task of adding new functionality.
He states, “As we come back into the new year, we’ll see new stuff, and screenshots is on the list.”
The executive adds, “It’s a little more technically challenging than I thought. Two weeks ago, they think they’ve found a good solution for screenshots. They’re working on it. They know people want it. The team has a path to getting it done, and now it’s just prioritizing.”
Apparently, getting a good quality screenshot from an Xbox One video game is harder than simply extracting a frame from a video, something that the console is already capable of doing.
The Xbox One continues to evolve
Microsoft has pledged to deliver monthly firmware updates for the Xbox One for the foreseeable future, implementing new features and tweaks that are all based on the feedback coming from the user community.
The November changes are already available to those in the preview program and seem to be solid, with support for customized backgrounds and better integration for both television services and for Twitter use.
On November 11, gamers who own an Xbox One will also be able to pick up Halo: The Master Chief Collection, arguably the biggest launch of the fall for the platform, which includes remastered versions of the core four titles in the series.
In terms of sales, the Microsoft device is at the moment lagging behind the PlayStation 4 from Sony, which has already gone past the 10 million units sold all over the world milestone.
It will be interesting to see how the Christmas shopping season affects the fortunes of the two devices, which seem to also be getting solid competition from the Wii U, which is boosted by Super Smash Bros.