Gamers also have new options for activity and window size

Mar 11, 2015 17:24 GMT  ·  By

The team at Microsoft in charge of the convergence between the Xbox One home console and the Windows 10 operating system is announcing that the official app that links the two is getting an update designed to improve overall functionality and to give gamers more options to customize their time with it.

The company is aiming to deliver monthly updates for the service, which will become very important when the new OS launches later in the year.

The Xbox One app on Windows 10 now introduces a new Friends Search functionality, allowing gamers to connect with their real life acquaintances using their Gamertag and their real name.

An option is also offered to search the name of a video game to see who is playing it at any given time.

Game Clips are also supported now and they can be downloaded on the PC.

There are also changes to the Activity Feed, which now supports comments and the option to delete activity and the user profile, which has a collapsed header to offer more info at first glance.

Gamers have more choices when using the Windows 10 app

Xbox One owners who get the official app for the OS can also experience better window sizing and there's a way to connect to the home console and control it using a virtual game controller.

Microsoft adds, "After you Connect, you can also access OneGuide and the Universal Remote Control to change channels, manage volume or access the DVR on your set-top box connected to your Xbox One."

Recently played games can also be seen across devices, including phones, the Xbox One, the 360 and the PC.

As always, the company is asking those using the Xbox One app on Windows 10 to deliver feedback in order to make sure that the experience improves in the coming months.

Microsoft is at the moment aiming to make gaming a bigger part of Windows 10 when it launches, and connectivity with the Xbox One will make it easy for players to experience titles on both sets of devices this fall.

The home console is currently lagging behind the PlayStation 4 in terms of overall sales and recent price cuts and other measures seem to have a limited impact on its fortunes.