Today’s Xbox One update improves party chat and Achievements

Voice messages aren’t ready yet

It’s Monday morning and I cannot handle Major Nelson’s unbridled enthusiasm for the Xbox One’s new “What’s on” channel, a collection of “curated links to popular videos, games, movies, TV shows, and more.” Clearly this is a man who draws his energy from lost souls.

Today’s update also enhances party chat with icons that show your connection and microphone status, and gives Achievement notifications proper descriptions so you won’t need to dig into the Achievement app to see what exactly you just earned. Game hub links have been retouched, too.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, the update was previously available to preview members, and we reported on that. Now it’s out for the rest of us. We are plebeians no longer!

Unfortunately, the stuff we wanted most — voice messaging and dedicated servers for party chat — is being held back for a future update. Those features need more development time.