Xbox Live’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has released a telling new video that dissects how Friends Lists will work on Xbox One when the next generation console launches in a little over a month. I suspect Xbox Live players will be satisfied with where the Xbox team is taking online gaming and social interaction with this new “app.”
Friends Lists on Xbox carries forward the format you’re currently accustomed to where you can become “Friends” with someone on Xbox Live. Rather than stop there, it also allows you to follow “People” to keep tabs on what videos they are uploading to their feed. Think of it as following a celebrity on Twitter. You’ll never be their “Friend,” but you can still see what they have to share with the world.
In the even person A follows person B and then person B turns around and follows person A, Xbox One will automatically connect them as Friends. For privacy concerns, there is a toggle to block this automatic connecting from happening.
Taking the concept of close Friends a step further, Xbox One users have the ability to tag specific Friends as their favorites. This separate these specific Friends, perhaps the ones you actually play online with the most, into their own exclusive list.
To recap, on Xbox One you will have Friends, favorite Friends, and people you simple follow but don’t necessarily know.
The video goes on to demonstrate how the Friends List on Xbox One can be snapped to the side of the screen during an active game. The idea behind this feature is to allow you to watch for a Friend coming online without interrupting your game. In other words, like most everything else in life, you can multitask your gaming experience.
Achievements have also been retooled so that now there are two different kinds. The first kind is traditional where you have a task to complete in a game and are awarded the Achievement when you do. The second and new kind is a Challenge Achievement that is only available for a limited time. These challenges are design to entice a community of people to unlock, so they aren’t designed specifically for the solo player. Here’s the example Major Nelson provides:
Imagine, for example, a game releases a weekend objective that requires players to cumulatively secure an objective “X” number of times in a three day period. And every person who participates and helps build towards the challenge’s goals unlocks that Achievement and earns its reward.
Hats off to Microsoft and Major Nelson for sharing this Xbox One video and information. It helps to get a flavor for all the bells and whistles a new gaming console has to offer before smacking down $400 to $500 for it.
Source: Major Nelson
