The new Xbox One update lets viewers take control of streamers' games for kicks

By Kartikeya

Bringing a slew of innovative features to Xbox One consoles, Microsoft's new Spring update has started rolling out to members of the Xbox Insiders Program today, and is expected to become available to everyone in the near future. 

We've known for a while that Xbox One Xand Xbox One S consoles would getting 1440p display support at some point, and today's update has finally unveiled the feature, making it possible for both games and media to be displayed on QHD monitors without being downscaled to 1080p.

The update also brings a fascinating (and rather exciting) new feature called Share Controller to Microsoft's Twitch rival Mixer, and it allows streamers to hand off control of the game they're playing to viewers watching from the Mixer website. 

Viewers will be able to control the streamer's game by either plugging an Xbox controller into their PC or using an on-screen virtual gamepad. 

On top of this, both parties will be able to share controls simultaneously, which is sure to lead to all sorts hilarious hijinks. 

Lots of improvements

The release also brings big another change to Mixer, in that broadcasts will no longer stop when the streamer switches games. Instead, the stream will pause and resume automatically, with an indicator displayed on the streamer’s broadcast to let viewers know what’s going on.

Additionally, streamers can now choose to start their Mixer streams from anywhere on the Xbox One, including from the console's dashboard or a game's splash screen. 

Significant updates have also been made to Microsoft Edge on Xbox One, bringing a more modern, streamlined design to the web browser, while also making it easier for users to navigate using a controller. 

Another nice surprise is that users will also be able to download and upload pictures, music and video from within Edge, which they can then browse from the File Explorer app. 

Along with the new features listed above, the Spring update offers a number of other improvements, such as smarter dashboard feeds, new filtering tools for club owners, new audio balancing options and the ability to join or start tournaments without being a member of a club. You can read more about the new features on Xbox Wire.