Xbox One's First 2016 Update Improves Party Mode, Brings Back Gamerscore

The first update of the year to Xbox One will build on the console's social features and the activity feed among other things, according to a post by Xbox's director of program management Mike Ybarra.

You'll be able to see the people in a party before you join, instead of realising you're playing alongside your least favourite person in your friends' circle later on.

Microsoft has also brought back the Gamerscore Leaderboard that users loved. The updated charts are visible via the Achievements tab on your profile, and will display your standings across your group by way of "Gamerscore". You can even take a look at who has had the biggest rise or drop over the last 30 days.

(Also see: New Xbox One Experience: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

The updated "Avatar Store" will be available from the Xbox Avatars app on your console or Windows 10 PC. Microsoft has the added the ability to see new items on your avatar in real-time before you press the buy button.

There are a few small changes as well. Pins on your home page can be reordered according to your wish and will be available even when you're offline. That ought to be helpful when your Internet connection is spotty or Xbox Live is down. Also, the Xbox activity feed will now behave like the Twitter mobile app by alerting you of newer posts when you open it up.

Then there's the update to Game Hubs that will make it easier to find your friend's Twitch broadcast, and you can now hide any game-related content such as trials and betas that are just bloating your list of titles and you never intend to install.

As for the Xbox beta app, the updated version comes with a compact mode that fits in everything from the friends' view to messages and activity alerts which ought to be helpful when you're multitasking and just have time for a quick look.

The updates are already available to Xbox One Preview audience and will roll out for users on Windows 10 PCs and the Xbox beta mobile app sometime next week.