The Xbox features a bad pin in the home xbox Skype service

We did it for converts. We did it for PlayStation 5. It’s only fair that we do it for the Xbox, too. Earlier this month, Sony announce This will remove the barely used Accolades feature from the PS5, which allowed you to award prizes to others in multiplayer games. This stimulated an intellectual exercise: what other features can be removed from popular gaming platforms without much fanfare?

The Xbox user interface is well tuned, honed over the course of nearly a decade. (The Xbox Series X/S uses the same user interface as the Xbox One; it’s universal across console generations.) However, there’s always room for trimming. Here are the features that Microsoft can remove from the Xbox without causing too much of a fuss.

Install in home

You can install any game on Xbox permanently: just hover over its icon, click on the hamburger button, and select “Add to Home”. There’s probably a use case I’m ignoring, but the logic behind it has always let me down. If you play a game so frequently that you need to permanently install it on your home screen, it is probably already on your home screen as one of your most played games. (The top line of the Xbox user interface shows your six most recently used apps. And your game library is literally there.)

gaming clubs

Every Xbox game has a so-called Game Club, which can be accessed by viewing the game’s “Game Card” (in the pop-up menu after clicking the hamburger button) and then going to the “Official Club” icon. Here, you can see information about a specific game, from achievement-tracking lists to “news” stories (which you can always get from Favorite gaming news site). On the Progress tab, you’ll also find an exact count of how much time you’ve devoted to this game – good stuff! So this is not the Game Hubs completely Useless by itself. What’s more, they unnecessarily mask information you actually want, an aspect that’s starkly illustrated given how easily they’re accessible on competing platforms, such as PlayStation and Switch.

Skype

We are in the age of Zoom, but the omnipresent ghost of a video chat app from like five eras online has not gone anywhere. yes Skype Much more on Xbox. My only question here… uh why? It’s partially supposed to double as a voice chat alternative, I think, but every chat option is better, including Microsoft’s, or Recently Added Discord Integration (Great for intersection).

break reminder

Sure, in the console settings, under the preferences menu, you can set up automatic break reminders in half-hour increments. (These notifications only appear when you’re playing a game, but the clock starts counting the second you turn on the Xbox.) But come on, no one wants the Xbox to act like their parents. Free time is more expensive than ever these days. If you can reasonably cut a few hours to play games in a row, you’ll have more power.

Events tab

By default, the Xbox home screen includes an Events line item, which gives you a quick update on whether any Live Service games are triggering active events. Currently, the Events tab displays details about events marvel avengersAnd the Ark: Survival EvolvedAnd the Fate 2—Two I’ve never played on Xbox. (Mine Avengers The account is on PlayStation; I never touched Astronomy.) Therefore, it is clearly not always relevant. But also, if you’re a regular gamer of the service’s games, you’ll likely find out what’s going on either through official social channels, news sources, or in-game.

Xbox Help

Xbox Assist is a built-in encyclopedia of FAQs, tips, and other system-wide guides. For example, if you open the Troubleshooters menu, you’ll see a walkthrough that tells you how to start a game you’re having trouble booting, filled with the option to check the status of your Xbox services online. But you can’t keep these guides open at the same time as the part of the Xbox you’re having the problem with, which means you have to either save the tip or juggle two apps. Plus, we all know the one place people head to for easy answers: Google. It is much easier to have all this information on hand Xbox support page in a web browser.