Microsoft's latest preview build of Windows 11 brings a new "controller bar" menu for quickly launching recently played Xbox games.
The controller bar is the headline feature
update in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22616 for the Dev and Beta Channels
for Windows Insiders, which also comes with numerous bug fixes.
The bar is a preview of a new view of the Xbox Game
Bar that opens when users pair or connect an Xbox controller to a PC. The bar
displays a row of icons for up to three games the user has recently played on a
local device as well as installed game launchers.
SEE: Microsoft upgraded 190,000 PCs to Windows 11 (but even
they couldn't upgrade everything).
The controller bar can be brought up when not
playing a game by pressing the Xbox button on the game controller. If you're in
a game already, the Xbox buttons take you directly to the Xbox Game bar and the
standard gaming widgets.
To use the feature on a Windows 11 PC, users need
the relevant preview build and the Xbox Insider Hub installed from the
Microsoft Store. Users need to sign in to the Xbox Insider Hub and join the
Insider program and then navigate to "Previews" and join the Windows
Gaming preview.
Users need to check they have the Xbox Game Bar
version 5.722.5022.0 or higher, and then pair the controller or plug it in.
Microsoft has also set up a Game Bar preview page on Reddit for testers to
share feedback and bug reports with Microsoft.
Windows11 is an important release for
Microsoft's plans to integrate Xbox, thanks to the built-in Xbox app, which
provides easier access to Game Pass-- a service that hasn't caught on widely
yet but could be bolstered through Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of
Activision Blizzard.
This build also drops-- for now-- changes to the system tray
in Build 22581 from March 23 due to feedback from Insiders.
At the time of its release, Microsoft warned
Insiders that the system tray would no longer support drag-and-drop to pin and
unpin these items. It also introduced an optional setting to hide the
"show hidden icons" button completely, aiming for a simpler taskbar.
But Insiders immediately complained that after installing it they were unable
to move system tray icons and that tray icon persisted after closing an app.
" The system tray and specifically the
"Show hidden icons" flyout will now function the same way it did with
the original release of Windows 11,
including the ability to rearrange icons in the flyout," Microsoft says in
a blogpost announcing Build 22616. Microsoft
plans to bring these system tray changes in the future "after further
refinement of the experience by addressing some of the feedback we have
received.".
There are also bug fixes for Taskbar, Input,
Widgets, Settings, windowing, Task Manager, and Windows Sandbox. There is one
known issue affecting live captions that don't display when apps like video
players are in full-screen mode.
Microsoft warned Insiders that the window for
switching from Dev Channel to the Beta Channel is closing soon.
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