Microsoft to release epic Xbox One update in June

TV and OneGuide coming to UK in June with speech recognition remotes

“Major Nelson”, aka Microsoft's director of programming for Xbox Live Larry Hryb, has let it be known that a June update to Microsoft's don't call it just agaming console will be able to access external storage.

“Your Xbox One system will soon support up to two external hard drives at once,” Nelson/Hyrb has written. “Simply plug in your 256 GB or larger USB 3.0 external hard drive and once formatted, copy and move games, apps and game add-ons to increase your storage capacity at home.

Things get even better, because the change will also make games portable. Nelson/Hyrb says “You’ll need to sign in to Xbox Live if you’ve purchased your content digitally or insert a disc to verify your game ownership when you take your content on the road.” Which don't sound like onerous requirements.

Nelson/Hyrb also has news of the TV and OneGuide features introduced earlier this year: they'll be available in the UK and Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in June. That update will make it possible to control set-top boxes and some audio peripherals with Kinect voice.

A later post contains even more momentous news for some, in the form of a release date and price for Minecraft on Xbox One. You'll be up for $US19.99 when it débuts in August. ®