Microsoft is pushing out a new update today to Xbox Series X/S consoles that introduces the ability to “jump right into a game from your friends’ shared captures on mobile and PC.” That’s cool, picking up a game directly from where your friend took a screenshot or video, but the other feature might be the more enticing one. It finally—finally!—quiets background noise in party chat. Hallelu, you can actually focus when playing with your friends online now.
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In a blog post on Xbox Wire, the company outlined two new features hitting Xbox Series X/S today. The first is called Party Chat Noise Suppression, which does exactly what you’d think—and hope—it would do. Those pesky, errant noises that occur when using online voice chat on your system? You know, things like breathing, gamepad clicks, and background noise that interrupt your focus during tense gameplay sequences? Yeah, those should be dead and gone now with this new noise suppression feature. If you like your ears flooded with obnoxiously intrusive sounds while you’re playing, though, you can turn off noise suppression in the settings. Open the guide, navigate to Parties & Chats, hit Options, and there you’ll find the toggle.
The second feature in today’s update is Jump In With Friends. An extension of last year’s Link Sharing, a feature that lets you share clips and screenshots with friends, it’s now being expanded so you can instantly leap into your buddies’ game via the cloud, playing from the point where the clip was taken. Simply click on “an epic moment from their favorite game” (such as a screenshot or video) while on mobile or PC, tap Play, and bam! That means you’re playing through Microsoft’s cloud gaming technology, which also means for some games you’ll need an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. Strangely, it’s unclear if you need to own the game in question to “Jump In With Friends.”
Kotaku has reached out to Microsoft for clarification on how exactly “Jump In With Friends” works, and will update should we get a reply.
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