Members of Microsoft’s Xbox Preview Program currently have access to updated firmware for their Xbox One controllers. This update, which should roll out to normal users once it has been thoroughly tested, offers a few improvements to the firmware of the controller. The biggest improvement is the Quick Connect features, which takes the connection time of an Xbox One controller from 4-5 seconds down to around 2 seconds. Along with this comes a few stability improvements, which seek to fix various problems reported by users since launch.
There is actually a special process that you have to do in order to update the firmware on the Xbox One controller. If you are a member of the Xbox Preview Program, just follow these directions:
- Connect a controller to your Xbox One with a USB cable. Keep any headsets connected to the controller.
- Connect to Xbox Live.
- Press the Menu
- Go to Settings > Devices & accessories. Select the controller.
- If you have multiple controllers attached, you can select Buzz – which will cause the selected controller to vibrate.
- Then select Update to download the new firmware to the controller attached via the USB cable, and the screen will show the Updating controller … progress screen
- When you see the Controller updated screen, press ‘B’ to go back to the Devices & accessories main page
- Reselect the controller, the Firmware version, should now be: 1.2.2236.0
Modern gaming can still surprise you sometimes as the idea of updating the firmware on a console controller hadn’t really occurred to me for some reason. At this point it seems clear that every piece of the gaming experience can be altered and improved as the years go on. This is certainly great news for early adopters, as they usually would have to purchase newer versions of equipment they already owned if any changes were made after launch.
