Microsoft set to ‘throttle release’ new Xbox One Preview build to all members at 6PM PT tonight

Kareem Anderson

The Xbox team has been teasing an upcoming Preview build for eager gamers that’s scheduled to bring some new features for greater community play. Among the new features are the Clubs and Looking for Group tools.

Thanks to a press release accompanied by a podcast from Major Nelson aka Larry Hyrb, we’ve gotten a pretty clear idea of how the new additions will work.

Now, thanks to a tweet from partner director of program management for the Xbox and Windows platforms Mike Ybarra, we now know when more people will be able to get their hands-on time with the new additions.

According to Ybarra, the wider pool of Xbox Preview members should expect to see the feature packed update hit their devices at 6 PM PST September 8, 2016.

Gamer created clubs on Xbox Live has been on the docket for quite a while. With the preview build, users will be able to create their own public, private, or hidden clubs. They will also be able to join, chat, share, and manage administration over the groups. Clubs also have a voice that will make communicating even easier.

It’s worth noting that the club names are similar to usernames and must be unique. This means that if you have a club name that you want to get your hands on, it might be in your best interest to do so as soon as possible.

The Looking for Group feature will be a new social tool for finding other gamers to play with. Upon opening the LFG, your recently played games will list automatically, or you can search for the game you want to find players for. Tags help you set what kind of social experience you want such as limiting swearing, requesting the use of a microphone, and setting specific achievements for that game that you want to accomplish with the group. You will be able to select how many people you want to join you and view the respondents easily through the tool.”

For those interested in testing out the new features, the Xbox team is encouraging fans to sign up for the Xbox Preview program here. Corrected, the Xbox Preview program remains invite only, someone already in the program will need to invite you.

Let us know what your thoughts are on the new additions and what other features you’re hoping come to the Xbox One.