Microsoft tests rotating Home backgrounds and movable Guide for Xbox Insiders

Microsoft has started rolling out three console personalization changes to Xbox Insiders. Users can save favorite dynamic backgrounds and have Home shuffle through them, sort disc-based games with claimed digital licenses into their own library category, and set the Guide to appear on either the left or the right side of the screen.

Microsoft says members of the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring can try the features first.

Insiders who want a varied Home screen no longer have to pick a new background by hand. Shuffle can change the background at each sign-in, or hourly, daily or weekly, and it can run through saved favorites or a whole category. Microsoft says a background tied to a special controller, such as the one for the Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition, can be saved as a favorite and used even when that controller is not connected.

Since August, Xbox players can claim digital licenses for games they own on disc. Insiders who have done so now find those games in a separate category of the full library. Under Settings, General, Personalization, Games & apps, they can return to the combined view, and they can also turn off the license icon shown on game tiles. Favorites are saved from the Dynamic backgrounds page under Personalization by choosing a background and pressing X. The Guide side is set under Personalization, Guide.

Microsoft says it will bring the features to more Insiders and players over time but has not given a date. It has not announced pricing, since the features are part of the Insider program. Feedback can go through the Xbox Insider subreddit or the company's player feedback page.

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