Microsoft’s second major Xbox One update of 2014 is scheduled to roll out in early March. Invitations to test the new features early will soon begin arriving in selected users' Xbox Live mailboxes containing registration tokens… but there’s a catch.

As has been the case in some Xbox 360 updates, users in the beta will be sequestered from the rest of the population. As the new features are focused on parties and friends, those in the test program won’t be able to receive party invites, use party chat, party matchmaking, and even party visibility.

The preview will be released sometime next week, which means that you’ll only be separated from other players for a short time. Reunification of the population is scheduled to take place in early March, right before Titanfall arrives.

Our Take

As long as you can accept possibly being separated from your friends for a week or so, there's no reason not to give the features a try in beta. Just make sure you tell your friends to sign up in order to minimize the inconvenience during the testing period.