Windows 11 2022 update brings graphics options for games and a new Controller bar
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Windows 11’s 2022 update has just arrived and includes a number of useful features for gamers, including a Controller bar and several tweaks to usher in graphical improvements.
Let’s start with the Controller Bar, a new controller-friendly display for the Xbox Game Bar. Those who play with a controller can open it with a simple tap – a push of the Xbox button for those using a Microsoft gamepad – and it offers a compact bar that allows you to easily use the controller to access your most recently used games (or launchers).
In terms of energizing visuals, an important step is the addition of a new HDR calibration app for the Windows 11 2022 update, which, as you might guess, is aimed at those who have an HDR monitor. The tool fine-tunes color accuracy and ensures that bright areas aren’t blown out (and in the same way that black levels are accurate for dark areas in your games).
Further good news for those with an HDR-compatible monitor is that Auto HDR, the feature that increases brightness and color gamut to simulate HDR for games that don’t really support it, is now available for more games.
This upgrade also provides Windows 11 with enhanced DirectStorage support for a wider range of drive configurations (with RAID 0 now provided).
Finally, for those who play games in a window instead of full screen, windowed gaming is vastly improved. Microsoft has brought Auto HDR and variable refresh rate (VRR) support to games with windows (they were previously only good for full-screen use). Also, DX10 and DX11 games are set to get “dramatically improved” rendering latency when run in windowed mode with the 2022 update.
Analysis: Some useful upgrades, especially for those with HDR monitors
While there’s nothing revolutionary here for gamers, there are some solid, albeit smaller, upgrades that will improve quality of life in a number of scenarios.
It’s great to see Auto HDR support being expanded – we’ve got a guide on how to enable this feature here, by the way – and the HDR calibration tool is a useful boon too. Those with an HDR monitor are sure to get some love from Microsoft here, and as mentioned, people running games in a window too. Not many people do this, that’s true, but there are still use cases for windowed gaming, and promises of dramatic boosts to screen latency do sound like very good news in terms of smooth gameplay.
The Controller bar is something we welcomed when it previewed in May of this year, when it was still quite buggy. So hopefully those glitches have all been fixed, but as we know from past experience, it’s not uncommon for issues to arise when a new upgrade arrives – especially a major feature update like this one. Fingers crossed that any hiccups are minor in nature, whether they’re game-related or popping up elsewhere in the Windows 11 2022 update.