The new head of Microsoft’s Xbox Division Phil Spencer never had any trouble in sharing words of praise for the competition at Sony, and he did it again during the “fireside chat” interview at GDC, when he was asked about his opinion on PlayStation’s approach to indies compared to Microsoft’s:

They did a nice job at the E3 presentation. I was there and I saw their focus on the smaller developers, and I thought even just the way they staged it was really well done.

And they had some great games to show, and they shown them in their booth. I guess for us it has always been part of our plan. It’s just when we were gonna talk about it, so they choose to focus on that part of their program earlier, and I think they did a good job.

To say that we’re behind when I look at the progress that we have talked about here… I feel really good about the success that we’re having with independent developers looking at Xbox One as the target platform for them, and bringing their games.

So… are we behind now? I don’t know. Right now I’d say that independent developers I’m hearing and talking to seem really happy with how we’re doing the program, and while we don’t control the dates of the independent developers – they own their own dates – I know we’re right on the cusp of games coming, and I think gamers will see the benefits of that program really quickly on Xbox One.

Spencer also mentioned that the ability to turn every Xbox One into a development kit is still on the table, but at the moment Microsoft is focusing on sending actual dev kits to those that signed up to the ID@Xbox program, and that’s the priority for the moment, alongside helping those teams make great games. The retail box to dev kit conversion will come further down the road.

That’s actually an option that always intrigued me, so I’m quite happy to hear that it’s still coming. As usual it’s also refreshing to hear executives like Spencer talk positively about the competition. That’s an attitude many should learn from. 

If you always wanted to help test the upcoming Xbox One software updates but you haven’t been invited to the preview program, now you have another chance, as relayed by reddit user KAM7.

The preview app has just been updated with the addition of an option to invite friends, so if you know someone that is already in the preview, all you have to do is to ask him for an invite.

Of course you should keep in mind that despite the definition of “preview,” you’ll be taking part to the beta testing of a critical part of the operating system of your console, and that means that you’re going to experience bugs and problems that can very well impact your gaming experience.