Home Gaming PlayStation’s next big firmware update is all about community

PlayStation’s next big firmware update is all about community

3 min read
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community

If there’s one thing that I despised about the PlayStation 3, it was the constant need for firmware updates. Just about every week had the device on standby, ready to download yet another round of firmware tweaks and make me sweat bullets as I watched my monthly cap tick over.

These days however, the PlayStation 4 seems to have a handle on that annoyance. Firmware updates aren’t just far less frequent, but meaningful as well. Unlike the updates on my Xbox One mumble mumble grumble rassum frassum…

A new firmware update is on the way for the PS4, and it sounds like a big one. Codenamed Kenshin, the update increases online storage capacity for PS Plus subscribers to 10GB, adds the YouTube Live functionality for game-streaming and the ability to share video on Twitter. Here’s the full list from PlayStation:

Online storage capacity increase

PS4 online storage capacity has increased from 1GB to 10GB for all PS Plus members. In 3.00 system software, you’ll see that we added a handy usage meter to monitor your available storage capacity, and a new Auto-Upload menu has been added to Application Saved Data Management.

YouTube live

PS4 owners will be able to live stream gameplay to YouTube. Live streams will be viewable across YouTube, including on the new YouTube Gaming mobile app and website.

Events

A new hub for events has been added, giving an overview of activities taking place in the games you play most, as well as official broadcasts.

For instance, you may see an update for a Double XP weekend, a special enemy appearing at a scheduled time, or seasonal events like in-game towns being decorated for the winter. You’ll also receive notifications when the event starts, or if the timing changes.

Favourite Groups

Favourite Groups has been added to the Friends app, letting you quickly access groups of people you like to play games with frequently. This will make the process of getting a game session up and running even easier.

Communities

PS4 users will have the ability to create communities based around shared interests, like games, genres, and more. Communities include a message board with general discussion, screenshots shared by players, and the ability to join parties / games.

If you want to tackle a big multiplayer raid, but don’t have enough friends available, this could be a great way to connect with other players who are looking for the same thing.

Sharing video clips to Twitter

Users will have the ability to share video clips directly to Twitter. Maximum video length is 10 seconds, though you’ll have the ability to trim longer clips.

Stickers

Tired of typing out messages? With this update, you’ll be able to send stickers to friends through the messages.

Now Playing / What’s New

The Now Playing screen will display even more information about what your friends are doing, and you’ll be able to quickly jump into a game, party, request a screen share, or get sent to the PS Store to buy the game your friend is playing – further enhancing the social relationship with your friends online.

Live from PlayStation

We’ve improved the Live From PlayStation app, making it easier to view popular trending broadcasts in real-time.

Request to watch gameplay

Want to view a friend’s gameplay session? Now you can send a ‘Request to Watch’ notification to a player, which will start a live broadcast or Share Play invitation to the person playing.

That’s a big step forward for the folks who enjoy streaming their gameplay. All of these features will be tested out in a beta first, before the general rollout. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for more Vine functionality, just so that I can annoy my co-workers even more. Than usual.

Last Updated: September 2, 2015

49 Comments

  1. I had my PS3 for nearly two years before I decided to check for updates. The menus look different now.

    Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    September 2, 2015 at 08:09

    So oVg doesn’t need it. ;P

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      September 2, 2015 at 08:10

      This coming from Mister #foreversp

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 2, 2015 at 08:15

        At least I go online! Why, just the other day I actually talked to some random person for a while in Warframe. Sure I had to go hug Mr Snuggles afterwards because it was traumatic, but at least I tried.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          September 2, 2015 at 08:16

          LOL
          I haven’t been on Steam for a while now.
          I’m trying to get through my Uplay games so I never have to use it again.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Returns

            September 2, 2015 at 08:16

            I’m just klapping KotOR 2 now, lovely achievements!

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 08:20

            I got to work through that backlog now. Fallout 4 is coming.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 2, 2015 at 08:27

            I played Bejeweled 3 the other night, which I apparently bought in 2012, for the first time. I had way more fun than I thought I would.

          • Admiral Chief Returns

            September 2, 2015 at 08:32

            O_O

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 08:36

            Probably the best game Origin has at the moment. 😉

          • Mossel

            September 2, 2015 at 08:45

            I’ve taken the liberty to diagnose myself with flu for 2 days to work on my backlog. Got all the W3 diagrams yesterday and now to finish the story!

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 08:47

            Excellent. It’s my birthday the 17th, so I’m going to be taking the 17th and 18th off. Will do some serious catching up then, and probably be in my pajamas throughout the entire day.

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:05

            You go you Virgo you!
            Mine is on the 10th. I will bake a cake and take a half day. Best I can afford considering we are transferring all users over to office 365. yay! 🙁

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 09:07

            Eish. Good luck.
            I work in the non-foods industry, so all that happens when I go on holiday is I either do a sh!itload of work before I leave, or I have a sh!tload of work after I return.

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:08

            non-foods? You mean McDonalds? 😛

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 09:10

            Hahaha. I try not to be too specific in this community when it comes to saying what I do. They’ve managed to tease me about eyeliner for over a year…so these days I play it safe. 😉

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:12

            Well if they knew I work in a corporate environment partially involved in the construction of the new power stations they would hate me. Luckily I did not say that out loud. 🙂

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 09:12

            Dodged a bullet there, I’d say 😛

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:15

            I have had more experience actually dodging bullets at a certain power station 4 odd years back. 😛

            This job gave me much more experience in other fields than you typical sit in the office and admin server remotely IT guy. Hell I have a full set of safety gear. 🙂

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 09:16

            Oh wow.

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:43

            What everyone thinks I do.

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 09:43

            What I really do. 🙂

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 10:03

            XD

          • Admiral Chief Returns

            September 2, 2015 at 11:08

            XCOM2 is coming!

  3. Ir0nseraph

    September 2, 2015 at 08:14

    Finally the favorite groups functionality, that’s going to make creating party’s faster I hope.Now how long will version 3 take getting out of beta ?

    Reply

  4. Admiral Chief Returns

    September 2, 2015 at 08:16

    Speaking of community, anyone up for 4v4 survivors vs infected L4D2 this weekend?

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      September 2, 2015 at 08:18

      Meet on the N2 outside Cape Town, right?

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 2, 2015 at 08:29

        No, we usually meet on top of the wall separating Mega Province One from the Cursed Earth.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          September 2, 2015 at 08:36

          Hehe. 😀
          Might have to move that wall to Stellenbosch (too soon?)

          Reply

          • Mossel

            September 2, 2015 at 08:41

            Yeah the fuck even, I stayed there for 4 years and it just saddens me to see these things.

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 08:42

            Me too man. I lived in SB for 11 years. It’s really sad to see what’s happened to it over the years.

  5. Ottokie "Yahtzee"

    September 2, 2015 at 08:18

    The 1Tb PS4’s prices are really looking good these days (below 6K). I might be joining the peasants sooner than I thought xD

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      September 2, 2015 at 08:19

      I’ll write a letter of sympathy for you that I’ll save on my 8 year-old 1tb hard drive. ;P

      Reply

      • Ottokie "Yahtzee"

        September 2, 2015 at 08:20

        Do you only have enough space left on the drive for a .txt file 😛

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          September 2, 2015 at 08:22

          Hehe. It’s okay, I keep my game files on my five year-old 2tb. 😀

          Reply

  6. Kromas untamed

    September 2, 2015 at 08:48

    Does anyone else read these notes and think ” Isn’t this the steam current feature list?”

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      September 2, 2015 at 08:52

      Haha. I usually just skip over all the details when it comes to this stuff on the PS and Xbox because it’s usually all been done before. But you’re exactly right, all of those are on Steam…and much more. They’ll get there one day ;P

      Reply

      • Kromas untamed

        September 2, 2015 at 08:55

        Just like one day they will get 1080p 60FPS. 😛

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          September 2, 2015 at 08:55

          But it’s about the CINEMATIC look! 😀

          Reply

          • Kromas untamed

            September 2, 2015 at 08:56

            If I want that cinematic look I got to the Cinema and even then I usually end up watching the movie at 120FPS. 🙂

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 08:58

            Haha.

      • Hammersteyn

        September 2, 2015 at 09:08

        And you’ll get to play Arkham Knight one day.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          September 2, 2015 at 09:09

          oohhh
          Touché

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            September 2, 2015 at 09:10

            But in 1080p 60FPS. Or even 4K maybe. Because every PC gamer plays in 4K when a console games hits the 1080p 60FPS mark

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            September 2, 2015 at 09:12

            I don’t actually know. I don’t use an fps counter. If it feels smooth I’m usually happy 🙂

  7. Hammersteyn

    September 2, 2015 at 09:05

    1GB to 10GB, thank fuck for that! I was running out of space for my saved games.

    Reply

    • Sean Carbutt

      September 2, 2015 at 11:35

      LOL. Yeah, I know the feeling. Now if only they could fix the effing NAT errors, the Constant crashing as in ESO and lately Warframe. I get the fact that we have to have a PSN sub to play online on the PS4, but when you pay for a service you expect it to work

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        September 2, 2015 at 11:53

        We get NAT errors on the chat some times. Irritating as hell

        Reply

  8. CypherGate

    September 2, 2015 at 11:49

    Header of the century! The best Series on the planet! That header alone overpowers the article!

    Reply

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