Sony Details More Features For PS4 Firmware Update 2.0

We can expect to see the PlayStation 4’s 2.0 update quite near in the future. We already know that the this update will allow players to directly upload footage to Youtube, the introduction of SharePlay, and the much asked after addition of themes for the console. While those are the things Sony concentrated on for the update’s announcement that isn’t all you can expect. The company has released a list of what else 2.0 will bring the PS4.

  • USB Music Player: PS4 owners will be able to play their own music in the background while playing a game using USB Music Player*. After inserting a USB stick loaded with music into the system, a new option for USB Music Player will appear. Supported filename extensions include MP3, MP4, M4A, and 3GP.
  • Change colours: PS4 owners can change the background of the home screen from light blue to one of seven new colors: gold, blue, red, green, purple, pink, and grey.
  • Enhancements to live broadcasting: Masamune brings a variety of improvements to live broadcasting on PS4. In the Live From PlayStation app, PS4 owners can now select a Featured channel, which includes official broadcasts from PlayStation, broadcasts from people on a players friend list, and any game channel that the player has followed. Additionally, Live From PlayStation now has filters for searching broadcasts on a specific game, as well as support for archived broadcasts.
  • Friend finder: PS4 will now suggest players you may know, recommending close friends of your close friends.
  • Content Area and Library: PS4′s Content Area, which shows the latest games and apps a PS4 owner has used, has been redesigned to help make it easier to quickly find and access content. It now shows 15 of a player’s most used apps or games, and additional items will be added to a player’s Library. The Library on PS4 has improved filter and sort functions to help organise contented by type (game / app / TV & video), name (a – z or z – a), recently used, or install date.
  • Enhanced voice commands: The ability to control PS4 using voice has been improved. Players can now say ‘PlayStation’ to begin commands, and ‘All Commands,’ to see a list of all voice command options available. New voice commands were added for live broadcasting, including “Start broadcast,” “End broadcast,” and “Find face.”
  • Add to library: The monthly free PlayStation Plus games will have an ‘Add to Library’ button in the PlayStation Store. This button will add a game to a PS4 owner’s library without downloading it – saving space on their hard drive.
  • Back-up data: Data on PS4 can be backed up and resorted using USB storage. This will back up all data for the console, including settings, save data, screenshots, video clips, download data, and more.

With regards to the USB Music player Sony has noted you won’t be able to copy songs to the console. This means if you want to play your music from the PS4 that USB stick will have to remain plugged in.  The Vita and PS TV will receive update 3.35 which will allow four player remote play on the PS TV, while Live From PlayStation will also come to both devices. The mobile app is also getting a 2.0 update with a refreshed layout.

Source: PS Blog

31 Comments

  1. some nice features added..
    but couldn’t you always see friends of a friend?

  2. Will it have online gaming?

    • ???

    • It will, sometimes. But sometimes it won’t. You won’t know when it won’t, nor will Sony, but sometimes you’ll get home from work and put your ps4 on for a nice online session just to find out you can’t use the service you’re paying for. This will happen with increasing regularity, up to the point it’s getting to now where it’s PISSING ME OFF!

    • exactly this. Being a family man, it means I don’t get time to get on. So when I had a chance last night at 9pm. I get excited to do a few strikes on Destiny, only to find that for the third day this month, I can’t get online.

      The best bit is that I’m now paying for this shit service from Sony. What makes it worse is that they don’t even compensate for it. If you added all of them up, it would come to about a months downtime in the year, surely thats worth a free game or a discount when you join up again?

      I didn’t mind when it was free, but now I HAVE to pay for a shit service, it annoys me.

      Sony, sort it out.

  3. Music player =much needed.
    Improvements to live broadcast area =much needed. I found it stupid you couldn’t watch a player on your friends lists broadcast on your ps4.
    Library = I think Sony misunderstands. They seem to think we all go into the library to start up games. We don’t, nobody does that. We all scroll through the endless list from left to right until we find what we want. Who uses the library?
    Things I think we really need = YouTube app and folders so we can itemise our endless lists of content.

    • Folders and youtube from Tony I want that!

      • friend notifications should’ve been on that list also the ping for when a trophy pops.

  4. Hurray for a next gen console finally being able to play music in the background!

    Microsoft take note; Sony might have taken their time, but have actually delivered what a huge amount of their customers want.

    The Xbox One might have DLNA now, but it’s no good unless it can be used in game (like the Xbox 360 could – from launch!)

    • DLNA is great for viewing pictures. And hey, mkv playback!

      I personally don’t know anyone who play music in the background outside of games that integrates it into the bgm.

      Just saying, customers wishes can be mightily different.

  5. Where’s the dlna? That’s all I want. I can play music from about 10 different gadgets in my house. I don’t care which one plays it but I DO need to access all my movies, photos and music from my nas like my old console did. Grr. I’m almost tempted to just get an Xbone just for this!!

    • DLNA is coming as an app for a small one off price before this year is out.

      Firmware v2 lays all the groundwork needed for it to function.

      • That’s great news. Do you have a link about it? I’d love to read more as I’m keen to get a PS4 but there’s a few things missing (like this) that stops me from dropping the cash.

      • No link. Developer connections via Japanese colleague.

      • Sony have contracted that app out to a Japanese company called Access.co and that its using an off the shelf commercial DLNA toolkit.

        You know as much as I do, with me telling you who I know and who they work for.

      • Who are you a developer for Blighty? I hope you don’t have to develop anything on xbox!!!

      • Nobody you would have heard of, and not directly in the gaming sector. A spin off market segment.

  6. So the Endless Sideways Scrolling List of Doom is going? To be replaced by just the most recently used 15 things? And the rest you access from the library?

    This seems like a nice idea, with just one flaw, which they’ll hopefully address. The library doesn’t work if you’re offline. Or the PSN has died. Better hope at least one of those 15 recent items can be played offline.

    The whole thing is a bit of a weird list of features though. Probably going to upset a few muppets who demand their most wanted features are added first before anything else, ignoring the fact that other people might want different features. And the fact that software doesn’t work like that. You don’t get a list of features in order of popularity and implement them one after the other. Little features get stuck in early, because they’re not as much work. And I would assume the PS4 firmware is big enough they have more than 1 person working on it. Lots of different people all working on different stuff? This usually leads to seemingly random feature sets and someone having a good whinge about why their preferred feature didn’t make it when an option to change colour did.

  7. I like the ‘Add to Library’ from the store, and the backup to USB is a good idea in case your PS4 dies.
    But still no suspend mode!

  8. Content Area and Library…seems like they’re doing everything possible to avoid just giving us folders!

  9. Still no suspend and resume even though it was announced at the reveal event.

    Soony.

    • You are absolutely shitting me?! You’re joking, aren’t you? :-\

  10. Still no Logitech steering wheel support :(

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