Sony have detailed a few improvements coming to the PlayStation network and thanks to everyone in the preview program getting twenty codes to share around there’s a good chance we all get to give them a try.
The new features are:
- Increased maximum Party participants from 8 to 16.
- Improved audio quality for voice chat.
- Improved network connectivity.
The increased party size will be welcome for games that have large teams and the voice chat always seems very flakey to me so that’s good. Improved network connectivity is a little vague and I’m not sure how players can test that.
However, there is one big caveat: “Do note, that if you participate in the Preview Program, you won’t be able to join the same Party or use Share Play with others who aren’t participating in the program.”
So either all your friends need to join up, or don’t bother.
The PlayStation 4 second screen app will also be updated and will now in include a voice-to-text feature which converts your spoken words in to text in party chat. Now I don’t wish to blow my own trumpet but I predicted this just a few days ago when the patent for the emoji camera was found.
There seems to be some confusion as to which locales the Chat Transcription app will be available, it seems to be just for the U.S. but the information has also been posted on the EU PlayStation Blog.
“Features and changes in Preview Program are not final”, note Sony, “with no fixed release date, and subject to change without notice.”
It’s been a while since the PlayStation 4 had a big feature update, we’re still waiting for a way to gift games or trade back in old digital titles, both of those have been covered in patents filed by Sony so they may be on the way.
Source: PS Blog
Tony Cawley
All good features, like you say it’s been ages since anything actually worthwhile has been added.