PS4’s impending firmware version 4.0, codenamed Shingen, is about to enter public beta. I expect about a month or two before the firmware is actually released, but in the meantime, Sony posted an article on the official PlayStation Blog detailing some of the features we can look forward to. It sounds like Sony has been really diligent to take the requests of we the people to heart, and some of the most oft-requested features have finally made the cut.
For a full list of features you can check out the blog post linked above, but here are some of the notable additions and tweaks:
- UI Refresh: We’ve made a lot of adjustments and improvements to PS4’s main user interface. That includes some changes you may notice right away, like new system backgrounds and a revised What’s New tab, to smaller changes like updated popup notifications and redesigned system icons.
- Share Menu: Like the Quick Menu, it only covers a portion of the screen. It will save the last social network you shared video clips or screenshots to, making the process of sharing a screenshot or video a bit faster and more streamlined. You can also upload longer video clips to Twitter (up to 140 seconds).
- Folders and Library Organization: With this update, we’re adding functionality to create folders on PS4’s content launcher and Library. This will help collect your favorite games and select apps in one place for quick and easy access. We’re also making some pretty big changes to the Library. We’ve added a new tab called Purchased, which will show all of the content you own — games, applications, demos, and betas you’ve participated in. As a result, the Games and Applications tabs focus on content currently installed on your system. This should help de-clutter your library, and make it faster to find the content you’re looking for.
These are all welcome changes, and the post details additional improvements for the quick menu and trophy system, so go have a look! We’ll be sure to update you with an official launch date when Sony announces one.