PS4 System Software 3.50 beta begins tomorrow, details released

As Sony announced a short time ago, they are gearing up to push out a beta version of PS4 System Software 3.50 (now codenamed Musashi). If you’ve signed up to beta test this upcoming System Software already, and were chosen to test it, you should have received an email with instructions by now on how to download it. Either way, Sony has dropped off some details on what to expect in terms of new features and improvements.

At the top of the list is the highly requested feature to receive notifications for when friends jump online. PS4 players can also mark themselves as Offline if they don’t want to be bothered. Players can also create and schedule and an event for friends, which will automatically try to party everyone up at a specific time/day for those who register.   There’s also PC/Mac Remote Play (which won’t be available in the beta), and some enhanced party and social features.

Apparently there will be more than that, but we’ll have to wait for the final 3.50 release for all the details.

Hop on over to the PS Blog for additional info.

New Social Features

• Friend Online Notification ? Want to know the moment your friends come online? With this update, you can, as we?ve added an option to be notified when members of your friends list sign on the network.
• Appear Offline ? Sometimes you want to play a game or watch a movie without being bothered by friends. Now it?s easier to go incognito as we?ve added the option to appear offline. You can designate if you would like to appear offline when you log-in or at any time from your Profile or the Quick Menu.
• User Scheduled Event ? Time for a play date! We?ve added the ability to schedule a future gameplay session with your friends on the system. When your event starts, users who registered for the event will automatically be added to a party so you can start playing right away.
• Play Together ? This features allows all members of a Party to see what each person is playing so that you can easily join a friend?s game, or start a new game together.

Other New System Features

• Remote Play (PC/Mac) ? We?re bringing PS4 Remote Play to Windows PC and Mac. This feature won?t be available to test in the beta, but you can look forward to it soon.
• Dailymotion ? With this update, you?ll be able to live stream directly to Dailymotion on PS4. We?ll also support archiving live broadcasts, like we do for other streaming services.