Sony's PlayStation 4 2.0 update is here, go download it
Own a PlayStation 4? Today's your day: the console's big 2.0 update is finally live. Sony's been teasing the update for weeks, lauding the console's new ability to play music from a USB drive, the availability of system menu themes and promising new voice commands, party options and a less crowded home-screen. The update also gives the console's unique "share" button a little more power: the ability to upload video clips directly to YouTube and, most notably, remotely stream your games to a friend over the internet. Sony invited me to try some of these features ahead of today's launch and, yes, they all seem to work just fine -- at least in a controlled environment.
Sony walked me through the update in its Palo Alto, CA office last week, showing me the new themes, party options and even a few updated voice commands. The most interesting demo, of course, was SharePlay -- the console's new ability to stream PlayStation 4 games from one console to another over the internet. Think of it as a localized PlayStation Now between your console and a friends. This worked too, but left me with some concern: even in Sony's controlled demo environment, I noticed a perceptible amount of lag between the monitor displaying the host console and the guest. It wasn't enough to effect gameplay in Infamous Second Son, but a flightier residential connection could easily render the game unplayable.
The demo left me with a little doubt, but even more optimism -- the feature is brimming with potential: it not only gives players the ability to test out their friends' libraries remotely, but even join them in local multiplayer sessions in games that don't have online multiplayer! Will SharePlay live up to its potential for the average user? Well, now's your chance to find out: SharePlay and the PS4 System Software v2.0 is available for download today. Let us know how it works for you in the comments below.
