Upcoming PS4 Update Includes Remote Play for PC and Mac

[The Wooster]

Upcoming PS4 Update Includes Remote Play for PC and Mac

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The upcoming system software update for the PS4 promises a host of new features.

Software updates aren't really the most exciting things in the world, but the PS4's next major software update, 3.50 - the beta for which begins on March 2nd - is bringing some interesting features to the proverbial table.

Most notable is a remote play feature for PC and Mac, meaning those of us whose lives are spent in a constant battle with wives/husbands/roommates for control of the television might actually get to play a PS4 game now and then. Assuming the feature works as advertised, this would put the PS4 ahead of the Xbox One, which currently offers PC streaming, but only to victims of Windows 10. The remote play function won't be included in the 3.50 beta, but will be featured in the final version of the update.

Personally, while the streaming Until Dawn to my nice shiny monitor sounds great, I'm hesitant to install more Sony software on my PC after the numerous privacy issues with the Content Manager Assistant software that came with the Vita. Hopefully, Sony has learned their lesson after that debacle, but still, buyer beware.

The software update comes with a few more features, none of which are particularly mind-blowing, but hey, they're always nice to have. They include:


Friend Online Notification: A little popup that informs you when your friends sign in to the network. The notifications can be tailored to only alert you when certain friends come online, but I guarantee you these things will scare the crap out of you by popping up at intense moments during horror games.


Appear Offline: Because what's the point in having friends if you can't ignore them?


User Scheduled Events: This one actually sounds pretty useful. You can schedule game sessions that automatically add users who registered for the event to your party. Considering how hard it is to arrange gaming sessions when people start getting jobs, spouses, jail sentences, etc, this might just be a godsend for older gamers.


Stream Stuff to Daily Motion: Pretty much identical to the Twitch streaming the PS4 already has, only without the constant stream of Kappa faces.


There's no info just yet on when the final version of 3.50 will be available to download.

Source: <url=http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2016/03/01/ps4-3-50-system-software-update-key-features-detailed/?emcid=social_20160301_58820696&adbid=704622616741416960&adbpl=tw&adbpr=36969785>PlayStation Blog

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[Fappy]

Steam's in-home streaming is piss poor, so I can't imagine this will work much better. We'll see though.

 

[Something Amyss]

Holy crap, it took them over a year to finally add notifications for when friends come online?

Steam's in-home streaming is piss poor, so I can't imagine this will work much better. We'll see though.

Remote play on the PS Vita is...okay. It barely lags and is still functional as far as I've tried it. The reason I don't try it more is that the PS Vits controller is worse for my carpal tunnel than the PS4 controller, so I might as well just play on the PS4 or ot play. Ao maybe this won't be complete crap. Maybe.

 

[bluegate]

Steam's in-home streaming is piss poor, so I can't imagine this will work much better. We'll see though.

I have been using Share Play with people pretty far away from me with little to no problem, so I can't really imagine something running on a local area network to be that bad, I'm looking forward to this feature.

 

[Souplex]

Finally; I'll be able to play games on my computer!

 

[Leg End]

Personally, while the streaming Until Dawn to my nice shiny monitor sounds great, I'm hesitant to install more Sony software on my PC after the numerous privacy issues with the Content Manager Assistant software that came with the Vita. Hopefully, Sony has learned their lesson after that debacle, but still, buyer beware.

I think we all know this is a lesson Sony requires repeated classes on.
On that note,

Assuming the feature works as advertised, this would put the PS4 ahead of the Xbox One, which currently offers PC streaming, but only to victims of Windows 10.

 

[omega 616]

So another bunch of stuff I don't care about. I can't think of a single update or new feature I have thought "well, finally!". I am not a social gamer, I like to play alone (which is why I have a lot of games that aren't platinum) so all those friends things are no interest to me. I don't stream for two reasons, I am not a social person (as previously stated) and there are a billion other gamers doing that very thing with varying levels of success.

If you're into this kind of stuff, great for you! Bet you're loving this shit but me? Let me turn off that fucking light bar on the controller which still has zero fucking use! (seriously, how many games make use of it or the PS version of the kinect?)

 

[flying_whimsy]

Regarding the privacy issue: isn't sony the company that built drm into all of their cds back in the mid-2000s that left anyone that even put a sony music cd into their computer completely vulnerable to hackers?

Yeah, not going to expect much along those lines.

I guess I sort of get all of this in home streaming malarky I've been hearing about for a while. Personally, it's not something I need since everything goes to either my computer or one of the big screens I use in my monitor setup. I did enjoy being able to play on the wii u's tea tray from the next room over, though. I guess if I had more people in the household or more of a need for shared living room space I'd be really excited about this.

Wait, is this why they are discontinuing the playstation tv? Did they seriously just outmode one of their own pieces of hardware?

 

[Fulbert]

How about streaming from PC? That would be a nice feature. Maybe streaming to PS4 from Vita?

 

[cikame]

As someone who has a PS4 but hasn't used it because i'm always on my PC, it would be beyond useful to play from here.
I've never used remote play, i'm assuming it's just the video stream that comes over, i wouldn't be able to use my PC headset to talk to PS4 friends would i, or use my PC controller? I'm probably expecting too much.

 

[King_Julian]

hahahaha i love the way he said victims of windows 10.....true dat! And i cannot believe it took them this long top throw in a stupid lil pop up to show ur friend just signed in......!#!#!#!

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Finally...a chance to be invisible again!!

 

[bluegate]

Wait, is this why they are discontinuing the playstation tv? Did they seriously just outmode one of their own pieces of hardware?

The Playstation TV not selling and not really finding its market will have had more to do with that than this feature.

 

[WWmelb]

Hopefully this works well enough so i can stream ps4 games from my pc without having to spend money on a capture device. that would be fantastic

 

[anthony87]

If this means I can play my PS4 on my big TV then I can't wait.

 

[CaitSeith]

Well, it's probably the closest that I'll be to actually play Bloodborne on my PC in this generation.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

You know what would be a great update?

An update that would let me choose which goddamn button I want to use for selecting things.

I have the Asian version of the PS4, do you know how confusing it is to have to switch between using O in the Home Screen and X in game?

 

[TheSchizoid]

The only thing I really want to hear from Sony about the PS4 is when an unbundled, 1TB console is coming out. I don't play online much, I have no need to stream to my PC which probably isn't good enough to handle it anyway and I don't play CoD, Battlefront or Uncharted. I just want a console with a large HDD and don't care about the offered bundles.

 

[Dead Metal]

Steam's in-home streaming is piss poor, so I can't imagine this will work much better. We'll see though.

If it's anything like the remote play they have in their android app it'll be pretty good. The only downside is that it's looked at 720 p instead of whatever resolution the game usually has on the PS4. But it works perfectly, no lag or anything, after a while I forgot I wasn't playing a native game on my tablet.

As for how you'll control it, it will likely be done with a PS4 controller you hook up to your PC or Mac instead of your PS4.