PlayStation owners will soon have some new features to try out on their PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles when a new update drops this week, Sony announced. The next beta update that’s releasing on Wednesday will be the second of its kind and will add more party chat options, Game Base enhancements, UI features on the PlayStation 5, accessibility features, and a preview of a new voice command system. The catch, of course, is that you have to first enroll in the PlayStation beta program to be able to test these features when they’re released this week or else you’ll have to wait for the live release later.
Starting tomorrow, PS5 and PS4 beta participants can test drive some new system software features: https://t.co/9bqTamfvgv☑️Party chat options for PS5 and PS4☑️UI enhancements and accessibility features for PS5☑️Voice command preview for PS5 (U.S. & U.K. only) pic.twitter.com/7zH0qTHUCE
When you start a party, you can now select either an open party or a closed party:
An open party lets your friends see and join the party without an invite. Friends of party members can also join.
A closed party is only for players you invite.
Note: in Game Base on PS5 and Party on PS4, if you select [Open Party] when starting a party, only players using the beta version of the PS5 or PS4 system software will be able to join. To start a party that players who aren’t using the beta version can also join, select [Closed Party].
If you want to report something that someone in a party said, there are now visual indicators for you to identify who was speaking. This will help PlayStation Safety take appropriate action based on your report. You can learn more about this feature here.
Start Share Play directly from the voice chat card. You no longer need to start Share Screen first to use Share Play.
You can now individually adjust the voice chat volume of each player in a party on PS4, just like on PS5.
View all your friends under the [Friends] tab in the control menu, or access the player search feature and friend requests through links on this tab.
Add a player to a group or create a new group directly from Game Base in the Control Center. You can also send text messages, quick messages, images, video clips, and view a group’s shared media from this card.
We’ve added an option to filter your game collection by genre, letting you quickly find specific types of game experiences.
You can now keep the games or apps you choose on your home screen by selecting “Keep in Home” with the (options) button.
You can keep a maximum of five games and apps on each home screen with this feature.
You can now have a total of 14 games and apps appear on your home screen.
We’ve updated the visual design of trophy cards and the trophy list. You can also see suggestions for which trophies to earn on the trophy tracker and access it from the Control Center whenever you’re playing a game.
From the Create menu, you can now start a Share Screen and stream your gameplay to an open party.
Screen Reader, which reads aloud on-screen text and provides spoken guidance for operating the console, is now supported in six additional languages: Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, and Korean.
This expands Screen Reader support to 15 languages, including the current ones (United States English, United Kingdom English, Japanese, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French and Canadian French).
You can now enable mono audio for headphones so the same audio is played from both the left and right headphones, instead of a stereo or 3D audio sound mix. This feature provides an added option to enhance the PS5 audio experience, particularly for players with unilateral hearing loss.
You can now show a check mark on enabled settings so you can easily see that they’re turned on.
