PlayStation 4 Update 3.50 Will Let You Remote Play From PC

The Xbox One isn’t the only one testing a new update to the console. Sony announced Tuesday that beta testing for the PlayStation 4 3.50 update is about to begin and revealed some of the welcome new features coming. The headliner, though, is undoubtedly the ability to remote play the console from a PC.

PlayStation 4 version 3.50 will fall into the hands of beta testers starting Wednesday, March 2. Those selected to join the testing will receive an email with instructions on how to update their console.

PS4 3.50 key features detailed: https://t.co/oVEK7KFKWB Appear offline, Remote Play on PC, more. Beta starts soon! pic.twitter.com/ijzSuw0F2g

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 1, 2016

The console already enjoys remote play capabilities using the PS Vita or PlayStation TV. Sony is finally bringing it up to parity with the Xbox One by adding remote play support for the PC with this update. However, the company also goes a step further by letting Mac users in on the gaming, which is something Microsoft’s console does not currently support.

Interestingly, the support for PC remote play comes just a few months after an independent developer created an unofficial app called Twisted to support the feature. It was released in November 2015 for $10. The 3.50 update seemingly kills this off.

Support for remote play is not part of the PS4 3.50 beta test, unfortunately. Sony only states that it will be available “soon.”

Other welcome features in the next PlayStation 4 update include notifications for when friends sign-in to their PSN account along with the ability to go offline. A positive note on the former is that users will be able to choose which friends will spark the notification. Sony also added the ability to schedule a play date with others and see what other members of a party.

You can see the announced details of the 3.50 update for the PlayStation 4 below.

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 feature 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.

Naturally, there are some fan-requested features that are missing from this list. The ability to create folders to organize games and apps on the PS4 dashboard has been requested often along with letting users change their username.

Sony has left an opening for more features to be added with this update by stating this is only “some of the key features” being added to the PS4. We’ll have to wait and see if there are more.

What do you think of the ability to remote play on the PS4 via a Windows or Mac PC? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via PlayStation]