In Japan, PlayStation 4 owners who have been accepted into the beta program are currently testing the new system firmware, version 3.0. The entire list of updates has been translated and posted on Gematsu, and it is quite comprehensive, including updates to streaming, the friends section, and more. A translated change log has come out via Reddit user TheTiemsz:
- (Events) has been added to the function items. All events associated with PlayStation are now brought together, enabling you to discover, participate in and watch these events in a centralized area.
- (Communities) has been added to (Friends). (Communities) is a feature that enables you to find players who have similar tastes and interests. You can join an existing community or create your own community. You can also play games, join parties or talk about shared interests with members in the community.
- You can now go to (Now Playing) to see what games or parties members of the community are enjoying right now. You can also easily start a game, join a party or send a request to watch a member’s gameplay in (Now Playing). You can access (Now Playing) from What’s New, (Friends), (Communities), the message screen in (Messages) or Profile.
- The layout of the message screen in (Messages) has been improved. From the message screen, you can now select (Now Playing) or easily start a party. You can also add your favorite groups to [Favorite Groups] in (Friends).
- You can now broadcast your gameplay on YouTube™.
- You can now upload video clips to Twitter (10-second limitation)
- The layout of (Live from PlayStation) has been improved. In addition to broadcasts, you can now view video clips and screenshots.
- You can now change the speed for automatic text scrolling in (Settings) > [Accessibility] > [Auto-Scroll Speed].
- [Community], [Requests to Watch Gameplay], [Events] and [Current Song] have been added to (Settings) > [Notifications] > [Display Pop-Up Notifications].
- You can now post your comments for activity feeds in What’s New.
- You can now enjoy fun conversations with your Friends using (Stickers) in (Messages). (PlayStation®Plus) has been added to the function items. You can now see all of your PlayStation®Plus benefits, such as free monthly games, exclusive discounts, news and more, in one place.
- Accessibility features are now available when playing content from Blu-ray Discs™ or DVDs. Application of these features has also been expanded. You can now restrict the use of games while looking at age level information and rating icons.
- You can now create a sub account for a minor by selecting [New User] in the screen for selecting a user.
- You can now adjust settings for Web filtering services from (Settings) > [Parental Controls]. You can use the service to block objectionable websites from being displayed in the Internet Browser. (Additional fees may apply for use of the service.)
The release date of the update is not clear at the time of this writing. One thing that is for sure, however, is that these updates and enhancements do not align very well with the better PSN campaign.This is a list of the beta features, however, so it is possible that the list will grow when the beta becomes available worldwide and when the update releases.