Earlier this week this post on the PlayStation blog confirmed that with the 2.0 software update, PlayStation 4 will be getting a new feature called “Share Play”. According to director of product planning and software innovation Scott McCarthy, the new feature will work like a “virtual couch.”
According to the blog post we can expect to play games online with our friends via the PS4 – which is nothing new – but what changes is that now you can invite friends to play with you directly to facilitate that feeling of having them actually sitting on the couch next to you. Share Play will also allow a player to “hand” the controller to their friend, basically letting them beat a difficult part of a game for you.
The announcement of the PS4 software update 2.0 was a major highlight of Gamescom this year, but more importantly the features it promises to bring to social gaming look very promising
Along with Share Play, the 2.0 update will be introducing a dedicated YouTube app specifically designed to allow players to capture and upload game footage from their Share Play sessions. It appears from these changes that Sony intends to make console gaming a much more social experience, and if this and the other announcements they made at Gamescom 2014 are any indication the PS4 is shaping up to be the console best-positioned to dominate the social experience of gaming.
