PS4 System Software Update 8.00 Coming Today With Updates to Parties, Messages, New Avatars, & More

Today Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the release of a new software update for PS4 numbered 8.00.

The update brings a series of tweaks to existing features on top of new default avatars.

On the other hand, event and private community creation is going the way of the dodo.

Here’s a full list of changes.

Updates to Party and Messages

Following this update, Party and Messages will be more tightly linked together and you will see changes to the UI. Both apps will now use the same ‘Groups’ of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having different groups setup across the two apps. So now you can start a Party chat or send a message to the group you’ve previously chatted with across PS4, as well as PS5 when it launches.

New Avatars

We’re expanding the collection of pre-set avatars for players to showcase on their Profile. An array of new avatars from your favorite games will be available, including Bloodborne, Journey, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, The Last of Us Part II, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and many more.

Mute all Mics from Quick Menu

We’ve added an option to “Mute all Microphones” in the Quick Menu, so you can easily mute your mics while gaming.

Simplified and more flexible Parental Controls

Under Parental Controls, we’re combining the ‘Communicating with Other Players’ and ‘Viewing Content Created by other Players’ into one setting – ‘Communication and User Generated Content’-  to cover both areas of communication and UGC sharing. This offers a simpler setting that’s easier for parents to understand and apply to their children.

 In addition, children can send a request to their parents to use communications features in specific games. When a child sends this request, the parent will receive an email notification and can choose to make an exception for that game and allow the child to use its communications and UGC features. This will provide more flexibility to both parents and children.

Enhanced 2-Step Verification

The 2-Step Verification (2SV) feature on PS4 will be enhanced to support third party authenticator apps as an option during the activation flow and 2SV sign-in across PS4, mobile and web.

Removal of Event Creation and Private Community Creation

After 8.00, you will no longer be able to create Events or access existing Events created by other users.

We’re also removing the ability to create private Communities under the Community app on PS4. If you already have existing private Communities, you can continue to access them.

Updates to Remote Play App on Mobile and PC

At the same time as 8.00, the existing PS4 Remote Play app on mobile (iOS/Android), Windows PC and Mac, will change its name to PS Remote Play, and the option to connect to PS5 will be added. You’ll need to sign in to PSN from your PS5 to be able to access the feature, so sit tight until PS5 launches this November!

If your sights are instead set on PS5, recently Sony announced both prices and release dates.

The standard edition will cost $499.99, €499.99, £449.99, or 49,980 yen while the Digital Edition is priced at $399.99, €399.99, £359.99, or 39,980 yen.

The first release date will be on Nov. 12 in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Everyone else will have to wait a little more: the console will launch in Europe and in the rest of the world on Nov. 19.

Incidentally, you can catch a lot of PS5 gameplay showcased last weekend by a large group of local YouTubers, watch a teardown of the console, and read details about backward compatibility.