It is still one month, until the Playstation 4 will be available in the biggest parts of the world, but Sony already announced a firmware update for the Playstation 4, which will be released at the 15th Nov., the day the PS4 launches in the United States. But let us take a look at this new update.

The new update will be the firmware 1.50, like the PSP, PS Vita and PS3, every Sony device gets its 1.50 update, which will enable some promised features, or which will be necessary for online gaming.

We had the same scenario with the PS Vita, two years ago. Pretty interesting is, that the PS4 FW 1.50 speaks about connecting the Vita to the PS4, and that an update for this feature will be released soon. More about this will be explained below.

If we take a look at the new features of the firmware 1.50, we can see that it enables us to use the PS Vita, an iPhone, iPad or android based mobile phone or tablet, as a second screen, as another tool to interact with some games and programs, and a lot more.

The PS Vita needs an update for being able to connect to the PS4, the iOS/Android devices need the Playstation App with PS4 support, which will be released soon.

Remote Play won’t be supported by said devices, except for the PS Vita. You can stream your game via Wifi to your PS Vita device, at which you then can continue to play your game.

It is worth to mention, that the Wifi connection has to be decent for enjoying a lag free gaming. Most games will support this function. Games that need the camera or Playstation Move will be obviously excluded.

Furthermore we will be able to record and share gameplay, host livestreams, and even be able to watch them, comment on them and join those live streamed games. Pretty neat functions.

The function to play games while they are still downloading, is also a nice function, but keep in mind that you need to load a specific amount of data, before you can begin your adventure.

It also depends on the size of the full game, when you can start playing. So you might still have to wait an hour, until you can start your game. Good feature, but it wasn’t explained, that you can’t start from the beginning. Some games don’t even support this feature, what a shame.

If we take another look at the changelog, we will see some more functions, like multi log-in, voice commands and facial recognition, but I don’t want to talk about all these functions, since they’re explained in the changelog, or it is pretty obvious what those can do.

The last thing I want to talk about is, that you need to be a PS+ member, for online gaming, which is a bit of a shame, since the PSN had been free for years, which made the PS3 a better choice than the Xbox360, since Xbox Live isn’t free.

It is sad that Sony chose this way of getting more money, but it is a great thing, that with PS+ you’ll be able to get some free games for your PS Vita, PS3 and soon PS4.

PS+ is not that expensive, in fact, it costs 49,99€ for a one year subscription, which is less than 5€ per month. You will still be able to use the Playstation Network for free, if you’re using a PSP, PS Vita or a PS3. The new ‘paid’ PSN is just for the PS4.

Since I said that the new PS Vita firmware update will include a full PS4 compatibility, and I wanted to talk about it, here it is.

The next PS Vita update will be finally the update, that a lot of people waited for. Developer Total_Noob said, that he wants to release his new TN-V4 eCFW for a firmware, that is fully compatible with the PS4, and that seems to be the case.

He also wants to release a new kernel mode exploit, which will enable everyone with the firmware 2.02 or below, to update to the new (3.00?) firmware, which then will enable you to use your PS Vita for your PS4 device, and for the joy of having a full PSP CFW at your PS Vita, XMB included.

That sounds pretty neat, you get the best of both worlds. Once again, thanks Total_Noob.

There are some firmware specific changes, like running TN-V4 below firmware 2.60 (actually below FW 2.50, which was PS Vita Slim only), will enable you to get enhanced RAM, which will kinda let you have a PSP 2000 CFW at your PS Vita, instead of the old PSP 1000 CFW (TN-V 1 to 3, and FW 2.50+).

This difference is not that big, if you just want to use backups, plugins and some homebrews, but some software titles, be it homebrews, games or even plugins, need the extra RAM for being able to work.

It will be your choice to be at firmware ≤2.12, and having enhanced RAM, or being at firmware 2.50+, for being able to use all the new features and functions of the PS Vita firmwares, but sacrificing the enhanced RAM.

Be excited for November and prepare your PSN wallet, you might want to spend some money on some games 😉