PS4 Update 4.50 Confirmed for Tomorrow, March 9

Sony has confirmed that PlayStation 4 update 4.50, codenamed Sasuke, is releasing tomorrow, March 9, in North America and Europe.

One of the biggest new features in 4.50 is Boost Mode for PlayStation 4 Pro. “Designed to provide better performance for legacy titles that have not been patched to take advantage of the PS4 Pro’s faster CPU and its faster and double-sized GPU,” you may find a frame-rate boost to some games with variable frame-rates, more stable frame-rates for games programmed to run at 30fps or 60fps, and shorter loading times. As Sony reminds everyone, Boost Mode isn’t guaranteed to work on all PS4 titles, and you can turn the feature off in the System settings menu.

Here’s an overview of what else to expect from PS4 update 4.50:

External HDD

4.50 allows to download and store PS4 games and apps to an external HDD. Insert your USB 3.0 HDD into your console, and select it from ‘USB Storage Devices’ from ‘Devices’ in Settings to format it so it’s ready to use (note, any previously stored content will be wiped from the HDD).

Note: compatible HDDs need to be USB 3.0 or later, between 250GB (min) – 8TB (max). Also, there is no guarantee that all USB storage devices are compatible with your system.

The HDD will now be the default download location as long as it’s plugged in; you can select the PS4’s internal storage instead on the ‘Storage’ section in Settings. You can easily move your internally-stored games and apps across to the HDD by selecting ‘Applications’ in ‘Storage’, press the ‘Options’ button and select ‘Move to Extended Storage’. You’ll be able to choose which games and apps you want to move.

To safely remove the HDD, hold down the PS button on your controller and select ‘Sound/Devices’ and then ‘Stop Using Extended Storage’ from the Quick Menu.

Custom Wallpaper & Profile Color

Ready for a much more personal PS4 home screen? Head to Settings, then select Theme. From here, choose ‘Custom’ and select any screenshot and set it as your new PS4 home screen wallpaper.

Also there’s a new option to better personalize your Profile page. If you’ve selected a custom cover image, your PS4 will generate a choice of supporting colors based on that image to change the page’s background color to.

Voice Chat for Remote Play

We’re adding voice chat when using Remote Play on Windows PC, Mac or an Xperia device. If you’ve got a gaming session planned with your friends, but you’re away from your system, this update makes it seem like you’re right at home. You can switch your mic on and off via the microphone icon on the Tool Bar of the Remote Play app.

Off-Console Availability

We have a variety of off-console apps and features that make communication with other gamers easier, like the PlayStation App and PS Messages. We’re adding an icon, shaped like a smartphone, which indicates a player is logged into PSN but away from their console.

Share Your Activity

You’ll now have more choice on what you want to include on your Activity Feed, letting you create custom stories with text, screenshots, player and game tags. Find the post tool on What’s New, your Profile or Content Info Screen.

Activity Feed Privacy

In addition, you can now change the privacy settings for individual posts. You can alter who sees your Activities via the same-named tab in the Sharing Your Experience section of Settings, while you can decide the level of privacy for videos, screenshots, broadcasts, PS Store and PS Music when you go to upload them. But worry not, you can also alter who gets to see that content after the post has been shared.

Save Data Shortcut

Hover over a game title icon and press the Options button. You’ll be given the choice to ‘Upload/Download Saved Data’ from the the PS4’s home screen that let you upload the saved data on your PS4 to PS Plus online storage and download the saved data from PS Plus online storage to your PS4 with ease.

From Capture Gallery to SHAREfactory

Select your chosen screenshot or video in Capture Gallery, and by pressing the Options button you’ll have the choice to go straight into SHAREfactory and start editing.

GIF Support

You can now share GIFs from SHAREfactory to your Activity Feeds.

PlayStation VR Improvements

If you’re playing a game in PSVR, and you return to PS4’s home screen, you may notice that the resolution looks lower than normal on the TV ‘Social Screen’. Following this update, you’ll find that the resolution of the system screen displayed on your TV is significantly better when you’re out of VR mode.

Also, the resolution of Cinematic Mode on PSVR will improve – if your PSVR screen size is set to Small or Medium, the framerate of content viewed in Cinematic Mode goes up from 90Hz to 120Hz with this update.

PS VR will now support Blu-ray 3D discs. You will have the ability to watch them in stereoscopic 3D via your headset.

The PlayStation Messages and PlayStation Communities apps will also be updated tomorrow. With Messages, you’ll be able to send a quick reply (“I’ll join later” or “Sorry, I can’t join”) when receiving a Party invitation, while Communities will let you check the PSN status and let iOS users tell if there are any new posts in their community by checking the badge app icon.

[Source: PlayStation Blog (1), (2)]