Video: PS4 Firmware Update 4.00's Secret Neatest Feature

Spotify killing music since 2008

Love this, the deeper integration of Spotify, folders, the less cluttered UI, the amazing new quick menu and options. Really solid firmware update

I've yet to try out Spotify. Does it take up space depending on how many songs you have on your list?

@get2sammyb As I've never played spotify (or any other music) whilst gaming, I do have a question. Does it mute the game play audio entirely, so you only hear the music, or does it just play in place of the game's music, so you still hear audio from conversations and ambient noises like gunfire, accelerating or water running? I can see how a game like no man's sky can work with spotify playing music, silencing all audio. But something like the witcher, Grand theft auto or many RPG titles, I can't see how hearing music instead of the game's audio is good, especially when you can have both if you play the music on an external audio device, like a smartphone or laptop or other, all while hearing all you need to hear utilising the option to just turn down the game's music.

I love Spotify on PS4. It's great for games like Rocket League,Table Top Racing,Diablo ect.

Spotify is the first thing I removed from quick settings LOL

I'll probably never use Spotify.

That said, the update cordoned off my downloaded games from my purchases, and my purchases from my PS Plus games. It also let me put all my downloads into folders. I'm satisfied.

@blakey78 Spotify simply plays over whatever game you're on, so all of the audio, both the game's and Spotify's, is playing. Spotify has its own volume control though, so if you really wanted to hear what was going on in the game, you could always fiddle with the in-game audio options alongside Spotify's.

I just use Spotify when I'm playing games that don't rely on audio. If I'm doing daily quests in Destiny, for example, I just slap Spotify on and turn the volume up louder than the game. If I was playing The Witcher 3 or something, though, I wouldn't bother.

@kyleforrester87 Thanks, man. Will give it a go.

Cool, I'll be using this a lot while playing Overwatch. Love the recommendations idea too.

It was way long overdue, but this is an awesome firmware update.

I don't use Spotify, so my favorite new hidden feature has to be the two new free dynamic themes included in the update-- particularly "Particle."

I can guarantee that unless the playlist takes into account my personal preferences that I'll dislike 90% of the suggested playlists. Might try my free period soon then, we'll see.

how do u get messages onto the quick menu

@NintendoFan4Lyf me too a nice addition that was not mentioned prior to release.

Not a fan of music in games if im on a long journey in Grand Theff Auto 5 i will turn on the radio.

My only problem with dark chronicles is u can not turn the music off yes its cute but not constant.

I'm too old for these things... You walk down the road and there's crappy music everywhere. You walk in a bar, crappy music. You enter a shop, crappy music. Train station, crappy music. The only way I listen to music now is headphones, bed and lights out.

External HDD support to hell with everythung else

@Majic12 Everything else, to hell with external HDD support. I hope that this "feature" never comes to the PS4. The unintended side effects of such a feature (thats not useful to the vast majority of gamers) that will directly affect everyone, even those that don't care, far outweigh the perceived benefits. The TL;DR of the argument is that easy access to external media use will make developers even more lazy about game size, and make something that only a few need to use (2 TB is much larger than most will use/need) into something that everyone needs to use, and I don't want dangling external drives taking up precious USB ports.

To clarify about the "most gamers" references in my comment, the average attach rate (the amount of games that someone buys over the life of the console) for Playstation and Xbox is roughly 7-9 (or 10 for the sake of argument and easy math). Even if the games were all 25 GB games, thats 250 GB that most gamers will use over the life of the console (not just at one time). Even taking into account the next 25% or more gamers that are "above average" (in 15+ games), at a whopping 50 GB per title (its rare to find this) still sits at 750 GB over the life of the console. So even if you wanted to have every single one of your games installed at once (for some reason), even most of the hard core gamers, a 1 TB HDD will more than cover you. There are a relatively few that need more than 1 TB, and even fewer that need more than the 2 TB max size that a PS4 can have.

Maybe if the PS4 had an exposed hot swappable drive bay (in addition to its internal drive) like some PC's have, so you don't need to waste a precious USB port, and don't need a external drive sitting on top of it, then external support wouldn't be as bad.

Zero fooks given.

@Royalblues - It's free but there are ads between songs. You have to become a premium member if you don't want commercials.

Haven't used Spotify on my Ps4 and very little on my cpu. I thought it already recommended simular music? I more use Pandora which has been playing new artists on any channel I create since day 1. It is a great way to find new artists simular to what you like.

@andreoni79

If the 79 is a clue, there's plenty of stuff on Spotify that will make you happy. And it's free on PS4...

@thedevilsjester So we should not be given the option to ise an external HDD because it "may" make Devs lazy with optimization and the size of their games? What? When is more choices a bad idea? Oh, and all the AAA games that I own are closer to 50 gbs, not 25. Not to mention games sre not the only thing that takes up space on a HDD. I understand your reasoning, but allowing for external HDD support will not negatively impact anyone. Games will get bigger and bigger regardless and alot of people want an external drive for its ease of use instead of opening their console up. More options is never a bad thing bud and this should have been here the day the console launched.

@thedevilsjester You do also understand that you do not have to keep the drive plugged in at all times right? I would save everything over to the external I currently do not play to leave my internal open for new games i download. The external just means you have a drive pacmed away somewherr with all the old saves and games you are not going to play for awhile, noone is forcing you to keep it plugged in and use your precious USB slot, lol.

@Majic12 Its not "may" its an absolute certainty. Having been a gamer since the NES for consoles and when PC's were text only and tech enthusiast (game/software developer) for nearly two decades, I have seen this happen dozens of times. PC gaming is the very definition of this, but it can even be seen in the console space. If you give developers room to do something, they will do it.

You do understand that HDD's data, even in the absolute most perfect conditions, decays if its not utilized regularly, right? The average for a SSD to start bit rot is about a year. HDD's last much longer than that (5+ years), but seeing as how the whole world is headed to SSD's (and for good reason), we may as well get used to their specs, and realize that most HDD/SDD's are not stored in ideal conditions, so you cannot expect that lifespan. SSD/HDD's have protocols built in that adjust and correct this rot as it starts to occur, but for this to happen it needs to be powered on for a certain amount of time every so often so that their protocols have a chance to execute.

I have about 60 PS4 games (many of them AAA games) and only about 4-6 of them are above 25 GB. These are usually the massive open world games like Watch Dogs, or Dragon Age. Most of them sit at less than 10 GB. But even if every single one was 50 GB. Thats 500 GB need for every single game that the average gamer owns over the life of the console (remember the average attach rate is less than 10 games), all installed at the same time. A simple 1 TB HDD, and that problem is solved (or, you know, delete one or two of the games that you don't play anymore). I am not saying that its not useful for more hardcore gamers, but the average gamer has no use for this, and it will negatively impact everyone.

@Majic12 in response to the "since when is more choice a bad idea?" Look no further than PC gaming to answer that question. Most console gamers choose to give up some choice for a more consistent, optimized, experience. Its one of the huge draws of a console. If I wanted choice over optimization, I would go back to a PC.