When PlayStation 4 machines were being built, work didn’t stop on the machine’s launch firmware, which means users will be asked to download a 300MB update on day one.

How will they guarantee you download version 1.50? You can’t participate in online multiplayer without it! But that’s not the only piece of basic functionality that’s unlocked.

Sony broke down what version 1.50 unlocks on the PlayStation Blog this morning.

• Remote Play with Vita
• Second screen experiences on other devices
• Recording and streaming functionality
• Play games as they download
• Multiple user log-in
• Voice chat
• Face recognition with voice commands
• Background music player
• Online multiplayer
• Play Blu-ray and DVD movies

So, uh, yeah--it’s important. But who wouldn’t be connected to the Internet, anyway? At least we’ll see an early stress test of PlayStation Network, and whether Sony’s figured out how to make sure everyone’s able to grab content at decent speeds. (I’ve never been able to.)

That's a lot of core features bundled into one patch. 300 MB isn't too bad, but the inclusion of some of this stuff so late is really odd.

300MB's ain't that bad hopefully it won't take 10x as long as it should take...

I think this was to be expected, I'd be interested to know if Microsoft's flip-flopping will have inflated the Xbox One day one patch.

Everybody be patchin!

Good to see they are delivering on some of their promises at least. Definitely odd some of the core functionality is going to be added in a firmware update however...guess things really come down to the wire these days..

So if you don't have the internet you can't use it to watch movies?
I don't know why they had to restrict that.

It sounds weird, but makes too much sense. Prepare the basics to get a stable default firmware to build the machines with, and then work on the first "live" version with all the bells and whistles.

A downloadable version that can let us patch machines via USB should be a thing.

I can't imagine someone who is paying 400 bucks on launch day, doesn't have internet or another device that plays bluray and dvds.

Umm...some of that stuff seems like it should have been in the original firmware...but what do I know.

I'm not getting a "next-gen" console any time soon, if ever, but I'm honestly worried for the people who will be getting one. I sure hope Sony's servers are up to the task of letting almost every fucking console they sell on day one download this patch, or else there'll be a lot of (rightfully) angry customers.

300 MB is fine on day one... surprised they locked DVD/Blu Ray viewing without it though.

Always be patching

And now with next gen patching can be done in the back ground!

"But who wouldn’t be connected to the Internet, anyway?"

If this was XBox One related I can't help but feel like I'd be reading a long list of comments grumbling about how we shouldn't have to have an internet connection for this sort of stuff.

Ok.

A fallout shelter couldn't protect you from the shit storm that would have caused. Darji alone would have leveled three small countries.

MY fallout shelter could. I built it out of original XBox "Duke" controllers. Nothing can destroy those.

...except for maybe the original Gameboy.

sony allways been good about letting you download the patches from pc to usb so be people without internet can get it from pc with internet and install it from usb simple solution to that problem. i know a lot military do it that way.

Well, my guess is that many of these functions where already in there, but this is a way for them to force everyone to patch before they get their first impression of the system.

That's not surprising at all.

Love how everyone is saying that's it's not too bad. 300mb is ok. Everyone seems to have forgotten how terrible Sony's servers are and have always been.

When it was announced the the xbox one would require a day one patch, people lost their shit. Now it's ok though.

Microsoft tells you this stuff way ahead of the launch and they are the villains. Sony tells you 3 weeks before and says you cant even watch movies without it and everything is perfectly fine.

I would put money on the Xbox one day one update being significantly larger than 300mb but downloading much faster.

A bit disappointed about "Suspend mode" not being available at launch. That seemed like very cool functionality, but of course sony always over promises and under delivers.

Well, not a surprise. Hopefully it doesn't take 5 hours due to launch day woes.

The reality with all of these consoles is that the hardware is completed long before the OS/etc is finalized and fully tested.

cant compare old sony network to new as it still not launched and 300 mb is small for patch these days

While I see your point, I think the difference is that most of the things locked without the patch(save for Blu Ray/DVD playback and maybe playing MP3s in the background) are mainly online functionality stuff anyway. Therefore, if you care about that stuff, you probably already have Internet. Whereas with the original X1 stuff, you wouldn't even be able to play single player indefinitely.

Meet the next gen same as the old gen.

This is just gold.

The Wii U had a 600MB day one patch so this is only half as bad.

They made the 1.0 FW very basic. Same as the PC's safe-mode, to allow easy access for developers who got the ps4 early. Also it allow them to get it stable enough to start manufacturing very early. Basically, they got it running on safe-mode with very basic UI and just start making it.

@syed117 same answer as above as to why people are not angry

@professoress the X1 can not play games without the day1 update, ps4 can (this patch is only for the social, internet, music, etc features) that was why people was piss. Both need update but at least with this one if I wanted to start playing knack right away I can and update later.

Kinda figured they would have a day-1 patch, but that does seem like a lot of functionality that's gonna be unlocked by 300MB

It may not be about restricting, it may be because they didn't have the playback drivers completed when they manufactured the console.

PS3 had a day one patch to enable some stuff also so it's nothing new and 300Mb is nothing really, I'm sure the launch day retail games would have the update on the disc so it's not like anyone would miss the update and if it's going too slow via PSn get it from the disc.

Also it won't have the suspend feature at launch, which is dumb.

I read the theory in other places that this is to help prevent breaking street dates, but I don't know how that'd work. 300MB sounds like more of an unlock for this stuff than actually installing all those features in their entirety.

Coming in hot!

Silly consoles!

Perhaps Sony didn't want people who'll get PS4 before the official launch date (like it always happens in those cases) to be able to rip the benefits earlier than intended. Thus, while allowing to play games in offline, they won't be able to start ranking up in various online games. Although the decision to block movie & music playback seems a little odd, it could be the due to compatibility issues the Playback feature would work until the software is update (because it may cause Playback problems, as most PC owners know)

I think the lack of negativity is due to the press not putting the usual negative spin on this (I'm talking all outlets) that they do for the Xbox One. I've seen some really awful headlines from the press demonising the Xbox One and they are all doing it because it's fashionable. It's sickening. Not saying GB does this though. One of the very few sites who don't bow down to this kind of behaviour which is why I regard this site so much. Kudos to them all.

My take on this. I think it will be chaos on launch day as I will guess Sony's servers won't be up to it. They just aren't as advanced in this field as Microsoft. If anyone is a real fan of multiplayer gaming I'd recommend they think long and hard about their console choice, it's looking very much like dedicated servers all round on the Xbox One with an easy, and well supported implementation.

Meh, a lot of it is stuff that requires internet anyway. I don't find it all that odd. Not even the Blu-ray/DVD playback. My standalone Blu-ray player needs to be updated once in a while because some new releases require features that older players don't have.

@professoress: Xbox One does have a day one patch. That's been known for a while. I haven't seen that many people making a stink about it. But I guess Microsoft hasn't been referring to it as a "patch." Just that you will need internet for "initial setup."

The patch size doesn't have a lot to do with what features it entails. They're not patching in whole features, more likely they're just optimizing them ahead of launch. Locking you out of online is the same thing that happens with PS3 ensuring that everyone's on the same featureset.

Hardly surprising; the hardware has to go into manufacturing at some point which means it has to come with *some* version of the firmware, but that doesn't mean they have to stop working on the firmware.

I surprised you wouldn't be able to watch disc based movies without the patch, seems kinda weird. I do hope those servers are prepared for all those systems patching at once.

This seems totally fine, especially considering a decent amount of that functionality requires you to use the internet anyways. My main concern is just server load when you've got all of your launch customers trying to get their 300MB patch at the same time; I'd expect some online turbulence for the first few days, as if it wasn't already obvious enough that that'd be the case.

Wow. No Bluerays and DVDs playable? In a Blueray Player? What year is it again? 2003? Great work Sony!

This is par for the course. Consoles no longer just have a memory card management utility and a cd music player. There is a lot of stuff you can do before you even play a game. So expecting all of that stuff to be done and bulletproof by the time the consoles go into manufacturing is a bit unrealistic.

I would like to think Sony has their stuff together for the patching servers after how frequently they were criticized for it last generation but we shall see.

Also going forward you can expect this update to be installed on the systems manufactured next year so I think the venn diagram of people who are picking up a system at launch, want to watch Blu-rays but don't have internet is probably non-existent.

@teoball: Except the Nintendo Network is as slow as mailing code from China from a dot matrix printer and you have to input the code yourself on a keyboard with one finger once you get the 5000 page parcel.

xbone got a day one patch aswell to my knowledge.

sucks to be the people who get to get one early from Taco Bell.

You need a day 1 download to play DVD movies? Coming in real hot

Despite all this, I think I'd still be pretty stoked to get a PS4 early.

I completely expected a day one patch.

I'd bet the Xbox One has one as well.