New PS5 system software beta tweaks brings party chat back, pinned games & more

New system software betas will go into public testing on PS5 and PS4, with the new console seeing a lot of tweaks to the functionality of some key features. Sony are revising the party chat system and Game Base area, expanding and allowing for pinned games on the home screen, and bringing back voice commands for the US and UK.

For those that have absolutely hated the changes that Sony made to how party chats worked at the start of the PS5 generation, the good news is that they’re walking back some of the features. You can create both open and closed parties again, with parties used to describe voice chats, while messages now have a separate tab within the Game Base. The PS4 beta centres around feature matching this functionality.

Meanwhile, if you found the PS5 home screen a bit too restrictive, the great news is that you’ll now have 14 icons stretching across the screen, and you can pin up to five games to stick around on the screen so you can get to your most-played games more reliably.

We also have new accessibility options with Screen Reader and mono audio output, and voice commands are returning from last generation, so you can tell the PlayStation to launch a certain game or app. Handy now that everyone has a microphone built into the DualSense, though this is limited to US and UK to start.

Sadly, there’s no sign of Variable Refresh Rate support, nor folders, or a few other of the most-requested features. Still

Beta access is available to select participants in the US, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany and France from tomorrow, with the patch then getting a wider release a little later this year.

Here’s the full breakdown from Sony:

New Party Chat Options 

In response to community feedback, we’ve made some updates to the Parties system:

• Open and Closed Parties (PS5 and PS4 betas)
  • When you start a party, you can now select either an open party or a closed party:
    • An open party lets your friends see and join the party without an invite. Friends of party members can also join.
    • A closed party is only for players you invite.
  • Note: in Game Base on PS5 and Party on PS4, if you select [Open Party] when starting a party, only players using the beta version of the PS5 or PS4 system software will be able to join. To start a party that players who aren’t using the beta version can also join, select [Closed Party].
• • Voice chat reporting feature update (PS5 beta)
    • If you want to report something that someone in a party said, there are now visual indicators for you to identify who was speaking. This will help PlayStation Safety take appropriate action based on your report. You can learn more about this feature here.
  • Share Play update (PS5 beta)
    • Start Share Play directly from the voice chat card. You no longer need to start Share Screen first to use Share Play.
• Voice chat volume (PS4 beta)
  • You can now individually adjust the voice chat volume of each player in a party on PS4, just like on PS5.

PS5 Game Base Enhancements

• Voice chats are now called parties. For easier access, we’ve divided the Game Base menu into three tabs: Friends, Parties and Messages.
• From the Game Base control menu and cards, you can now:
  • View all your friends under the [Friends] tab in the control menu, or access the player search feature and friend requests through links on this tab.
  • Add a player to a group or create a new group directly from Game Base in the Control Center. You can also send text messages, quick messages, images, video clips, and view a group’s shared media from this card.

• When someone in a party is sharing their screen, you’ll now see the (on air) icon.
• We’ve made it easier to decline friend requests by adding a [Decline] button to your friend request list.

New PS5 UI Features

• Filter by genre
  • We’ve added an option to filter your game collection by genre, letting you quickly find specific types of game experiences.

• Keep in Home
  • You can now keep the games or apps you choose on your home screen by selecting “Keep in Home” with the (options) button.
  • You can keep a maximum of five games and apps on each home screen with this feature.

• Increased apps on the home screen
  • You can now have a total of 14 games and apps appear on your home screen.

• Trophies UI update
  • We’ve updated the visual design of trophy cards and the trophy list. You can also see suggestions for which trophies to earn on the trophy tracker and access it from the Control Center whenever you’re playing a game.

• Start Share Screen from the Create menu
  • From the Create menu, you can now start a Share Screen and stream your gameplay to an open party.

New Accessibility Features

• More Screen Reader languages
  • Screen Reader, which reads aloud on-screen text and provides spoken guidance for operating the console, is now supported in six additional languages: Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, and Korean.
  • This expands Screen Reader support to 15 languages, including the current ones (United States English, United Kingdom English, Japanese, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French and Canadian French).

• Mono audio for headphones
  • You can now enable mono audio for headphones so the same audio is played from both the left and right headphones, instead of a stereo or 3D audio sound mix. This feature provides an added option to enhance the PS5 audio experience, particularly for players with unilateral hearing loss.

• Check marks for enabled settings
  • You can now show a check mark on enabled settings so you can easily see that they’re turned on.

Voice Command (Preview): U.S. and U.K. limited release

• We’re also testing a feature that enables voice commands for finding and opening games, apps, and settings, as well as controlling media playback on the PS5 console.
• This feature is currently available in English for beta participants with accounts registered to the U.S. and U.K. 
• To get started, enable Voice Command (Preview) from the Settings menu. Then, call out “Hey, PlayStation!” and ask your PS5 console to find a game, open an app or setting, or control playback while enjoying a movie, TV show or song.

• You can help us improve the feature through our feedback program, which will sometimes record your voice commands (in accordance with our Privacy Policy) and let you provide instant feedback from time to time. You can turn this feature off at any time within system settings (see above). This feature never records audio for child accounts.
• We’re in an early testing phase for this feature and will be closely assessing it and listening to your feedback throughout the beta. For more details, check out this page.

Source: PS Blog