Upcoming PS4 update includes custom wallpapers, parental controls, and more

The 5.50 beta is live right now

Sony has detailed the next PlayStation 4 firmware update, and for those of you signed up to test it, the beta is rolling out today. We knew about one of the planned features — a new Supersampling Mode for PlayStation 4 Pro owners who haven’t yet upgraded to a 4K display — but there’s plenty more.

• Play Time Management is a new set of parental controls for monitoring game time. Parents can impose a time limit or time of day and the PS4 will send notifications so the child knows when to save and quit. The feature is also accessible via web browser.

• A couple new organizational tabs in your game library. You’ll be able to sort through your games with new groupings like “PlayStation Plus,” “This PS4” (everything currently installed), and one that has everything you’ve purchased with your PSN ID.

• The ability to hide apps, including things like betas and demos you no longer have any use for, and the option to delete notifications. Thank goodness.

• New Quick Menu features like shortcuts for controlling music playback and a pulldown menu for quick access to friends, plus background music functionality while streaming games through PlayStation Now.

• Custom wallpapers using your own images imported from a USB stick. And for all you tournament organizers out there, you’ll be able to customize your Tournaments page with a logo or background.

• Supersampling Mode on PS4 Pro, which will help certain games look better depending on your setup. Essentially, “games that render to a higher resolution when connected to a 4K TV will downscale to match the HDTV – allowing PS4 Pro owners to leverage the benefits of an image clarity boost even if they don’t own a 4K TV.” It’s intended for games that support PS4 Pro but don’t have supersampling built-in.

I am way too excited about the prospect of deleting notifications and hiding old applications.

New Features Coming to PS4 in System Software 5.50 [PlayStation Blog]