Playstation 4 users will be interested to know that the upcoming 3.0 firmware release for the PS4 has gone to beta, and beta testers have already leaked the update notes, revealing what’s coming when 3.0 is released. There are a few new big features along with some other general improvements. The English version of the notes were posted on Reddit, though you can read them right here:

Main features in version 3.00 beta update

(Events) has been added to the function items. All events associated with PlayStation are now brought together, enabling you to discover, participate in and watch these events in a centralised area.
(Communities) has been added to (Friends). (Communities) is a feature that enables you to find players who have similar tastes and interests. You can join an existing community or create your own community. You can also play games, join parties or talk about shared interests with members in the community.
You can now go to (Now Playing) to see what games or parties members of the community are enjoying right now. You can also easily start a game, join a party or send a request to watch a member’s gameplay in (Now Playing). You can access (Now Playing) from What’s New, (Friends), (Communities), the message screen in (Messages) or Profile.
The layout of the message screen in (Messages) has been improved. From the message screen, you can now select (Now Playing) or easily start a party. You can also add your favourite groups to [Favourite Groups] in (Friends).
You can now broadcast your gameplay on YouTube™.
You can now upload video clips to Twitter (10-second limitation).

Other features in version 3.00 beta

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The layout of (Live from PlayStation) has been improved. In addition to broadcasts, you can now view video clips and screenshots.

Settings

You can now change the speed for automatic text scrolling in (Settings) > [Accessibility] > [Auto-Scroll Speed].
[Community], [Requests to Watch Gameplay], [Events] and [Current Song] have been added to (Settings) > [Notifications] > [Display Pop-Up Notifications].

Other

You can now post your comments for activity feeds in What’s New.
You can now enjoy fun conversations with your Friends using (Stickers) in (Messages). (PlayStation®Plus) has been added to the function items. You can now see all of your PlayStation®Plus benefits, such as free monthly games, exclusive discounts, news and more, in one place.
Accessibility features are now available when playing content from Blu-ray Discs™ or DVDs. Application of these features has also been expanded. You can now restrict the use of games while looking at age level information and rating icons.
You can now create a sub account for a minor by selecting [New User] in the screen for selecting a user.
You can now adjust settings for Web filtering services from (Settings) > [Parental Controls]. You can use the service to block objectionable websites from being displayed in the Internet Browser. (Additional fees may apply for use of the service.)

Now, please keep in mind that as a beta, this is not necessarily a complete list of what will be released. As will all development betas, it’s possible that some features will be changed or removed or added as development progresses. Now I’m not a PS4 user, so take my comments with a grain of salt, but this seems like a decent update. I’m seeing a lot of positive chatter about it, though I’ve also seen a lot of negative comments, mostly concerning the lack of certain features, such as being able to change one’s username or setting your status to “invisible.” But, again, it’s still possible that such features might get added at some future point, either in this update or a later one.

What do you think? If you’ve got PS4, are you looking forward to the 3.0 update, or are you underwhelmed by it? Let us know in the comments below.

The 3.0 firmware doesn’t have a release date I can find, but if it’s gone to beta it’s likely safe to assume that it will be “soon-ish.”