Gamescom 2014: PS4 System Update 2.0 Introduces Share Play and YouTube Sharing

Update: Sony has expanded on its announcement in a PlayStation Blog post. The company says to think of Share Play as a "virtual couch" allowing for "an online local co-op experience" that doesn't require your friend to own the game in question. It also highlights the fact that this is the realization of the previously announced feature allowing a friend to take control of your game; if you're having trouble with something, you can have someone remotely take over and help you through it.

Also coming in the 2.0 update is a dedicated YouTube app, real-time activity feeds in the What's New section, and more that's still to be announced.

The 2.0 update is scheduled for release sometime this fall.

Original Story: During its Gamescom press conference today, Sony announced the details of the PlayStation 4's 2.0 system update. It introduces a variety of new features, the most signficant of which is called Share Play.

Details on exactly how Share Play will work weren't shared, but, put simply, it allows you to play local multiplayer games with a friend who is not physically with you. This works in two different ways. In one case, you can (virtually) hand off your controller to a friend as if you were both sitting in the same room, presumably so you could take turns with a single-player game. In the other case, you can invite someone to play a game's local multiplayer with you--again, without actually being in the same physical location. Share Play requires PlayStation Plus.

Other new features in the 2.0 update include the ability to search for PlayStation Network users by their real name, and a way to upload saved videos directly to YouTube (rather than just Facebook).

A release date for the 2.0 update was not announced. We'll report back as we learn more.