PlayStation App’s PS4 functionality detailed

Following the brief introduction of the PlayStation App at Gamescom, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida has shed some more light on its functionality.

As we previously heard, the PlayStation App will link your smart device to Sony's next-gen console. It boasts social features, second-screen capabilities, and will allow you to buy games that you can then download directly to your console. It sounds like it does just about everything short of letting you play PS4 games.

Speaking on the PlayStation Blog, Yoshida elaborated a bit more.

“It’s an application that anyone can download for free on iOS and Android devices,” he said. “There are a variety of things you can do with it. You can connect to your PlayStation profile and send messages — even voice messages — to friends between your smartphone and PS4.

“A friend on PS4 can also send out an invitation for a multiplayer game, which you can then check on the App, and you can also purchase PS4 games from PlayStation Store," he explained. "Your game will immediately start downloading while you’re away.”

As for its second screen gameplay features, Yoshida pointed out that many big publishers like Ubisoft and EA are "creating their own apps for their games," adding, "and that's great." In EA's Battlefield 4, for example, you can activate Battlescreen, a feature that allows you to use your mobile device as a secondary screen for a mini-map, change load outs, and even check your progression at any time.

On the indie side, Yoshida pointed out that smaller developers "can use PlayStation App to connect to PS4 and load an application, like drawing software for example, so that you don’t have to download and install a specific app on your smartphone. It’s open to all PS4 developers to use.”

The PlayStation App doesn't have an exact date, but it should launch around the PlayStation 4's release which is November 15th here in North America (November 29 in Europe).