Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief Jim Ryan announced today during the company's annual Gamescom press conference that the PlayStation 4 will be updated this year to support Share Play, the console's long-promised online game-sharing system. This appears to be the shipping version of the game-sharing features that PlayStation 4 lead system architect Mark Cerny alluded to when he first revealed the console last year. At the time, Cerny promised that the console would allow users to view their friends streaming games on PSN and then "take over the controller and assist them" using the Gaikai network technology Sony had acquired in 2012. The Share Play feature will go live sometime this fall alongside version 2.0 of the PlayStation 4 firmware, and is designed to allow players to invite other PSN users into a multiplayer group that the company pitches as a sort of "virtual couch." From there, the invitees -- who do not need to own the game the host is playing -- will be able to participate in local multiplayer games or take remote control of a game if the host relinquishes it.
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