Remote Play for PS4 Evolves on Mobile

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PS4 Remote Play

Remote Play has been fairly untouched by the PS4 previously; being only available for select iOS devices and Sony Xperia smartphones. The Playstation is now expanding and includes all Android devices 5.0 and up. With this expansion in mobile applications, the iOS version of the new Remote Play app has been updated to have the same features as the Android equivalent. The biggest feature, or biggest addition if you use Apple, is a simulated controller.

This means that your mobile device can serve as your Playstation remote for whatever reason you may have. Along with a virtual controller, the app allows the user to stream the game. Obviously. What good would the virtual remote be if you can’t stream it? You might as well use the actual controller if you’re in contact with the Playstation anyways. Find out what you’re missing when the app launches sometime this week.

Alternative Uses

There’s the obvious application of using the Remote Play app to play while not in the immediate access of your game. You’re playing Overwatch and your team is in overtime when nature calls. Oh no! Have no fear, for you can take your game with you to the toilet to keep carrying your team. On a serious note, the application’s most revolutionary use goes overlooked.

The app could allow people with disabilities to still keep in touch with gaming when normal use is restricted. I had surgery a few months back and was bedridden. Couple this with a disability and gaming just wasn’t in the cards for me. From a business perspective, this increases customers, while allowing newfound accessibility for handicapped users from a humanitarian perspective.

Remote Play and Other Assistive Tech

I mentioned my disability earlier. I’m a quadriplegic, meaning that I’m paralyzed from the neck down. However, I have hundreds of games and play for much longer than my mother ever approved of. How did I do that? I use a device called a quadstick, made by Fred Davison. It’s a mouth controller with tubes and sensors to detect button “presses.”

The controller can be configured to any control scheme and is usable on all modern consoles. If you have access to a phone, emulators are another great way to play previously inaccessible games. Steam has its own version of Remote Play with its Steam Link app, which receives far less attention than it deserves. Your hobbies are never out of reach, regardless of your condition!

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