PS4 update 8.00 arrives today, along with new features for messaging and party chat, improved parental controls, and a host of new avatars. Sony revealed the details in a new blog post.

Big changes have been made to parties and messages to make them more closely linked together. In other words, if you have a party group, you will also have the same group in chat and vice versa. It will make it easier to launch parties and chat groups with people you regularly interact with on both PS4 and PS5 when it launches. There's also an option to mute your mic from the quick menu while playing.

Related: PS4 Games That Aren’t Backwards Compatible With PS5 Could Receive Patches Later On

New avatars released include Bloodborne, Journey, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, The Last of Us Part 2, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and more.

Here's how the improved parental controls work:

"Under Parental Controls, we’re combining the ‘Communicating with Other Players’ and ‘Viewing Content Created by other Players’ into one setting – ‘Communication and User Generated Content’- to cover both areas of communication and UGC sharing. This offers a simpler setting that’s easier for parents to understand and apply to their children.

"In addition, children can send a request to their parents to use communications features in specific games. When a child sends this request, the parent will receive an email notification and can choose to make an exception for that game and allow the child to use its communications and UGC features. This will provide more flexibility to both parents and children."

Sony is also adding support for third-party two-step verification apps. Elsewhere, the ability to create or access Events is being removed from PS4, and the remote play app is being renamed to PS Remote Play - there will also be an option in the app to connect to PS5.

PS5 is launching next month, bringing in the next-generation of gaming with reduced loading times, ray tracing, and improved frame rates. Oh, and we best not forget PS5's next-gen dust catchers. If you're looking to pick some extras up ahead of launch, PS5 accessories will be sold a week earlier than the console in the UK. If you want to get in the mood, we may have got our first listen of the PS5 startup sound via *checks notes* Burger King.

Next: Every Game Coming To The PlayStation Plus Collection On PS5, Ranked From Worst To Best (According To Metacritic)