PS4 news: PlayStation Plus February reveal, PSN Down issues, Xbox One X and Pro boost

PS4 news this week has been dominated by the upcoming PlayStation Plus February 2018 announcement.

Set to be revealed this coming week, fans are looking to another big month.

January saw the additions of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Telltale’s Batman, both solid choices for PS Plus fans.

And a recent bonus was also confirmed for those looking for a new freebie this month.

It has now been confirmed that the original PS Vita choice, Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness, is now available to download in the UK if you login via a browser.

This wasn’t downloadable for all PS4 fans at first, so it comes as some great news for those looking to add a new game to their collection.

And when it comes to what is being revealed for PlayStation Plus in February, there has been no big leak.

Unfortunately, the information provided comes from a image, and is currently very hard to tell if it is real or not.

From the information listed, it appears that fans could be getting Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin and Far Cry 4.

PS Plus subscribers should officially find out the list of free PS4 games on Wednesday, January 31.

This will be followed by a PlayStation Plus release date of Tuesday, February 6.

It would be great news for PlayStation owners if these do prove to be real, however, it should also be noted that this would be one of the strongest releases yet.

We do know that PlayStation are looking to expand their PS Plus audience and this certainly would be a way of doing just that.

At least fans won’t have to wait much longer to find out what is set to be offered next month, and still have plenty of time to grab the likes of Deus Ex and Batman, if they haven’t already done so.

PSN issues have been hitting players throughout the week, without much information being provided on what has been causing it.

There have been at least two nights in which players have seen connection issues while trying to access games like Fortnite Battle Royale  and Call of Duty WW2.

The latest issues sprang up earlier tonight, although it appears everything affecting the PlayStation Network service have now been fixed.

The official PlayStation UK Twitter account tweeted to say the server problems that hit PS4 fans were resolved, earlier tonight.

The PlayStation Network Service Status page, which previously showed all features as not working, also says “all services are up and running”.

The official PlayStation UK Twitter account tweeted: “PSN has been restored. You should be able to access online features without any problems now. Sorry for the inconvenience!”

There’s bound to be an increase in server usage with the weekend upon us, however, fans will be hoping to skip some of the recent issues and get back to business.

Some fans will be logging on to start playing on of the big new releases this week, Monster Hunter World.

One of the big reveals is that the new Monster Hunter World has launched as both a Xbox One X and PS4 Pro enhanced game.

The new action game has been optimised for PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, which includes HDR support, improved frame rates and resolutions.

Express Online spoke to Monster Hunter World producer Ryozo Tsujimoto to see when the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X Enhanced updates will be released.

“Some data is a day one patch that you can download,” Tsujimoto explained. 

“But once you’ve got that on the first day of release, you’ll be able to enjoy enhanced graphics and performance modes for Playstation 4 Pro and Xbox One X.”

Xbox One X and PS4 Pro users will be able to play the optimised version of Monster Hunter World on day one.

Fans will be able to choose from different modes that enhance the performance, resolution or graphics.

There is also a new Monster Hunter World PS4 event quest to pick up on Day One, called “Teachings of the Wild”.

It will come with a Hunter Rank (HR) of 6 or more and will allow you to collect Horizon Zero Dawn armour.

Monster Hunters will have to take down eight Barnos, and after completing it, will also obtain materials that can be forged into a new outfit for your Palico companion.

This new event quest is just the first part, with a second launching later in 2018. It should also be noted that the Horizon Zero Dawn quest will be available until February 9.

Monster Hunter World will be available to play on January 26 on PS4 and Xbox One, with a PC launch planning for Autumn 2018.