The latest PlayStation 5 firmware update has reportedly caused a lot of problems for players, making some games like Final Fantasy XVI practically unplayable thanks to intense graphical glitches.
Most of the reports (via Tom’s Hardware) have come from players, although the official X (formerly Twitter) Final Fantasy XVI account said that Square Enix is looking into the issue.
“Following the recent release of the PlayStation system update, there have been reports of the game crashing and graphical issues. We are currently working with [Sony Interactive Entertainment] to investigate,” the post reads.
Following the recent release of the PlayStation 5 system update, there have been reports of the game crashing and graphical issues.
We are currently working with SIE to investigate, and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Please await our further updates. #FF16
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) September 17, 2024
A Reddit thread has people reporting issues with Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, Black Myth: Wukong, No Man’s Sky, Gran Turismo 7, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Elden Ring, although none of these games’ developers has made a public comment on the situation at the time of this writing (and they could just be bugs unrelated to the update). PlayStation also hasn’t released a statement on the potential issue, but we’ll update if we hear anything.
The video below is a good example of what Square Enix is investigating. You can see particles glitching out and eventually just removing themselves entirely, resulting in a black environment. Other users have reported errors with updating the disc drive.
突然のバグにうろたえる兄さん pic.twitter.com/G05UMwXsMY
— ぎっちFF16→14紅蓮（忘らるる都出張帰り） (@gicchi_ak) September 16, 2024
Last week’s firmware update was a big one. It introduced the Welcome hub, a customizable space on your PS5 home screen that is the closest the console has gotten to have themes. You can choose from a variety of widgets, increase or decrease their size, and change up the background with images from your media gallery. This is a huge deal for people who wanted to change up the interface, either by making it look the way they want or to remove some unnecessary widgets. The update introduced this feature to some U.S. users, but it’s following a gradual rollout in the coming weeks. Sony also introduced Party Share, which allows players to share party voice chat links on other platforms.
The update also introduced some features previously only in beta, like personalized 3D audio profiles with headphones, adaptive controller charging on the PS5 Slim, and the ability to adjust remote play settings per user.
Final Fantasy XVI also just released on PC, and while it has a few problems, a few community members have released a free mod to fix some of them in the meantime.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.