Sony has released a fix to a recent firmware update that reportedly caused games like Final Fantasy 16 to experience intense graphical glitches and other issues. Publisher Square Enix confirmed on the official Final Fantasy 16 X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday that there is now a small update for PlayStation 5 players to install.
“In response to the crashes and graphical bugs that were occurring on the PlayStation 5 version of Final Fantasy 16, [Sony Interactive Entertainment has]released a new system update. Please try downloading and installing this update,” the post reads. It added that it’ll continue to look into the problems along with SIE.
[Notice] PlayStation®5 version of FF16
In response to the crashes and graphical bugs that were occurring on the PlayStation®5 version of FINAL FANTASY XVI, SIE have released a new system update. Please try downloading and installing this update.
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) September 20, 2024
Sony, for its part, didn’t comment on the situation beyond releasing system update 24.06-10.01.00. In the official patch notes, it just says: “We’ve improved system software performance and stability.”
While PS5 players said they saw issues in other games, like Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and No Man’s Sky, Square Enix is the only studio that publicly acknowledged them in response to this particular update. “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,” it posted earlier this week.
The bugs began with last week’s release of PS5 system update 24.06-10.00.00. It added the Welcome Hub to the console’s home screen for increased customizability options, party share, and previously-beta features like personalized 3D audio profiles and adaptive controller charging for PS5 Slim users. One particularly egregious example saw one player’s Final Fantasy 16 environment, for lack of a better term, glitch out of existence. There were so many players experiencing these issues that the game’s subreddit put together a thread to coordinate action.
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.