A beloved PS2 classic on PS Plus Premium might be getting a free upgrade in October 2024, if a rating board entry is anything to go by. A few days ago, Siren fans got excited when the game got a fresh rating in Korea, leading to speculations of a new release. We’re here to dash those hopes because that rating has turned out to be an enhanced version of the 2003 game.
PS2’s Siren is already part of PS Plus Premium but runs on an old emulator
PS Deals picked up a fresh entry for Siren from PS Store’s back-end. According to the leaked description, an enhanced version of the game running on Sony’s improved PS2 emulator will release on October 15, 2024. This version will have rewind, quick save, and custom video filters features in addition to up-rendering and trophies.
The version of Siren that’s currently part of PS Plus Premium only offers up-rendering and trophies, and is a PS4 game. The newer version will run natively on the PS5.
We also want to clarify that rumors of Siren 2 being rated for a rerelease are false. Only one new rating — which is the one we’re reporting on right now — has appeared online thus far, and a funky translation from Korean to English has some folks falsely reporting that Siren 2 is on its way. Not yet.
Those who already have Siren in their catalogs or purchased a standalone version should get a free upgrade, but given Sony’s tendency to surprise us, wait for an official announcement before getting your hopes up.
It was a messy Monday if you were a Verizon customer or wanted some PS5 gaming in the evening. First, Verizon mobile customers reported outages across the US on Monday. At around 9:30AM ET, hundreds of thousands of users flagged problems with their mobile service on Downdetector. Reports spiked at almost 105,000 at 11:20AM. Issues included the inability to send texts and a lack of cellular service outright. The issue centered on the East Coast and Midwest. The carrier hasn’t elaborated on what caused the issue. The FCC said it was “working to determine the cause and extent of these service disruptions.”
Hours later, the PlayStation Network experienced serious issues, kicking people off their matches and crashing online games worldwide. (Yes, that’s even bigger than the Midwest and East Coast.) Users couldn’t sign in on the PS5, PS4, PS Vita and PS3 or perform account maintenance on the web either. Streaming functionality was also knocked offline. Services came back online in the early hours of October. We’re also checking with Sony about the cause.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fined Cruise, GM’s self-driving vehicle division, $1.5 million. The penalty was imposed for omitting key details from an October 2023 accident when one of the company’s autonomous vehicles struck and dragged a San Francisco pedestrian. Cruise is being fined for initially submitting incomplete reports, but it’s worse than that. Executives initially played a video of the accident during October 3 meetings with the San Francisco mayor’s office, NHTSA, DMV and other officials. However, the video stream was “hampered by internet connectivity issues” that concealed the part where the vehicle dragged the victim. Executives, who the report stated knew about the dragging, also failed to verbally mention that crucial detail.
The NHTSA wants Cruise to file a corrective action plan, along with others covering its total number of vehicles, miles traveled and whether they operated without a driver. It also has to summarize software updates that affect operations and more. Finally, Cruise will also have to meet with the NHTSA quarterly to discuss and review those reports.
It claims Samsung's Auto Blocker makes it difficult to install its app store.
Epic loves a courtroom battle. Its next challenger is Samsung — and Google. (Yes, Epic already won an antitrust lawsuit against Google last December, which found Google held an illegal monopoly on app distribution and in-app billing services.) Epic Games is claiming Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature is making it difficult for users to install the Epic Games Store on the latest Samsung devices. This is because Samsung now activates Auto Blocker, which only allows app installs from the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, by default. To be honest, it’s pretty laborious to switch off. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney even suggests Google and Samsung are working together, though he admits there’s no concrete evidence for this claim.
