Month: September 2018

Enlarge (credit: TechBargains)

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a new bundle that pairs Red Dead Redemption 2 with Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro console for the latter's usual $400 retail price.

Now, PS4 Pro bundles are nothing new, and there will inevitably be chances to score the console and game for less than $400 after Rockstar's latest is out. But stock of the PS4 Pro has been somewhat sporadic on its own, so if you're interested in the 4K-ready console and plan to buy Red Dead Redemption 2 anyway, it's a decent savings off the bat.

As for whether the PS4 Pro is worth it in the first place, that'll depend on how much stock you put in 4K gaming. The standard PS4 can play in HDR, and generally speaking there's little reason to pay more if you're using a 1080p TV or 1440p monitor. Still, even if it's not a generational leap, the Pro does make many games look and run smoother on higher-end screens.

After Friday's surprise announcement that more than 90 percent of Telltale's staff had been let go, the company now says it is talking to "potential partners" that could help complete the current, final season of The Walking Dead.

Part two of the planned four-part episodic adventure game series launched today, and the season was previously set to conclude on December 18. But Telltale confirmed in a tweeted statement last night that it is "actively working on a solution that will allow episodes 3 and 4 to be completed and released in some form." To that end, the company says that "multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping to see The Final Season through to completion."

While 25 of Telltale's 275 employees are being retained by the company for now, Netflix indicated in a statement that skeleton staff will be finishing up work on Minecraft: Story Mode, which is "moving forward as planned." Negotiations between Netflix and Telltale for a potential Stranger Things episodic game are now out the window, though, and Netflix says it will be "evaluating other options for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium."

Enlarge / An OBD-2 port is illuminated during an emissions test. (credit: Getty Images)

On Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement with an after-market car technology company called Derive Systems. Derive was accused of selling 363,000 devices that could defeat the emissions control systems of any car. The settlement called for Derive to spend around $6 million correcting its sold and unsold software to prevent further emissions tampering, as well as pay a fine of $300,000.

Derive's products rely on the OBD (On Board Diagnostics) II port that's found in most cars. Ars wrote about the company last year, noting that it is able to not only read diagnostics through the OBD II port, but to write via OBD II as well. This allows the company to re-map engine performance according to a customer's needs or wishes. If you own a fleet of delivery vehicles and you need to maximize efficiency (and minimize fuel cost) at the expense of, say, towing power, Derive's system would allow you to do that.

Unfortunately, it seems their software also allowed customers to re-map their engines in the opposite direction, favoring performance over emissions controls, which is verboten by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act.

Enlarge / Paloma Heindorff (center), spoke Tuesday in Austin, announcing herself as the new head of Defense Distributed. (credit: Nathan Mattise)

AUSTIN, Texas—Defense Distributed announced Tuesday that founder Cody Wilson had resigned from the company as of last Friday. The company is now under new leadership—Paloma Heindorff takes over as director. Previously, she served as a vice president focused on development and operations during her three years with Defense Distributed.

“He’s been an incredibly powerful figure, but this is about an idea,” Heindorff said when asked how the company will move on from its founder. “We believe in something, and that something isn’t one man—it’s an idea.”

Wilson’s resignation comes after allegations of sexually assaulting an underage girl led to the 3D-printed gun activist’s arrest last Friday in Taiwan. Wilson had previously skipped his return flight from the country in a reported attempt to evade authorities. While overseas, Wilson posed as a student and attempted to make a downpayment on a Taipei rental.