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Trump taps climate skeptic to run US government’s flagship climate report
Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerU
How do political donations work… and why are there growing calls for a cap?
Mega-donors are coming under scrutiny after a crypto billionaire based in Thailand gave a £5m gift to Nigel Farage
"Just too gay" - Robert Yang is battling censorship to launch a collection of his award-winning games on Steam and Itch, and it's completely free
Yang's "ongoing re-remaster" compilation Radiator Forever is launching with four games included, and more are on the way.
Michael Edwards quits as football chief for Liverpool’s owner Fenway Sports Group
Michael Edwards has stepped down with a year on his contract and Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, could leave after the transfer window shuts
New drone czar’s success hinges on personalities, Pentagon politics: Experts
Depending on who’s named to head the new drone-buying office, and how they handle the inevitable friction, said a former Pentagon AI chief, “it may turn out to be a master stroke ... [or] it could end up looking like the F-35.”
Sports quiz of the week: England v Norway, Wimbledon and Alexia Putellas
Have you followed the big stories in football, tennis, rugby union, cricket, cycling, rugby league and swimming?
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror
Sublimation by Isabel J Kim; Last Day of a Prior Life by Andrés Barba; Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay; The Carrier by Ruth Newton; Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd
Trump restarts war with Iran and plays nice(ish) with Nato
Jonathan Freedland speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker about how leaders around the world are meant to deal with a leader choosing to relive a diplomatic Groundhog Day
It’s not me, it’s them: Platner goes down snarling with graceless exit video
The populist Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine bowed to the inevitable but turned his farewell into a pity party
EU accuses Meta of failing to tackle mental health risks of ‘addictive design’
Regulators say Facebook and Instagram features such as autoplay and infinite scroll contribute to ‘compulsive use’
Visualised: how conflict, aid cuts and health-worker attacks are helping Ebola spread in DRC
The rapid spread of the virus has been intensified by misinformation and violence towards volunteers and treatment centres
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
Dani Masten breaks down the newest Las Vegas openings — from the Vanderpump Hotel to Area 15's Zone 2
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
AMPLIFIED: FOX5’s Dani Masten breaks down the latest Las Vegas entertainment openings
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv reaches ‘political’ agreement with US on Patriot interceptor production licences
Key supplies of interceptors to arrive in the next few days, as talks also continue on a ‘drone deal’, Zelenskyy says. What we know on day 1,598
Jack Latvala, a master of Florida politics sidelined by scandal, dies
Jack Latvala, a towering force in Florida politics whose rise helped shape the GOP and whose fall ended a gubernatorial bid, died at 74.
How Erling Haaland Turned a Ponytail Into a Sold-Out Business—and a Branding Masterclass
The soccer phenom leveraged his most recognizable trait to create equity, drive demand, and demonstrate the power of authentic branding.
Banijay & All3Media Complete Merger, Creating $8BN Production-Distribution Giant
Banijay Entertainment and All3Media have completed their merger, creating a new London-based production and distribution giant that makes and sells shows including The Traitors, Big Brother, MasterChe...
Three New College of Arts and Sciences Masters Programs Will Take Students to the Cutting Edge
School launches graduate degrees in quantum computing, data-driven economics, and artificial intelligence
Jillian Segal wants ‘independent group’ to examine ABC’s Israel coverage
Antisemitism envoy tells royal commission that she would like the broadcaster to be 'as good as it possibly can be'
Graham Platner debacle puts Democrats in grave danger of blowing it in the midterms
The meltdown in Maine’s Senate race risks the Democrats’ opportunity to turn Trump into a lame duck president.
Marine Le Pen ‘wants to talk politics’, but can she drown out the legal noise?
Viewed by some as a danger to democracy, the French far-right leader’s campaign is clouded in uncertainty under the shadow of an embezzlement case
Longtime friends and business partners thrive as architecture grad students
Setareh Farashzadeh and Yasaman Ghaffarian came to Penn State as close friends and established architects in pursuit of the history and theory behind their chosen field. Originally from Iran, the duo started their own practice after earning their bachelor’s degrees and jointly decided to expand their understanding of the built environment. Their interests and underlying friendship led them to the dual master of architecture and master of science in architecture program in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School.
Reform’s Fleet Street ‘spoilers’: how party deploys tactic to get ahead of stories
Richard Tice’s NCA leak claims in the Telegraph would not be the first time Reform has used a more sympathetic outlet
Clacton byelection likely to be two-man race between Reform leader and Binface
Nigel Farage’s resignation as MP means comedian might have to consider representing constituency if he wins
The curse of Donald Trump: where he goes, sporting defeat follows
The USMNT’s World Cup crashout is the latest episode to suggest the support and intervention of Donald J Trump brings bad luck
Columbia Climate School and Sciences Po To Launch Dual Degree Focused on Climate Action
Columbia Climate School and the Paris Climate School at Sciences Po are launching a new dual master’s program at the intersection of climate science and ecological governance.
Britain’s markets attracting generation of highly educated entrepreneurs
Nearly a quarter of market traders now hold master’s degree, PhD or medical doctorate, research shows
Can AI equalize political campaign ads – or will it remain a tool for spreading lies?
Political campaigns are increasingly deploying AI and deepfakes to further their messaging, and the scale of spread has experts concerned
Through the teargas, I saw something missing from German politics for too long: hope
I joined thousands of people blockading the AfD’s congress. A civil disobedience movement is showing how to beat the far right, says the journalist Scott Roxborough
Health risk fears for storks in Europe over ‘junk food’ from landfill
Rubbish dumps can expose birds to contaminants, raising questions over whether landfill foraging helps or harms
Build EBR launches facade improvement program for Plank Road businesses
Build EBR is introducing a new grant initiative designed to help small businesses and commercial property owners enhance the appearance of properties along the Plank Road corridor. Funded through the JPMorgan Chase AdvancingCities Grant, the Front Door Refresh Facade Improvement Program is the final implementation initiative tied to the Reimagine Plank Road Master Plan and […]
Major League Baseball announces entertainment lineup for the 2026 All-Star Game in Philadelphia
Major League Baseball today announced the entertainment lineup for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard. Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar winning artist Jennifer Hudson and GRAMMY winner Patti LaBelle will bookend the pregame festivities on Tuesday, July 14th, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, delivering special musical performances.
Men’s average testosterone levels have halved in last 50 years, say scientists
Exclusive: Researchers warn of ‘major crisis in male reproductive health’ partly driven by obesity and diabetes
Burnham urged to ditch ‘dangerous’ UK-US NHS drug deal
Exclusive: health groups call on expected next prime minister to rip up agreement, which analysis suggests could lead to 229,000 excess deaths by 2036
Defense Health Agency Senior Enlisted Leader visits Cherry Point Clinic
Navy Force Master Chief PatrickPaul “PaP” C. Mangaran, command senior enlisted leader for the Defense Health Agency, visited Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point on Friday, June 26, 2026.
Half of Americans struggle to afford groceries and gas, exclusive poll finds
About 57% of polled Americans also believe economy is worsening in grim portrait of cost of living crisis, according to Harris survey for the Guardian
Trust Science Inc. ("Trust Science") signs Master Services Agreement with The Toronto-Dominion Bank ("TD")
/PRNewswire/ - Trust Science has entered into a bank-wide Master Services Agreement with TD. Initially TD will start by using Trust Science's income...
‘Serious consequences’: Farage attacks Sky News after question about George Cottrell
Reform UK leader confronts journalist after question about gifts from friend and convicted fraudster
‘It had no impact’: USMNT insist Balogun political circus did not affect World Cup exit
The US had big problems in their last-16 defeat, but Mauricio Pochettino and his team said that the discourse around the red-card ban reversal wasn’t one of them
Marine Le Pen’s political future at stake with ruling on electoral ban imminent
Leader of France’s far-right National Rally and a contender for the presidency to get appeal decision on Tuesday
UFC champion predicts quick KO in UFC 329 main event
Former two-division champion Conor McGregor plans to put on a 'masterpiece' performance in his UFC 329 return on Saturday. "The Notorious" takes on former featherweight champion and BMF titleholder Max Holloway in a rematch in the fight card's main event. It's been five years since the 37 year-old ...
Details scarce as Mitch McConnell ‘continues recovery’ in hospital
Staff decline to give updates on senator’s health and whether he will be at Capitol when Senate returns
Shakira delivers a master class in stamina and showmanship at concert
BALTIMORE – Two months ago, Shakira performed for nearly 2 million people in Brazil. On Monday, July 6, she played for a packed venue of 14,000 in Baltimore.
Woman accuses Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner of sexual assault
Democratic candidate for Senate, who has faced series of scandals, denies allegation reported by Politico
‘They had hyped us up so much’: Seattle businesses near World Cup stadium report declining sales
The city’s tourism board estimated 750,000 visitors would visit over the course of the World Cup
Air pollution may cause childhood obesity by disrupting impulse control, study finds
Babies exposed to higher levels of neurotoxin more likely to have difficulty controlling impulses later, research shows
Watchdog warns of risks to patients as private equity’s stake in US healthcare grows
New report details slew of ventures between private equity and nonprofits and calls for greater government oversight
Starmer faces likely row at Nato summit after US rebuke on defence spending
US ambassador to Nato has called for all allies who are ‘lagging behind’ to step up immediately
NCAA president expects no changes to trans athlete rules after US supreme court ruling
Collegiate sports organization led by Charlie Baker banned trans athletes from women’s sports after 2025 Trump order
Ferrari just invented a new gearbox for the 12Cilindri that's both manual and automatic
The new Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale comes with a manual-automatic transmission that's an engineering masterpiece, but there's an elephant in the room
Ministers to crack down on political donations as Farage faces calls for second inquiry
Measures to be announced to make funding more transparent amid new revelations about Reform UK leader
EasyJet agrees to £5bn takeover by US investment firm
Agreement in principle with Castlelake follows several rejected offers and means UK’s biggest low-cost carrier will be taken private
Keeping it clean even when politics is dirty
Brief letters: Questions of conscience | Perfect storm | Nice as pie | Council of despair
Delivery firm Evri sues BBC for £1.2m over Panorama documentary
Company seeks redress for contracts it says it has lost as a result of programme’s claims about its business practices
Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west
With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down
Why are Republicans red and Democrats blue?
The party colors are a surprisingly recent tradition. But do they really represent the diversity of Americans’ beliefs?
Majority of UK smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as cigarettes, experts find
Analysis shows public understanding about vaping, which is far less harmful than smoking, has plummeted in past decade
The strangest show on earth: lightning, imperial hubris and a boring tour of Trump’s rhetorical back alleys
Would we get a 21st-century Gettysburg address? Or YMCA, gripes about his legal woes and boasting about Iran?
Andrew Mortensen Earns Georgia Tech MS in Computer Science
Woodbridge, CT resident Andrew Mortensen graduates from Georgia Tech with a Master of Science in Computer Science during the 270th Commencement exercises. (156 characters)
School Days Remastered Game Reveals English Voice Cast
Katelyn Barr, Brittany Lauda, P.M. Seymour lead cast
Huntsville gaming business making a big splash in the hobby industry
One of the most popular gaming businesses in north Alabama is Mastermind Gaming.
Why scratching a mosquito bite makes it so much worse, according to science
Scratching activates mast cells that release histamine and substance P, creating a prolonged itch-scratch cycle that worsens skin inflammation.
Why scratching a mosquito bite makes it so much worse, according to science
Scratching activates mast cells that release histamine and substance P, creating a prolonged itch-scratch cycle that worsens skin inflammation.
Elon Musk posted twice as often on UK race and immigration as about SpaceX in IPO run-up
Guardian analysis of X feed shows how keen world’s richest person was to air his views and ‘interfere’ in British politics
The Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues review – stomping blues and anti-Musk politics make this another late triumph
Continuing the rejuvenated sound of 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, there’s touching vulnerability from Keith Richards while Jagger confronts war and autocracy
From Madonna to Minions & Monsters: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
The begoggled yellow munchkins are indulging in a spot of time travel, and the queen of pop returns with a new album of pristine dancefloor bangers
Fight them for the beaches: the real villain of Europe’s overtourism is big business
From Albania to Portugal, privatisation of the coastline is bringing locals out on to the streets. For them, the economic benefits are few and far between, says Adam Almeida, a writer living in London
CDC investigates parasite that’s caused cases of ‘explosive’ diarrhea in 18 US states
Parasite cyclospora spreads through produce and water contaminated with feces and causes the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis
Americans disgusted at Trump earning $1bn from crypto as president: ‘Obviously a grift’
Hundreds of Guardian readers expressed concerns over greed in the White House and a billionaire president unconcerned with high gas and grocery prices
Sports quiz of the week: World Cup, Ben Stokes, Wimbledon and LeBron James
Have you followed the big stories in football, cricket, tennis, rugby union, basketball, cycling and Formula One?
Hossam Hassan and the blurring of lines between football and politics in Egypt
Egypt face Australia in a historic World Cup game on Friday and the manager has been keen to highlight president Al-Sisi’s role in the achievement
China says man who flew plane into Beijing skyscraper had mental health problems
Official statement offers the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual and fatal incident in Beijing
Tucker Carlson floats idea of new political party in the US in interview
Former Fox News host further said he doesn’t ‘want to be a candidate’ for president and aired frustration with Trump
The Guardian view on xenophobic violence in South Africa: anti-migrant politics can’t fix domestic problems
Editorial: Foreigners are not to blame for unemployment, crime and the state of public services. Leaders should have the courage to say so more clearly
Over-40s with obesity have normal-BMI cholesterol and blood pressure levels, study finds
Success of statins and blood-pressure drugs hailed as researchers find some people with obesity were ‘better off’
They say Andy Burnham is ‘good at politics’ – but the proof will only come in time
The PM-in-waiting brings the promise of likability and a mission voters can believe in. He’ll need all that and more to survive, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams
Bethesda Shows Off Oblivion Remastered Switch 2 Physical Release
"I knew I could count on you"
Rory McIlroy turns heads at Wimbledon by sporting his Masters green jacket at Center Court
Rory McIlroy wore his Masters tournament green jacket to Wimbledon, sitting with wife Erica Stoll and his Ryder Cup teammates at Center Court.
Davenport University launches accelerated pathway to mental health counseling
Davenport University is saving students time and money with its one-of-a-kind Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Psychology and Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling combined degree to provide an accelerated stackable pathway for students to become mental health counselors. The new course pathway is 168 credits, a reduction from the
RFK Master Plan proposes new housing, entertainment, park space around Commanders' stadium
D.C. officials released a draft of its RFK Master Plan, which maps out where new housing, recreation and retail developments will be featured around the future stadium of the NFL's Washington Com
From Business Idea to Launch: Inside Babson’s New Online MSBC Degree · Babson Thought & Action
Professor Richard Hanna explains how Babson’s new online Master of Science in Management in Business Creation helps aspiring entrepreneurs build launch-ready businesses.
‘Beautiful blobs’: synthetic life a step closer as scientists make cells using lab-made DNA
Tiny, quivering spheres designed to feed and multiply raise prospect of artificial organisms to make drugs, food and fuel
Only the midwest saw US population growth in every state. Will new residents change its politics?
Lower costs in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio raise questions about whether Republican strongholds will shift
US cooking oil market shrinking due to Ice pressures on Latino households, Mazola owner says
Economic squeeze and anti-immigration raids have hit Hispanic communities, prompting people to shop online and reuse oil
What to know about the US supreme court’s ruling on trans athletes
Decision upholding bans on trans girls in women’s sports in two states is narrow, but could be broadly weaponized for anti-LGBTQ+ efforts
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?
‘Tip of the iceberg’: nearly 500,000 New Yorkers lose health insurance due to Trump cuts
First of major coverage losses expected as a result of the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill signed into law one year ago
Trump raked in more than $1bn from crypto businesses in 2025, filing shows
President’s crypto ventures have eclipsed in revenue much of his property portfolio that took decades to accumulate
Women with irregular periods should be checked for PMOS, NHS says
Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome is underdiagnosed and inconsistenly managed, according to Nice
Trans youth athletes vow to keep playing after US supreme court sports ruling
Justices upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho, boosting similar restrictions in 25 other states
AI Should Focus on Fixing Business Problems
Automation should not replace accountability.
Frequent AI chatbot use linked to belief in anti-vaccine myths, poll finds
Poll finds use of AI tools for health advice is correlated with belief in vaccine falsehoods, such as shots causing autism
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered details frame rate and resolution for Nintendo Switch 2, DLSS support, mouse controls, more
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered gets frame rate, resolution, DLSS, mouse controls, and more details for Nintendo Switch 2.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered for Switch 2 launches August 11
The Switch 2 version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will launch on August 11, publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer Bethesda Game Studios announced. Pre-orders for the physical e…
Trump administration puts religious freedom at heart of US health policy
Critics say the new focus could reshape LGBTQ+ healthcare, abortion access and vaccine policy
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion reveals Nintendo Switch 2 physical release with full game on cartridge
There’s finally some news about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, as a physical release has now been revealed. To clarify, this is a true physical version with the game on the cartridge. It will not be a game-key card, which has drawn ire from collectors. The news about the physical version of The...