FlashFeed

Full text

Six years ago, PC Gamer's Evan Lahti wrote a headline that captured the feeling of the moment, when PlayStation announced it would be bringing more of its exclusive games to Steam: Well, I guess we won the console war .

The walls between platforms had crumbled. Everything but Nintendo was or would soon be playable on PC. Steam, not Xbox Live or PSN, was the kingmaker for new indie games, and the best place for devs to keep steadily selling their back catalog.

Things feel a lot different half a decade later, as AI wreaks havoc with hardware prices, Xbox panics about all the money it's spent on acquisitions, and Sony retreats from the PC—and physical media—back to its exclusive digital garden. And yet it still seems like the PC won the console war.

Because what are Xbox and PlayStation at this point other than PCs, but worse?

Sony's dual announcements—that it will cease producing physical discs in 2028 and also shut down the older PlayStation 3 and Vita online stores next year—seem to have been published simultaneously with a ripping-the-band-aid-off PR mentality. People are going to be mad, so get all the bad news out at once and hope you didn't remove too much flesh with the band-aid in the process. The takeaway of those two announcements landing simultaneously, though, is highlighting that you can only buy games on the PlayStation how and where Sony says you can. The executives have already literally said they want to wring more money out of every PlayStation owner; clearly cutting the Walmarts and GameStops of the world out of the equation is one way for them to do that.

Obviously the games industry has been trending towards digital-only releases for years; to the spreadsheet-brained it was just a matter of time until the cost of manufacturing and shipping of physical discs no longer made sense. The PC even led the charge on that front, meaning consoles clinging to the option of buying physical releases was one of their last true differentiators. Microsoft gave up on Xbox exclusivity, bringing all of its games to its own Windows Store and then to Steam. But those were just digital releases. If you really wanted to own a disc with Halo Infinite printed on it, you still needed an Xbox.

(Image credit: Future) In 2020, Sony killed Microsoft's entry level Xbox Series S, an underpowered $300 machine, by selling its discless but otherwise fully capable PS5 at just $400. In the midst of the crypto mining craze making graphics cards unobtainable, the PS5 was a great console for the price. Today it costs $250 more, and Sony has also started raising prices for its PlayStation Plus subscription service needed to play games online.

Even with the painful prices of storage and memory hitting PC gaming hard, the consoles seem to be pricing themselves into irrelevancy. In the six years since the PS5 launched, Sony has produced so few of its once-system-selling blockbuster exclusives that it's hard to imagine spending close to $1,000 to play one new Naughty Dog game, one new Insomniac game, and a new God of War. The prestige just isn't prestiging as hard as it was on the PS4. Add to that the uncomfortable reminder that Sony can revoke the licenses to stuff you've bought on its platform, and that it will inevitably stop selling old games whenever it becomes too much work to bother maintaining an aging digital store, all while you pay it $80 a year just to play games on the internet, and you've gotta ask what the point of that device really is.

I guess it makes a nice sound when you turn it on.

Valve's hot hardware

(Image credit: Future) Steam Frame : Valve's new wireless VR headset

Steam Machine : Compact living room gaming box

Steam Controller : A controller to replace your mouse

Okay, less sarcastically—the system is designed to work nicely on a TV. The user interface is relatively easy to navigate. It's got apps. Those old chestnuts have been used to defend consoles against the scawwy computer for as long as I can remember. It was true in, like, 2004. But console interfaces get more annoying and ad-infested every year, while their games now offer multiple performance options to pick from in a shallow approximation of the PC experience. Valve's SteamOS, meanwhile, has made tremendous strides towards a controller-friendly interface without sacrificing the flexibility that has always been the PC's core identity.

Install SteamOS on a giant tower PC or a tiny box built from the guts of a PS5 ! Use whatever controller you want! Buy your games on Steam (the prices are always better) or get them DRM-free on GOG, or grab them from a legally questionable "abandonware" website if they're no longer on sale. Still have a soft spot for physical discs (or disks) and want to do everything on the up-and-up? A USB drive will cost you all of 20 bucks, and decades of PC games remain available on Ebay. There are probably even cool mods or fan projects that make them play nice with modern hardware.

The PC may have led the charge on digital games years ago, but the thing is: anyone can still make, sell, or play physical PC games if they want to . The only person who can take away your PC disc drive is you.

To sum it all up:

The last PlayStation and Xbox that were meaningfully different from PCs under the hood came out in 2005 and 2006.

Price was once their biggest asset—AI has killed that.

Simplicity was their second biggest, but while they've been making that experience worse for years, Valve (and the open source developers behind great initiatives like Bazzite ) have been making the PC's better.

Genuinely compelling exclusives other than Nintendo's are anomalies, and it's hard to be heartbroken over missing one or two given the number of interesting games hitting Steam every single week.

Sony now sells an overpriced entry ticket to a walled garden that kinda looks worse than the forest just outside it, while Xbox is actively lighting its own grounds on fire . Simpler and cheaper used to be worth the price of admission for a lot of people. But the way things are going, by the time the PS6 arrives anyone who buys it will just be paying more for worse.

Full text

The gaming world is getting philosophical ahead of the end of PlayStation game discs , and you can count Hideo Kojima among those concerned about the world's move to ephemeral digital data. At least, he was quite concerned about it back in 2021, and given today's news his five-year-old comments have taken on a new life.

"Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative," Kojima said in a tweet on August 5, 2021. "Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off. We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That's what I'm afraid of. This is not greed."

There's a, uh, lot to chew on in there that goes well beyond your ability to get GTA 6 on a disc, but I'm not about to start philosophizing on the spread and decay of information in the modern era. Suffice to say, many players have found Kojima's words fairly prophetic in light of the PlayStation news, even if he didn't mention games specifically here. The tweet got some engagement back in 2021, but now you'll find thousands more quotes, replies, and retweets made just today.

Kojima already has a reputation for being a pop culture prophet. The world of Death Stranding, released in 2019, felt scarily close to the one we all began living as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and way back in 2001 Metal Gear Solid 2 was predicting a future where AI feeds us half-truths by processing massive piles of junk data across the internet for easy consumption. The gaming world's cultlike admiration of Kojima might be a little extreme, but the man certainly knows how to build sci-fi that feels distressingly real as time goes on.

And, of course, Kojima himself is responsible for one of the most bitter reminders of what happens when a publisher fully cuts support for a digital game. PT was intended to be something of a demo for Silent Hills, but in the wake of that project's cancellation and Kojima's messy breakup with Konami, PT was delisted from the PlayStation Store. Not only that, Konami even prohibited users who'd played it from redownloading the game.

PT is perhaps the most extreme example we have of what happens when publishers do not care what happens to their digital games, and its reputation has only grown stronger given how high it stands among the best horror games of all time. Wanting to hang onto games like this? I don't think that's greedy, either.

Hideo Kojima says his pitch for OD sounded "crazy" to every publisher except Xbox.

Full text

Nissan sales climbed 10.2% in the second quarter to hit 230,443 units.

Infiniti sales were essentially flat as the luxury brand declined 0.2%.

Kicks had best June ever, while Pathfinder had its best-ever quarter.

Nissan has introduced a slew of new and updated models over the past few years, and the effort is paying off as the brand has experienced 16 consecutive months of year-over -year retail sales increases. Furthermore, in the first half of the year, overall group sales were up 9.6% to 242,741 units.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f");

}

});

Starting with Nissan itself, sales climbed 10.2% in the second quarter to 230,443 vehicles. The best-selling vehicle in the second quarter was the Rogue, which found 65,796 takers. That was a 38.6% increase from a year ago and Nissan expects even greater success when the redesigned model arrives later this year with an all-new e-Power system .

More: Nissan’s 2027 Rogue Is Gunning For The RAV4, And Its Hybrid Works Nothing Like Toyota’s

The recently redesigned Sentra also provided a big boost as sales soared 28.5% to 39,817 units. Unfortunately, those gains were largely offset by a 26.5% drop in Altima sales.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform === "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("ea4d4b5a-f8e5-4d5d-9d9a-53a3b956b6cd");

} else{

adpushup.triggerAd("44c0a4dc-e25b-4ba5-ac64-2c510461b92a");

}

});

Sticking with cars, Z sales plummeted 50.7% to 806 units. There’s no word on why, but it could be related to the facelifted 2027 model that was announced in March. It arrives at dealerships this summer with revised styling, updated equipment, and a handful of performance tweaks. The Nismo variant also gains a new six-speed manual transmission.

Nissan doesn’t release monthly sales data, but confirmed the Kicks had its best-ever June. Q2 sales were up 4.9% to 26,251 units and the crossover is up 10.7% year-to-date.

High gas prices didn’t help the redesigned Leaf as sales dropped 36.6% to a disappointing 1,016 units in the second quarter. The model is also down 57.1% for the year, which is a shame because it’s a pretty decent vehicle .

On the truck and SUV side, a number of models posted huge gains including the Frontier (34.6%), Pathfinder (32.1%), and Armada (27%). Even the Murano was up 6.4% in Q2.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751");

}

});

Infiniti QX65 Is Off To A Good Start

Switching over to Infiniti, second quarter sales were essentially flat as the brand posted a slight decline of 0.2%. That equates to a drop of 29 sales over the course of three months.

This is actually pretty surprising as the QX50 and QX55 have been phased out, and dealers only sold a handful of them in Q2. Their departure was largely offset by the new QX65 , which seeks to recapture the magic of the legendary FX.

As a refresher, the five-seater is based on the larger QX60 and starts at $53,990 before a $1,545 destination fee. Power comes from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder developing 268 hp (200 kW / 272 PS) and 286 lb-ft (387 Nm) of torque. It’s connected to a nine-speed automatic transmission and a standard all-wheel drive system.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("b25ecba7-3bbb-4ea7-a3a8-dbea91695c07");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("e46c436a-adeb-4b5e-a2c7-56bc36561c10");

}

});

That combination won over 1,256 buyers, but the QX60 still reigns supreme with 7,581 sales in Q2. More notably, the range-topping QX80 had its best second-quarter ever as sales were up 18.5% to 3,402. However, year-to-date sales of the full-size SUV are down 9.4%.

Q2 Infiniti US Sales

Q2 26 Q2 25 % Chg YTD 26 YTD 25 % Chg

Total 12,298 12,327 -0.2 25,048 25,492 -1.7

Q50 0 94 -100.0 1 500 -99.8

QX50 39 1,503 -97.4 342 3,569 -90.4

QX55 20 531 -96.2 106 1,381 -92.3

QX60 7,581 7,327 3.5 17,056 13,106 30.1

QX65 1,256 0 N.A. 1,256 0 N.A.

QX80 3,402 2,872 18.5 6,287 6,936 -9.4

SWIPE

Q2 Nissan US Sales

Q2 26 Q2 25 % Chg YTD 26 YTD 25 % Chg

Total 230,443 209,114 10.2 464,761 463,034 0.4

Versa 4,649 11,489 -59.5 14,857 30,619 -51.5

Sentra 39,817 30,987 28.5 75,549 85,523 -11.7

Altima 19,317 26,298 -26.5 42,288 62,107 -31.9

Maxima 0 2 -100.0 0 13 -100.0

Z 806 1,635 -50.7 1,705 3,789 -55.0

GT-R 0 5 -100.0 2 37 -94.6

Kicks 26,251 25,029 4.9 55,768 50,394 10.7

Leaf 1,016 1,602 -36.6 1,684 3,925 -57.1

Frontier 21,690 16,117 34.6 43,101 30,598 40.9

Titan 0 350 -100.0 10 1,906 -99.5

Pathfinder 35,517 26,880 32.1 64,071 46,541 37.7

Armada 5,412 4,262 27.0 10,005 8,172 22.4

Rogue 65,796 47,461 38.6 135,970 109,563 24.1

Ariya 34 7,471 -99.5 90 11,619 -99.2

Murano 10,138 9,526 6.4 19,661 18,228 7.9

SWIPE

Full text

Two brothers from the wealthy and powerful Medici family died of malaria and were not poisoned as a rumor had suggested, archaeologists have confirmed based on a DNA analysis of the brothers' skeletons. The analysis also revealed a unique, mutated strain of malaria that may hold the key to understanding the evolution of the disease in Europe.

The Medici family rose to power in the 15th century by creating the largest bank in Europe. The family used their extraordinary wealth to fund Renaissance artists and to start a political dynasty that eventually included numerous dukes, four popes and two queens of France.

In the 16th century, Cosimo I took over all of Tuscany as grand duke. But within a span of 25 years, at least five of his family members died from high fevers. This gave rise to a rumor that some of them had been poisoned with arsenic by another family member, although most people believed they died of malaria.

To get to the bottom of the 500-year-old Medici cold case, an international group of researchers tested the bones of two of Cosimo I's sons: Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici and Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici, for the DNA of Plasmodium falciparum , the parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria and that is transmitted by mosquitoes.

The researchers extracted ancient DNA from the bones of Cardinal Giovanni, who died in 1562 at age 19 in the same month as his mother and younger brother Garzia, and from Grand Duke Francesco I, who died at age 46 in 1587 along with his wife. The team's study was published online June 17 in the journal iScience .

Because of the almost simultaneous deaths of Grand Duke Francesco I and his wife, a rumor circulated that another brother had poisoned them over a long-standing feud. But the Medicis were known to have frequented their family villas in marshy and swampy areas of Tuscany, where malaria was prevalent well into the 20th century.

Researchers found evidence of P. falciparum in the bones of both Medici brothers, confirming reports from court physicians at the time that described the brothers as sick with "tertian fever," a type of high fever that returns every three days and is a hallmark of malaria. The medical reports also revealed the brothers were treated with bloodletting.

The name plate from the tomb of Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici, who died of malaria in 1587. (Image credit: Courtesy the University of Pisa) "Now we can say with scientific certainty that malaria, not poisoning, killed Grand Duke Francesco de Medici," study co-author Valentina Giuffra , a medical historian at the University of Pisa, said in a statement .

But the ancient-DNA study held two additional surprises.

The Grand Duke's bones were positive not only for P. falciparum but also for Plasmodium malariae , a different parasite species that also causes malaria in humans, suggesting that both species contributed to the severe illness that killed him and his wife.

RELATED STORIES

Leonardo da Vinci's DNA may be embedded in his art — and scientists think they've managed to extract some

'We can no longer ignore diseases in the deep human past': Malaria influenced early humans' migrations across Africa, study suggests

DNA from dozens of human skeletons unravels history of malaria

Cardinal Giovanni, on the other hand, had only P. falciparum , but the specific strain that infected him was previously unknown. The strain is similar to those found in ancient and early modern Europe, but with two mutations the researchers had never seen before, they wrote in the study.

"The study of ancient DNA offers us an opportunity not only to diagnose malaria in the remains of individuals from the past, but it also offers us a window for understanding the evolution of malaria species, Plasmodium falciparum in this case, which can help scientists better understand how the pathogen adapts over time," study first author Alexander Ochoa , an evolutionary biologist at Yale University, said in the statement.

Further analysis of the brothers' bones is needed to determine the evolutionary relationship between the strains of malaria they carried, the researchers wrote in the study.

What do you know about the bones in your body? Test your knowledge with our human skeleton quiz .

Full text

Sony drove another nail into the coffin of physical videogames today, announcing that it'd cease production of PS5 discs in 2028 . The future of the leading videogame console is total digital licensing, and according to the director of the Video Game History Foundation , that means the future of preservation, for the moment, must be piracy.

Responding to a Bluesky post calling piracy the "only extant form of media preservation that exists in games right now", VGHF director Frank Cifaldi agreed.

"As the director of a historical video game preservation institution, and someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to this cause, this is accurate," Cifaldi wrote . "We have attempted to work with the industry's trade organization to find a legal path forward, but they refuse to offer a meaningful alternative."

In a later statement from the VGHF , Cifaldi expanded on his criticism of the industry working against legal means of preserving its own works, while also noting that today's development is hardly a surprise.

"Museums and archives have been preparing for this future for a while, with the expectation that putting discs on a shelf isn't going to be a long-term solution for preserving new games.

As the director of a historical video game preservation institution, and someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to this cause, this is accurate. We have attempted to work with the industry's trade organization to find a legal path forward, but they refuse to offer a meaningful alternative.

— @frankcifaldi.bsky.social ( @frankcifaldi.bsky.social.bsky.social ) 2026-07-01T22:40:26.096Z

"What continues to baffle us is what the industry expects institutions like ours to do about it. If platform owners are deciding to eliminate physical media and older digital storefronts, then we'd also like to see trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association offer meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content and make it accessible for research. Everyone agrees this is a serious problem, but the ESA has repeatedly opposed the efforts of cultural heritage institutions to reform digital copy protection laws to make it easier to do this work."

Some hay has been made about the inevitability of Sony's decision, and how PC gamers readily adapted to the temporary, conditional ownership of digital libraries, but it's worth noting that the death of physical PC games was a painful transition blunted only by preservation efforts both official and grassroots.

Statement from VGHF director Frank Cifaldi on the discontinuation of physical PlayStation media, and the closure of the PS3 and PSP digital storefronts.

— @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social ( @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social.bsky.social ) 2026-07-01T22:40:26.113Z

The PC is a perennially backwards compatible platform—flexible and open enough that game preservation is a matter of will, not way. Classics persist both legally and dubiously, and function on the same machine you play new releases on. There is no PlayStation GOG, nor a formal plan from Sony to address its scheduled abandonware (the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores were part of today's unpopular announcements).

So the task will fall, as usual, to unofficial efforts.

2026 games : All the upcoming games

Best PC games : Our all-time favorites

Free PC games : Freebie fest

Best FPS games : Finest gunplay

Best RPGs : Grand adventures

Best co-op games : Better together