Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Summer doesn’t officially start until later in June, but around where I live the days are getting hotter and the nights aren’t as cool as before. That’s fine. I don’t need the outdoors. I’ve got new PS Plus games to download and play, like Sand Land, Battlefield V, and a whole trilogy of classic STALKER games.

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
The next year for Ubisoft could be a quiet one. The French publisher announced that it’s pushing back some of its biggest games to allow them more time for development. The move comes after an internal review that took place last fall and could see upcoming sequels like Far Cry 7, Assassin’s Creed Hexe, and the next Ghost Recon

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the brave-new-world department: A California judge slammed a pair of law firms for the undisclosed use of AI after he received a supplemental brief with "numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations." From a report: In a ruling submitted last week, Judge Michael Wilner imposed $31,000 in sanctions against the law firms involved, saying "no reasonably competent attorney should out-source research and writing" to AI, as pointed out by law professors Eric Goldman and Blake Reid on Bluesky.

"I read their brief, was persuaded (or at least intrigued) by the authorities that they cited, and looked up the decisions to learn more about them -- only to find that they didn't exist," Judge Milner writes. "That's scary. It almost led to the scarier outcome (from my perspective) of including those bogus materials in a judicial order."

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the strange-things department: Gilmoure shares a report: U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.

[...] Using the rogue communication devices to skirt firewalls and switch off inverters remotely, or change their settings, could destabilise power grids, damage energy infrastructure, and trigger widespread blackouts, experts said. "That effectively means there is a built-in way to physically destroy the grid," one of the people said, The two people declined to name the Chinese manufacturers of the inverters and batteries with extra communication devices, nor say how many they had found in total.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
The first official trailer for WB and DC’s upcoming live-action Superman movie is here, and James Gunn’s take on the iconic superhero looks like the Man of Steel movie we’ve wanted for a long time.

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Posted by George Yang from Kotaku
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’ve most likely come across some Nevrons who aren’t keen on attacking you on sight. These special Nevrons will give you quests that offer some pretty nice rewards for your playthrough. One of the Nevrons is called a Hexga and they want you to collect some very special rock crystals.

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Posted by Brandon Morgan from Kotaku
RuneScape Dragonwilds wound up becoming a surprise hit seemingly overnight. It’s a far-cry from the original RuneScape, which was a grind heavy MMORPG with way too many skills to count. This is something more, something akin to Valheim or Enshrouded. But even if you have experience in survival/crafting games, this one…

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Posted by Brandon Morgan from Kotaku
As if the world of Wraeclast wasn’t tough enough to survive, what with over 100 bosses to fight in nearly Soulslike combat from an ARPG perspective. But developer Grinding Gear Games went ahead and added a new challenge in

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Tell me if this sounds familiar: You dive into a big, modern blockbuster on day-one—maybe it’s an open-world RPG like Assassin’s Creed Shadows or a loot-heavy action-adventure with lots of items and numbers to keep track of like Monster Hunter Wilds—and you’re having a great time, but life gets in the way. By the ten…

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Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
This year’s PAX East felt small. There were a few big names on the show floor, like Bandai Namco which was there showing off Elden Ring: Nightreign and Larian Studios making its annual appearance with a Baldur’s Gate 3 booth, but many of the big industry movers and shakers who’ve appeared at the Boston games…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the boomerang department: Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday it will revert its streaming service name from Max back to HBO Max this summer, just two years after dropping the HBO branding.

The decision, revealed at the company's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York, represents an admission that HBO's premium brand equity remains valuable in the streaming landscape. "Returning the HBO brand into HBO Max will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect," WBD stated in a press release.

Posted by Ethan Gach and Andy Mills from Kotaku
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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service, Max, will soon have a new name. Well, not a new name. An old name. That’s right folks, HBO Max is back just a few years after everyone on the planet said it was dumb to change the name to Max.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Sony just announced its financial forecast for the next year, and it's expecting to be impacted by tariffs to the tune of 100 billion yen (about $680 million). To compensate, the company says it's considering options including moving manufacturing to the US and increasing prices for consumers.

Speaking to investors during the company's earnings call, Sony CFO Lin Tao confirmed that the company is considering "passing on" the price of tariffs to consumers in order to mitigate the impact on its bottom line. Tao didn't mention the PS5 by name though, and it's possible that Sony could try to protect pricing on its console through increases elsewhere in its electronics business. Sony has already increased the price of the PS5 this year, but only in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Posted by John Walker from Kotaku
I just threw half a pint of Cherry Pepsi Max across my keyboard. It was the penultimate keyboard I’ll ever be able to use. I’m down to my last one.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: Workers who secured substantial salary increases during the pandemic hiring frenzy are now confronting a stark reality: they're likely overpaid in today's cooling job market. According to new Korn Ferry data, two-thirds of U.S. workers believe they're compensated at or above their market value.

The tech sector has experienced significant wage deflation, with expanding pay transparency laws making market corrections impossible to ignore. Only 60% of recent job switchers received raises in Q1 2025, down from 73% just one quarter earlier.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Square Enix has finally given up on its Pokémon GO-style mobile spin-off of Kingdom Hearts. The Final Fantasy publisher announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, which began development back in 2019, because it didn’t think it could deliver on the live-service experience over the long…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the PSA department: President Donald Trump's administration has taken a tougher stance on Chinese technology advances, warning companies around the world that using AI chips made by Huawei could trigger criminal penalties for violating US export controls. From a report: The commerce department issued guidance to clarify that Huawei's Ascend processors were subject to export controls because they almost certainly contained, or were made with, US technology.

Its Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, said on Tuesday it was taking a more stringent approach to foreign AI chips, including "issuing guidance that using Huawei Ascend chips anywhere in the world violates US export controls." But people familiar with the matter stressed that the bureau had not issued a new rule, but was making it clear to companies that Huawei chips are likely to have violated a measure that requires hard-to-get licences to export US technology to the Chinese company.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
All eyes have been on Sony to see if it follows in Microsoft’s footsteps and, in response to increased U.S. tariffs, dramatically raises the price of the PlayStation 5 . The company confirmed to investors on Wednesday that it might end up doing exactly that as it faces a potential $680 million hole in its bottom line…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the facing-the-music department: An anonymous reader shares a report: U.K. retail giant Marks & Spencer has confirmed hackers stole its customers' personal information during a cyberattack last month. In a brief statement with London's stock exchange on Tuesday, the retailer said an unspecified amount of customer information was taken in the data breach.

The BBC, which first reported the company's filing, cited a Marks & Spencer online letter as saying that the stolen data includes customer names, dates of birth, home and email addresses, phone numbers, household information, and online order histories. The company also said it was resetting the online account passwords of its customers. FT adds: Marks and Spencer could claim for losses of as much as $133 million from its cyber insurers following a sustained hack where some customer data was stolen. The UK retailer's cyber policy allows it to claim up to $133 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

Allianz is the first insurer on the hook for M&S's losses, the people added, and is expected to pay at least the initial $13.3 million. Cyber specialist Beazley is also among the insurers exposed to losses at the FTSE 100 retailer, according to the people familiar with the situation.