This is so ridiculous.

1. I, personally, want discs - or at least real ownership - of games to continue. In the past I bought almost all my games used.
2. That doesn’t matter. Most people - even those who know the current trade-offs - would rather ‘buy’ digital games. Physical sales are a tiny fraction of game sales. With a purely financial head on: it’s going to cost Sony more to continue having them than to stop production. You can’t fight it (or, at least, the fight is unwinnable).

The only winnable fight here - and I still think it’s a long shot - is convincing governments to legislate to allow download of and resale of digital purchases.

They’re trying to spin the studio off without shutting it down. This allows them to talk about their ongoing/future work publicly.

Honestly, they need to do this. It can’t be possible to manage that many studios from the top of the Xbox organization. And, without market pressure as a clear feedback mechanism, it’s got to be difficult for the managers of the studios too.

The original sin here was buying so many and trying to become some game-production monopoly. The whole plan was crazy.

Hopefully this is good for the industry long-term. I’d love to see a bunch of independent studios pop up run by the people Microsoft temporarily ingested.

To be clear, this is terrible for the people involved, and it is all Microsoft’s fault (or, at least, Phil Spencer era Xbox’s fault - never understood why he was so respected inside or outside of Microsoft when he kept making one surely-obviously-bad decision after another). But it was surely inevitable.

Free with ads, right?

the masses don’t complain about good games

Citation needed. Are there any games that haven’t generated online backlash?

Thanks. I think for me seeing the drivers have to deal with energy management adds another level of complexity I enjoy in qualifying too - but I can see where you’re coming from.

That’s quite the compilation. Is that all from China?

That being said it’s true that qualifying is absolutely atrocious now and just not fun to watch

Can you elaborate on this? From replies and discussion elsewhere It’s obviously self-evident to many that you’re right, but I’ve enjoyed qualifying for both races.

Fascinating - thanks for posting!

This is a Ferrari engine - they are starting out buying them from Ferrari while designing their own. Currently expecting to switch in 2029. It’s quite normal for even top F1 teams to buy engines from others, BTW (last year’s winners, McLaren, have been purchasing Mercedes engines for years).

The car is their own design - I think that’s required for all teams.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/cadillac-provide-update-on-when-in-house-f1-engine-might-make-debut

I thought the opening scenes were clearly there to show how the Federation had lost its way after the Burn - it had survived, but only barely - not wholly in body or in spirit. It is a shadow of its former self. Ake’s resignation and her reluctance to return to service were also ‘about’ this.

The redemptions of Ake and Caleb (and, to a smaller extent, many of the other characters) are only possible because the Federation is also redeeming itself. And both their and its redemption are fragile, precious things that require vigilance to sustain. That’s been a theme throughout the entire series.

Love these - thank you!

Aurora is somehow simultaneously a pessimistic and optimistic book.

Actually, I guess that’s true for many of his books, but it’s stark in Aurora.

I’ll add my thanks too - I love reading these.

I’m kind of amazed the San Carlos location lasted so long. It’s in such a weird dystopic location.

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Glad this is a real podcast and not behind some individual service’s paywall!

Discovery changed a lot season-to-season. As did Picard.

I found the question about which other genres I read very limiting. Only three responses allowed!

I’m not sure if I’m unusual, but left to my own devices I’d have picked at least five or six. As it is, I had to leave out some I really do regularly read (like ‘non-fiction’ and ‘literary fiction’).

That page was written by the man interviewed in the posted article!