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Eight trends I've noticed from watching hour of livestreams from Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and more
Eight trends I've noticed from watching hour of livestreams from Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and more Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? D id spend hours of your weekend watching a relentless series of video game adverts? No? I don't blame you - Summer Game Fest, the collection of livestreams that has arisen in place of the giant annual E3 video game expo in Los Angeles, is extremely overwhelming. There are the bigger, longer shows: the PlayStation and Xbox streams, the main SGF show hosted by Geoff Keighley and Lucy James, Future's duet of the Future Games Show and the PC Gaming Show. Each show is two hours long.
The Download: the "steroid olympics" and a safer Mythos
Plus: Anthropic has released a safe version of Mythos. The "steroid olympics" were a circus--and a window into our culture A couple of weeks ago, at a $50 million arena built in a casino parking lot in Las Vegas, I witnessed a libertarian thought experiment come to life. The inaugural Enhanced Games were the first sporting competition where participants were encouraged to take performance-enhancing drugs. For supporters of the event, the Enhanced Games offered a glimpse of a future in which medical advances push the human race to new heights--and they never have to get old. As I watched the games unfold, two questions bounced around my head: were they right? And what does that mean for the rest of us?
EU orders Meta to stop blocking rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp
It's an interim measure while the European Commission investigates the ban. The European Union has ordered Meta to open WhatsApp to AI chatbots from rival companies again, for free, as it investigates the messaging app's owner over potential antitrust violations. Meta introduced a new policy in October 2025 that banned third-party AI chatbots from the WhatsApp for Business API, making Meta AI the only chatbot that can access the service. Before the ban, companies could send notifications through WhatsApp, such as order alerts, using other AI assistants. EU officials opened an antitrust investigation into the new policy in December and then warned the company earlier this year that it can take interim measures against it. In its announcement, the commission explained that Meta has held a dominant position in the European messaging app market since at least 2023.
Ukraine says missiles hit military plant deep inside Russia
Ukrainian forces have carried out a missile attack deep inside Russia, hitting a major military plant overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. He said FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles struck the drone and missile plant in the city of Cheboksary, in the Chuvash Republic, more than 900km (560 miles) from the front line. Local officials said three people were injured in a missile attack on the city. Ukraine also said it had hit the Moscow-occupied port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, a Russian oil refinery in Samara and a shadow fleet oil tanker in the Black Sea. In recent months, Ukraine's military has intensified its drone strikes on key facilities across Russia.
Most New US Data Centers Are Slated for Drought-Plagued Areas
To meet this moment, we need YOU. For five decades, has been exposing the corruption that the powerful would rather keep buried. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible. To meet this moment, we need YOU. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible. Amid public outcry over water-guzzling server farms, a Guardian analysis indicates trouble ahead.
They expect you to die! The history of James Bond video games, from the good to the bad to the downright ugly
They expect you to die! Interactive takes on MI6's globetrotting spy have been around almost as long as the films, but that doesn't mean all of them were a success. 'The enormity of the idea helped me': how Patrick Gibson became gaming's new James Bond Bond finally arrived in an official video game capacity in 1984, courtesy of Parker Brothers. The game grouped several 007 adventures (Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only) together. Yet despite including elements from each movie, it was essentially the same game throughout: an unsatisfying and tricky mashup of the arcade games Moon Patrol and Scramble, with the player controlling Bond's amphibious Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me. Obscure pub trivia fact: due to the dispute between Bond producers Eon and screenwriter Kevin McClory, the Diamonds Are Forever segment replaced Blofeld with a villain named Seraffino.