With its growing space program, India will attempt a new feat tonight: docking two satellites together in orbit for the first time. This kind of maneuver requires extremely precise movements and planning, and in the long term, will help Indias ambition to send increasingly sophisticated missions to the moon. The Indian space agency, the ISRO, will livestream the event tonight so you can watch at home.Coverage begins at 9:15 p.m. ET tonight, Wednesday, January 8, and you can watch on YouTube or using the video embedded below:SPADEX Docking event programmeThe docking is part of an experiment called SpaDeX, or Space Docking Experiment, and involves a pair of satellites that were launched on December 30, 2024. Both spacecraft, which are just 485 pounds each, were launched into an orbit 290 miles above the Earth and will attempt to dock together using automated docking technology.Recommended VideosSpaDeX, because of its small size and mass, is even more challenging due to the finer precision required for the rendezvous and docking maneuvers compared to docking two large spacecraft, ISRO wrote. This mission will be a forerunner for autonomous docking needed for future lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of [global navigation satellite system] from Earth.Please enable Javascript to view this contentIndia wants to follow up its successfulChandrayaan-3 mission to the moon with a more complex mission, Chandrayaan-4, which will return a lunar sample to Earth. This will require spacecraft to dock in orbit, so the SpaDeX mission is a test of this capability. In the longer term, India also has plans to develop a space station, for which in-orbit docking technology is essential.RelatedIt is still relatively rare for two satellites to dock due to the challenges from their smaller size and less sophisticated controls compared to larger spacecraft. The two satellites involved in the docking tonight, named Target and Chaser, will have to reduce their relative velocities to just 0.2 mph while both are traveling at speeds of 18,000 mph.Once the two are docked, they will fasten together and test out the sharing of electrical power before undocking and separating. The dramatic maneuver wont be the end of their lives, however, as both will continue operating their instruments, including a high-resolution camera and a radiation monitor, for up to two years, collecting data on Earth observation and the space environment.Editors Recommendations

what comes before 1? After partnerships with GM and Sony, here are Hondas next homegrown EVs Production of the Honda Zero SUV begins in Ohio in 2026. Abigail Bassett Jan 8, 2025 11:13 am | 9 We expect some details to change as the Zero Saloon morphs into its production version. But perhaps not that much. Credit: Abigail Bassett We expect some details to change as the Zero Saloon morphs into its production version. But perhaps not that much. Credit: Abigail Bassett Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreHonda provided flights from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and accommodation so Ars could attend its CES events. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.LAS VEGASIf you've always dreamed of a world where your vehicle is a "partner" around whom you can "always be yourself," Honda has the vehicles for youat least that's what the Japanese automaker is promising with its new "near production" Honda 0 prototypes that debuted at CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday.In a somewhat dystopian but highly sentimental video shown at the presentation, a woman drives along a desolate road in search of a sunrise, describing her favorite colors and laughing along with the Saloon concept. A calm voiceover intones, "Saloon is my partneralways by my side, opening me up to new experiences and expanding my world," as the passenger is zipped along the flat purple and pink landscape, sharing moments of joy and tears. The car even "comforts" her when she is sad.This is Honda's vision for what Katsushi Inouye, chief officer of electrification business development operations at Honda, called the "ultra personal optimization" of a "new level of intelligent car." The SUV sticks to a more conventional two-box shape. Credit: Abigail Bassett While that strange and somewhat unsettling vision is probably still relatively far into the future, it's clear that Honda is leveraging a variety of technologies in its upcoming Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV models, which the company showed off at the show, to move closer to that vision.Level 3 Automation and a new OSAt last year's CES, Honda showcased prototypes that embodied the Zero platform ethos of "Thin, Light and Wise." This year, Honda focused on the "wise" portion of that proposition and announced a new Honda-developed OS called ASIMO.Yes, the OS carries the same name as Honda's deeply loved bipedal robot Asimo, which stood for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. Asimo the robot wowed and endeared crowds around the world as it played soccer with world leaders, responded to human gestures like points and waves, and eventually said goodbye to the world in a heartwrenching presentation in 2022. Honda developed Asimo to determine how robots and humans might coexist. The lessons the company learned from that 20-year project will be applied to future Zero products, including the two the company showed off at CES this week. Features include a "hyper personalization" of the user experience, Inoyue said at the press conference.The Asimo OS will also work toward increasing levels of autonomous driving. Honda says it will offer "affordable" options for Level 3 autonomous driving features in the upcoming Zero line, which won't launch in the US until sometime in 2026. The first Zero vehicle will be the SUV, and it will be built in Ohio at Honda's EV hub. Credit: Honda Level 3 offers automated driving in specific situations (divided highways with clear markers, etc.), letting drivers take their hands and feet off the controls and eyes off the road for limited stretches of time. Honda currently offers Level 3 partial automation on only one model available for lease in Japan, the Honda Legend, which is equipped with Honda's Sensing Elite technology. Honda says the future autonomous driving system will allow drivers to remotely join a video call or watch a movie when engaged.In its press release, Honda said it will also leverage its relationship with Helm.ai (a company that Honda invested more than $30 million in 2022) to further develop its Level 3 systems. Stephen Frey, vice president of development operations at Honda America, spoke at length about how the new system, with the help of Helm.ai, assesses data, including looking at trees and buildings to better estimate the vehicle's surroundings, "just like a human driver" does.The company is also developing its own AI to help the system "learn with smaller amounts of data," so the autonomous driving (AD) system can rapidly learn and expand the range of conditions it can be used in, making "AD possible on a road that it has never been on before, even if the white lines aren't visible," Frey said.During a roundtable following Honda's CES press event, Mahito Shikama, VP and head of Honda's software-defined vehicle business development unit, said the company would move to Level 3 in stages, starting with highway driving and moving to local roads as the system gets smarter. While Shikama declined to give specific details of speed ranges (the Legend currently operates at Level 3 autonomy in relatively slow stop-and-go traffic on specific roads in Japan), he said the biggest challenge will be Level 3 on local roads. The Zero Saloon's interior. The Zero Saloon's interior. The Zero SUV looks quite spacious inside. Honda The Zero SUV looks quite spacious inside. Honda The Zero Saloon's interior.The Zero SUV looks quite spacious inside. Honda In addition to the work on AD, Honda is also planning to build a new electronic architecture for the Zero vehicles, which, along with Asimo OS, will handle suspension, ride feel, energy management, and more. Honda has formalized an agreement with Japanese semiconductor business Renesas, a company that helped it achieve its Level 3 autonomy on the Legend in Japan.According to Vivek Banh, the SVP and general manager of high-performance computing at Renesas, the new SoC (system on a chip) that will be jointly developed with Honda will "target the world's top-class 2000 TOPS level AI processing performance and 20 TOPS/W (tera operations per second, per Watt) power efficiency."According to Frey, this will help Honda create an EV that "changes the value of EVs as a space for people." The system will determine emotion, intention, and further personalizationhence the "partner" terminology that peppered the somewhat creepy video Honda showed at the unveiling.Toshiro Akiwa, director and EVP at Honda, told a group of gathered journalists that the idea of the vehicle as "partner" originated with the customer at the heart of the solution. "Utilizing the capability of the vehicle to actualize what the customer wants to do with the software we will create is what we showed off today," he said through a translator.An expansion of options and price range with ZeroEVs are unquestionably expensive, and Honda says its new Zero platform will attain 300 miles (482 km) of range in all forms (SUV and Saloon) at a base level. It will also get NACS (J3400) plugs and have access to the Tesla Supercharger network and the growing IONNA newtork, which Honda is a part of. Executives at the roundtable said they've taken into consideration the additional battery drain of layering an evolving data- and power-hungry AI on top of the platform, and the additional battery requirement will affect the pricing of these future vehicles.Honda established itself in the US by selling affordable, reliable vehicles like the Honda Civic, and as Inoue said during the same roundtable, EVs are expensive. While he wouldn't commit to price range for the upcoming models, he said Honda has plans to "expand the range" of both pricing and the models the company offersand that the Zero platform will underpin a total of seven new vehicles by 2030. Credit: Honda Its unclear how that will all come to fruition, given the incoming administration's open desire to dismantle the EV subsidies that have made them affordable, but Honda execs said they're working on a variety of contingency plans that could involve moving manufacturing from Mexico back to Japan, according to Kaihara.Honda has said it's committed to electrification and greener transportation despite any political headwinds and that it's being flexible in the face of changing customer demands and desires. Whether that involves a vehicle that uses AI to become a partner you turn to for more than just transportation is anyone's guess. 9 Comments

I'm a frequent cruiser who's been on over 50 voyages, and I never book balcony rooms on ships.Most balconies fit two people, so my family of three can't even comfortably sit on them together.Balcony rooms also tend to be expensive, and I'd rather spend money on other amenities.When my son was a toddler, he climbed on a chair and tossed a TV remote off of our hotel room's balcony. It happened so quickly that I didn't have time to stop the remote from falling 10 stories into the bushes even though I was inches away from him.Thankfully, I was able to grab my kid and lock the balcony door before he did any real damage, but at that moment, I swore off booking rooms with balconies at hotels and on cruises for good.Now, I've been on more than 50 cruises, and my son has grown into a responsible, risk-averse tween. But after staying in a wide variety of room types, I've felt no desire to give balcony rooms another try for a host of reasons, most of which aren't safety-related.Balconies aren't nearly as idyllic as I imagined The majority of the balconies I've seen on cruises only comfortably fit two people, but I have a family of three. Shutterstock When my son was little, I dreamed of tucking him in for a nap and slipping out to my cruise cabin's balcony to read a good book and enjoy the fresh air. However, there were problems with this plan.For starters, his bed was right next to the balcony door on many cruises, making it all but impossible to slip in and out of the room without waking him. Also, I had no way of hearing him call for me when I was on the balcony with the door shut.As he grew older, I still found cruise balconies to be impractical, but for different reasons. They generally only have enough room and seating for two, meaning my family of three was unable to comfortably sit on the balcony together.When my husband and I had the room to ourselves, the ship's movement meant it was often too windy to spend time in our outside space. Every time we opened the balcony door, it created a wind tunnel in our stateroom that sent objects flying through the air.Sometimes, our neighbors smoked cigarettes or talked loudly from their adjacent balconies, interrupting what would've otherwise been a peaceful, private experience.Many cruisers prefer to explore the ship rather than sit on a private balcony On cruises, I've seen many balconies go mostly unused. Shutterstock Throughout my decades of cruising, I've noticed that many of my fellow passengers don't seem to use their balconies to the fullest, either. Many people prefer to be out of their rooms enjoying onboard amenities or lounging by the pool, leaving their balconies mostly empty.On a somewhat recent voyage aboard Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas, I paid close attention to the ship's rooms with interior balconies. They face inward, making it easy to peep at how often passengers use them.I saw people briefly step out on them before leaving their rooms to explore, but for the majority of my seven nights on the ship, these balconies appeared eerily vacant. Although they offered perfect views of onboard entertainment, I hardly saw anyone spending time on them.However, I did see passengers use the interior balconies to hang-dry wet towels and swimsuits. That certainly seems practical, but it hardly seemed like a worthy use of this costly space.Of course, I was only observing the interior balconies, and cruisers with ocean-facing balconies might use their outdoor spaces more frequently.Balcony rooms are usually some of the priciest on the shipThough pricing for balcony rooms varies between cruises, they're almost always one of the more expensive cabins on a cruise.On some ships, booking a balcony room can cost hundreds of dollars more than the base-level accommodations, and I can think of a lot of ways I'd rather spend money on vacation.I understand the appeal of balconies and love the views they offer. However, I can usually get the same views for less money by booking a porthole room. Plus, I've found I look out of the portholes more often than I ever stepped onto my balconies.This story was originally published on April 3, 2023, and most recently updated on January 8, 2025.

Wall Street's biggest banks are gearing up to communicate 2024 bonus compensation to staff.Bonuses are expected to be as much as 35% higher as demand for corporate dealmaking grows.Here are the dates banks like JPMorgan and Goldman are expected to tell employees what they made.Wall Street bonus season is kicking into high gear this week as the biggest banks get ready to tell employees how much they earned in discretionary income.Morgan Stanley, known for leading social media company Reddit's IPO in March, is expected to start telling employees how much they earned in 2024 bonuses as soon as this week, according to three people with knowledge of the bank's plans. A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment.Other large banks are scheduled to communicate bonus numbers to staff later this month, including Goldman Sachs as soon as next week and JPMorgan Chase the week after that, people with knowledge of the banks' plans told BI.From junior analysts to senior bankers, year-end bonuses tend to indicate not only Wall Street workers' own performance in a given year, but also their value to the company. It's common for bankers who feel snubbed with a lowball number to leave for other jobs after their check clears.Bonuses have been down in recent years after hittingnew highsin 2021 due tolackluster demandfor mergers and capital raising.This year, investment bankers and traders are expecting bonuses to tick higher (up as much as 35%, according to comp consultants Johnson Associates) thanks to a bounce in deal flow that's predicted to ramp up this year.Worldwide M&A was up 11% in 2024 to over $3 billion, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. The five biggest banks JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Citi dominated the league tables last year, led by Goldman Sachs with 30% global market share, followed by Morgan Stanley with 25%, and JPMorgan with 19%. Bank trading revenue also skyrocketed, propelled by rising interest rates and stock volatility.BI spoke to bank insiders and headhunters to find out when employees of the largest banks are expecting to learn their "number." They said bonus information tends to be closely guarded and that communication dates are subject to change. See when the biggest banks are scheduled to tell staff how much they earned in 2024 bonus money, in chronological order:Morgan StanleyMultiple people with knowledge of Morgan Stanley's plans said the investment bank, which ranked No. 2 in M&A last year, will start to share bonus numbers with staff onJanuary 8, making it the first major bank to do so.Goldman SachsGoldman is expected to begin revealing comp on January 15, the same day it reports its 2024 and fourth-quarter earnings, a process that tends to stretch out for several days, a person with knowledge of the announcements told BI.JPMorganThe biggest US bank by assets plans to start communicating bonus compensation to employees on January 21, a person familiar with the bank's plans told BI. Employees based in the US will be paid the following week.Bank of AmericaBank of America is aiming to begin communicating bonuses on January 27, a person with knowledge of the announcements told BI. A BofA spokesman declined to comment.CitiBonuses at Citi will be shared in the second half of January, according to a person familiar with the plans, though it isn't clear which day. The bank has been undergoing a massive restructuring since 2021 when CEO Jane Fraser took the reigns.

A portion of this post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.Here's a fact that doesn't need checking: Meta is getting rid of its third-party fact-checkers.The tech giant is following in X's footsteps by adopting a community-notes model for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.If you're unfamiliar with community notes, here's an explanation. In short, users can add context to posts that might contain misinformation or misleading information. Those notes can also be voted on by other users, hence the community aspect.The announcement, which included a video from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also mentioned bringing back more political content to users' timelines and offering more customization to what people see.It's the latest page Zuckerberg has taken from his rival Elon Musk's playbook, writes Business Insider's Amanda Hoover. From conducting mass layoffs to spending time in Mar-a-Lago, Zuckerberg has been following Musk's lead more and more.At its core, though, the news is really about Meta and Zuckerberg appealing to President-elect Donald Trump, writes BI's Peter Kafka. From what Zuckerberg said "the recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point" to how it was delivered via a segment on Trump's beloved Fox News it was all packaged perfectly for the incoming president.Meta's CMO Alex Schultz told BI on Tuesday that, while the announced changes bring Zuckerberg "back to the core of what he cares about," the reelection of Trump, and the shift in "the vibes in America," influenced its decision.Trump even seemed to acknowledge as much, saying Zuckerberg was "probably" responding to his previous threats.(As Peter chronicles in his story, this isn't the first sign of Zuckerberg looking to gain favor with Trump recently. From adding prominent Trump backer Dana White to Meta's board to replacing his head of policy with a longtime Republican, the reshaping of Meta is pretty clear.)Some celebrated the change, having viewed Meta as too restrictive and biased of certain content. Others weren't as happy, raising concerns over what might populate on feeds. Here's what some business leaders and lawmakers had to say about it.One group that was particularly upset: the International Fact-Checking Network. The group convened an emergency meeting of its members following the news. BI's Pranav Dixit had an exclusive interview with IFCN Director Angie Holan.Questions still remainMeta's changes will be rolled out in the next few months, but there's still plenty to chew on.Here are two pressing questions:What does this mean for users?Here's how your feeds might start looking differently. (Hint: You could be getting a lot more viewpoints on your feeds.)What do advertisers think of this move? While some users might appreciate a more freewheeling approach to their content, advertisers are a different story. X, which Meta largely modeled its new approach after, has had a contentious relationship with advertisers, to put it mildly.This time, though, it seems like there will be less of a fight. BI's Lara O'Reilly spoke to industry insiders about the decision. Some might have grumbled about the move, but they don't seem likely to shift their spending budgets due to Meta's massive audience.In his interview with BI, Schultz said Meta will take a different approach than X when it comes to relations with the brands that advertise on their platform, and Facebook would maintain its brand safety tools. "We're not going out there denigrating our advertisers and putting them in terrible positions," he said.

In February 2024, a heat wave persisted for days in the Chilean coastal city of Via del Mar. The landscape, already affected by an El Nio-supercharged drought, was baked dry. So, when wildfires sparked, they ripped through densely populated and mountainous terrain. In just a few days, the fires the deadliest in Chiles history burned 71,000 acres and killed at least 134 people.Devastating wildfires like these are becoming increasingly common. Climate change is partly to blame while research has found that both El Nio and climate change have contributed to intense wildfires in Chile in recent years, scientists disagree whether climate change had a statistically significant impact on these particular February fires. But the Chilean fires also underscore another ominous dynamic: Grasses, shrubs, and trees that humans have introduced to new ecosystems are increasing wildfire occurrence and frequency. In central Chile over five decades, timber companies have converted natural forests to homogenous, sprawling plantations of nonnative eucalyptus and Monterey pine that grow rapidly in the countrys Mediterranean climate. These trees contain an oily resin that makes them especially flammable but coupled with hotter and drier conditions due to climate change, they can be explosive, says Dave McWethy, an assistant professor at Montana State University. Smoke rises over the forest during a wildfire in Via del Mar, Chile, on February 3, 2024. Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu via Getty ImagesOur relationship with such nonnative species is fraught. We enable the spread of nonnatives by purposely transporting species to landscapes that havent previously existed with them. Take English ivy, a popular choice for stabilizing soil as an ornamental plant. Or the Norway maple, which was introduced to the East Coast of the US in 1756, quickly becoming popular for the shade it provided. In the process, such nonnatives can displace local ecologies and native species, disrupt agriculture, or transmit disease. Once a critter or a plant is introduced, either accidentally or purposefully, it can spread rapidly and outpace efforts to catch them at checkpoints or, as is the case for Floridas state-sponsored rodeos for species like pythons, kill them. A report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates that the approximately 3,500 geographically invasive plants and animals worldwide cost the global economy $423 billion annually. Climate change is also shuffling the ecological deck: As Vox has reported, ecologists expect climate change to create range-shifting or climate-tracking species that move to survive hotter temperatures. Perhaps some of those species will be more fire-prone. Fires in places that are not used to fires are going to become much worse because of invasive species, said Anibal Pauchard, co-author of the IPBES report and a professor at the University of Concepcin and director of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity in Chile. Such trends are causing wildfires to burn in unexpected places in the US as well. In 2023 for example, a wildfire fueled by guinea grass, molasses grass, and buffel grass killed at least 101 people in Maui. RelatedHow Mauis wildfires became so apocalypticAccording to research published in the journal PNAS, eight species of nonnative grasses are increasing fire occurrence by between 27 and 230 percent in the US. This means, due in part to the spread of nonnative species, millions of people in the US will be affected by more frequent wildfires and the unhealthy smoke they produce. As the research shows, invasive grasses are altering historic fire activity and behavior in a variety of locations across the US. This includes those living in the arid West (especially the Great Basin and the Southwest) but also those in more humid parts of the country, particularly people living near eastern temperate deciduous forests, which cover the eastern US, and pine savannah ecoregions from central South Carolina to central Florida. The nonnative grasses driving wildfire risk in the USWhile no one factor causes a big fire to happen on its own, nonnative grasses have played a more important role in recent decades especially in low-elevation regions without much fire historically, said Seth Munson, an ecologist with the Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. The annual invasive grass cheatgrass, known for its hairy tops, is found in an estimated 5070 million acres nationwide, mostly in the Great Basin states. Lands with at least 15 percent cheatgrass are twice as likely to burn as those with a low abundance of the grass, and four times more likely to burn multiple times, according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Idaho, and University of Colorado. According to the latest data, eight of the largest fires on record in the Great Basin have happened since 2010. That includes Nevadas Martin Fire, which burned over 435,000 acres in 2018 and destroyed large swaths of grazing pastures for cattle and habitat of the federally protected sage grouse.Another invasive grass, cogongrass flourishes across Florida and the Gulf States, infiltrating traditional pine woodlands. These landscapes are already burning, with harsh human consequences. Wildfires in northwest Florida in recent years have scorched homes, prompted the evacuation of over a thousand people, and cost millions of dollars.The largest wildfire in Texas state history, only recently contained, damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, killing at least two people and thousands of cows. Hundreds of wildfires in Louisiana in 2023 also resulted in two deaths. Buffelgrass is taking root all over Arizonas Sonoran Desert, and red brome is spreading in the Mojave and other deserts. Highly flammable tamarisk shrubs have taken root in thick stands near streams in the western US, and eucalyptus one of the primary invasive trees blamed for worsening Chiles recent wildfires as well as fires in Portugal increases wildfire risk in California. What can be done? Limiting the introduction of nonnative plants, when possible, addresses the problem at its root. But many invasive species already have a foothold somewhere nearby. In that case, early detection of invasive species, by satellite imagery or by people on the ground, is the best way to stop invasives with a variety of removal techniques, be that herbicide or something else, in an attempt to keep them somewhat contained.Federal agencies across the country, like the one Munson works for, as well as states, tribes, nonprofits, and others, are already monitoring for the movement of invasive species on the landscape and attempting to manage them as they inevitably spread. Work is also underway to help native plants reestablish faster after fires, giving them a chance against invasives angling for the same open space. You can do your part by finding out which nonnative plants exist in your area, especially those that increase wildfire risk. And if youre looking to spruce up your homes landscaping, dont plant them; consider a native alternative instead.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: Climate

As music sales and streaming revenue reaches a high of 2.4bn the highest since 2001, not accounting for significant inflation the UK video game market, which has grown almost continually for decades, has shrunk by 4.4%. The most significant decline was in boxed video game sales, down 35%.Data from Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) puts the total worth of the UK video game market in 2024 at 4.6bn, double the music market and behind TV and movies at 5bn.The numbers show a shift in players purchasing habits that has been ongoing for years, from physical games to digital downloads and in-game purchases in popular, established games such as Fortnite and Roblox. Boxed games now account for 27.7% of new game sales in the UK, according to ERA data.We see at least four factors impacting physical sales, an ERA spokesperson said. First, gamers becoming more comfortable with console downloads; second, the growing popularity of subscription access; third, the fact that we are in a down period of the console cycle; and finally, the lack of new hit IP. If you look at the top 10 titles [of 2024], there really isnt much thats genuinely new thats broken through.The waning of physical sales also reflects a precipitous decline in bricks-and-mortar video game retail. The UKs one remaining specialist video game retailer, Game, was acquired by Sports Direct owner Frasers Group in 2019, and last year ceased both in-store game pre-orders and pre-owned game sales, as well as shutting down its customer loyalty scheme. As staff told Eurogamer in a report last year, the stores themselves have shifted from stocking a wider variety of video games to toys, action figures and other merchandise, making it difficult for customers to walk in and purchase a boxed game on the high street even if they want to, unless it is an established top-seller such as Call of Duty or EA Sports FC.The 35% decline in UK boxed game sales reflects a broader global shift, says NYU Stern professor and market analyst Joost van Dreunen. Were seeing similar patterns across major markets, though the pace varies by region Boxed games wont disappear entirely but are unlikely to regain their former market position. The digital distribution models that have been popularised over the past decade better serve both publishers and consumers. Physical formats will likely persist as premium collectors items or in markets where digital infrastructure is still developing, but theyll represent an increasingly niche segment of the market.Download sales were also down slightly, 5% on PC and 15% on console. Subscription revenue, meanwhile, rose 12%, and revenue from mobile and tablet games rose 2.6%.After a period of rapid growth during and in the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global games industry has contracted. A drought of new investment, combined with corporate publisher belt-tightening, resulted in around 15,000 lost jobs across the industry in 2024. But in 2025, analysts expect a recovery in sales and revenues, driven by Nintendos successor to the 150m-selling Switch console and by Grand Theft Auto 6.

Thanks to some distinctly Scottish weather over the holidays, my family and I ended up celebrating Hogmanay at home rather than at the party wed planned to attend. My smallest sons wee pal and his parents came over for dinner, and when the smaller members of our group started to spiral out of control around 9pm, we threw them a little midnight countdown party in Animal Crossing.The last time I played Animal Crossing was in the depths of lockdown. Tending my island paradise helped me cope while largely imprisoned in a 2.5 bedroom basement flat with a baby, a toddler and a teenager. (I was far from the only one the National Videogame Museum compiled an archive of peoples Animal Crossing experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, and its evident that it was a lifeline for many.) Our guests had brought their family Switch, and we set up the kids with their little avatars so they could join the animals New Year party.They spent about 10 minutes gleefully whacking each other with bug nets before gathering with the other inhabitants in the square with a giant countdown clock in the background, the islands racoon magnate Tom Nook offering party poppers and shiny top-hats. I was visited by a sudden, arresting memory of New Years Eve 2021, which I spent on my sofa, alone but also not alone, because I was with my friends in Animal Crossing, watching the same countdown clock tick down. My youngest had just started walking, and was unsteady on his short, chunky legs. Turning away from the screen, I saw him joking with his big brother, thrilled at being up so late. It felt surreal.Watching my children discover and experience video games has often felt a little surreal. They enrich or even overwrite my earlier memories of the games in question, like playing on New Game+, or a brand-new save file. Around this time last year we all started playing Pokmon together, the Switch remake of the Red and Blue Game Boy versions that I had played to death myself in 1999. Now Pokmon is not just a thing I loved as a kid but a thing I loved through my kids. Super Mario 3D World feels like a totally different game now, with its four-player chaos and sibling spats. The games are transformed by their presence, their reactions, the differences between how they respond and how I do.The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening remade on the Switch. Photograph: NintendoRecently, my youngest wanted to try a Zelda game, and the only age-appropriate one we have is the Switch version of Links Awakening. I bristled. When he was a baby, my youngest boy was terribly sick in hospital, and I passed the long hours at his side on the ward trying to keep my terror at bay by playing Links Awakening, my headphones failing to drown out the urgently beeping machines. He recovered, but my associations with that game remain bleak despite its summery setting and outrageous cuteness. I swallowed my reflexive anxiety and handed the controller to my son as soon as we found Links sword buried in the sand of the beach. It was a healing moment, watching him swing it at spiky land-urchins and rock-spitting spitting octopuses and squat, pig-like spearmen, healthy and whole and with an expression of mischievous delight.Video games were, for my parents, distant and mysterious, and they viewed them with some suspicion (but, importantly, never disdained them). I would invite them in, try to show them the worlds I saw on the other side of the screen, and though they would spectate with interest I would be like a visitor from another country, showing photos of somewhere theyd never been, trying to explain my sense of awe. With my own children, Im more like a tour guide: I know this territory intimately, and theyre excited for me to lead them through it.Later, when our tastes diverge, Ill presumably be the tourist in their games. Ill feel like I did 10 years ago when my friends 12-year-old showed me his Minecraft server, full of collaboratively built automated contraptions. (Hes an engineer now.) For now, though, Animal Crossing has taken hold. I created a family island for my kids to tend, then dug out the old yellow Switch Lite that was home to the island I took refuge on when they were tiny and we were shut off from the world during lockdown. It is a magnificent island, the product of hundreds of hours of gentle toil, but it has been languishing since the pandemic times; I have felt trepidation about returning to that place and all its mixed memories. But my kids are desperate to visit it. They can help me make new ones.What to playDoom: The Gallery Experience. Photograph: Filippo Meozzi/Liam StoneFor decades, programmers and developers have made a long-running joke out of getting Doom to run on unlikely things from calculators and fridges to cash machines, but its nonetheless been a while since I saw this ubiquitous 1993 shooter in a new light.In Doom: The Gallery Experience, you wander the halls of a gallery with a glass of red in hand, taking in pixelated recreations of Renaissance, Greek and Egyptian art, collecting snacks to fill your cheese meter. Its developers describe it as an art piece designed to parody the wonderfully pretentious world of gallery openings. Its brief, but it certainly brightened my first day back at work this grey January.Available on: You can play it in your browser via itch.io Estimated playtime: skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to readJaw-dropping realism but lackluster sales Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, one of the games mentioned in a sweeping New York Times piece. Photograph: UbisoftThe New York Times published Video Games Cant Afford to Look This Good, a long and thoughtful interactive look at the many existential questions of how games are made, with ballooning budgets and unnecessarily high-fidelity graphics.The conversation about free-to-play and gatcha games were once universally vilified. Now theres often a suggestion that criticism of these business models ignores the reality of most people who play them, people in parts of the world where console games are inaccessibly expensive. Developer Bruno Dias argues that it is disingenuous to shy away from criticising these pay-to-play models: We should not consider these companies as fulfilling a need so much as exploiting an inequity.Video game researcher and archivist Felipe Pepe believes the US-centric way in which video game history is presented erases the gaming experiences of millions of people in other parts of the world: the histories of home computers, LAN houses, unofficial mods and gaming cafes.A scoop from Game Files Stephen Totilo, who discovered previously confidential numbers in an Activision court filing: the reported development cost for Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War came to $700m, excluding marketing. It is the biggest game budget ever reported.What to clickQuestion BlockLike a Dragons Kazuma Kiryu plays Super Hang-On in the arcade. Photograph: SegaTodays question comes from David: What would your favourite video game characters favourite game be?My favourite video game character (that I didnt create myself) is Kazuma Kiryu from the Like a Dragon games. Hes spent a lot of time playing old Sega games in the arcades of virtual Tokyo on my watch but I reckon he would love Animal Crossing. It would appeal to his sense of responsibility and do-gooder tendencies, and it would be an escape from the violence of his real-world lifestyle. I dont think of him as much of a gamer the guy was born into a Yakuza family in 1968, when they wouldnt have had a NES but I can imagine him solemnly watering flowers and customising furniture, as a break from rearranging bad guys faces with his fists.If youve got a question for Question Block or anything else to say about the newsletter hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.

By Todd Feathers Published January 8, 2025 | Comments (3) | The Department of Justice has sued RealPage and six major landlords accusing them of algorithmic price fixing in the rental market. Tada Images/Getty Images The Department of Justice has expanded its lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage to include six of the nations largest landlords. The department sued RealPage in August, alleging that the companys algorithms drew on nonpublic information from competing landlords to recommend rent increases that drove housing costs up across the nation. Now, federal and state prosecutors are accusing six real estate companies of being active participants in the scheme. While Americans across the country struggled to afford housing, the landlords named in todays lawsuit shared sensitive information about rental prices and used algorithms to coordinate to keep the price of rent high, DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki said in a statement. Todays action against RealPage and six major landlords seeks to end their practice of putting profits over people and make housing more affordable for millions of people across the country.The companies added to the suit are Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC Blackstones LivCor LLC; Camden Property Trust; Willow Bridge Property Company; Cortland Management LLC; and Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, which are jointly owned. Collectively, the companies operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states, the DOJ said.Cortland Management, which oversees 80,000 rental units, has already agreed to a consent decree that would bar it from using competitors sensitive data to power any pricing models and from using third-party pricing algorithms without supervision from a court-appointed monitor. The amended complaint against RealPage and the landlords alleges that the property owners directly shared information about their pricing plans and settings within RealPages YieldStar software with each other. For example, in September 2020, Camdens director of revenue management allegedly spoke with the director of Greystars revenue management team to discuss how they planned to approach pricing in the coming quarter. Geystars director further disclosed its practices on accepting YieldStar rates and use of concessions, according to the lawsuit. As the conversation continued, the two competitors shared additional highly-sensitive information on occupancyincluding in specific marketsdemand, and the strategic use of concessions.The DOJ also alleges that the landlords participated in user groups hosted by RealPage during which they discussed how to modify the algorithms pricing methodologies as well as their own rent strategies. The complaint includes a litany of anecdotes from these user group sessions in which landlords allegedly shared nonpublic information with their competitors and RealPage employees allegedly told landlords to push up new and renewal pricing and trust the science of RealPages algorithms.The DOJ has been joined in the suit by the attorneys general from 10 states.RealPage Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Todd Feathers Published August 23, 2024

The holidays are great and all, but theres always going to be one thing that somehow got left off the shopping list. When that thing happens to be the hottest toy of 2024, there might be a long face or two in your house because that toy didnt end up under the tree. Its not too late for a make-good the amazing StarGlide Flying Ball is back on sale for up to 70% off right now.See at StarGlideThis incredible USB-rechargeable toy is part ball, part drone, part wild light show, and all fun. The StarGlide Flying Ball sold like crazy all holiday season long, and this may be the last time its 70% off until next holiday season, and youre not going to want to wait 10 more months to unleash this fun machine.Anybody Can PlayYou dont need any tech wizardry or lengthy instructions to make the StarGlide Flying Ball do its thing. It doesnt even have any controls. Just give it a shake, then tilt it back between 10 and 30 degrees and give it a push forward, and it will fly forward, then come back to you. The StarGlide Flying Ball moves slowly enough and is lightweight enough that even little kids can get in on the game of catch without worry.The StarGlide Flying Ball is capable of the craziest curveballs, long looping arcs, and more wild aerial tricks, and it does them all while putting on an amazing psychedelic LED light show, with strobes and patterns that make it a fantastic nighttime outdoor toy, or indoors with the lights turned off. Its slightly larger than a baseball and smaller than a softball, so its a great size for the smaller hands of kids and also for adults.Quick Charge for FunThe StarGlide Flying Ball is USB-rechargeable, and gives you up to 10 minutes of flight time on a full charge. Were assuming 10 minutes wont be nearly enough time, so youll be happy to know it recharges quickly and is soon ready for more action. And whether youre using it indoors or out, its built to withstand the drops and bumps that come with any game of catch. Outdoor play is where the StarGlide Flying Ball really shines, because its capable of reaching up to 100 feet of height.This could be the last time you can get your hands on the StarGlide Flying Ball at a sale price of up to 70% before the 2025 holidays. Its not too late to bring 2024s hottest toy into your house to get 2025 off to a fun start for kids and adults alike.See at StarGlide