The Guardian’s writers have compiled their favourite new games of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours, too.Have you come across a new release that you can’t stop playing? Or one you’d recommend? Tell us your nomination and why you like it below.Share your favouriteYou can tell us your favourite game of the year so far using this form.Please share your story if you are 18 or over, anonymously if you wish. For more information please see our terms of service and privacy policy.Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For true anonymity please use our SecureDrop service instead.Name Where do you live? Tell us a bit about yourself (e.g. age and what you do for a living) OptionalTell us about your favourite game of 2025 so far and why it's your favourite Please include as much detail as possible. If you are happy to, please upload a photo of yourself here OptionalPlease note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB.Choose fileCan we publish your response? Yes, entirelyYes, but contact me firstYes, but please keep me anonymousNo, this is information onlyPhone number OptionalYour contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian.Email address Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian.You can add more information here OptionalIf you include other people's names please ask them first.Would you be interested in speaking to our audio and/or video teams? Audio onlyVideo onlyAudio and videoNo, I'm not interestedBy submitting your response, you are agreeing to share your details with us for this feature.If you’re having trouble using the form, click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

There has been a new update to the ongoing Stratasys v. Bambu Lab patent infringement lawsuit.  Both parties have agreed to consolidate the lead and member cases (2:24-CV-00644-JRG and 2:24-CV-00645-JRG) into a single case under Case No. 2:25-cv-00465-JRG.  Industrial 3D printing OEM Stratasys filed the request late last month. According to an official court document, Shenzhen-based Bambu Lab did not oppose the motion. Stratasys argued that this non-opposition amounted to the defendants waiving their right to challenge the request under U.S. patent law 35 U.S.C. § 299(a). On June 2, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, ordered Bambu Lab to confirm in writing whether it agreed to the proposed case consolidation. The court took this step out of an “abundance of caution” to ensure both parties consented to the procedure before moving forward. Bambu Lab submitted its response on June 12, agreeing to the consolidation. The company, along with co-defendants Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Lunkuo Technology Co., Ltd., and Tuozhu Technology Limited, waived its rights under 35 U.S.C. § 299(a). The court will now decide whether to merge the cases. This followed U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s decision last month to deny Bambu Lab’s motion to dismiss the lawsuits.  The Chinese desktop 3D printer manufacturer filed the motion in February 2025, arguing the cases were invalid because its US-based subsidiary, Bambu Lab USA, was not named in the original litigation. However, it agreed that the lawsuit could continue in the Austin division of the Western District of Texas, where a parallel case was filed last year.  Judge Gilstrap denied the motion, ruling that the cases properly target the named defendants. He concluded that Bambu Lab USA isn’t essential to the dispute, and that any misnaming should be addressed in summary judgment, not dismissal.        A Stratasys Fortus 450mc (left) and a Bambu Lab X1C (right). Image by 3D Printing industry. Another twist in the Stratasys v. Bambu Lab lawsuit  Stratasys filed the two lawsuits against Bambu Lab in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, in August 2024. The company claims that Bambu Lab’s X1C, X1E, P1S, P1P, A1, and A1 mini 3D printers violate ten of its patents. These patents cover common 3D printing features, including purge towers, heated build plates, tool head force detection, and networking capabilities. Stratasys has requested a jury trial. It is seeking a ruling that Bambu Lab infringed its patents, along with financial damages and an injunction to stop Bambu from selling the allegedly infringing 3D printers. Last October, Stratasys dropped charges against two of the originally named defendants in the dispute. Court documents showed that Beijing Tiertime Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Yinhua Laser Rapid Prototyping and Mould Technology Co., Ltd were removed. Both defendants represent the company Tiertime, China’s first 3D printer manufacturer. The District Court accepted the dismissal, with all claims dropped without prejudice. It’s unclear why Stratasys named Beijing-based Tiertime as a defendant in the first place, given the lack of an obvious connection to Bambu Lab.  Tiertime and Stratasys have a history of legal disputes over patent issues. In 2013, Stratasys sued Afinia, Tiertime’s U.S. distributor and partner, for patent infringement. Afinia responded by suing uCRobotics, the Chinese distributor of MakerBot 3D printers, also alleging patent violations. Stratasys acquired MakerBot in June 2013. The company later merged with Ultimaker in 2022. In February 2025, Bambu Lab filed a motion to dismiss the original lawsuits. The company argued that Stratasys’ claims, focused on the sale, importation, and distribution of 3D printers in the United States, do not apply to the Shenzhen-based parent company. Bambu Lab contended that the allegations concern its American subsidiary, Bambu Lab USA, which was not named in the complaint filed in the Eastern District of Texas. Bambu Lab filed a motion to dismiss, claiming the case is invalid under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19. It argued that any party considered a “primary participant” in the allegations must be included as a defendant.    The court denied the motion on May 29, 2025. In the ruling, Judge Gilstrap explained that Stratasys’ allegations focus on the actions of the named defendants, not Bambu Lab USA. As a result, the official court document called Bambu Lab’s argument “unavailing.” Additionally, the Judge stated that, since Bambu Lab USA and Bambu Lab are both owned by Shenzhen Tuozhu, “the interest of these two entities align,” meaning the original cases are valid.   In the official court document, Judge Gilstrap emphasized that Stratasys can win or lose the lawsuits based solely on the actions of the current defendants, regardless of Bambu Lab USA’s involvement. He added that any potential risk to Bambu Lab USA’s business is too vague or hypothetical to justify making it a required party. Finally, the court noted that even if Stratasys named the wrong defendant, this does not justify dismissal under Rule 12(b)(7). Instead, the judge stated it would be more appropriate for the defendants to raise that argument in a motion for summary judgment. The Bambu Lab X1C 3D printer. Image via Bambu Lab. 3D printing patent battles  The 3D printing industry has seen its fair share of patent infringement disputes over recent months. In May 2025, 3D printer hotend developer Slice Engineering reached an agreement with Creality over a patent non-infringement lawsuit.  The Chinese 3D printer OEM filed the lawsuit in July 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Gainesville Division. The company claimed that Slice Engineering had falsely accused it of infringing two hotend patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 10,875,244 and 11,660,810. These cover mechanical and thermal features of Slice’s Mosquito 3D printer hotend. Creality requested a jury trial and sought a ruling confirming it had not infringed either patent. Court documents show that Slice Engineering filed a countersuit in December 2024. The Gainesville-based company maintained that Creaility “has infringed and continues to infringe” on both patents. In the filing, the company also denied allegations that it had harassed Creality’s partners, distributors, and customers, and claimed that Creality had refused to negotiate a resolution.   The Creality v. Slice Engineering lawsuit has since been dropped following a mutual resolution. Court documents show that both parties have permanently dismissed all claims and counterclaims, agreeing to cover their own legal fees and costs.  In other news, large-format resin 3D printer manufacturer Intrepid Automation sued 3D Systems over alleged patent infringement. The lawsuit, filed in February 2025, accused 3D Systems of using patented technology in its PSLA 270 industrial resin 3D printer. The filing called the PSLA 270 a “blatant knock off” of Intrepid’s DLP multi-projection “Range” 3D printer.   San Diego-based Intrepid Automation called this alleged infringement the “latest chapter of 3DS’s brazen, anticompetitive scheme to drive a smaller competitor with more advanced technology out of the marketplace.” The lawsuit also accused 3D Systems of corporate espionage, claiming one of its employees stole confidential trade secrets that were later used to develop the PSLA 270 printer. 3D Systems denied the allegations and filed a motion to dismiss the case. The company called the lawsuit “a desperate attempt” by Intrepid to distract from its own alleged theft of 3D Systems’ trade secrets. Who won the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards? Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to keep up with the latest 3D printing news.You can also follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry Youtube channel to access more exclusive content.Featured image shows a Stratasys Fortus 450mc (left) and a Bambu Lab X1C (right). Image by 3D Printing industry.

Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington this weekend — a show of force in the capital that just happens to take place on the president’s birthday — smacks of authoritarian Dear Leader-style politics (even though Trump actually got the idea after attending the 2017 Bastille Day parade in Paris).Yet as disconcerting as the imagery of tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue will be, it’s not even close to Trump’s most insidious assault on the US military’s historic and democratically essential nonpartisan ethos.In fact, it’s not even the most worrying thing he’s done this week.On Tuesday, the president gave a speech at Fort Bragg, an Army base home to Special Operations Command. While presidential speeches to soldiers are not uncommon — rows of uniformed troops make a great backdrop for a foreign policy speech — they generally avoid overt partisan attacks and campaign-style rhetoric. The soldiers, for their part, are expected to be studiously neutral, laughing at jokes and such, but remaining fully impassive during any policy conversation.That’s not what happened at Fort Bragg. Trump’s speech was a partisan tirade that targeted “radical left” opponents ranging from Joe Biden to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. He celebrated his deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, proposed jailing people for burning the American flag, and called on soldiers to be “aggressive” toward the protesters they encountered.The soldiers, for their part, cheered Trump and booed his enemies — as they were seemingly expected to. Reporters at Military.com, a military news service, uncovered internal communications from 82nd Airborne leadership suggesting that the crowd was screened for their political opinions.“If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out,” one note read.To call this unusual is an understatement. I spoke with four different experts on civil-military relations, two of whom teach at the Naval War College, about the speech and its implications. To a person, they said it was a step towards politicizing the military with no real precedent in modern American history.“That is, I think, a really big red flag because it means the military’s professional ethic is breaking down internally,” says Risa Brooks, a professor at Marquette University. “Its capacity to maintain that firewall against civilian politicization may be faltering.”This may sound alarmist — like an overreading of a one-off incident — but it’s part of a bigger pattern. The totality of Trump administration policies, ranging from the parade in Washington to the LA troop deployment to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s firing of high-ranking women and officers of color, suggests a concerted effort to erode the military’s professional ethos and turn it into an institution subservient to the Trump administration’s whims. This is a signal policy aim of would-be dictators, who wish to head off the risk of a coup and ensure the armed forces’ political reliability if they are needed to repress dissent in a crisis.Steve Saideman, a professor at Carleton University, put together a list of eight different signs that a military is being politicized in this fashion. The Trump administration has exhibited six out of the eight.“The biggest theme is that we are seeing a number of checks on the executive fail at the same time — and that’s what’s making individual events seem more alarming than they might otherwise,” says Jessica Blankshain, a professor at the Naval War College (speaking not for the military but in a personal capacity).That Trump is trying to politicize the military does not mean he has succeeded. There are several signs, including Trump’s handpicked chair of the Joint Chiefs repudiating the president’s claims of a migrant invasion during congressional testimony, that the US military is resisting Trump’s politicization.But the events in Fort Bragg and Washington suggest that we are in the midst of a quiet crisis in civil-military relations in the United States — one whose implications for American democracy’s future could well be profound.The Trump crisis in civil-military relations, explainedA military is, by sheer fact of its existence, a threat to any civilian government. If you have an institution that controls the overwhelming bulk of weaponry in a society, it always has the physical capacity to seize control of the government at gunpoint. A key question for any government is how to convince the armed forces that they cannot or should not take power for themselves.Democracies typically do this through a process called “professionalization.” Soldiers are rigorously taught to think of themselves as a class of public servants, people trained to perform a specific job within defined parameters. Their ultimate loyalty is not to their generals or even individual presidents, but rather to the people and the constitutional order.Samuel Huntington, the late Harvard political scientist, is the canonical theorist of a professional military. In his book The Soldier and the State, he described optimal professionalization as a system of “objective control”: one in which the military retains autonomy in how they fight and plan for wars while deferring to politicians on whether and why to fight in the first place. In effect, they stay out of the politicians’ affairs while the politicians stay out of theirs.The idea of such a system is to emphasize to the military that they are professionals: Their responsibility isn’t deciding when to use force, but only to conduct operations as effectively as possible once ordered to engage in them. There is thus a strict firewall between military affairs, on the one hand, and policy-political affairs on the other.Typically, the chief worry is that the military breaches this bargain: that, for example, a general starts speaking out against elected officials’ policies in ways that undermine civilian control. This is not a hypothetical fear in the United States, with the most famous such example being Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s insubordination during the Korean War. Thankfully, not even MacArthur attempted the worst-case version of military overstep — a coup.But in backsliding democracies like the modern United States, where the chief executive is attempting an anti-democratic power grab, the military poses a very different kind of threat to democracy — in fact, something akin to the exact opposite of the typical scenario.In such cases, the issue isn’t the military inserting itself into politics but rather the civilians dragging them into it in ways that upset the democratic political order. The worst-case scenario is that the military acts on presidential directives to use force against domestic dissenters, destroying democracy not by ignoring civilian orders, but by following them.There are two ways to arrive at such a worst-case scenario, both of which are in evidence in the early days of Trump 2.0.First is politicization: an intentional attack on the constraints against partisan activity inside the professional ranks.Many of Pete Hegseth’s major moves as secretary of defense fit this bill, including his decisions to fire nonwhite and female generals seen as politically unreliable and his effort to undermine the independence of the military’s lawyers. The breaches in protocol at Fort Bragg are both consequences and causes of politicization: They could only happen in an environment of loosened constraint, and they might encourage more overt political action if gone unpunished.The second pathway to breakdown is the weaponization of professionalism against itself. Here, Trump exploits the military’s deference to politicians by ordering it to engage in undemocratic (and even questionably legal) activities. In practice, this looks a lot like the LA deployments, and, more specifically, the lack of any visible military pushback. While the military readily agreeing to deployments is normally a good sign — that civilian control is holding — these aren’t normal times. And this isn’t a normal deployment, but rather one that comes uncomfortably close to the military being ordered to assist in repressing overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against executive abuses of power.“It’s really been pretty uncommon to use the military for law enforcement,” says David Burbach, another Naval War College professor (also speaking personally). “This is really bringing the military into frontline law enforcement when. … these are really not huge disturbances.”This, then, is the crisis: an incremental and slow-rolling effort by the Trump administration to erode the norms and procedures designed to prevent the military from being used as a tool of domestic repression. Is it time to panic?Among the experts I spoke with, there was consensus that the military’s professional and nonpartisan ethos was weakening. This isn’t just because of Trump, but his terms — the first to a degree, and now the second acutely — are major stressors.Yet there was no consensus on just how much military nonpartisanship has eroded — that is, how close we are to a moment when the US military might be willing to follow obviously authoritarian orders.For all its faults, the US military’s professional ethos is a really important part of its identity and self-conception. While few soldiers may actually read Sam Huntington or similar scholars, the general idea that they serve the people and the republic is a bedrock principle among the ranks. There is a reason why the United States has never, in over 250 years of governance, experienced a military coup — or even come particularly close to one.In theory, this ethos should also galvanize resistance to Trump’s efforts at politicization. Soldiers are not unthinking automatons: While they are trained to follow commands, they are explicitly obligated to refuse illegal orders, even coming from the president. The more aggressive Trump’s efforts to use the military as a tool of repression gets, the more likely there is to be resistance.Or, at least theoretically.The truth is that we don’t really know how the US military will respond to a situation like this. Like so many of Trump’s second-term policies, their efforts to bend the military to their will are unprecedented — actions with no real parallel in the modern history of the American military. Experts can only make informed guesses, based on their sense of US military culture as well as comparisons to historical and foreign cases.For this reason, there are probably only two things we can say with confidence.First, what we’ve seen so far is not yet sufficient evidence to declare that the military is in Trump’s thrall. The signs of decay are too limited to ground any conclusions that the longstanding professional norm is entirely gone.“We have seen a few things that are potentially alarming about erosion of the military’s non-partisan norm. But not in a way that’s definitive at this point,” Blankshain says.Second, the stressors on this tradition are going to keep piling on. Trump’s record makes it exceptionally clear that he wants the military to serve him personally — and that he, and Hegseth, will keep working to make it so. This means we really are in the midst of a quiet crisis, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.“The fact that he’s getting the troops to cheer for booing Democratic leaders at a time when there’s actually [a deployment to] a blue city and a blue state…he is ordering the troops to take a side,” Saideman says. “There may not be a coherent plan behind this. But there are a lot of things going on that are all in the same direction.”See More: Politics

Scammers are using AI tools to create increasingly convincing ways to trick victims into sending money, and to access the personal information needed to commit identity theft. Deepfakes mean they can impersonate the voice of a friend or family member, and even fake a video call with them! The result can be criminals taking out thousands of dollars worth of loans or credit card debt in your name. Fortunately there are steps you can take to protect yourself against even the most sophisticated scams. Here are the security and privacy checks to run to ensure you are safe … 9to5Mac is brought to by Incogni: Protect your personal info from prying eyes. With Incogni, you can scrub your deeply sensitive information from data brokers across the web, including people search sites. Incogni limits your phone number, address, email, SSN, and more from circulating. Fight back against unwanted data brokers with a 30-day money back guarantee. Use a password manager At one time, the advice might have read “use strong, unique passwords for each website and app you use” – but these days we all use so many that this is only possible if we use a password manager. This is a super-easy step to take, thanks to the Passwords app on Apple devices. Each time you register for a new service, use the Passwords app (or your own preferred password manager) to set and store the password. Replace older passwords You probably created some accounts back in the days when password rules were much less strict, meaning you now have some weak passwords that are vulnerable to attack. If you’ve been online since before the days of password managers, you probably even some passwords you’ve used on more than one website. This is a huge risk, as it means your security is only as good as the least-secure website you use. What happens is attackers break into a poorly-secured website, grab all the logins, then they use automated software to try those same logins on hundreds of different websites. If you’ve re-used a password, they now have access to your accounts on all the sites where you used it. Use the password change feature to update your older passwords, starting with the most important ones – the ones that would put you most at risk if your account where compromised. As an absolute minimum, ensure you have strong, unique passwords for all financial services, as well as other critical ones like Apple, Google, and Amazon accounts. Make sure you include any accounts which have already been compromised! You can identify these by putting your email address into Have I Been Pwned. Use passkeys where possible Passwords are gradually being replaced by passkeys. While the difference might seem small in terms of how you login, there’s a huge difference in the security they provide. With a passkey, a website or app doesn’t ask for a password, it instead asks your device to verify your identity. Your device uses Face ID or Touch ID to do so, then confirms that you are who you claim to be. Crucially, it doesn’t send a password back to the service, so there’s no way for this to be hacked – all the service sees is confirmation that you successfully passed biometric authentication on your device. Use two-factor authentication A growing number of accounts allow you to use two-factor authentication (2FA). This means that even if an attacker got your login details, they still wouldn’t be able to access your account. 2FA works by demanding a rolling code whenever you login. These can be sent by text message, but we strongly advise against this, as it leaves you vulnerable to SIM-swap attacks, which are becoming increasingly common. In particular, never use text-based 2FA for financial services accounts. Instead, select the option to use an authenticator app. A QR code will be displayed which you scan in the app, adding that service to your device. Next time you login, you just open the app to see a 6-digit rolling code which you’ll need to enter to login. This feature is built into the Passwords app, or you can use a separate one like Google Authenticator. Check last-login details Some services, like banking apps, will display the date and time of your last successful login. Get into the habit of checking this each time you login, as it can provide a warning that your account has been compromised. Use a VPN service for public Wi-Fi hotspots Anytime you use a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you are at risk from what’s known as a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack. This is where someone uses a small device which uses the same name as a public Wi-Fi hotspot so that people connect to it. Once you do, they can monitor your internet traffic. Almost all modern websites use HTTPS, which provides an encrypted connection that makes MitM attacks less dangerous than they used to be. All the same, the exploit can expose you to a number of security and privacy risks, so using a VPN is still highly advisable. Always choose a respected VPN company, ideally one which keeps no logs and subjects itself to independent audits. I use NordVPN for this reason. Don’t disclose personal info to AI chatbots AI chatbots typically use their conversations with users as training material, meaning anything you say or type could end up in their database, and could potentially be regurgitated when answering another user’s question. Never reveal any personal information you wouldn’t want on the internet. Consider data removal It’s likely that much of your personal information has already been collected by data brokers. Your email address and phone number can be used for spam, which is annoying enough, but they can also be used by scammers. For this reason, you might want to scrub your data from as many broker services as possible. You can do this yourself, or use a service like Incogni to do it for you. Triple-check requests for money Finally, if anyone asks you to send them money, be immediately on the alert. Even if seems to be a friend, family member, or your boss, never take it on trust. Always contact them via a different, known communication channel. If they emailed you, phone them. If they phoned you, message or email them. Some people go as far as agreeing codewords with family members to use if they ever really do need emergency help. If anyone asks you to buy gift cards and send the numbers to them, it’s a scam 100% of the time. Requests to use money transfer services are also generally scams unless it’s something you arranged in advance. Even if you are expecting to send someone money, be alert for claims that they have changed their bank account. This is almost always a scam. Again, contact them via a different, known comms channel. Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.SAG-AFTRA proposed AI protections will let performers send their digital replicas on strikeSAG-AFTRA proposed AI protections will let performers send their digital replicas on strikeA tentative agreement proposed by the union will also require game studios to secure informed consent from performers when using AI.Chris Kerr, Senior Editor, NewsJune 13, 20251 Min ReadImage via SAG-AFTRAPerformer union SAG-AFTRA has outlined what sort of AI protections have been secured through its new-look Interactive Media Agreement (IMA).The union, which this week suspended a year-long strike after finally agreeing terms with game studios signed to the IMA, said the new contract includes "important guardrails and gains around AI" such as the need for informed consent when deploying AI tech and the ability for performers to suspend consent for Digital Replicas during a strike—effectively sending their digital counterparts to the picket line.Compensation gains include the need for collectively-bargained minimums covering the use of Digital Replicas created with IMA-covered performances and higher minimums (7.5x scale) for what SAG-AFTRA calls "Real Time Generation," which is when a Digital Replica-voiced chatbot might be embedded in a video game.Secondary Performance Payments will also require studios to compensate performers when visual performances are reused in additional projects. The tentative agreement has already been approved by the SAG-AFTRA National Board and has now been submitted to union members for ratification.If ratified, it will also provide compounded compensation increases at a rate of 15.17 percent plus additional 3 percent increases in November 2025, November 2026, and November 2027. In addition, the overtime rate maximum for overscale performers will be based on double scale.Related:The full terms off the three-year deal will be released on June 18 alongside other ratification materials. Eligible SAG-AFTRA members will have until 5pm PDT on Wednesday, July 9, to vote on the agreement. Read more about:Labor & UnionizationAbout the AuthorChris KerrSenior Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Elon Musk is contemplating decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, responding to President Donald Trump's apparent intent to terminate government subsidies and contracts with the billionaire's companies. It looks like the feud between the former allies has quickly turned vicious.SpaceX's CEO initially announced that the company would retire its Dragon spacecraft in an X post on Thursday, with Musk sharing a screenshot of a post published on Trump's Truth Social account earlier in the day."The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," said Trump in the screenshotted post. "I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!" You May Also Like "In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Musk wrote on X.SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft are a family of vehicles designed to carry passengers and cargo. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has previously relied upon them to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Mere hours prior to Musk's announcement, SpaceX posted on X that it was preparing to launch a Dragon next Tuesday.For a few hours, it seemed reasonable to assume that this launch would now not go ahead. However, Musk then appeared to quickly walk back his decision. Responding to an X user advising him to "cool off and take a step back for a couple days," the billionaire subsequently stated that Dragon will not be decommissioned after all.It's unclear whether Musk's initial announcement was sincere, or whether his apparent about-face might be sarcastic. Musk has a history of making flippant comments online with no apparent regard to their consequences. What is clear is that Musk and Trump's relationship is well past the honeymoon phase, and now looks much more like an ugly divorce.If Trump does terminate government contracts with Musk's companies, it would deal a significant blow to the billionaire. According to a Washington Post investigation, NASA has invested over $15 billion in SpaceX alone. When put together with Musk's other companies such as EV automaker Tesla, his various businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits. Mashable Trend Report: Coming Soon! Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! Musk and Trump go through messy public breakup Credit: Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images Musk's relationship with Trump has significantly deteriorated in recent days. The billionaire announced that he was leaving his position as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last Wednesday, just one day after he criticised Trump's tax bill as undermining its work. The split was presented as amicable at the time, with Trump presenting Musk with a golden key and words of praise. However, their love affair has quickly turned sour.Musk continued to lambast Trump's bill after his departure from DOGE, arguing that it will increase government debt by trillions of dollars. Strongly disagreeing with the president's characterisation of the proposed legislation as a "Big Beautiful Bill," Musk labelled it a "disgusting abomination" and has been calling for lawmakers to crush it.For his part, Trump has claimed that Musk is simply throwing a tantrum because the bill supposedly cut an alleged "EV mandate." The president stated on Thursday that he had asked the billionaire to leave his administration, and that Musk had been "wearing thin.""I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump claimed. Despite Trump's assertions, he did not abolish any EV mandate as there has never been any U.S. law which makes switching to an electric car mandatory. However, Trump has taken several anti-EV measures since his inauguration, including abolishing incentives encouraging EV adoption, pausing $3 billion in funding for a U.S. charging network, and introducing a $250 annual fee for EV users in his recent tax bill. Related Stories Trump's claim about Musk is an interesting contrast to his statements in March, when he praised the billionaire for not complaining about the supposed end of the non-existent EV mandate. The president made the comments while he and Musk co-hosted a Tesla ad on the White House lawn in an effort to boost the company's cratering stock prices.Tesla's struggling share value has now fallen again amidst Musk's feud with Trump, plummeting more than 14 percent on Thursday to wipe out over $150 billion in value."I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," Trump wrote on Thursday.Meanwhile, Musk went all-in attacking Trump on Thursday, claiming that the president is linked to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and sharing posts calling for him to be impeached. Musk has also hit out at Trump's tariffs on international trade, predicting that they will "cause a recession in the second half of the year.""Without me, Trump would have lost the election," Musk alleged on X. "Such ingratitude."

Billionaire Elon Musk has countered president Donald Trump's threat to "terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," in spectacular fashion: by threatening to cut off the United States' access to outer space."In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Musk tweeted.But it didn't take him long to blink. A few hours later — and after the publication of this story — Musk reversed course, agreeing to "cool off" and saying that "we won't decommission Dragon."That's not surprising. As executives at SpaceX no doubt desperately tried to explain to him after the dustup, the company would be in terrible danger without all the money it gets from NASA.And if Musk were to make good on his threat, the United States' space program could experience a setback of epic proportions. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft has quickly become the de facto method for NASA astronauts to travel to the International Space Station.In other words, the threat could prevent American astronauts from visiting the space station — especially considering that the only other American option, Boeing's Starliner, is likely still years away from becoming a viable alternative, if ever.It was a significant escalation in a major falling out between the world's most powerful man and its richest one. The pair have been openly feuding about Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill," culminating in threats and personal attacks.The collateral damage of the feud could be enormous, particularly for the US space program.Ars Technica's Eric Berger suggested that Trump ripping up Musk's government contracts "would both end the International Space Station and simultaneously provide no way to safely deorbit it.""This just gets better and better," Musk replied in a laughing emoji-laden tweet. "Go ahead, make my day…"The news comes after the Trump administration abruptly pulled its nominee for the NASA administrator role, Jared Isaacman.Isaacman, who was hand-picked by Musk, has been to space twice with the help of SpaceX.The news greatly angered Musk, causing him to go on a crusade against Trump's tax bill.Musk's latest threats to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft could put the Trump administration and NASA in an extremely unfortunate position. Apart from Boeing's much-maligned Starliner, which has yet to complete a successful crewed mission to the ISS, the only alternative to send astronauts to the space station is Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.While the station's days are already numbered — NASA recently awarded SpaceX a contract to decommission the orbital lab in 2030 — continuing operations could prove extremely difficult without Dragon.But whether Musk will make good on his threat remains to be seen, especially considering the billionaire has a lengthy track record of making empty promises.Apart from vowing to decommission Dragon, Musk also attempted to smear Trump's name by arguing that he's "in the Epstein files.""This is the real reason they have not been made public," he tweeted. "Have a nice day, DJT!"Musk is clearly out for blood, even officially calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced by his vice president JD Vance.Who will emerge victorious is anybody's guess. If there's one certainty, it won't be NASA. The agency is expected to be hit by brutal cuts that could lay waste to dozens of space missions.Share This Article

Published June 2, 2025 10:00am EDT close 'CyberGuy' warns of cyberscams costing Americans billions a year Tech expert Kurt Knutsson joins "Fox & Friends" to warn of new cyberscams and give tips on how to avoid them. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Given the number of phishing scams we have all faced over the past decade, most of us have developed a basic skill to spot and avoid obvious phishing emails or SMS messages. Cybercriminals are aware of this, and they have evolved their tactics by shifting to more complex and convincing schemes designed to bypass skepticism and lure victims.Their goal remains the same: to trick you into handing over sensitive information, especially credit card data. One of the latest examples is the rise in subscription scam campaigns. Scammers are creating incredibly convincing websites selling everything from shoes and clothes to electronics, tricking people into signing up for monthly subscriptions and willingly providing their credit card information. Facebook is being used as the primary platform to promote these new and sophisticated scams. A woman shopping online (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)What you need to knowBitdefender researchers have uncovered a massive and highly coordinated subscription scam campaign involving more than 200 active websites designed to look like real online stores. These sites, often promoted through Facebook ads, sell everything from clothes and electronics to beauty products, but the real goal is to trick users into signing up for recurring payments, often without realizing it.One of the most common lures is the "mystery box" scam, where you are promised a surprise package at a bargain price. These offers are made to look fun and harmless, but behind the scenes you are giving away personal and credit card information while unknowingly agreeing to hidden subscription terms, often written in tiny fine print.The scam doesn’t stop there. Once you’re convinced and reach the checkout page, scammers often layer in a second scam, like loyalty cards or VIP memberships that further lock you into payments. It’s all designed to confuse you, overwhelm you with supposed perks and make the scam feel like a good deal.Researchers found that many of these websites share a single Cyprus address, possibly tied to offshore entities linked to the Paradise Papers. Despite being spread across different categories and brand names, the sites often use the same layouts, AI agents and payment structures, all pointing to a centralized fraud network.Scammers frequently rotate the brands they impersonate and have started moving beyond mystery boxes, now peddling low-quality products, counterfeit goods, fake investment schemes, dubious supplements and more. To avoid automatic detection, they employ several tactics. These include running multiple versions of an ad, with only one of which is actually malicious while the others display harmless product images, uploading ad images from platforms like Google Drive so they can be swapped out later and cropping visuals to alter recognizable patterns. Listing fake products (Bitdefender) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)The scam is expandingWhat started with simple "mystery box" scams has grown into a sprawling, coordinated campaign. These scams now feature fake surveys, tiered "VIP" memberships and deceptive credit systems that make the purchase process intentionally confusing. Users are promised deep discounts or access to exclusive deals, but in reality they’re just being locked into recurring payments.Many of the scam websites trace back to the same physical address in Cyprus, pointing to what appears to be a centralized operation. Researchers also found links to entities mentioned in the Paradise Papers, suggesting these fraudsters are hiding behind offshore infrastructure.And it’s not just mystery boxes anymore. The same scam format is being used to sell low-quality goods, fake supplements and even bogus investment opportunities. With high-quality site design, aggressive advertising and increasingly sophisticated tactics, subscription scams are becoming the new face of online fraud. A person shopping online (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)10 proactive measures to take to protect your dataEven as scammers become more sophisticated, there are practical steps you can take right now to protect your personal and financial information from subscription fraud and other online threats. Here are ten proactive measures to help keep your data safe:1) Always read the fine print: One of the simplest yet most effective ways to protect yourself from subscription scams is to slow down and read the fine print, especially on checkout pages. Scammers often hide recurring payment terms in small or lightly colored text that’s easy to miss. What seems like a one-time purchase could actually sign you up for a biweekly or monthly charge. Taking just a moment to scan for hidden terms before hitting "Pay" can help you avoid weeks of silent billing.2) Avoid mystery box or VIP-style deals: These offers often prey on curiosity and the promise of surprise or luxury for a low fee. In reality, the "mystery" is the trap: you might receive nothing or a low-quality item while being unknowingly enrolled in a recurring subscription. Scammers use the illusion of exclusivity or urgency to pressure quick decisions.3) Don’t trust ads blindly on social media: Facebook, Instagram and other platforms are a hotbed for these scams, with criminals running paid ads that mimic well-known brands or influencers. These ads often link to professional-looking but fake storefronts. If you’re interested in a deal you see online, don’t click through immediately. Instead, look up the brand or offer in a separate tab and check if it exists outside social media.4) Investigate before you buy: Before purchasing from any unfamiliar site, take a few quick steps to verify its legitimacy. Search the brand's name alongside words like "scam" or "reviews" to see what others have experienced. Look up the company's physical address and check if it actually exists using tools like Google Maps. Make sure the website uses HTTPS, review the site's contact information and cross-check reviews on trusted third-party sites like the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Reports.5) Use strong antivirus software: Adding a strong antivirus program to your devices can provide an extra layer of defense against fraudulent websites and phishing attempts. Strong antivirus software warns you about suspicious links, blocks malicious ads and scans downloads for malware. Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.6) Invest in personal data removal services: Scammers often rely on leaked or publicly available personal information to target victims with convincing subscription scams. Investing in a personal data removal service can help minimize your digital footprint by removing your information from data broker databases and reducing the chances of being targeted in future campaigns. Regularly monitoring and cleaning up your online presence makes it harder for fraudsters to exploit your data for financial gain. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web.7) Be cautious with payment methods: Use secure payment options like credit cards, which often offer better fraud protection than wire transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency.8) Limit personal information shared on social media: Scammers often gather details from public profiles to craft convincing scams. Review your privacy settings and only share necessary information.9) Use strong, unique passwords and enable multifactor authentication: Create strong, unique passwords for each of your online accounts, especially those tied to your finances or shopping. Enable multifactor authentication wherever possible, as this adds an extra layer of security and makes it harder for scammers to access your accounts, even if your password is compromised. Also, consider using a password manager to generate and store complex passwords. Get more details about my best expert-reviewed password managers of 2025 here.10) Keep your devices and software updated: Regularly update your operating system, browsers and apps. Security updates often patch vulnerabilities that scammers exploit to gain access to your information or install malicious software.Kurt’s key takeawayWhile the rise of subscription scams and deceptive ads is concerning, it’s especially troubling that platforms like Facebook continue to allow these fraudulent ads to run unchecked. Facebook has repeatedly failed to adequately vet or prevent these malicious campaigns from reaching vulnerable individuals. The platform’s ad approval system should be more proactive in spotting and blocking ads promoting scams, particularly those that impersonate well-known brands or content creators. How do you feel about Facebook’s role in allowing scam ads to circulate? Let us know by writing us atCyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

While there’s more than one way to format Unity C# code, agreeing on a consistent code style for your project enables your team to develop a clean, readable, and scalable codebase. In this blog, we provide some guidelines and examples you can use to develop and maintain your own code style guide.Please note that these are only recommendations based on those provided by Microsoft. This is your chance to get inspired and decide what works best for your team.Ideally, a Unity project should feel like it’s been developed by a single author, no matter how many developers actually work on it. A style guide can help unify your approach for creating a more cohesive codebase.It’s a good idea to follow industry standards wherever possible and browse through existing style guides as a starting point for creating your own. In partnership with internal and external Unity experts, we released a new e-book, Create a C# style guide: Write cleaner code that scales for inspiration, based on Microsoft’s comprehensive C# style.The Google C# style guide is another great resource for defining guidelines around naming, formatting, and commenting conventions. Again, there is no right or wrong method, but we chose to follow Microsoft standards for our own guide.Our e-book, along with an example C# file, are available for free. Both resources focus on the most common coding conventions you’ll encounter while developing in Unity. These are all, essentially, a subset of the Microsoft Framework Design guidelines, which include an extensive number of best practices beyond what we cover in this post.We recommend customizing the guidelines provided in our style guide to suit your team’s preferences. These preferences should be prioritized over our suggestions and the Microsoft Framework Design guidelines if they’re in conflict.The development of a style guide requires an upfront investment but will pay dividends later. For example, managing a single set of standards can reduce the time developers spend on ramping up if they move onto another project.Of course, consistency is key. If you follow these suggestions and need to modify your style guide in the future, a few find-and-replace operations can quickly migrate your codebase.Concentrate on creating a pragmatic style guide that fits your needs by covering the majority of day-to-day use cases. Don’t overengineer it by attempting to account for every single edge case from the start. The guide will evolve organically over time as your team iterates on it from project to project.Most style guides include basic formatting rules. Meanwhile, specific naming conventions, policy on use of namespaces, and strategies for classes are somewhat abstract areas that can be refined over time.Let’s look at some common formatting and naming conventions you might consider for your style guide.The two common indentation styles in C# are the Allman style, which places the opening curly braces on a new line (also known as the BSD style from BSD Unix), and the K&R style, or “one true brace style,” which keeps the opening brace on the same line as the previous header.In an effort to improve readability, we picked the Allman style for our guide, based on the Microsoft Framework Design guidelines: Whatever style you choose, ensure that every programmer on your team follows it.A guide should also indicate whether braces from nested multiline statements should be included. While removing braces in the following example won’t throw an error, it can be confusing to read. That’s why our guide recommends applying braces for clarity, even if they are optional.Something as simple as horizontal spacing can enhance your code’s appearance onscreen. While your personal formatting preferences can vary, here are a few recommendations from our style guide to improve overall readability:Add spaces to decrease code density:The extra whitespace can give a sense of visual separation between parts of a lineUse a single space after a comma, between function arguments.Don’t add a space after the parenthesis and function arguments.Don’t use spaces between a function name and parenthesis.Avoid spaces inside brackets.Use a single space before flow control conditions: Add a space between the flow comparison operator and the parentheses.Use a single space before and after comparison operators.Variables typically represent a state, so try to attribute clear and descriptive nouns to their names. You can then prefix booleans with a verbfor variables that must indicate a true or false value. Often they are the answer to a question such as, is the player running? Is the game over? Prefix them with a verb to clarify their meaning. This is often paired with a description or condition, e.g., isPlayerDead, isWalking, hasDamageMultiplier, etc.Since methods perform actions, a good rule of thumb is to start their names with a verb and add context as needed, e.g., GetDirection, FindTarget, and so on, based on the return type. If the method has a bool return type, it can also be framed as a question.Much like boolean variables themselves, prefix methods with a verb if they return a true-false condition. This phrases them in the form of a question, e.g., IsGameOver, HasStartedTurn.Several conventions exist for naming events and event handles. In our style guide, we name the event with a verb phrase,similar to a method. Choose a name that communicates the state change accurately.Use the present or past participle to indicate events “before” or “after.” For instance, specify OpeningDoor for an event before opening a door and DoorOpened for an event afterward.We also recommend that you don’t abbreviate names. While saving a few characters can feel like a productivity gain in the short term, what is obvious to you now might not be in a year’s time to another teammate. Your variable names should reveal their intent and be easy to pronounce. Single letter variables are fine for loops and math expressions, but otherwise, you should avoid abbreviations. Clarity is more important than any time saved from omitting a few vowels.At the same time, use one variable declaration per line; it’s less compact, but also less error prone and enhances readability. Avoid redundant names. If your class is called Player, you don’t need to create member variables called PlayerScore or PlayerTarget. Trim them down to Score or Target.In addition, avoid too many prefixes or special encoding.A practice highlighted in our guide is to prefix private member variables with an underscore (_) to differentiate them from local variables. Some style guides use prefixes for private member variables (m_), constants (k_), or static variables (s_), so the name reveals more about the variable.However, it’s good practice to prefix interface names with a capital “I” and follow this with an adjective that describes the functionality. You can even prefix the event raising method (in the subject) with “On”: The subject that invokes the event usually does so from a method prefixed with “On,” e.g., OnOpeningDoor or OnDoorOpened.Camel case and Pascal case are common standards in use, compared to Snake or Kebab case, or Hungarian notations. Our guide recommends Pascal case for public fields, enums, classes, and methods, and Camel case for private variables, as this is common practice in Unity.There are many additional rules to consider outside of what’s covered here. The example guide and our new e-book, Create a C# style guide: Write cleaner code that scales, provide many more tips for better organization.The concept of clean code aims to make development more scalable by conforming to a set of production standards. A style guide should remove most of the guesswork developers would otherwise have regarding the conventions they should follow. Ultimately, this guide should help your team establish a consensus around your codebase to grow your project into a commercial-scale production.Just how comprehensive your style guide should be depends on your situation. It’s up to your team to decide if they want their guide to set rules for more abstract, intangible concepts. This could include rules for using namespaces, breaking down classes, or implementing directives like the #region directive (or not). While #region can help you collapse and hide sections of code in C# files, making large files more manageable, it’s also an example of something that many developers consider to be code smells or anti-patterns. Therefore, you might want to avoid setting strict standards for these aspects of code styling. Not everything needs to be outlined in the guide – sometimes it’s enough to simply discuss and make decisions as a team.When we talked to the experts who helped create our guide, their main piece of advice was code readability above all else. Here are some pointers on how to achieve that:Use fewer arguments: Arguments can increase the complexity of your method. By reducing their number, you make methods easier to read and test.Avoid excessive overloading: You can generate an endless permutation of method overloads. Select the few that reflect how you’ll call the method, and then implement those. If you do overload a method, prevent confusion by making sure that each method signature has a distinct number of arguments.Avoid side effects: A method only needs to do what its name advertises. Avoid modifying anything outside of its scope. Pass in arguments by value instead of reference when possible. So when sending back results via the out or ref keyword, verify that’s the one thing you intend the method to accomplish. Though side effects are useful for certain tasks, they can lead to unintended consequences. Write a method without side effects to cut down on unexpected behavior.We hope that this blog helps you kick off the development of your own style guide. Learn more from our example C# file and brand new e-book where you can review our suggested rules and customize them to your team’s preferences.The specifics of individual rules are less important than having everyone agree to follow them consistently. When in doubt, rely on your team’s own evolving guide to settle any style disagreements. After all, this is a group effort.

While Kojima Productions might be adding the finishing touches on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach leading up to the title’s June 26 release date, director Hideo Kojima has also started talking about the studio’s next project – Physint. In an interview with Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar), Kojima spoke about how he came up with the idea for Physint when he was unwell during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kojima explained that the idea to work on Physint after Death Stranding 2: On the Beach occurred to him because he believed that his fans want him to make a game like something in the Metal Gear franchise. “Of course, I have lots of new ideas that I want to create,” Kojima said. “But when I became sick during the pandemic, I realised that a lot of people wanted me to make something like Metal Gear. That’s when I had the idea for a new espionage game. I reflected, and thought the idea was good.” Kojima also spoke about discussing the concept of Physint with Sony, and the company agreeing. “We explored many options, and we agreed on doing Physint,” he said. However, it is worth noting that Physint is still likely quite some time away. The game was officially announced back in February 2024. During the announcement, Kojima had said that the title will blend various aspects of games and film together, which likely means that Physint will be more similar than not to older Metal Gear titles. “I cannot tell you so much now, but we plan to bring together cutting-edge technology and talent from around the world to create [Physint],” Kojima said. “Of course, it is an interactive game, but it is also a movie at the same time, in terms of look, story, theme, casting, acting, fashion, and sound. With this title, we hope to transcend the barriers between film and video games.” Kojima’s asistant, Ayako Terashima, has also revealed earlier this month that Physint will take “another five or six years” before it comes out. In discussing his decision to work on an espionage-based game, Kojima spoke about wanting to work on something new after leaving Konami, which he did with Death Stranding. However, the pull for him to create a new game in the vein of Metal Gear was too strong owing to fans of Kojima’s titles from all over the world. “And since [the release of Death Stranding], there have been a lot of new ideas,” Kojima said back in 2024. “But in the last eight years, every day on social media, from users all around the world, people have been asking me to create another Metal Gear and stuff like that.” “Having said that, if the users desire it so much, I thought I should change my priorities a bit. I still want to do new things, but I decided to make an action-espionage game.” Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be the next major title by the studio, after which, work is expected to begin on Physint as well as horror title OD.