The ways roads are used, with ever larger and heavier vehicles, have dramatic consequences on the environment – and electric cars are not the answer Today, there is an average of 37 tonnes of road per inhabitant of the planet. The weight of the road network alone accounts for a third of all construction worldwide, and has grown exponentially in the 20th century. There is 10 times more bitumen, in mass, than there are living animals. Yet growth in the mass of roads does not automatically correspond to population growth, or translate into increased length of road networks. In wealthier countries, the number of metres of road per inhabitant has actually fallen over the last century. In the United States, for instance, between 1905 and 2015 the length of the network increased by a factor of 1.75 and the population by a factor of 3.8, compared with 21 for the mass of roads. Roads have become wider and, above all, much thicker. To understand the evolution of these parameters, and their environmental impact, it is helpful to trace the different stages in the life of the motorway.  Until the early 20th century, roads were used for various modes of transport, including horses, bicycles, pedestrians and trams; as a result of the construction of railways, road traffic even declined in some European countries in the 19th century. The main novelty brought by the motorway was that they would be reserved for motorised traffic. In several languages, the word itself – autostrada, autobahn, autoroute or motorway – speaks of this exclusivity.  Roman roads varied from simple corduroy roads, made by placing logs perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area, to paved roads, as this engraving from Jean Rondelet’s 19th‑century Traité Théorique et Pratique de l’Art de Bâtir shows. Using deep roadbeds of tamped rubble as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, major roads were often stone-paved, metalled, cambered for drainage and flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches Like any major piece of infrastructure, motorways became the subject of ideological discourse, long before any shovel hit the ground; politicians underlined their role in the service of the nation, how they would contribute to progress, development, the economy, modernity and even civilisation. The inauguration ceremony for the construction of the first autostrada took place in March 1923, presided over by Italy’s prime minister Benito Mussolini. The second major motorway programme was announced by the Nazi government in 1933, with a national network planned to be around 7,000 kilometres long. In his 2017 book Driving Modernity: Technology, Experts, Politics, and Fascist Motorways, 1922–1943, historian Massimo Moraglio shows how both programmes were used as propaganda tools by the regimes, most notably at the international road congresses in Milan in 1926 and Munich in 1934. In the European postwar era, the notion of the ‘civilising’ effect of roads persevered. In 1962, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, then‑secretary of state for finances and later president of France, argued that expanded motorways would bring ‘progress, activity and life’. This discourse soon butted up against the realities of how motorways affected individuals and communities. In his 2011 book Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, Peter D Norton explores the history of resistance to the imposition of motorised traffic in North American cities. Until the 1920s, there was a perception that cars were dangerous newcomers, and that other street and road uses – especially walking – were more legitimate. Cars were associated with speed and danger; restrictions on motorists, especially speed limits, were routine.  Built between 1962 and 1970, the Westway was London’s first urban motorway, elevated above the city to use less land. Construction workers are seen stressing the longitudinal soffit cables inside the box section of the deck units to achieve the bearing capacity necessary to carry the weight of traffic Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy To gain domination over cities, motor vehicles had to win priority over other street uses. Rather than restricting the flow of vehicles to minimise the risk of road accidents, a specific infrastructure was dedicated to them: both inner‑city roads and motorways. Cutting through the landscape, the motorway had, by definition, to be inaccessible by any other means of transport than motorised vehicle. To guarantee the fluidity of traffic, the construction of imposing bridges, tunnels and interchanges is necessary, particularly at junctions with other roads, railways or canals. This prioritisation of one type of user inevitably impacts journeys for others; as space is fragmented, short journeys are lengthened for those trying to navigate space by foot or bicycle.  Enabling cars to drive at around 110–140km/h on motorways, as modern motorways do, directly impacts their design, with major environmental effects: the gradient has to be gentle (4 per cent), the curves long (1.5km in radius) and the lanes wide, to allow vehicles to overtake each other safely. As much terrain around the world is not naturally suited to these requirements, the earthworks are considerable: in France, the construction of a metre of highway requires moving some 100m3 of earth, and when the soil is soft, full of clay or peat, it is made firmer with hydraulic lime and cement before the highway’s first sub‑layers are laid. This material cost reinforces the criticisms levelled in the 1960s, by the likes of Jane Jacobs and Lewis Mumford, at urban planning that prioritised the personal motor vehicle. When roads are widened to accommodate more traffic, buildings are sliced and demolished, as happened in Dhaka’s Bhasantek Road in 2021 Credit: Dhaka Tribune Once built, the motorway is never inert. Motorway projects today generally anticipate future expansion (from 2×2 to 2×3 to 2×4 lanes), and include a large median strip of 12m between the lanes, with a view to adding new ones. Increases in speed and vehicle sizes have also translated into wider lanes, from 2.5m in 1945 to 3.5m today. The average contemporary motorway footprint is therefore 100 square metres per linear metre. Indeed, although the construction of a road is supposed to reduce congestion, it also generates new traffic and, therefore, new congestion. This is the principle of ‘induced traffic’: the provision of extra road capacity results in a greater volume of traffic. The Katy Freeway in Texas famously illustrates this dynamic. Built as a regular six‑lane highway in the 1960s, it was called the second worst bottleneck in the nation by 2004, wasting 25 million hours a year of commuter time. In 2011, the state of Texas invested US$2.8 billion to fix this problem, widening the road to a staggering total of 26 lanes. By 2014, the morning and afternoon traffic had both increased again. The vicious circle based on the induced traffic has been empirically demonstrated in most countries: traffic has continued to increase and congestion remains unresolved, leading to ever-increasing emissions. In the EU, transport is the only sector where greenhouse gas emissions have increased in the past three decades, rising 33.5 per cent between 1990 and 2019. Transport accounts for around a fifth of global CO₂ emissions today, with three quarters of this figure linked to road transport. Houston’s Katy Freeway is one of the world’s widest motorways, with 26 lanes. Its last expansion, in 2008, was initially hailed as a success, but within five years, peak travel times were longer than before the expansion – a direct illustration of the principle of induced traffic Credit: Smiley N Pool / Houston Chronicle / Getty Like other large transport infrastructures such as ports and airports, motorways are designed for the largest and heaviest vehicles. Engineers, road administrations and politicians have known since the 1950s that one truck represents millions of cars: the impact of a vehicle on the roadway is exponential to its weight – an online ‘road damage calculator’ allows you to compare the damage done by different types of vehicles to the road. Over the years, heavier and heavier trucks have been authorised to operate on roads: from 8‑tonne trucks in 1945 to 44 tonnes nowadays. The European Parliament adopted a revised directive on 12 March 2024 authorising mega‑trucks to travel on European roads; they can measure up to 25 metres and weigh up to 60 tonnes, compared with the previous limits of 18.75 metres and 44 tonnes. This is a political and economic choice with considerable material effects: thickness, rigidity of sub‑bases and consolidation of soil and subsoil with lime and cement. Altogether, motorways are 10 times thicker than large roads from the late 19th century. In France, it takes an average of 30 tonnes of sand and aggregate to build one linear metre of motorway, 100 times more than cement and bitumen.  The material history of road networks is a history of quarrying and environmental damage. The traces of roads can also be seen in rivers emptied of their sediment, the notches of quarries in the hills and the furrows of dredgers extracting sand from the seabed. This material extraction, arguably the most significant in human history, has dramatic ecological consequences for rivers, groundwater tables, the rise of sea levels and saltwater in farmlands, as well as biodiversity. As sand is ubiquitous and very cheap, the history of roads is also the history of a local extractivism and environmental conflicts around the world.  Shoving and rutting is the bulging and rippling of the pavement surface. Once built, roads require extensive maintenance – the heavier the vehicles, the quicker the damage. From pothole repair to the full resurfacing of a road, maintenance contributes to keeping road users safe Credit: Yakov Oskanov / Alamy Once roads are built and extended, they need to be maintained to support the circulation of lorries and, by extension, commodities. This stage is becoming increasingly important as rail freight, which used to be important in countries such as France and the UK, is declining, accounting for no more than 10 per cent of the transport of commodities. Engineers might judge that a motorway is destined to last 20 years or so, but this prognosis will be significantly reduced with heavy traffic. The same applies to the thousands of motorway bridges: in the UK, nearly half of the 9,000 highway bridges are in poor condition; in France, 7 per cent of the 12,000 bridges are in danger of collapsing, as did Genoa’s Morandi bridge in 2018. If only light vehicles drove on it, this infrastructure would last much longer. This puts into perspective governments’ insistence on ‘greening’ the transport sector by targeting CO2 emissions alone, typically by promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Public policies prioritising EVs do nothing to change the mass of roads or the issue of their maintenance – even if lorries were to run on clean air, massive quarrying would still be necessary. A similar argument plays out with regard to canals and ports, which have been constantly widened and deepened for decades to accommodate ever-larger oil tankers or container ships. The simple operation of these infrastructures, dimensioned for the circulation of commodities and not humans, requires permanent dredging of large volumes. The environmental problem of large transport infrastructure goes beyond the type of energy used: it is, at its root, free and globalised trade. ‘The material life cycle of motorways is relentless: constructing, maintaining, widening, thickening, repairing’ As both a material and ideological object, the motorway fixes certain political choices in the landscape. Millions of kilometres of road continue to be asphalted, widened and thickened around the world to favour cars and lorries. In France, more than 80 per cent of today’s sand and aggregate extraction is used for civil engineering works – the rest goes to buildings. Even if no more buildings, roads or other infrastructures were to be built, phenomenal quantities of sand and aggregates would still need to be extracted in order to maintain existing road networks. The material life cycle of motorways is relentless: constructing, maintaining, widening, thickening, repairing, adding new structures such as wildlife crossings, more maintaining.  Rising traffic levels are always deemed positive by governments for a country’s economy and development. As Christopher Wells shows in his 2014 book Car Country: An Environmental History, car use becomes necessary in an environment where everything has been planned for the car, from the location of public services and supermarkets to residential and office areas. Similarly, when an entire economy is based on globalised trade and just‑in‑time logistics (to the point that many service economies could not produce their own personal protective equipment in the midst of a pandemic), the lorry and the container ship become vital.  The final stage in the life of a piece of motorway infrastructure is dismantling. Like the other stages, this one is not a natural outcome but the fruit of political choices – which should be democratic – regarding how we wish to use existing roads. Dismantling, which is essential if we are to put an end to the global extractivism of sand and aggregates, does not mean destruction: if bicycles and pedestrians were to use them instead, maintenance would be minimal. This final stage requires a paradigm shift away from the eternal adaptation to increasing traffic. Replacing cars and lorries with public transport and rail freight would be a first step. But above all, a different political and spatial organisation of economic activities is necessary, and ultimately, an end to globalised, just-in-time trade and logistics. In 1978, a row of cars parked at a shopping centre in Connecticut was buried under a thick layer of gooey asphalt. The Ghost Parking Lot, one of the first projects by James Wines’ practice SITE, became a playground for skateboarders until it was removed in 2003. Images of this lumpy landscape serve as allegories of the damage caused by reliance on the automobile Credit: Project by SITE Lead image: Some road damage is beyond repair, as when a landslide caused a large chunk of the Gothenburg–Oslo motorway to collapse in 2023. Such dramatic events remind us of both the fragility of these seemingly robust infrastructures, and the damage that extensive construction does to the planet. Credit: Hanna Brunlöf Windell / TT / Shutterstock 2025-06-03 Reuben J Brown Share

Apple prepares to cry wolf over gaming again | Opinion Gaming on Apple platforms is set to be a WWDC focus once again – but with the company increasingly pushed to open up its app ecosystem, maybe this time the wolf is real Feature by Rob Fahey Contributing Editor Published on May 30, 2025 Apple's developer-focused annual WWDC event kicks off in a little over a week, which means that it's time once again for one of the industry's most well-established games of farce; in which Apple, the GM, tries to convince us all that this time, no this time, it's really truly serious about gaming, and we, the players, all try to keep our faces straight and our eyes unrolled. It's a ritual that often skips a year or two but always comes back with a vengeance – Apple cites some impressive numbers about hours or dollars spent on games on their platforms, wheels out a famous developer to wax lyrical about the power of the hardware and demonstrate a build of their game, and announces some new iOS features related to gaming. With love-bombing of the games industry complete for another few years, they promptly delete us from their contacts and pretend not to know us when they walk past us in the supermarket. The reason we all still pay attention to this merry-go-round, though, is because just as it's hard to take seriously any of Apple's claims of yet another Damascene conversion to gaming religion, it's also impossible not to take seriously the importance of the platforms the company controls. There are 2.35 billion active Apple computing devices in the world right now. The company doesn't break down those stats into Macs, iPhones, and iPads, but we know there are well over a billion iPhones in those numbers. Most of those devices are perfectly good gaming devices, at least in terms of what their hardware is capable of. The existing mobile gaming market – while a large market by any measure – is still only scratching at the surface of the potential growth for the gaming market that could be reached through that installed base. Having one of Apple's boy-who-cried-wolf moments actually turn into a genuine commitment to gaming would be a major step towards realising that – which makes them very hard to ignore, even if we're pretty sure we know all the steps to this dance by now. So what's this year's love-bombing going to consist of? We don't know which development luminary they'll bring on stage, but it does seem pretty certain that there's a shiny new gaming-centric app that's going to be built into the next release of iOS, replacing the rather clunky Game Centre with a more streamlined game launcher (which may encompass games bought on other stores on macOS, a bit like how the Apple TV app shows the next shows in your watchlists on Netflix and other streaming services) and providing various editorial and social features. Image credit: Apple It's not clear whether this is just a new app, or if it actually represents an overhaul of the services layer of Apple's gaming offerings – for example, whether it's going to have things like chat, matchmaking, teams and so on implemented in a way that centres on the app but also available in games via an overlay or direct integration through an API. That sounds fine and dandy, though of course the Game Centre app this will replace is a reminder of one of the previous iterations of the "Apple is serious about games this time" dance. What's perhaps more interesting, though we don't yet know if it'll get an on-stage mention at WWDC, is that this is coming just as Apple wraps up the acquisition of its first ever game studio – RAC7, the studio best known for creating Sneaky Sasquatch, which has been a very steadily performing hit on the Apple Arcade service since its launch. Now, there's a very obvious caveat here before we start speculating about Apple trying to build out a game development studio system: RAC7 is a micro-studio consisting of just two people, so while it's apparently going to continue operating more or less autonomously as a wholly-owned studio, there's still a bit of a whiff of an acquihire about the situation. It makes sense for Apple to bring a studio that's been pretty solidly committed to Arcade, and successful on the platform, into the fold in this way even if it's only so that they can be used as consultants and testers for upcoming changes to the service offering. The core concept of the Apple Arcade offering – a ton of well-vetted games that are guaranteed not to be packed with microtransactions and ads – remains very compelling, especially for parents While that may be a bit of a letdown to people who got excited at the prospect that Apple would follow its efforts at building up movie and TV production studios with a similar move into gaming, this acquisition does still send a cautiously positive signal. Apple acquires small companies all the time, but it's never done so with a games studio before, so the willingness to do this suggests that it is tacitly aware of a lack of internal know-how and skills related to this market segment, and moreover, that it remains quite committed to Apple Arcade. That second part is important, because honestly, it's quite easy to forget that Apple Arcade exists sometimes. It's a bit of a cypher to a lot of the industry, I think; it was launched with much fanfare but it now essentially just sits there occupying zero mindshare for most of the gaming sector and its consumers. However, there have been some hints that it's actually quite successful commercially – a tricky thing to measure given that its primary commercial target is driving subscription numbers and retention metrics for the all-encompassing Apple One service, but at the very least there's never been a suggestion from Apple that it's unhappy with how it's performing in that regard. The core concept of the offering – a ton of well-vetted games that are guaranteed not to be packed with microtransactions and ads – remains very compelling, especially for parents, and it seems reasonable to posit that it's quietly doing a very solid amount of business off in demographic sectors that rarely engage with the traditional games industry. This, to some extent, might explain why Apple has ghosted the industry after its most recent bouts of love-bombing; Apple Arcade and the infrastructure that supports it isn't terribly meaningful to the traditional games industry, but actually accomplishes quite a lot of Apple's own internal goals with regard to gaming. That leads us to another crucially important piece of context to bear in mind when watching what the company unveils at WWDC this year – that this may be a series of strategic moves that are less about enticing the games industry to focus on Apple platforms, and more about preparing the ground for the possibility of major parts of the games business simply turning up on Apple's turf unannounced and uninvited. That spectre has been raised by various different legislative and legal moves in major markets over the past few years, all of which seem to be pointing in a similar direction – that Apple is going to be forced to open up its platform to third-party app stores, or at the very least streaming apps. The company is still fighting its corner in the courts in a lot of places, but I suspect it knows that the clock is ticking, especially in some of its most lucrative global markets. While the commercial threat posed by actual app stores is probably minimal (most people just aren't going to install a whole other app management ecosystem when the path of least resistance works fine), the threat from game storefronts is very real. Epic, Steam, and Xbox are all potentially going to have functional storefronts on iOS in one form or another in the coming years – which means an end to Apple's era of taking for granted that games will just keep churning out giant stacks of App Store cash despite being largely held at arm's length by the company. Rethinking its gaming app software and buying a small studio are far from sufficient to win a war on this new front if it opens up – but if they indicate some actual momentum building up, they might not be a bad start.

College graduates were left speechlessA video that has since gone viral on social media shows students having a QR on their smartphone scanned, only to have an AI read their name out loud — an irritating use of the tech that turned what should've otherwise been a proud moment in their academic career into what commenters likened to using the self-checkout counter at the supermarket.It's especially galling for an institution that charges north of $50,000 a year in tuition alone."So even public event speakers are getting replaced," one Reddit user wrote. As the New York Post points out, Pace University ostensibly performed the stunt for the sake of accuracy. Well ahead of the event, officials directed students to visit a website where they could phonetically spell their names and confirm how they were pronounced."To ensure your name is pronounced correctly, you must register to attend Commencement through Tassel by Wednesday, April 23," reads an FAQ on the university's website.Tassel is a private company that claims to have helped more than 600 schools "deliver the perfect moment for millions of students over 20+ years."The company offers "live ceremony stage-crossing software" designed to streamline convocation events and ensure "accurate pronunciation" of graduate names."With AI and our proprietary multilingual models — powered by a growing database of over 2 million names, phonemes, and linguistic patterns across multiple languages — our platform allows students to hear exactly how their names will be pronounced as they cross the stage," Tassel boasts on its website.If the AI butchers their name even after it was coached by the student, graduates can "submit an audio recording of their name" instead.The software raises some thorny questions about when it's truly appropriate to deploy an AI, particularly concerning jobs that could've easily been taken care of by a human."When I graduated, the person reading out the names had done a run through, just to check they were getting it right," one user wrote in a post on Threads. "It didn't take that long, and was less weird than showing your phone for them to scan."Worst of all, despite all those technical bells and whistles, Tassel reportedly still managed to butcher some names."They told us to write our names phonetically so it's said correctly, and they still said my name wrong, which is forever documented in videos," one user commented on Instagram.The use of AI to read student names has been met with significant blowback from college grads across the country.Student journalists at Northeastern University, which also deployed Tassel, published an op-ed arguing that the institution should "read our names at graduation, it’s the least you can do.""To many students like myself, a small switch from an AI voice bot to a physical person would mean the world," reads the op-ed, penned by student Henry Bova and published in The Huntington News. "A human can reciprocate our sense of joy and can understand the gravity of the moment and the academic rigor that we endured to get to this point.""All the AI voice does is reduce the recognition of our accomplishments as a menial task to push through with brute computations," Bova wrote.An online petition by students at the University of North Georgia called on the university to stop "using an AI speaker for graduation," garnering over 2,000 signatures.The backlash was so fierce in some parts of the country that West Chester University in Pennsylvania ditched the AI altogether, as Axios reported earlier this month.Other onlookers pointed out the irony of AI coming for the jobs of recent college graduates in particular."A whole lifetime of studies and 100k in debt just to have your name announced by the very entity that's going to make your studies useless," one Reddit user joked.However, not everybody was opposed to the use of the tech."I appreciate that everyone had the chance to hear their name pronounced correctly," one Reddit user argued. "Imagine being an international student and worried that someone will butcher your name. I'm ok with the solution the university gave here."Share This Article

The temperatures are heating up and school’s almost out for the summer. Before we fully dive into the warmer months and vacations, we get a mini-break in the form of Memorial Day weekend—a preview of coming attractions—but it requires some planning ahead because today (Monday May 26, 2025) is a federal holiday. Let’s take a look at a brief history of the day and what business and services will be closed to observe it. A brief history of Memorial Day Memorial Day has its roots in the aftermath of the Civil War. On May 30, 1868, John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared the first national observance of Declaration Day, Memorial Day’s predecessor, on which flowers were placed on Union soldiers’ graves. Even before this declaration, there were many similar Confederate customs. Many cities on both sides claim to be the originators of the holiday. As more battles were fought, the holiday evolved beyond a single conflict to honor and mourn all service members who lost their lives in the line of battle. It became an official federal holiday in 1971 after a 1968 law, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, was enacted by Congress. This moved the holiday from May 30 to the last Monday in May, giving many traditional American workers a three-day weekend. Memorial Day vs. Veterans Day Many mix up or confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The former celebrates service members who have died in the line of battle. The latter takes place in November and celebrates all American veterans. Are banks open on Memorial Day? No. Major money transactions that require going inside a bank are going to have to wait as these institutions are closed on federal holidays. Are ATMs open on Memorial Day? Yes. Luckily, for simpler deposits and withdrawals, automated teller machines located outside of the branch are available. Is the post office open on Memorial Day? No. You won’t be able to run into a post office on Memorial Day as the United States Postal Service (USPS) is not open for business. Buy stamps and send big packages ahead of time. Is mail delivered on Memorial Day? No. Bills and postcards will be delayed a day, as postal mail is not delivered on Memorial Day. Are FedEx and UPS operating on Memorial Day? According to the 2025 FedEx holiday schedule, only FedEx Custom Critical services will be available. FedEx Office will have a modified schedule while FedEx, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Logistics are closed. According to the 2025 UPS holiday schedule, only UPS Express Critical services are available. Limited UPS store locations will be open. UPS Forwarding, UPS Domestic Ground, Air, and International are all closed for the holiday. Is the stock market open on Memorial Day? No. You will have to buy and sell another day. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange are closed. Are schools open on Memorial Day? No. Students and teachers typically get the day off for Memorial Day. That being said, it is a good practice to double check your own school’s calendar to verify this. Are restaurants open on Memorial Day? Yes. Most restaurants are open and hoping to take advantage of the three-day weekend revenue. This includes fast food chains such as McDonald’s and sit-down chains such as Applebee’s. For smaller mom-and-pop-type places, it’s best to double check that they didn’t take the day off. Are pharmacies open on Memorial Day? Typically, yes. Most Walgreens and CVS locations will be open, but they may have modified hours. Be sure to check your local location ahead of time, especially if you need your medication in a pinch. Moreover, independent pharmacies may be closed. Are stores and groceries open on Memorial Day? For the most part, yes. Big-box retailers like Walmart and Target are open on Memorial Day, according to a roundup from USA Today. If you need a last-minute bottle of ketchup or mustard for your hamburgers and hot dogs, you are covered. Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and many more have your back. The majority of large supermarket chains will be open for all your family barbecue needs. Costco, however, will be closed, so buy in bulk ahead of time.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813k With Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's release date now just 97 days away (not that we're counting), both Sega and Lizardcube have been out and about and making sure to satiate our increasing desire for more information on their upcoming side-scrolling adventure. Of course, this isn't just any old adventure and, much like Lizardcube's previous work, such as Streets of Rage 4 and Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (both phenomenal), here we have a reworking, a full modernisation after a long period of dormancy, of the one and only Shinobi. The pressure of pulling apart a classic for the ages and rebuilding it in such a way that it satisfies newcomers and the hardcore, whilst also appearing modern and 'good'? These folks have been there and done that.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813kWatch on YouTube Images: Lizardcube, Lizardcube, Sega Speaking to Games Informer (welcome back, you guys!), Kagasei Shimomura, head of Sega's content production unit, revealed how his department had spent time going over 60 years of historic IPs that fall under the Sega umbrella. Settling on the long-dormant Shinobi series, which hasn't seen any new action since 2011's Shinobi 3D on the 3DS, the team started to put plans into action. Shimomura was aware that some old arcade series had been kept alive to a certain extent through the Sega Ages Collection, but that: "We didn't just want to go and make remasters or remakes of all the titles that are already around...We want people to enjoy and be satisfied by what we put out there, and find ways to create new Sega fans." At 2023's Game Awards, with the announcement of a whole swathe of classic reboots from Sega - including Golden Axe (cool it, grandad) - Shimomura's full plans were revealed, with particular attention being paid to Shinobi. Lizardcube was then drawn into the matter, which is hardly surprising given they'd just turned two retro IPs into critically acclaimed bangers. Luckily, the Parisian dev's CEO and creative director, Ben Fiquet, was excited by the prospect, describing during the interview how his team's blood boiled with excitement, "as big Sega fans", at the idea of getting to work on a brand new Shinobi. Images: Lizardcube, Sega Impressing Sega with a pitch that sought to balance old and new, Lizardcube then agreed that a 2D game as the most effective course of action, one that specifically took its inspiration from Shinobi 1,2 and 3, whilst giving players something new and engaging to sink their big modern teeth into. Fiquet explains: "We soon realized that if you wanted to have the player care about what they will be doing the most, which is fighting, the fighting will need to be more interesting. That’s why you have a lot of moves now, and it’s a very interesting mix because it’s more like a beat-‘em-up in a platforming environment. You have a combo system, you have different moves at your disposal, powers, ultras, and different stuff, so that when the player is doing what they’re doing the most, they are entertained." Rather than simply licence the IP out to Lizardcube, as had been done with Wonder Boy and Streets of Rage, Sega has gone all-in here, even getting down and dirty and making suggestions regarding the game's art style, the like of which, Fiquet says, is usually reserved for animated movies. Indeed, 1990s Sega hits, The Lion King and Aladdin games, which were sublimely animated it has to be said, are reference points in the look and style being adopted for Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Images: Lizardcube, Dotemu, Lizardcube In the end, such is Sega's passion for the project, Toru Ohara, a designer with over 30 years experience at Sega, got fully involved with a team of his own, acting as chief producer on the Sega side in order to ensure the correct level of expression, the right brush strokes and, of course, the right amount of respect paid to the old Shinobi games whilst modernising for a new audience. Ohara himself seems excited and happy with what's being created this far, as he puts it: "The game starts out as a normal action game, but it does feel much more like a fighting game in the end, where you have all these different combos that you could choose from because you can learn to do more and more and be able to do more and more the further you go." It's hardly a surprise that the teams involved seem to be killing it thus far, you only have to play Streets of Rage 4 for a very short period of time before realising the high level these folks are working on. The full interview goes into lots more details on how much Sega decided to get involved, alongside lots more info on some other classics, so make sure to check it out for more tidbits on those. Meanwhile, we're off to do some backflip training and then down the supermarket for a pack of plastic shuriken. Not that we're beyond excited for new Shinobi or anything. Excited for the return of Shinobi? Make sure to sneak into the comments and take us down with your opinions! Neo City showcased in new trailer Pre-orders are "coming soon" [source gameinformer.com] Related Games See Also Share:0 1 PJ is a staff writer across Pure Xbox and Nintendo Life. He's been playing video games pretty much nonstop since the early 1980s, and enjoys boring people with tedious stories about how long ago that really is. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... 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Hello everyone,We’re a two-person indie team, and we’d love to share our new game with you:🎮 Rest Area Simulator, a detailed co-op simulation/tycoon game where you manage the businesses inside a modern highway rest area.You’ll be running a gas station, a minimarket, a supermarket, and a car wash. More facilities will be added in future updates.Some of the key features:• Dynamic weather• Full day-night cycle• Dynamic economy with price fluctuations• Reputation system• Random events and unique NPC behaviorsAnd we plan to add even more businesses, products, and mechanics in future updates!🎯 Our goal is to bring different types of simulation gameplay together in one game and offer players a rich, multi-layered experience.The game is now available to wishlist on Steam. Your support means a lot to us — we’re trying to build something that’s both meaningful and fun to play.We’d truly appreciate any thoughts, comments, or feedback.We’re especially interested in hearing from people who enjoy similar types of games!

Floyd Bennett Field is a massive piece of federal property in Marine Park, Brooklyn, a floodplain that’s regularly deluged since Hurricane Sandy. Noah Martz, a Brooklyn Law School student, has an idea for how to use it that has Reddit talking. What to do with Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) has long perplexed planners, and the site now finds itself entangled in an online tug of war match between competing architectural ideologies.  “Hero Village” is the name of Martz’s land use proposal for the former airfield. It would bring approximately 20,000 residential units designated for NYPD and FDNY officers, and EMTs to the 1,300-acre plot. The design is “inspired by President Trump’s vision to build beautifully again,” Hero Village’s promotional video states. “Mr. President, it’s time for New York to truly back the blue,” the video concludes.  Martz regularly makes appeals to “MAGA YIMBY” and “neotrad” accounts on X (formerly Twitter) to drum up support for the proposal through the Hero Village NYC X account, which arrives amid other traditional propositions for New York. Penn Station’s revival, for instance, could very well yield a neoclassical design. It’s safe to say trad architects and their sympathizers feel emboldened by this president. “The idea for Hero Village came from witnessing firsthand how increasingly unaffordable New York City has become, especially for those who protect and serve the city,” Martz told AN. “Today, over 52 percent of NYPD officers live outside the five boroughs, largely due to high housing costs. At the same time, the city faces a chronic shortage of new housing construction, especially larger, family-sized units. Hero Village is a response to these problems.” The proposal however hasn’t been without criticism from other very online interlocutors. Traditional loft buildings would line Hero Village’s main thoroughfare, supported by a cyberlink rail system. (Courtesy Hero Village) “In reality, there are much more efficient ways of building density, even if you want to add facade articulation in the unclear ‘historic’ style described in the post,” said AN contributor Ryan Scavnicky, author of Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds. As a professor at Marywood University, Scavnicky studies internet subcultures and how architectural ideas proliferate on social media. “Critiquing the proposal itself—it’s in a floodplain, its inefficient layout—are moot points because this proposal is just using architecture as a medium to sway political power,” Scavnicky added, with emphasis. (Anti) Co-op City? The FBF Shelter Complex, otherwise called the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at FBF, was established at the South Brooklyn airfield in 2023 for migrant families inside shuttered aircraft hangars. By December 2024, there were at least 850 children living in the complex and attending New York City public schools. The complex was shut down in winter 2025 by New York City Mayor Eric Adams—teachers have since raised grave concerns over displaced migrant family welfare.  Hero Village was rolled out in the months after the Adams administration evacuated the FBF Shelter Complex. Its proposed architecture takes cues from Poundbury, a master planned community in the U.K. “endorsed by King Charles III,” Martz said, but also places closer to home like Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights. The Cumberland Street development near Barclays Center and Gateway Estates in East New York are other precedents Martz pointed to.  A cyberlink rail system would support Hero Village, with a direct connection to the 2/5. (Courtesy Hero Village) The main drag at Hero Village is a north-south thoroughfare lined by the kind of loft buildings you’d see in Soho or the Garment District of Manhattan. A cyberlink rail system would shuttle the main axis, which terminates at a monumental obelisk. This rail line would connect Hero Village denizens to the Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (2/5) subway stop. The cyberlink rail system itself is inspired by Elon Musk’s Hyperloop and Tesla’s Robovan. In the future, “advanced tunneling technology” could extend the 2 Train down Flatbush Avenue, connecting Hero Village with New York City, Martz posited. Martz drew up the master plan himself in Google Sketchup, he said, which took “over a year.” He then hired a rendering studio for the final graphics. Every street at Hero Village would be named after an NYPD or FDNY officer killed in the line of duty.  “I believe it’s essential to create places that also serve as spaces of reflection and remembrance,” Martz said in regard to the obelisk and the street names. He added: “The idea of an obelisk as the central memorial was inspired by its deep historical significance in American public spaces. One of the earliest examples dates back to Williamsburg, Virginia, where an obelisk was erected to honor those who opposed the Stamp Act of 1765.” Martz finds inspiration from obelisks erected after the 1765 Stamps Act rebellion. (Boston Public Library/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0) “Obelisks are now common markers of solemn remembrance, particularly for fallen service members,” Martz continued. “Hero Village will include several other memorials within park spaces and community centers dedicated to those who have given their lives in service to New York.” To mitigate flooding, Martz alluded to an unlikely example: Co-op City in the Bronx, which was likewise built on marshland. “There is ample precedent for successful residential development in flood-prone areas,” Martz noted. “While Hero Village differs significantly in style [from Co-op City], this precedent shows the feasibility of development with proper mitigation measures.” Martz does have misgivings about the comparison, however. “I am strongly opposed to the modernist ‘tower in the park’ planning approach championed by Le Corbusier, which shaped developments like Co-op City,” Martz replied when asked about his philosophy. “While Co-op City successfully provides a large number of affordable housing units, its 1960s-era design reflects a deeply flawed urban planning philosophy. The development suffers from an inefficient use of land, a lack of street-level connectivity, and an absence of human-scale, mixed-use environments.” “By contrast,” Martz continued, “Hero Village would deliver more housing on a smaller footprint through thoughtful design and land use. It emphasizes traditional urbanism with walkable narrow streets, mixed-use buildings, human-scaled architecture, and a transit-oriented layout that supports both residents and the broader community.” The main thoroughfare would terminate at a monumental obelisk. (Courtesy Hero Village) The North Forty Natural Area would be preserved and existing aircraft hangars would become museums and event spaces at Hero Village. Daycare centers, supermarkets, and playgrounds would abound. Martz elaborated Hero Village would incorporate best practices from New York’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. This means Hero Village would have a resilient seawall and ample park space which is not only “an aesthetic feature,” Martz said, but also “a core piece of flood protection infrastructure.” A Ruinous Ideology? Today, Martz is actively courting the Trump administration to help make Hero Village happen, but also New York City Councilmembers including Inna Vernikov, and Mayor Adams. He’s written letters to U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and NYPD and FDNY union associations. The promotional video for Hero Village congratulates Trump for his “stunning victory.” Floyd Bennett Field is in proximity to Councilmember Vernikov’s South Brooklyn district. Today, Vernikov is a polemic figure—she recently made headlines for showing up to a Brooklyn College protest “with a gun visible in her hip,” but she was later cleared of the “illegal gun charge.” Hero Village has publicly asked for Vernikov’s support on social media. Still, Martz affirmed he thinks Hero Village could garner bipartisan favor. “In March, a joint task force was launched to explore how underutilized federal land can be repurposed to increase housing supply and reduce costs across the country,” Martz added. “Utilizing [FBF] to provide housing for those who have dedicated their lives to public service is a logical and moral use of the site. It’s a bipartisan solution, one that should unite local, state, and federal officials.” Scavnicky however sees cracks in this logic: “In an attempt to woo Trump, Musk, and their base constituents, it seems almost like just an attempt to get their attention,” he said of the plan. “The proposal does create affordable housing for the working class, yet only members of the working class who serve the crown, err, I mean the state are worthy of purchasing units [sic].” “This X account wants to get retweeted so badly that they are willing to create architecture that betrays the needs of the people,” Scavnicky continued. “But more importantly, it serves as a fine example of an ideology’s inherent class discrimination through reasoning: Why wouldn’t these politicians support this project if it was for everyone instead of just for cops and firefighters?” Hero Village takes inspiration from Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and other historic neighborhoods. (Courtesy Hero Village) Renderings of Hero Village are similar to another recent proposal for FBF shared last March by Eli Lever, a local real estate developer. Lever’s design calls for much larger proto-Hausmannian courtyard buildings, as opposed to Martz’s brownstones. The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) has also proposed a climate hub for the grounds, a decidedly different use from the housing ideas. When asked about who will be eligible to live in Hero Village, and whether or not it’d be open to teachers and social workers like Co-op City, Martz replied: “These details are still being developed. The proposal has only recently been made public. The current focus is on generating community interest and gathering feedback.” Scavnicky cautions against attempts to look to the past to inform the future. “The need for architecture to uphold some image of an ideal past is a ruinous ideology, as can be seen in any American suburban house with fake storm windows,” Scavnicky elaborated. “This is inefficiency in service of the image—all when we should be looking toward new ways of living rather than romanticizing the past. And it’s not just about aesthetic treatment—the architectural plan of the proposed city is also an exact duplicate of an older world that doesn’t, to me, deserve to be recreated with such monotony.”

In brief: The danger faced by buy now, pay later companies is when customers don't adhere to the "pay later" part. It's a problem being faced by industry giant Klarna, which saw its net losses more than double in the first quarter as more customers struggled to pay back their loan installments. Klarna's net losses for the first quarter reached $99 million, almost double the $47 million it lost during the same period a year earlier. The problem is that an increasing number of customers who have taken out the buy now, pay later loans are struggling to pay them back. Klarna offers its BNPL services to a range of merchants, letting customers purchase a wide range of items in installments. The company makes its money by charging fees to the merchants and customers who fail to pay on time. In its first quarter earnings report, Klarna revealed that consumer credit losses were up to $136 million, an increase of around 17% compared to a year earlier. It seems there's a growing trend of BNPL customers being unable to meet their contractual obligations. Credit platform LendingTree carried out a survey last month that found 41% of users of BNPL loans said they paid late on one of them in the past year, up from 34% compared to a year ago. High-income borrowers were among the most likely to pay late, along with men, young people, and parents of young kids. // Related Stories   The survey also showed that a quarter of BNPL users said they used the loans to buy groceries amid rising supermarket costs and marking a 14% increase compared to a year ago. It also revealed that nearly 1 in 4 BNPL users said they've had three or more active BNPL loans at one time. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York last week reported that US consumer debt rose by $167 billion in the first quarter to reach a record $18.2 trillion. Elsewhere in Klarna's earnings, which was presented using an AI-generated avatar of its chief executive, the company said it has used artificial intelligence to help cut costs. The company's headcount is down 39% over the last two years, customer service costs were down 12% YoY in the first quarter. Klarna is estimated to have replaced 700 employees with AI. The good news for humans is that Klarna has started hiring them again after its CEO recently admitted AI customer service chatbots offered a "lower quality" output.

High-profile ransomware incidents affecting leading UK retailers continue to grab headlines, but in the background, total ransomware attack volumes appear to have eased off over the past few weeks, according to NCC Group’s latest monthly Threat Pulse report. NCC’s extensive telemetry observed 416 ransomware attacks in April 2025, down 31% month on month, with 78% occurring in Europe and North America, the industrials category remaining the most prominent sector, and the Akira cyber crime crew the most active group on the scene, accounting for 16% of these. However, although the statistics tell one story, the impact of ransomware was felt much more keenly in general, with incidents affecting the consumer discretionary category – that is to say, retail – and in particular the ongoing attack on Marks and Spencer (M&S), Co-op and Harrods putting ransomware at the forefront of Britain’s national discourse. These incidents, and a fourth developing attack at Peter Green Chilled – a supplier of cold-chain transit and stock management services to the supermarket sector – has spotlighted threats to the retail sector, which is already of interest to cyber criminals for several reasons, such as its high-profile nature and high-impact potential for disruption, said Matt Hull, NCC threat intelligence head. “While the number of reported ransomware victims declined further in April, it would be a mistake to assume that this is a sign that the threat is fading,” said Hull. “The recent attacks on the UK retail sector have laid bare just how disruptive and far-reaching these incidents can be. The reality is that this is only a glimpse of the broader threat landscape. Globally, many ransomware cases still fly under the radar, are under-reported or deliberately kept quiet,” he added. The recent attacks on the UK retail sector have laid bare just how disruptive and far-reaching these [ransomware] incidents can be Matt Hull, NCC Group “Geopolitical and economic uncertainty is also adding fuel to the fire, providing more lucrative targets and opportunities for attackers to strike.” April saw the anime-referencing Akira ransomware gang scoop the dubious accolade for highest volume of attacks, accounting for 65 of those recorded by NCC’s systems. This was followed by Qilin with 49, Play with 42 and Lynx with 27. Meanwhile, Babuk 2.0, which raised questions earlier in the year as to whether or not it was conducting new attacks or merely recycling data from old ones, dropped away, with just 16 hits to its name. NCC said it had found that Babuk 2.0 was indeed likely falsifying its data, which is not in and of itself a new strategy. Other gangs have tried this in the past, in general those looking to inflate their notoriety, and this may have been the case here. The researchers explained that Babuk 2.0’s ransomware claims of attacks on prominent government institutions, and even the likes of Amazon and Chinese shopping platform Taobao, were bold ones, but likely nonsense given none of those “affected” confirmed any breaches and have significant security resources of their own. It would also be difficult for any ransomware gang to breach multiple large organisations in this way in such a short space of time. Read more about ransomware Forescout researchers report on a new ransomware gang that appears to be keeping the legacy of the notorious LockBit crew alive. Administration interface instance for LockBit 3.0 affiliates has been attacked and data from its SQL database extracted and disclosed. Perimeter security appliances and devices, particularly VPNs, prove to be the most popular entry points into victim networks for financially motivated ransomware gangs, according to reports. “Babuk 2.0’s lack of credibility makes such attacks questionable. Upon further investigation by NCC, 119 out of 145 claims made by Babuk 2.0 in Q1 2025 were associated with another ransomware group or could be linked to a previous large-scale breach,” said the researchers. Actions like this exemplify how ransomware gangs change up their tactics in the hope of scoring a payout, leveraging public relations techniques to attract media attention, placing their alleged victims in the spotlight and damaging their public image. When these tactics work, said NCC’s researchers, it is more often than not because the victim is embarrassed into handing over money to make the problem go away. This month’s report also highlighted an emerging danger in the ransomware infection chain – the use of weaponised PDF files, which are beginning to be used at scale to exploit software vulnerabilities, fool users and spread malware. According to Check Point statistics, 22% of malicious email attachments now arrive in the form of a PDF. It’s more important than ever for organisations to maintain a strong security culture, respond quickly to emerging threats, and adapt to shifting tactics – all the while staying ahead of adversaries that never stop evolving Matt Hull, NCC Group NCC said such documents are becoming more deceptive and technically advanced, with the help of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Many threat actors are now embedding malicious PDFs tailored to individual recipients into their phishing campaigns. Unfortunately, this trend looks set to go mainstream, said NCC, because users seem willing to trust PDFs more than other documents, such as Microsoft Office files. Security teams should consider adapting their policies and educating users on the potential dangers of PDF files, and consider deploying tools such as email gateways with sandboxing and behavioural analysis features, using endpoint detection and response (EDR) to monitor PDF readers, disabling unneeded Javascript functions, and patching Adobe vulnerabilities as they arise – a sequence of three flaws in Acrobat Reader discovered in March likely contributed to the problem. “It’s only getting harder for individuals and organisations, who need to be forever alert,” said Hull. “In this climate, a strong and embedded security culture is no longer optional; it is a critical enabler of organisational resilience. It’s more important than ever for organisations to maintain a strong security culture, respond quickly to emerging threats and adapt to shifting tactics – all the while staying ahead of adversaries that never stop evolving.”

Peter Green Chilled, a major distributor of chilled and fresh products to British supermarkets, has reportedly fallen victim to a ransomware attack orchestrated by an as-yet unnamed cyber criminal operation, becoming the latest organisation in the British retail sector to be affected by a security incident. Established as a haulage company working with Somerset dairy suppliers 60 years ago, Peter Green has grown into a little-known but well-established player in the nation’s cold chain – temperature-controlled warehousing and transport – sector, supplying the likes of Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among others. It is also a supplier of IT services including transport and warehouse management systems (T/WMS), electronic data interchange (EDI), stock and temperature control systems, and vehicle tracking and monitoring. According to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake up to money programme – which was first to report the story – the attack appears to have begun on the evening of Wednesday 14 May and has left the organisation unable to accept new orders. A spokesperson for Peter Green told the programme it was not in a position to be able to discuss the incident further. However, one of the organisation’s customers, The Black Farmer founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, said that almost a week into the incident, he had been offered no solution for how Peter Green was going to get stock he had already delivered to its warehouses out to retailers. “If they’re not delivered in the next couple of days, because they’re fresh products, they have to be thrown away,” said Emmanuel-Jones. “For a small business it is pretty devastating. To make matters even worse is that we’ve just also got a delivery that’s come in from Sweden that is stuck at a port because Peter Green is not taking in any other stock from any suppliers, so we have to try to find some way of getting it to the supermarkets.” Emmanuel-Jones told the radio programme that his business could stand to lose up to £100,000, losses that would be hard for a small organisation to bear. Computer Weekly reached out to Peter Green Chilled but found its email addresses non-responsive. Absent further information from Peter Green, at the time of writing, any links to the ongoing DragonForce/Scattered Spider incidents affecting Marks and Spencer (M&S) and Co-op are unproven and merely speculative. However, David Mound, senior penetration tester at third-party risk specialist SecurityScorecard, said the firm’s team was closely monitoring the “emerging pattern” of cyber attacks impacting food retailers. He said that in drawing other household names into the fray, the developing Peter Green incident highlighted the fragility of interconnected digital supply chains, and was creating a cascading effect throughout the retail sector. “These incidents reflect a growing trend among cyber criminal groups to exploit sectors where time sensitivity and perishability heighten pressure to restore operations, increasing the likelihood of ransom payments,” said Mound. “In food retail, even short-term disruption can lead to spoilage, logistical bottlenecks and loss of consumer trust. “Attackers are no longer just targeting data; they’re targeting urgency,” he said. “In environments where product expiration and just-in-time delivery are business-critical, threat actors understand that every hour offline amplifies the pressure to pay. “Many critical logistics and IT providers are insufficiently risk-tiered or assessed,” added Mound. “There is an urgent need for sector-wide collaboration on third-party risk intelligence and resilience standards. “SecurityScorecard urges all organisations in the food and retail sectors to re-evaluate their third-party risk posture and ensure suppliers are assessed not only for compliance, but for operational resilience under duress.” Timeline: UK retail cyber attacks 22 April 2025: A cyber attack at M&S has caused significant disruption to customers, leaving them unable to make contactless payments or use click-and-collect services. 24 April: M&S is still unable to provide contactless payment or click-and-collect services amid a cyber attack that it says has forced it to move a number of processes offline to safeguard its customers, staff and business. 25 April: M&S shuts down online sales as it works to contain and mitigate a severe cyber attack on its systems. 29 April: The infamous Scattered Spider hacking collective may have been behind the ongoing cyber attack on M&S that has crippled systems at the retailer and left its ecommerce operation in disarray. 30 April: A developing cyber incident at Co-op has forced the retailer to pull the plug on some of its IT systems as it works to contain the attack. 1 May: Co-op tells staff to stop using their VPNs and be wary that their communications channels may be being monitored, as a cyber attack on the organisation continues to develop. 1 May: Harrods confirms it is the latest UK retailer to experience a cyber attack, shutting off a number of systems in an attempt to lessen the impact. 2 May: The National Cyber Security Centre confirms it is providing assistance to M&S, Co-op and Harrods as concerns grow among UK retailers. 7 May: No end is yet in sight for UK retailers subjected to apparent ransomware attacks. 13 May: M&S is instructing all of its customers to change their account passwords after a significant amount of data was stolen in a DragonForce ransomware attack. 14 May: Google’s threat intel analysts are aware of a number of in-progress cyber attacks against US retailers linked to the same Scattered Spider gang that supposedly attacked M&S and Co-op in the UK.