Asia

Xbox needs to make a choice, says former PlayStation leader Shawn Layden: be a publisher or a platform, but you can’t be both

• Ex-PlayStation boss says Xbox must choose: platform or publisher, not both.
• Platforms need exclusives; the biggest publisher must go multi-platform.
• PlayStation Studios never topped ~22% share, aiming to grow the market.

Shawn Layden, a former senior PlayStation executive who spent three decades at Sony and oversaw its 13-strong roster of first-party studios before leaving in 2019, has argued that Microsoft must decide whether Xbox is a platform or a publisher, because it cannot successfully be both. His comments, made…

Watch: Typhoon Bavi forecast to bring heavy rains and floods to Taiwan, Japan and China

• Typhoon Bavi is advancing toward Taiwan, Japan, and southeastern China after damaging the southern Philippines
• Forecasters expect heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across the affected regions over the weekend

See how the powerful storm is expected to move across east Asia on Saturday.

China becomes the second country to recover a rocket booster

• China is the second nation to recover a reusable rocket booster.
• A Long March 10B booster was caught intact in a sea net.
• CALT expects to refly the booster by year's end.

China has become only the second country, after the United States, to recover a reusable rocket booster, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Footage showed a Long March 10B booster descending under its own power before being caught intact in a net anchored at sea, a technique the developer…

‘Sony Knows a $1,000 PS6 Won’t Sell as Much’: Analyst on Manufacturer’s Plan to Maximise Revenue

• Analyst says Sony ending discs is inevitable, revenue-driven, like Apple dropping CD drives.
• Digital now makes up around 80% of PlayStation full-game sales.
• PS6 could launch at up to $1,000, targeting hardcore gamers.

Niko Partners director Daniel Ahmad has published a fact-based analysis explaining the reasoning behind Sony's decision to stop manufacturing physical PlayStation game discs, cutting through the emotional backlash from fans. He compares the move to Apple removing the CD drive from its laptops in 2008, arguing that although…

Japanese Boy Band Psychic Fever Wants You to Know They’re All ‘Different’: ‘We Don’t Want to Fit in a Box’

Japanese seven-piece boy band Psychic Fever have released their second full-length album, "Different", on 10 July via Warner Music and 10K Projects, four years after their 2022 debut "P.C.F." The record is built around the idea that each of its members sounds, looks and thinks differently, a concept…