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https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/microsofts-quest-for-short-term-dollardollardollar-is-doing-long-term-damage-to-windows-surface-xbox-and-beyond
  Sounds like we’re coming close to the end of the line for Xbox. What a shame, such a waste of potential. If they want to make the biggest splash possible as a 3rd party publisher though, they should probably wait until the release of Switch 2; come swinging right out of the gate with the likes of the complete Halo, Gears and Forza series during the launch window and immediately establish themselves as the biggest 3rd party on Nintendo’s next console.  No doubt they’d get the sweetheart royalty deal to end all sweetheart royalty deals if they do this.

New PS2 Classics seem to be on their way to the Classics Catalog after Star Wars: The Clone Wars (yes, another one ), originally released for PS2 in 2002, has been spotted on the backend of the PlayStation Store; it is seemingly set for release 11th June 2024: Not one I've played before from memory, so I'd be very interested in checking it out seeing as the little I know about it has me viewing it as the progenitor for the Battlefront games.  Anyways, to me this would seem to suggest that PlayStation have a new PS2 emulator around, especially seeing as the description mentions up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters? It is also worth bearing in mind here that there was also that slate of Star Wars classics released back in 2015 on the PS4 which included PS2 games like Jedi Starfighter and Bounty Hunter, so I do also wonder if this is something they've prepped from scratch or if there was anything prepped for that collection, as The Clone Wars wasn't included (though that could also have been the case for a number of other reasons).  Again, as a Star Wars fan I love it, but it's odd - especially with seemingly new PS2 emulation involved, or at least a fresh approach to it for PlayStation - that this is the game which would crop up first to lead the charge on a potential wave of new PS2 Classics showing up. Very interested in seeing if any other games pop up in the next few weeks before this will likely launch, and also how we find out about it officially, seeing as May 4th is a good 10+ days behind us at this point, and there have been those rumours of a May PlayStation Showcase for some time now. You could time it with The Acolyte I suppose, which kicks off on June 4th? But they feel too unrelated for me to see that being the case 

Ultimately I think it's an issue either way. I agree with you that the people in charge of VAR and their training/lack of ownership over issues is what needs to be improved, but after years of the Premier League consistently getting it wrong and seeing it used generally much more efficiently and accurately in other leagues/competitions, I think this being pushed forward isn't so much a commentary on the technology itself, but rather the people on charge of it. Teams voting against it, as I see it, aren't viewing against the technology, even if a byproduct of this being passed could be it being removed for the foreseeable future; they're effectively making it a vote of no confidence in the current referring leadership and VAR overseers.  Because I do also think it's a big step backwards if it gets removed at this point, some of the nice QOL aspects people don't think about and a lot of the right decisions being made are being overlooked in essentially returning to a Wild West approach. Semi-automated offsides like you highlight are absolutely going to be beneficial as far as I'm concerned, and I would have also liked similar checks extended to corners in the future, because the amount of times I randomly tune in and watch a replay of a shot taking a slight but meaningful deflection off a defender, or being finger-tipped over or around woodwork by a goalkeeper, only to then see a goal kick awarded is insane.  I'm in total agreement, but I think any retrospective vote would also have questions raised and be a bit of a mess too, for instance the 100 journalists who comprise the voting jury from the 100 highest-ranked nations in the world – are these then going to be the same journalists who would have voted in 2020? Do they still have the full context of that season in their memory outside of a highlights reel to jog their memory? If any nation has slipped out of the Top 100 since 2020, are they still allowed to have their journalist partake and vote, or would their replacement nation in the rankings have their journalist vote? I think you end up with at least one more additional asterisk based on how the vote would be handled.  And so on. I totally agree with you, but I guess if nothing else the questions about the vote here aren't around the winner like they should be - the purpose of the vote ultimately is to find that winner - but rather the process and who then comes 2nd, 3rd, 4th...and so on. The other things I see as nice to have – but history will remember who won, and Lewa is absolutely owed that Ballon D'Or in fairness. It's not a serious question for them to entertain which could be why they would be keen to bypass it if they decide to make it happen.  Now, how exactly that would track in a year where there were two or more frontrunners, like in the prime years of Messi vs Ronaldo? I'm not quite sure. But hopefully nothing serious enough ever happens again that France Football takes it on themselves to revolve the centre of the football awards universe around the potential early overreaction and subsequent cancellation of the weakest of the five major leagues in Europe 

The Dune hype continues with Dune: Prophecy.