Europe Pub

Hugely terrible DRM has now been rolled out to all PS4 and PS5 digital games. Every digital game you buy now requires an online check-in every 30 days. If you buy a digital game and don't connect your console to the internet for 30 days, your license will be removed.

Source [2026-04-25; +image]

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You wouldn't "lose" it, the licence would be restored after connecting to internet... provided Sony's servers are still functioning when you do...

Source [2026-04-25]

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...Trophies on PS4 require the internal system clock (the one you can’t see / alter) to be correct, so people cant change their PS4 date/time to make it look like they got trophies earlier than they really did. If your PS4 clock battery dies, all your games die

Source [2021-03-23]

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Newly purchased PS4 games now have 30 day valid license timer.
Most likely introduced in March 2026 firmware.
Could be a bug similar to an incident from 2022.
PS5 is affected too, but only shows an error when starting a game.

Source [2026-04-25]

[Image] "Don't Starve Together" (PlayStation)

European politicians have voiced support for Taiwan after President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) trip was delayed due to revoked overflight permits.

On Tuesday, Lai postponed his planned visit to Eswatini after Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar withdrew overflight permission under pressure from China. He had been scheduled to travel from Wednesday to Sunday and instead sent a special envoy.

Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio said Taiwan’s democratically elected president and its people should be free to travel and maintain diplomatic relations. He said the incident shows how external pressure can disrupt normal international exchanges, CNA reported Saturday.

Centinaio warned that China’s growing influence over third countries could harm Taiwan’s legitimate diplomatic engagement. He added that rising tensions and increased military activity in the Taiwan Strait risk undermining regional stability.

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Italian lawmakers Isabella De Monte, Alessandro Cattaneo, and Fabrizio Benzoni described the denial of overflight access as a form of coercion. They said restricting airspace for political reasons sets a dangerous precedent for international diplomacy,

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They said blocking a presidential flight sends a political signal aimed at isolating Taiwan. They added that Taiwan should be able to engage with the international community without interference.

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German lawmaker Klaus-Peter Willsch said the incident shows that political pressure has extended into the aviation sector. “Overflight rights should be based on safety and technical considerations, not political influence,” he said.

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Willsch warned that using overflight permissions as political tools could undermine the Chicago Convention, which sets global rules for civil aviation. He said such actions risk damaging global trust, safety, and stability in international air travel.

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Palantir CEO Alex Karp is a man in charge of one of the most important and frightening companies in the world. Karp’s new book, cowritten with Nicholas Zamiska, is called "The Technological Republic". After claiming “because we get asked a lot,” Palantir posted a 22-point summary of the book that reads like a corporate manifesto. It evokes both weird reactionary shit and also trilby-wearing Reddit comments from the early 2010s.

Palantir’s summary of the book is ominous. But even the company’s name is unironically ominous. The "palantíri" are crystal balls in "The Lord of the Rings" that let Middle-earth’s worst tyrants spy on the heroes of the story. It’s a fun reference if you have no shame about your company’s mission.

We’ve attempted to translate these 22 points from Alex Karp’s alien words into something more reasonable, like human words from someone who might play him in the biopic. (Hello, Taika Waititi.) In so doing, we’ve become much more sympathetic to why Jürgen Habermas refused to supervise Karp’s research.

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The man admired by many Spaniards as the finest bullfighter ever seen is recovering in hospital after being gored by a bull during his comeback from retirement.

José Antonio Morante, more commonly known by his matador’s moniker Morante de la Puebla, suffered the injury on Sunday, while bullfighting in Seville. Video footage showed him being lifted off his feet as the bull’s horn punctured his buttock, before colleagues drew the animal away from him by distracting it with their capes.

After initially being in a very serious condition with the 10-centimetre wound, which perforated his rectum, Morante is now recovering.

My kid is 7 and autistic and suddenly he has started liking Minecraft. He's watched me play it and wants to play himself.

How can I get him started? Do I just give him the laptop and trust he can figure it out or do I find a way to explain the controls?

My absolute dream would be to spin up a server with him.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/51053536

Intercept released by Ukraine’s Intelligence suggests Russian commanders threaten and beat foreign recruits to force them into near-suicidal assaults.

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An intercepted call released by Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) indicates Russian commanders may be coercing newly arrived foreign recruits into high-risk assault operations.

According to HUR, the recording captures conversations between Russian commanders discussing how to handle foreign fighters described as unwilling to carry out assigned missions.

In the call, one voice in Russian instructs a subordinate to prepare for the arrival of foreign personnel.

“Silva, you’re the one I need. Look, tomorrow they’ll bring in foreign specialists to you — they’re ready to carry out tasks, but they don’t really want to do it. Will you be able to force them to go?”

The response suggests that coercion is expected and normalized.

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In a separate part of the conversation, the speaker appears to outline methods of enforcing compliance.

“You can beat the sh*t out of them, just not the legs — we need the legs. But yeah, you can. We’ll have to force them to go, otherwise we’ll have to go ourselves. And there’s no real desire for that, f**k, so we’ll still have to make them.”

Ukrainian intelligence says the exchange reflects a broader pattern of coercion within Russian ranks, extending to foreign nationals recruited to support operations in Ukraine. Physical violence and intimidation remain key tools used by commanders to compel participation in combat missions, particularly among those reluctant to fight.

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Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has sought to supplement its forces with foreign recruits, including individuals from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, often drawn by financial incentives.

HUR has warned foreign citizens against traveling to Russia for work or military service, urging those already deployed to seek surrender through official channels such as the “I Want to Live” initiative.

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