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Last week, analyst Daniel Ahmad compared the end of physical PlayStation games to the end of disc drives in Apple laptops, noting that nobody these days really seems to care about PC games having gone all-digital . The full post was lengthy and nuanced, but the internet tends not to read that far (congrats on making it over 50 words into this article, by the way), so now he's further clarifying what he meant on social media.

"When I compared Sony stopping disc production to CD drives being removed from computers, I'm talking in the context of games shipping on disc," Ahmad says on Bluesky . "Obviously you can buy an external drive for a PC, but virtually no modern PC game. This isn't me saying 'Wow I love Sony and they are great for doing this', it's to say that PC is essentially 100% digital and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone pining for the days of physical PC games."

Look, I like old-school, big box PC games and collect them here and there, but even as I cling to physical console games I'm willing to admit that the ship has long since sailed for physical computer games. There are all kinds of things making physical versions of modern PC games impractical, from the lack of disc drives on most retail computers to the inordinate amount of discs a modern PC install would require.

Ahmad reiterates the central point from his original post: "Regardless of whether it's bringing physical back, or embracing digital, the conversation needs to shift to consumer rights and what a license should enable. Stop Killing Games was one part of it, but gifting, family sharing, refunds, and other aspects are just as important."

That gets to the key difference separating digital games on console from those on PC. Steam dominates computer game distribution, with easy ways to gift games, solid refund policies, and built-in family sharing options. Valve is pressed into offering those kinds of features because it faces competition from other digital storefronts and the convenience of pirated games, but it would be a lot better for consumers if those kinds of features were required on digital stores by law.

We don't know what the PlayStation Store will look like when physical disc production ends, but none of the three console manufacturers have offered digital storefronts on par with those on PC, never mind something in line with what groups like Stop Killing Games are dreaming of. While I'd love for physical games to exist forever, I'm not confident they will. That's why, as Ahmad suggests, we need to be pushing for stronger ownership rights for our digital goods.

These are the best physical games to grab while you still can.

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Matt Kamlet, an employee at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, sits atop the virtual reality passenger ride quality simulator during a study of air taxi motion Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. NASA recently completed a multi-year study to understand how large, sudden air taxi motion affects ride comfort.

NASA/Christopher LC Clark

No one wants to get into an uncomfortable aircraft. NASA research could help the emerging industry of air taxis —small, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft meant for short trips — understand the relationship between comfort and willingness to fly.

That’s where NASA comes in, with data that can help identify how to plan air taxi rides that can keep travelers feeling good.

NASA was able to gather that data by putting its own employees through some rough virtual flights. At the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, volunteers have been strapping into a virtual reality motion simulator to experience the sudden shifts and tilts that tomorrow’s air taxis could encounter, showing researchers those moments feel from a passenger’s point of view.

Their reactions are giving NASA new insight into how aircraft motion influences comfort and confidence in flight — for instance, that certain kinds of large, sudden motions can be especially bothersome. Using that data, the team developed new models linking those sudden motions to passengers’ willingness to fly. The models can help guide future aircraft design and flight operations, letting producers know what maneuvers will be too jarring for future air taxi riders.

Large, sudden movements can also come from gusting winds or landings. The NASA data allows researchers to estimate when passengers may begin to feel uncomfortable as motion increases, giving them the ability to shape aircraft designs and operations to minimize the impact of those situations.

“Through this study and others, we are starting to identify passenger comfort thresholds for aggressive flight motion,” said Curtis Hanson, NASA Armstrong lead researcher for this effort. “We can begin to make predictions about how air taxis should fly so that most passengers will find the experience enjoyable and want to ride again, which will benefit the public and the industry.”

In the simulator, each participant experienced four levels of their aircraft pitching up and down, tilting from side-to-side, rotating, or accelerating quickly into a climb or a dive during flights from downtown San Francisco to Alcatraz Island in California. Even moderate changes in these motions reduced comfort for some participants, while others remained comfortable at higher levels. Participants rated each flight on a five-point scale and identified which motions felt uncomfortable.

Participants were asked whether they would take a real air taxi flight with motion they find uncomfortable. Their answers suggested that today’s travelers may be less tolerant of rough motion than airline passengers 50 years ago, based on comparisons with earlier NASA ride-quality research.

This latest feedback builds on a multiyear NASA study to better understand air taxi passenger comfort. The overall research effort found clear relationships between specific aircraft motions and how comfortable people feel during flight.

This work is currently led under the Subsonic Vehicle Technologies and Tools project in NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate and contributes to the agency’s advanced air mobility research.

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Jul 13, 2026

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Dede Dinius

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Teresa Whiting

teresa.whiting@nasa.gov

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Many consider two of the most valuable companies in the world, Microsoft and Apple, to be at different ends of a spectrum. While different in their broad target market, they compete intensely in similar markets like operating systems, consumer hardware and enterprise software. It's little surprise, then, that their respective leaders have looked at each other with disdain throughout history.

Big Macs and chips

Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs compared Microsoft to the fast food chain McDonald's in an interview for the 1995 PBS documentary series ' Triumph of the Nerds '.

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In a set of scathing comments, he said the company that Bill Gates founded was only able to enjoy its reach and success due to a "Saturn-5 booster called IBM". Gates used the opportunity granted by IBM outsourcing the operating system for the first IBM PC to Microsoft, called MS-DOS, with Gates retaining the rights to license the software and "create more opportunity", as Jobs phrased it.

Although he praised this aspect of the business – reiterating that Microsoft deserves its success – Jobs was adamant the firm doesn't add any originality into the broader ecosystem and isn't interested in the user experience. They have no "spirit" he said, and described their products as "very pedestrian".

From enemies to friends

Despite the decades-long sparring that Gates and Jobs engaged in, they eventually underwent a multi-stage reconciliation process that eventually led to a very different kind of relationship before Jobs' death in 2013.

In today's technology landscape, the two companies enjoy less of a heated rivalry that peaked during the operating system wars in the 1990s – with each enjoying a moat (Microsoft in the enterprise space and Apple in the consumer space).

Instead, they now compete in domains like AI and cloud computing alongside plenty of other Silicon Valley rivals. However, that doesn't mean there isn't the occasional jab – like outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook dunking on the Surface Pro .