PlayStation Executive Jade Raymond Leaves Studio She Founded
Jade Raymond, the founder and head of Sony Group Corp. 's game developer Haven Studios, has left the company.
PlayStation leadership didn't give Haven staff a reason for her departure, but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly.
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Yahoo
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Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Thinking Cap
There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Thinking Cap Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel Editor: Amanda Rafkin KIA (65A: Sportage carmaker) The Sportage is a sports utility vehicle manufactured by the South Korean car manufacturer KIA. I was able to easily figure out this 3-letter answer, but I wouldn't say that I actually knew this. Now I do. PORK (41D: Meat used in shumai) Shumai is a type of Chinese dumpling traditionally filled with ground PORK. YEN (23A: Currency in Kyoto) Kyoto is a city in Japan. The Japanese YEN is the currency used in Japan. KAI (33A: "Cobra ___") The TV series Cobra KAI (2018-2025) is a sequel to the first three The Karate Kid movies (1984-1989). In the TV series, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka portray the same characters they played in the movie – Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, respectively – who are now adults. SHAMPOO (42A: Pet salon cleanser) Fortunately, my pet, Willow, does a good job of keeping herself clean (she's an indoor cat, so that helps), so I have not had to use SHAMPOO on her or take her to a pet salon. I am one hundred percent certain that would not be a pleasant experience for either of us. The other day, Willow decided to take a bath on my desk, while I was trying to work; she's so helpful. PITA (44A: Pocketed bread for souvlaki) Souvlaki is a fast food dish in Greek cuisine. It consists of meat (often pork) grilled on a skewer that is served with or rolled inside a PITA. The phrase "pocketed bread" is a nice hint for solvers who might not be familiar with souvlaki. SAM'S (45A: ___ Club (Costco rival)) SAM'S Club and Costco are membership-only warehouse club retail stores. Both corporations were founded in 1983, SAM'S Club in Midwest City, Oklahoma, and Costco in Seattle, Washington. EPEES (70A: Heaviest fencing blades) Of the three sword types used in the Olympic sport of fencing - ÉPÉES, sabers, and foils - ÉPÉES are the largest and heaviest. The maximum legal weight for the foil and the saber is 500 grams, while an ÉPÉE may weigh as much as 750 grams. FLAG POLE (6D: One of 195 outside the U.N.) The United Nations (U.N.) was established in 1945, after World War II. In its own words, the U.N. works for "peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet." The U.N. is headquartered in New York City. The 195 FLAG POLEs outside of the U.N. display the FLAGs of the 193 member states and two observer states. The FLAGs are arranged in English alphabetical order. The FLAGs are raised at 8:00 a.m. and lowered at 4:00 p.m. each weekday (with some exceptions). Fun fact: The 195 FLAG POLEs cover a distance of six New York City blocks. DEERE (9D: Big player in ag-tech) Ag-tech, or agricultural technology, refers to the use of technology in agriculture. John DEERE founded his company in 1837 in Grand Detour, Illinois. That same year, he began manufacturing steel plows. The products that the DEERE company manufacturers have changed significantly over the years. GARDENIA (11D: Fragrant white flower) GARDENIAs are large showy blooms that grow on shrubs or small trees. The flowers have a strong fragrance. There are currently 128 identified species of GARDENIA. ONE (12D: Number of horns on a unicorn) This is a playful way to clue the number ONE. REMY (26D: Rat chef in "Ratatouille") Ratatouille is Pixar's 2007 animated movie about REMY, a rat who possesses a heightened sense of taste and smell, and who dreams of becoming a chef. ESAU (31D: Jacob's twin) This is a reference to the Biblical story of Jacob and ESAU in the book of Genesis. ESAU is the oldest twin, and thus entitled to receive the birthright from their father, Isaac. One day Jacob makes a trade with (a presumably very hungry) ESAU, giving him a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright. CHILI OIL (38D: Spicy condiment for jiaozi) Jiaozi are a kind of dumpling commonly eaten in parts of East Asia. The dumplings consist of ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped in a thinly rolled piece of dough. Jiaozi are often served with condiments such as CHILI OIL. SPA (42D: Place to get a lymphatic drainage massage) A treatment option at some SPAs, a lymphatic drainage massage focuses on the lymphatic system, a part of the immune system that carries fluid (lymph). This type of massage is particularly helpful for reducing swelling in patients with lymphedema, a condition in which the lymph isn't returning to the blood as it should. MAGNET (46D: Fridge decoration) We have quite a collection of MAGNETs on our fridge. A few years ago, my sister gave me a set of National Park magnets. Unfortunately, only 24 of the 63 National Parks are represented in the set, but oh well... My husband and I decided we'd only put the MAGNETs on our fridge if we've visited the park. We're slowly working on getting that entire set of MAGNETs up. ECON (56D: GDP-tracking subject) GDP here stands for "gross domestic product," a measure used to assess the economic performance of a country. GDP is a topic discussed in economics classes. The abbreviation GDP in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be ECON, a shortened form of the word economics. RAP (64D: Genre for Little Simz) Little Simz is an English RAP artist. Her sixth studio album, Lotus, is expected to drop this month, on June 6. A few other clues I especially enjoyed: OLD (68A: Like many family heirlooms) HATE READ (39D: Flip through just to get mad) WHEE (59D: "This ride is fun!") CUT AND PASTE (16A: Command combo that moves text) CHILDREN AT PLAY (38A: Words after "Slow" on a street sign in a residential neighborhood) COIN A PHRASE (62A: Come up with an idiom, say) THINKING CAP: Each theme answer has the initials CAP: CUT AND PASTE, CHILDREN AT PLAY, and COIN A PHRASE. It took me a little while to see that each theme answer had the initials CAP, making for a nice "Aha!" moment when I made that discovery. I admit that I'm not sure where the "THINKING" part of the title comes into play with the theme. Is it just that we are THINKING about what CAP may stand for? That may be it. If you have another idea, let me know. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this thought-provoking puzzle. USA TODAY's Daily Crossword Puzzles Sudoku & Crossword Puzzle Answers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for June 1, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher
Digital Trends
2 hours ago
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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a solid first RPG for Nintendo Switch 2
Sometimes you need to put a game down in order to appreciate it. That's exactly what happened to me while playing Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. For its first six hours of the RPG, I was thoroughly unimpressed. I enjoyed its town-building and farming systems enough, but a dull story left me feeling like the niche series simply wasn't for me. I put it down and switched to the next game on my queue, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. It was far more similar to Rune Factory than I expected, using the same action RPG meets life sim hook. I sank a good seven hours into it before a surprising thought crossed my mind: I missed Rune Factory. Recommended Videos That anecdote speaks to the ultimate power of Guardians of Azuma. What starts as another run-of-the-mill farming game soon blossoms into an obsession thanks as its sticky hooks reveal themselves one at a time. Even with a bland story and thin combat, there's an engrossing adventure here that will give Nintendo Switch 2 owners their first meaty RPG to sink their teeth into. Learning to love Rune Factory Like previous entries in the long-running Rune Factory series, Guardians of Azuma is an RPG that's just as much about slashing enemies as it is tending crops. This entry follows a (surprise) amnesiac hero looking to heal a world thrown into chaos by an event known as the Celestial Collapse. There's a whole lot of story here, and that's consistently the weakest part of the package. While there's some thrill in battling dragons and uncovering the Gods of the world, flat writing and long bouts of dialogue can feel like more of a chore than, well, the actual chores. While that turned me away initially, the fact that I came back is a testament to what Guardians of Azuma does so well. More central than the high stakes story is the farming and town-building hook surrounding it. This time, my hero needs to take care of four different villages in towns named after the seasons. Each one has polluted plots of land that I can clear out and start building on. I start small in Spring Village, making a 3×3 patch of vegetables that I water, harvest, and sell in a shed. Then, I begin to expand. First I create a blacksmith's shop so I can upgrade my weapons. Then, I'm adding extra business like flower carts to give my town character. Soon enough, I'm obsessing over every detail down to the placement of small decorations. There's not too much thought behind my decision making at first. I'm simply crafting whatever items I can and placing them in spots that seem nice with a grid-based decoration system (it's much easier to use a classic overhead view to decorate than trying to place objects in third-person). The deeper I get, the more I start to pick up on the nuances. Certain shops will raise my stats, while others will give a boost to stats like trading. I begin to make more deliberate decisions, just as I start amassing villagers and assigning them to tasks. Soon enough, I'm making thousands in passive income each day. It's around this point that I bounced off of it and moved on to Fantasy Life. At first, it was a relief. It's a much more streamlined life sim despite having a lot of the same hooks. I spent hours picking up eggs and chopping down trees, happy that I didn't have to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. But as my chores began to feel tedious, my mind started wandering back to Rune Factory. I began to miss my fully automated villages and the dozens of stats powering them. I yearned for all those complicated RPG hooks that gave me a constant sense of progression. Before I knew it, I picked my Switch back up and went back to that digital life. What I found calling to me was the incredible sense of automation that's possible in Guardians of Azuma. In the countless games I've played like it, my constant input is needed to keep the world running. I need to water the flowers, to harvest the crops, and to bargain with merchants. Here, I feel more like the mayor of four towns that can run themselves so long as I'm willing to invest in the right infrastructure. If I build houses, I can court more capable workers. If I construct businesses, they'll make money for the town. If I lay down soil, my farmers will take care of the rest. My job becomes more that of a financier who is setting these towns' economy in motion. There is a sense that the world moves even when I'm not there, and that's a very rare feeling for a video game to truly nail. Of course, there's plenty of work for me to do even when I'm not creating functional towns. The action side of the story has me flying to floating islands and slashing my way through dungeons full of orcs and tanuki. The combat is fairly repetitive, mostly requiring me to mash one button to attack and time dodges to activate slow motion counters, but I even come around to that with time. There's a lot of character building to be done through dense skill trees, equipment to upgrade, and spells to learn that are tied to tools like drums and umbrellas that are unlocked through the story. Most of my fights still tend to go one way as I slash enemies with my dual blades and poke their weak spots with a bow, but I have a lot of control over my build as well as six slots for party members. But frankly, I'm in no rush to see the story through to the end. After trying to blaze through it initially, I've found it more enjoyable to slow my roll and make my villages better piece by piece. I love hunting for frog statues out in the world that unlock more food and decoration recipes. I'm trying to tame as many beasts as I can and turn them into farm animals that hang out in my towns and produce goods. I'm still deciding which of my companions to marry as I go through each one's surprisingly lengthy side-stories that are often more engaging than the primary quest. And above all else, I simply love waking up on a new day and seeing a giant list of yields pop up in the corner of my screen, showing me just how much work my villagers did while I was out adventuring. Guardians of Azuma requires a lot of patience from players and that's something that may keep the Rune Factory series firmly in its niche despite a more vibrant art style that makes it look as grand as a Fire Emblem game. Give it enough time for the wheels to start spinning, though, and you'll find that it's hard to get it off your mind. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma launches on June 5 for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
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Toyota's Big Electric Leap: 7 New EVs Are Coming to the United States
Toyota's Big Electric Leap: 7 New EVs Are Coming to the United States originally appeared on Autoblog. Toyota's been rather sluggish on the transition to EVs, instead taking a slow approach by shifting most of its lineup from combustion engines to hybrid powertrains. Don't count Toyota out of the game just yet, though - consider the manufacturer a sleeping giant who is finally waking up. After a weak entrance into the electrified segment with the bZ4X, soon to be renamed the bZ, the Japanese automaker is ramping up production with plans to sell seven EVs in the United States by mid-2027. Toyota currently has two all-electric models between its main and premium Lexus brands. The Toyota bZ4X, renamed to bZ for the 2026 model year, receives several major updates that make it more attractive, including a 314-mile range. The 2026 Lexus RZ follows suit, with improved performance and up to 300 miles of range on a single charge. Toyota also announced that the C-HR will arrive sometime in 2026, presumably for the 2027 model year, and offer a 290-mile range. Production of two new EVs will begin at its American manufacturing facilities in 2026, while three others will be imported. According to executives, the Japanese automaker expects slow but steady growth in the EV segment. If there's a surplus for American-made EVs, Toyota will export that surplus to overseas markets with faster EV adoption rates. 'We'll sell a little bit more every year and grow with the market,' Cooper Ericksen, a senior vice president of planning and strategy at Toyota Motor North America, told Bloomberg. 'But we have to think about how many Canada will use, how many the US will use, and we can then export to other global destinations.' Toyota previously pledged to offer an electrified version of every nameplate on its global lineup. To date, approximately 80% of Toyota and Lexus models are available with hybrid or all-electric powertrains. Most recently, Toyota announced that the 2026 RAV4 will come with hybrid-only powertrains. Toyota plans to manufacture at least two new EVs in the United States, but their production efforts don't end there. The Japanese automaker has plans to begin producing and shipping lithium-ion batteries from its US facility later this year. The battery plant spans more than 1,850 acres in Liberty, North Carolina. Once fully operational, the facility will have 14 lines producing batteries. Of those, four will manufacture hybrid batteries, while the other 10 will supply batteries for the two American-made EVs. The first hybrid battery line is expected to start production in June, with the rest beginning operations through 2034. Once all 14 lines are running, the production facility will produce up to 30 gigawatt hours, the equivalent of 800,000 hybrid, 150,000 plug-in hybrid, and 300,000 EV batteries. Toyota sold less than 30,000 EVs in 2024, during which US EV sales rose 7.3% to 1.3 million. That isn't surprising, considering the automaker has been fairly outspoken regarding government policy towards EV adoption. Instead of using incentives to speed up EV sales, such as the $7,500 tax credit, Toyota executives indicated that governmental bodies should allow the EV segment to grow organically. 'The whole EV ecosystem is ahead of the consumer,' said Jack Hollis, COO of Toyota North America, in November 2024 regarding emissions regulations. 'It's not in alignment with consumers. It's just not.' Even so, the Japanese automaker expects EV market share to double over the next five years. According to Cox Automotive, EV sales made up 8.1% of total vehicle sales in 2024. Currently, competitors like Tesla and Hyundai are dominating US EV sales. While all-electric vehicles might not be a major seller for Toyota now, executives aren't willing to cede the segment to competing manufacturers. Tariffs aside, it looks like Toyota has a solid plan to become a true competitor in the EV segment. Considering the original bZ4X crossover was met with mixed reactions thanks to its slow charging speed, lackluster performance, and disappointing range, Toyota's upcoming EVs are a breath of fresh air. The updated bZ and RZ seem promising enough, and the upcoming C-HR looks like a stylish addition to the all-electric lineup. If the pricing is right, Toyota could very well overtake General Motors and Hyundai within a few years. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese manufacturer manages to topple Tesla, too. Toyota's Big Electric Leap: 7 New EVs Are Coming to the United States first appeared on Autoblog on Jun 1, 2025 This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
