It's official: Several Need for Speed games are about to be "retired", as EA prepares to hand over pink slips from its corporate shotgun when it gathers a chunk of the racing franchise together and delivers the news at the back of the shed.

For those old school gaming fans despairing over never being able to play certain PS3 games without having to fork out for an expensive physical edition, fret not! Sony has decided to do a 180 on two-thirds of those plans, and keep the PS3 and PS Vita stores alive. The PSP is still scheduled to be taken out to the shed, where you’ll hear a shotgun being loaded with fresh retirement buckshot.

It’s the end of an era later this year, when Sony sunsets its PlayStation 3, PSP, and PS Vita digital storefronts. Those banana stands have seen an influx of activity lately, with many players seeking to download as many of the rare and platform-exclusive games before the chance to do so is taken away from them.

Final Fantasy is about as Japanese as Yakitori, karaoke, and knowing full well that tentacles don’t belong in animated series. Fans of the franchise over in Japan recently voted for their favourite games and characters in the franchise, and guess what? Final Fantasy X came out on top.

It’s time to crack open a fresh LP of Boyz II Men, because we’ve once again come to the end of the road for a piece of the gaming industry’s legacy. Last week it was reported that Sony would be pulling the plug on its PS3, PS Vita, and PSP online stores, news which Sony confirmed last night. The PS3 and PSP stores will go offline on July 2 this year, with the PS Vita following its brothers into obscurity on August 27.

For over two decades, Sony has ruled gaming store shelves with the PlayStation consoles. Mighty machines, shipped in sturdy boxes. Some of them have been awful, others brilliant. This is the defintitive ranking, that history will remember.

A sluggish collection of games that doesn’t exactly have a user-friendly interface or features in comparison to Microsoft’s offerings on the digital retail side, that archaic console café is about to get a big upgrade.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game vanished from the Xbox 360 and PS3 digital stores at the end of 2014, a victim of delisting in this, the weirdest of timelines. Fans have been wanting the game to be restored, but even with O’Malley, Wright and publisher Ubisoft hinting at something happening, Scott Pilgrim’s single outing appears to be stuck in limbo. Or maybe not!