Something for the Weekend – 04/05/24

“Mglrmglmglmgl mmgr a new mmmurlok transmog for mmmm mrrrggk n uuua!”

I think most would agree that the artist formerly known as Twitter has never been in more need of a thermonuclear cleansing. The Musk era has transformed what was already fondly known as a hellsite into something at once more obnoxious and sadder, whether you're talking about the web3 grifters or the resurgent debate-me cryptofascists or the recommendation algorithm's perceptibly greater enthusiasm for quote-tweet flamebait.

If you’re a fan of motorsports, this weekend is a great time to see if the World Endurance Championship is for you. It’s the 6hrs of Spa today – starting at midday in the UK – with a now bustling field of Hypercar teams having to weave through the GT3 class competitors, and this iconic track will act as a prelude to the 24hrs Le Mans next month. I love seeing all these cars going flat out for hours at a time, the contrasting strategy calls and reactions to incidents.

Xbox president Sarah Bond has spoken more about the company’s decision to close four Bethesda studios earlier this week.

Songs of Travel is an animated graphic novel coming to Android on May 9th. It tells the stories of five migrants – Light, Vân, Michele, Hasan, and Olya – each on a journey to build a new life in Europe. Through their experiences, the game explores themes of hope, dreams, and what we hold dear.

Reports are beginning to surface that an open-world Donkey Kong video game was once planned for the Nintendo Switch, but the project was scrapped. A new hour-long video claims that the Donkey Kong game would have been headed up by then-Activision subsidiary Vicarious Visions, now known as Blizzard Albany.

presents many engaging and thrilling boss fights, including the formidable Riven Twins. These torn conjoined twins, branded as heretics and imprisoned, are encountered during the quest as players traverse The Nameless Pass on a mission from Madrigal. Defeating bosses in the game yields significant XP and provides valuable rewards, including specialized weapons and gear, making these encounters a crucial aspect of gameplay.

At the height of John Green’s popularity, most people knew the YA author for a very specific genre: sad teen books, usually about shy-yet-pretentious boys in love with spirited yet emotionally available girls. That was always a derogatory oversimplification of Green’s novels, which often deconstruct common YA tropes more than they give into them. But years of warped online perspectives on Green’s work, heightened by aesthetic Tumblr posts and Pinterest mood boards, meant that when the 2014 movie adaptation of Green’s tragic teen romance The Fault in Our Stars came out, the were calcified, preconceived notions of what a John Green Book™ was. (Never mind thatThe Fault in Our Stars flipped the gender roles, with a reserved girl and a vivacious boy.)

You can now turn your iPhone into a retro gaming machine, no jailbreak required. But just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

We’re coming to the end of the month, and it feels like April has raced by. It does feel like the steady grey cold is starting to lift, so perhaps it’s a good time to get on with some DIY and projects… alongside a little bit of gaming.

Warrick the Torn is the first boss fight in Despite being your first significant challenge, Warrick is an immense and literal gatekeeper to the next phase. This Risen monstrosity may initially seem daunting, but he is certainly beatable.

Arrowhead Game Studios has shared yet more fan art of Helldivers 2's beloved Eagle-1 pilot, while insisting that she and the other Eagle pilots haven't been "physically augmented" in order to better deliver Managed Democracy.