Can you believe it’s already the 20th of August? I have to admit I’m not that motivated to write this week’s weekly roundup, but alas, the roundup must go on. If you’ve been overwhelmed by what’s happening currently with rising Covid-19 numbers, and everything regarding Afghanistan, you’re not alone. Don’t let social media convince you that you need to be outspoken about current events if you don’t want to. It’s okay to not.
Enough dawdling!
Video Game History
Video game preservation is important to me. I like learning about the history of games before and after successful titles in particular. I watched this video from a GDC talk in 2019 with Frank Cifaldi who is the founder of the Video Game History Foundation. The main talking points were, a lot of history has been saved by software pirates1, and that there’s a need to stop treating emulation like it’s a bad thing. Also ephemera around video games are almost as interesting as the games themselves and worth saving too.
Nintendo Life did an excellent breakdown on The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening’s spiritual predecessor Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (also referred to as: The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls). It’s a neat little piece of Game Boy history that I should play2.
There was a neat thread on Twitter about the development of the foxes leading players to treasure in Skyrim.
Among Skyrim players, you'll occasionally see this tip: if you see a wild fox, follow it and you'll be led to treasure.
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) August 18, 2021
Sometime shortly after shipping, we saw this going around online, and an informal investigation started. Who made foxes do this?!
I’d like to take a sidebar with the audience now and vent about Twitter threads. I like reading things like this, and I understand the ease of use of starting a thread (with less pressure for editing), but… please don’t let this stuff stay locked there. Start a blog. Put it there, so we can find it in a year or two without the horrible reading experience that are Twitter threads.
Reading
Magnetic strips are going away on credit cards. But don’t worry, you’re going to have until around 2029 to say goodbye.
Disney is killing the FastPass.
There was an article in NYT about how weeds are strong enough to survive plant cancer3. I know people are quick to judge about weed killers and corporate farming, and when you read stuff like this, it is somewhat scary. We’ve made weeds stronger by trying to kill them (similar to bacteria). But is there anything that can be done at scale effectively? And who is going to pay for it while keeping food at the same price?
Herbicide-resistant weeds are generally less of a concern on organic farms, but these make up less than 1 percent of total U.S. acreage.
Moderna Set to Test Experimental HIV mRNA Vaccine in People. I know we’re having trouble seeing through the pandemic fog how groundbreaking mRNA vaccines are, but this is hopeful.
#NEAT
what3words /// The simplest way to talk about location
A website that allows you to define any geographic location on the planet to a very precise location using only three words. Too bad it’s proprietary.
That’s it from me this week. In personal news, I did finish two video games within just a few days of each other. I have started drafting a review of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and maybe I’ll be motivated to finish it for next week.
Thanks for reading, and please, for the love that all that is good, start sending in suggestions or questions.
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