Good morning everyone and welcome to April. Yesterday was the first and there were no shortage of joke headlines to be had. But before we get to that, hopefully everyone's doing well this early weekend. I, myself, have begun spring time outdoor cleanup and fire clearance. Doing so has been both productive and frustrating as my walk behind field trimmer took very little maintenance to get up and running, yet after a couple hours of work decided it was no longer interested in starting. The riding mower took a little more as I needed to change the rear tires, but was running shortly afterwards. Unfortunately I also found a fuel leak and needed to change fuel lines and filter. Then it was running badly thanks to a bad breather tube so that too had to be replaced. Now I actually think the starter is bad because it will barely turn the engine over, even with a good whack, which is a legit way to un-stick a stuck starter. So hopefully this weekend I'll be able to cannibalize a starter from another riding mower that has a bad rear end and we'll be back to riding and mowing. But in between working out bugs a lot of work has also been done so at least there's that.
Okay so as mentioned earlier yesterday was April Fool's day and there were some announcements out there that were pretty jokey. One of my favorites was "Fromsoftware is Making a Warhammer 40k Game With Henry Cavill", reading the article makes it clear that this is a fake even if the headline itself didn't quite throw up a red enough flag. But I have to say that if this did happen I would be all over it. Also there's just enough "Maybe this is real" to cause some chin scratching because hey, who ever thought Fromsoftware would be working with George R.R. Martin?
Then there's this headline from the Spiel Times (I've never heard of this outlet) - "Sony Has Allegedly Acquired Fromsoftware". At first I was reading this and the tone is real. So I started cursing. But I also remembered that it was the first and felt a little better. Yet... there actually is a rumor that Sony has made a very large acquisition. So there's enough here to worry me a little still. Still though, what has me believing that it's a joke is that From's name is on nearly every gaming journalism outlet out there right now so it's eye-catching and actually says to me that the headline is poking some fun. At least I really hope so. I do not favor losing accessibility to future Fromsoftware titles on PC.
Finally, this next thing isn't actually an April Fool's joke, it's actually there all the time. Oreilly Auto Parts has had a really fun easter egg on their site for a quite a long time and you're sure to be pleasantly surprised. Just follow the link to the website here and in the product search bar, type 121G and hit that search button. It's sure to get a smile from you.
In a real and true bit of goodness, Blizzard has released a little update teaser for Diablo 4 and boy it's looking great. Here's a YouTube spot for the quarterly update. As much controversy as Blizz has seen lately, and the nature of said controversy, I don't really want to give Blizz money. But I will probably be giving Blizz money. Diablo has been a favorite IP of mine since the OG came out in the '90s.
What's the plan this weekend?
Yoda: Seems like ever time I play more Lost Ark, the more game modes and systems are introduced to me. The endgame is kind of like a long form tutorial that slowly introduces more elements to you over time. It's kind of genius. Currently obsessed with the Boss Rush game mode. (Think standard horde mode surviving waves of enemies, but all the enemies are Bosses, and they keep throwing more and more of them at you at once till you die. It's beyond fun) So that's prolly gnna be a fair bit of my weekend
Greywolfe: infernax is winding down, as is final fantasy 4. in place of infernax, i'm going to try marvel's guardians of the galaxy, though i'm kind of inclined against it. a) it's a shooter and b) you can't just play any of the guardian team. boooo. in place of final fantasy 4, i'm going to be trying chicory, which i've been curious about for a while. seems beautiful and heartfelt and that's maybe just what the doctor ordered.
AJ: This weekend, I will be picking up (and playing) the new Kirby and the Forgotten Land game for the Switch. And I may also play some Legend of Mana and Smash Bros Ultimate, both for the Switch as well. I'm going to have myself a super Switch Saturday (and Sunday)!
Scrooloose: I think my weekend is going to be pretty busy. I've got an irrigation and landscape job I'm working on, I have to get started on fire clearance around here before it gets out of hand and I'm kind of house watching for a day or two for a friend, taking care of animals and such. But, I'm a long way in to new game plus in Elden Ring and I'm going to keep going. And I'm still making maps for a friend's DnD campaign in Wonderdraft