Hello again everyone and welcome to this weekend. The first potentially major wildfire in the area is currently burning strong and I can see the smoke plume from my front porch. This is the Washburn fire burning between the Mariposa Grove and the little town of Wowona. I believe it's actually made it into the Mariposa Grove area which is arguably a good thing because giant sequoias can only reproduce when there's been a fire. On the bad side of that equation, folks who live in the Wowona area have been evacuated because the fire is moving pretty quickly toward them. Last I saw it sat in at around 200 acres and hopefully it won't get much bigger. Though I'm sure it has increased in size some in any case because it's been around twelve hours since the last update. The cause is also under investigation, but it's common at this time of year for charcoal grills to be knocked over or someone at a camp ground to ignore the no fire rules and have a problem arise. Usually these things get handled without incident, but not always. Anyway, here's hoping things don't worsen there, people don't lose homes and the fire stays away from the very historic hotel.
Let's talk WRUP related things.
Vanity Fair recently did an article on a huge classic video game heist and it's a great read. The piece talks of an independent shop owner who had made a sort of life's dream of it. He sold classic consoles and games and did trade-ins etc, even advertised NES repairs, which is super cool. His place had become a sort of go-to for classic game enthusiasts and YouTubers who would do video tours and interviews. Unfortunately the fame brought some unwanted attention and perhaps the most heart wrenching classic game theft I'd never heard of took place. I recommend the read.
Everyone's favorite Elden Ring player, Let Me Solo Her, has racked up a thousand victories over the game's most frustrating boss, Malenia. Congrats to him and those who who received his help. Bandai Namco have rewarded his prowess by sending him some super cool personalized goodies including an actual long sword. Take a look here from IGN and see for yourself. I had quite a few experiences with Malenia myself. Certainly not a thousand, and never a solo defeat. I found her to be one of the most fun fights in the game actually. My own first victory experience was one where if done at just the right moment, a critical strike could prevent the second phase of the fight from even taking off. A bug that has long since been patched out.
Ubisoft is just being Ubisoft again by recently announcing they'll be shutting down multiplayer and online services for a lot of still popular titles in September. Fifteen games in all will no longer be multiplayer and some of those will include single player and DLC cuts as well. Of course Ubisoft says it's being done so they can move forward to new projects. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of these titles will come back as remasters and be fully available for purchase again since the current remasters of Assassain's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 will remain. Read more from IGN
That's it from me this weekend. I'll be off to work soon so enjoy your Saturday everyone. Stay cool out there.
What are we playing?
Greywolfe: chicory tomorrow! and nonsense games the rest of the time, because dumb stuff is happening here. hooray! [so magic: arena dailies, mostly.]
Scrooloose: Neon White speed runs are fun so I'll be doing those a bit thanks to Dr S deciding I should no longer be on the fence about it. GoG has/had the original Diablo plus Hellfire for $10 so I've been slowly destroying my mouse by clicking so much. And Daemon X Machina still has this level of charm despite it's bad game play so I'll still be in there also
AJ: I recently acquired a complete boxed copy of the Genesis classic, Streets Of Rage 2, and reaquired the not-so-classic (but still sentimental to me) Master System movie series adaptation, Rocky.