What are we all playing this weekend? - Rock Paper Shotgun

What are we all playing this weekend? - Rock Paper Shotgun

What are we all playing this weekend? - Rock Paper Shotgun

Posted: 06 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT

After a week where it was somehow Tuesday every single day, it is now the weekend. What's that, Saturday evening? A takeaway in my pyjamas? Oh, you spoil me. But I can't, Saturday evening, I've promised Saturday afternoon I'd forget what time it was and play games until 2am.

What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

Alice0

Alice0 is on holiday.

Colm

I'm terrible at online shooters. They more often than not just remind me that my reaction time is putrid in comparison to most who play. But, this weekend, I plan to try once more as I'll be booting up the much-loved Valorant. If we end up in a match together, please give me a chance to figure out all the buttons. You'll still win. I just want to feel like I've participated.

Dave

This weekend, I'm a little unsure of what to play. It's not like I've run out of stuff to play, but I'm just not entirely motivated to play anything too heavily involved or with serious themes. I've been meaning to play A Short Hike for a while, so maybe this weekend is the one to play it. I might also give Command & Conquer Remastered Collection a go as that will be out by the time the weekend arrives.

Graham

Graham has been fired yes, yessss this is it, it's my time now, championeeeee CHAMPIOOOONEEEEE!

Imogen

Choo choo! I've also jumped aboard the Monster Train and OH GOD I can't get off. This is exactly what happened when I started playing Slay The Spire, why did I think it was a good idea to get into another deck building roguelike? I'm supposed to be doing sessions for two different DnD campaigns this weekend, and all I'm thinking about are ways I can secretly be playing Monster Train at the same time.

Katharine

I made it to Gaur Plains in Xenoblade Chronicles last weekend, which is hands down the best knee cap in all of games. As a result, I'm going to be picking my way across this knobbly landscape as slowly as possible this weekend as I luxuriate in its glorious music, twisty pathways and oh so lovely sunset vistas. I'll no doubt squeeze in a bit of Animal Crossing as well, but in my heart I'll always be in Gaur Plains.

Matt

Matt has been fired but he's probably playing, fucking, Monster Train as well.

Matthew

I am struggling not to play ahead in Divinity Original Sin 2. Alice L and I just recorded the penultimate episode of our 21 month-long let's play. We've hit the point of no return and now I'm looking at that save file like it was a present under the Christmas tree. Also been dabbling with some Diablo 3 on Switch (beautiful port), so hopefully that will distract me.

Nate

Cor, so many games sitting around on my desktop at the moment, but I'm gonna have to sweep the lot of them aside like a newspaper editor going bananas in a film, so I can play the new Freshwater Frenzy expansion for aquarium management sim Megaquarium. This was quietly my most anticipated game in ages, and from a few hours so far, I'm basically in paradise. Expect glowing comments from me next week.

Ollie

Subnautica is still laying waste to my downtime. I've now started a hardcore game with one life and no oxygen alerts, long before I'm ready to do so. Apparently I wasn't stressed enough already.

Sin

I am probably going to eat a heap of doughnuts and ice cream (not togeth… wait, oh my god why wouldn't that work?) and play Drox Operative 2, which just went into early access. I may also be playing games about FEELINGS and THE WORLD and being A MESS, so strap in, kids, we're goin' maudlin.

But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?

Mythical monster goes viral as Japan prays for end of pandemic - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

Posted: 18 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Move over Pokemon and Hello Kitty, in coronavirus-hit Japan, a new character has captured hearts and hopes: Amabie, a beak-nosed, long-locked mythical mermaid monster said to repel plagues.

In recent weeks, the mash-up monster has become the unlikely mascot of hopes for an end to the pandemic, emerging from relative obscurity to become a trending Twitter hashtag, as well as the inspiration for everything from cakes to nail art.

Her revival in fortunes was sparked in early March, when the Kyoto University Library tweeted an 1846 drawing of the creature floating above the sea, accompanied by a text explaining her apparent infection-fighting powers.

The scaly social media star is supposed to have appeared to a samurai in southern Kumamoto prefecture, warning of the spread of an infectious disease and instructing him to draw a picture of her and show it to people to protect them.

The post quickly went viral, and sparked the "Amabiechallenge", with everyone from amateurs to artists posting their renditions of the mythical monster.

The long-locked legend has also sparked on outpouring of creative content, including an udon dish featuring Amabie in the form of a fish sausage emerging from a bowl, with the traditional wheat noodles for her hair.

She has also found herself immortalized in bento form, her body and distinctive beak carved from a piece of luncheon meat and hair represented by thin strips of Japanese rolled omelette.    

Amabie is part of a rich pantheon of Japanese mystical monsters called yokai.

Many have faded from popular imagination, but others live on, including in the form of modern-day mascots like the turtle-inspired river monster Kappa, now associated with Tokyo's famed kitchen street Kappabashi.

Read also: Japan raises travel alert for 13 countries over virus pandemic

Amabie-themed cakes

Amabie's recent revival has come as something of a surprise to some yokai experts, including Masanobu Kagawa of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History.

"Amabie is not the oldest yokai in Japanese history to warn of an epidemic, so it's not that important to researchers," he told AFP, describing others including "Jinja-hime" (shrine princess), who features a woman's face and a dragon's body. 

But none seem to have captured the imagination quite like Amabie.

At one Japanese cake shop in northern Akita prefecture, a version of her rendered as a traditional wagashi cake in pastel pinks and blues has been flying off the shelves, sales manager Hirohide Kato told AFP.

"This is the first time we've made Amabie-themed cakes," he said.

They can only produce 250 a day, but "they're so popular they sell out by noon." 

And at an aquarium in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, a sea lion who has gained fame for his calligraphy and painting skills has been trained to draw the monster.

"He started drawing Amabie in late March, practicing for about a month," keeper Sae Ishino told AFP.

"We perform the drawing of Amabie hoping the pandemic of the new coronavirus will come to an end soon."

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