#hex stream updates

[hexhaywire-updates]

The aftercare stream waiting room is up!

[deusvervewrites]

How's the Warframe update going?

Since the stream, I've completed the Hex Finale and picked up the new pistol and new Warframe. Working on that new sniper. Quincy offered me dating advice. I am not attempting to date the Hex. I think Eleanor and Lettie should kiss. I love them all. The Power of Friendship saved the world. I can't wait to hunt the backstreet boys for sport. The Man In The Wall represents the existential nightmare that is the meaningless of our existence in the face of the inevitability of time and the answer to that is love. 10/10 would die in a nuclear reactor again except I won't this loop because I have friends.

[cephalonserotonin]

TennoLive 2024 Notes

"Tonight is going to be a night of mystery and magic…"

Beginning with Matt Chalmers and the Warframe band with a lovely Warframe musical medley! (there doesn't seem to be a clip of this but if I find/make one I'll edit this to include it!)

Video showcase of lightning cosplay's Arthur (which was so realistic I thought it was a 3D render at first)

Housekeeping

Raffles! This crowd is adorably enthusiastic!

The Warframe team will be at Gamescom in Germany in August and the Tokyo Game Show in September

Next year's tennocon will be July 18-19 2025

Stay tuned for future cross-platform trade news

Warframe Android build in progress

Next update: The Lotus Eaters

A prologue-style quest which sets the stage for 1999, releasing in August Will include launch for Sevagoth Prime Access

Next next update debuting from Tokyo: The Unannounced 2024 Update

Will include launch for Caliban Deluxe

as well as a new Warframe which Pablo calls "one of the craziest designs [he's] done" QOL features:

Caliban rework. Logging in during this update will give everyone a free Caliban!

A "favourite" tooltip in the arsenal for earmarking gear

5 new incarnons (the audience: "stug! Stug! Stug!")

Companion rework part 2

Warframe 1999

Drops with an animated short film developed by The Line!

Höllvania Center mall relay on Earth available now to all Warframe players for a limited time.

The Warframe 1999 voice cast includes the voice acting debut of James Conlin, courtesy of Make a Wish foundation granting his wish to be a voice actor. <3

Light reworks of Nyx and Trinity

coming WINTER 2024

(Brief break for some technical difficulties and for Bingus_Prime to win a giveaway)

Live demo of the first quest of Warframe 1999

some highlights from me, though by no means comprehensive:

Warframe 1999 takes place in the year 1999 in the nation of Höllvania on an Earth "not quite like ours"

New syndicate The Hex:

from L-R: Quincy Isaacs (protoframe for CYTE-09, new Warframe coming with Warframe 1999), Lettie Garcia (Trinity protoframe), Arthur Nightingale (Excalibur protoframe, the same Arthur playable in Whispers in the Walls), Aoi Morohoshi (Mag protoframe), Amir Beckett (Volt protoframe), Eleanor Nightingale (Nyx protoframe and Arthur's sister)

Members of the Hex will be romanceable for the Drifter through an AIM-like chatting interface

New vehicle the Atomicycle:

Note that while the other Hex members ride their Atomicycles, Amir runs along with the Volt Speed ability, which I just really found worth mentioning

New enemy faction the Scaldra: "The nation of Höllvania has responded to the Techrot outbreak with ruthless aggression." (from the official recap). They're like if Bioshock Big Daddies also oozed a lot

Scaldra boss Major Neci Rusalka:

also there is a tank

New Infested Adversaries the "Technocyte Coda," which are some form of the in-universe 1999 boy band On-lyne:

Stream Party of Your Lifetime by On-lyne

See also: official TennoCon recap, official Warframe 1999 hub

[hexpositive]

Sneak Peek - Hex Positive, "Building Your Witchcraft Library"

Finally getting back into my podcast writing! Here's a little snippet I've been working on for a future episode on how to build your personal witchcraft library. It's very definitely a WIP and a little bit stream-of-consciousness and there will be LOTS more context and commentary in the full episode, but for now I hope you all enjoy and I'll see you when the hiatus ends!

===

Not all books on witchcraft and paganism are appropriate for beginners. It’s just a fact. And I don’t mean that in some elitist, gatekeepy, “These are deep magical secrets, not for the uninitiated” kind of way. I mean that some books simply aren’t appropriate for beginners as foundational texts. Whether it’s because they’re outdated or contain bad information or require context to be fully understood or need to be read critically or just…shouldn’t be someone’s first exposure to the core concepts of modern witchcraft, there are some books that aren’t for beginners. Not because beginner witches are stupid or incapable of reasoning or thinking critically, but because some things need to be read with an eye of at least a little bit of experience, just for proper perspective. 

Brand new witches aren’t going to have that right off the bat because that’s something that takes time and research and discussion with other witches to acquire. It’s like picking produce. When you first start out, you probably aren’t going to know apples from oranges as far as resources go. Everything looks good, everything’s exciting, everything seems like a good option. You probably have some idea of what you want to try out, but it’s hard to know which resources are right for you and what you want to accomplish. So you try things. And along the way, you’ll find out that apples and oranges are different, and that there are different varieties of each one, and how to tell a good fruit from month-old dogshit in pretty wrapping.

First impressions are really hard to unlearn. And if your first exposure to witchcraft is something that is hella problematic, that’s going to be a hard pattern to break out of later on. I mean, look at all the trouble we’ve had over the years trying to unteach all the Silver Ravenwolf bullshit that was so pervasive in the 90s. And yet, AND YET, we’re still seeing some of those older books being recommended to new witches. 

Honestly, I cringe any time I see Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft being recommended as a foundational text. For brand new witches, like sweet darling poppets straight out the cauldron. Like I physically wince. Not because it’s a bad book or because Buckland is inherently a bad resource (although he kind of is), but because it’s both a very niche text for a very specific type of magical tradition and because it is HORRENDOUSLY outdated. 1986 this book was published, by a guy who hadn’t updated his thought processes since the 60s. And you can TELL.

But only if you have the context. Only if you’ve seen something else that says, “Hey, there’s more than one way to be a witch. There’s more than one way to do magic. You don’t need a huge ritual for everything, you don’t need to call on deities, you don’t need to be naked, you don’t need to involve gender roles or fancy tools or obscure substances, and by the way, there was no secret European witch-cult.” If you haven’t heard or read or been told any of that, Buckland’s word might as well be gospel. Because that’s your first apple and you can’t tell if it’s good and you don’t know that there are better ones out there.

-from the forthcoming Hex Positive episode, "Building Your Witchcraft Library"

[notjustanyboggs]

So NewFest is having their 35th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and since 2020 they've had streaming options. This has been absolutely wonderful, getting to see a wide range of queer films, both long and short. I previously posted Twitter threads as I watched shows each year, but Xitter sucks now, so doing it on Tumblr instead! Will update/reblog as I see more.

Big Boys - Jamie was excited to go camping with his cousin, but then she brings her boyfriend along and he finds himself with unexpected feelings. This was absolutely adorable, especially Jamie, the super awkward 14-year-old who I felt in my soul.

Shorts: Queer Teen Magic - One of my favorite things about NewFest are the short film collections, and this was a perfect pairing with the queer teen awakening of Big Boys. Though all of them but the documentary had a speculative twist, which was fun. THE PRINCE’S DILEMMA: A nice imitation and reflection on the limits of Disneyfied stories. MIKEY’S ARMY: Imaginary celebrity icons stepping in to help a queer teen take a nerve-wracking step. EVAN EVER AFTER: A documentary about a confident trans prom queen in Florida. SKY AND LUCIA: A queer girl finds herself disappearing - literally - in emotional situations. JAMIE’S POND: A queer kid finds belonging with a naiad. SHOOT YOUR SHOT: Two friends trying to tackle all their feels. HEX THE PATRIARCHY: Title says it all.

[ponds-of-ink]

Well, the Dawko Thankmad charity stream has started. And there are two important updates for it already:

(1) If you’re still on Twitter for one reason or another, then you have a chance to enter a giveaway for a prototype Moon Hex plushie. Sun’s prototype would’ve also been there if Dawko didn’t lose it somehow.

(2) This is important: There is a very real chance that Dawko might lose power (I didn’t catch why), so there might be a reschedule for a different day. Donations will be picked up from the prior attempt, but this will mean no Steel Wool news for today. Keep this in mind as we go on.

Popgoes’ first teaser is about to start, so I have to go.

[slasheru]

What if Mc asked the datables to make onlyfans together? And what if it makes a lot of money? At least now Tate can pay rent for a new room, right?😆

HEX: Why do I feel like Hex would do one that's just him jerking off for 40 seconds then accidentally blowing his load, on a vertical screen, making hundreds of dollars per vid??

TATE: I feel like if Tate ever did onlyfans he'd do it *WITH* the player, like, actual two-person stuff. Like, make super surreal almost Lynchian amateur porn with red mood lighting and really sharp shadows. It wouldn't make a lot of money but you'd get MAD fans and possibly a Sundance nom

LAILA: The second Laila opens a findom onlyfans, the entire economy of Slasher U will be wrecked and Laila will now hold 50% of all the campus wealth. Now open your wallet and say something nice to mommy >:)

SAWYER: Sawyer would ACTUALLY take this shit seriously. He'd coordinate photosets, pose properly, set up a nice camera and do shoutouts and proper streams and vods, and the lighting and set would be ON POINT every single time. Sawyer NEVER misses an update schedule and (even though for some reason I can't imagine him making more money than Hex's crunchy jerkoff vids), he'd be raking in a substantial income. Enough to take the player to dinner regularly, anyway ;)

JUNO: Juno sees this as the opportunity to like, make their own sleazy 70's style porn studio. I feel like they would take up smoking cigars just to up the vibe. Not only starts shooting their own porn with convoluted storylines, but they'd start RECRUITING other people to, too. Non-zero chance they get in an argument with Veronika over their sexy milf character's resurrection arc in season 3 of Juno's Onlyfans

[jermasubtitledofficial]

2ndJerma Subtitles - Jerma's Terrifying Roblox Birthday

Hey, I want to wish a very special happy birthday to CUSTOMER NAME. Heard you had a big day today! It's been so wonderful to hear from you, CUSTOMER NAME.

If you're wondering what this is about, here's some context, also subtitled:

Hope you enjoy these! The video was a blast. Subtitling it was a pain. Literally. My wrist is inflamed. But hey, now they're up. I'm super proud of the rainbow flashing effect. That was done by hand. I used math and trial and error to color the hex codes manually. Was it necessary? Not really. Does it aid in accessibility? Not particularly. Is it cool as hell? Yeah. I'm full of tricks like these.

For future reference, I probably won't be making a post for every subtitle uploaded. It'll be for "big deal" subtitles, and a recap for each month. If you want the latest Jerma subtitles regularly, your best bet is to follow the Jerma Subtitled Twitter. That's where you'll get all the quick n dirty updates. Emphasis on the quick.

But next up, expect a full repository of subtitled Jerma resources. It's all inclusive, so you're not gonna want to miss it! Follow for more official Jerma subtitle updates.

[skyboxeye]

Capturing the ambience of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

This cult Xbox title launches pilots into dogfights above a handful of locales, each with its own auditory footprint.

Running the game

At the time of writing, the two dominant Xbox emulators offer significantly different experiences. Cxbx-Reloaded is performant but exhibits some (minor) graphical issues. Much more significantly, it sometimes crashes which can prevent the completion of story missions.

If your system can handle it, you can use Xemu. Or, continue using Cxbx while skipping missions (see below) to avoid any problematic portions in the game.

Installing DLC and title update

Xbox Live is no longer operation for original Xboxes, but fans have archived this content, and made it easy to install. Before installing it, you'll want to apply some rendering-improvement modifications - see below.

Widescreen

Extract the game's content and apply this hex edit, courtesy of Esppiral and retroszur, to the game's XBE. Once again, please note it is for the XBE with DLC:

Find:

00 00 80 3F 8B CE E8 31 09 03 00 F3 0F 10 06 F3 0F 10 4E 0C F3 0F 11 44 24 40 F3 0F 10 46 04 F3 0F 11 44 24 44 F3 0F 10 46 08 F3 0F 11 4C 24 50

Replace:

00 00 40 3F 8B CE E8 31 09 03 00 F3 0F 10 06 F3 0F 10 4E 0C F3 0F 11 44 24 40 F3 0F 10 46 04 F3 0F 11 44 24 44 F3 0F 10 46 08 F3 0F 11 4C 24 50

Unlocked framerate

To unlock the framerate, find:

01 00 00 00 5B 83 C4 08 C3 D8 0D 58 36 29 00 89 46 10 89 4E 14 E8 D6 30 0C 00 5F 89 46 18 5E 33 C0 5B 83 C4 08 C3 CC CC 83 EC 08 56 8D 44 24 04

And replace:

00 00 00 00 5B 83 C4 08 C3 D8 0D 58 36 29 00 89 46 10 89 4E 14 E8 D6 30 0C 00 5F 89 46 18 5E 33 C0 5B 83 C4 08 C3 CC CC 83 EC 08 56 8D 44 24 04

You'll want to apply this timing fix along with it. Find:

00 00 7A 44 00 00 20 41 30 B7 01 00 C0 93 01 00 90 93 01 00 70 52 01 00 90 AD 01 00 00 2C 13 00 80 76 0E 00 80 52 01 00 60 28 0C 00 60 28 0C 00 90 52 01 00

And replace:

00 00 FA 43 00 00 20 41 30 B7 01 00 C0 93 01 00 90 93 01 00 70 52 01 00 90 AD 01 00 00 2C 13 00 80 76 0E 00 80 52 01 00 60 28 0C 00 60 28 0C 00 90 52 01 00

Capturing footage

To record footage from The Pandora, which serves as the Hunters' hangar, we can remove the HUD elements present at plane selection. The easiest way to achieve this is capture one of the HUD-less frames during the short transition between mission selection and fighter selection, and render it as an overlay on top of our recorded hangar footage.

I don't know of any Xbox emulators which support texture mods. If such an option existed, we could replace the textures which make up the HUD. We could also try to manipulate the extracted texture files, and run the modified game. But I didn't try either of these.

The HUD is briefly hidden when your plane is shown exiting the Pandora to enter a free-roam area. I tried getting this state to persist using Cheat Engine, but failed.

Extracting sounds

My favorite tool for extracting Xbox files is wx360 v1.6.

Crimson Skies has a ton of audio directories. We're most interested in Pandora_Internal, inside the UI folder, and the dedicated ZIP archives for each locale (AX, CH, LC, and SH). There are some other streams in the general archive as well.

To convert the Xbox audio files we can use vgmstream (I recommend the command line tool) or VLC. I found the results were slightly different - personally in these situations I tend to trust vgmstream.

After comparing in-game recordings to simple asset loops, I believe that the game somehow specifies loop start/end points for its ambient streams. I'm not sure where this information is stored however - perhaps the SDB files inside the data archive?

For mission areas, it seems like the game crossfades relevant ambient assets by about 5 seconds to create a continuous loop.

Skipping missions

You can use CrimsonData.txt files from completed saved games, or use cheats to speedrun the game. However, I couldn't get the former to work - presumably there is some kind of checksum system at work to prevent cheating or DLC piracy. There are tools to re-sign saved content but the one I tried doesn't support Crimson Skies.

Putting it all together

Render your properly looped assets on top of your footage and any overlay to eliminate HUD elements.

[fourseasonsfigs]

Junzhe Fig Index

I originally had this page with both Junzhe and individual Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan figs, but I hit the link limit really quick. Even so, this collective group has by far the most figs out of the entire collection - so much so that I have to split it into segments in order to adjust to Tumblr's block limits. The latest posts are always on top.

Figs Part 3

Love Fan

Halloween Junzhe

Two Naughty Ghosts

Sweet Surround

Madame Tussaud's (Handcrafted)

No Way!

Figs Part 2

Happy Birthday (Fat Body) and check out the update here

Wang Meow

Many Seeds Many Blessings

Human Lark Bird Husband

Student Couple

Kissing BB

One Night in Nanjing (plus Special Variant)

Succulent Grapes - BB, Here are Two More Cups

Piece of my Heart

Colorful Black

Happy Childhood - Second Party

J & Z Wedding

Wolf Warriors - Big Hands Small Hands

Citrus Gardenia Babies

Mid-Autumn Mooncakes

Be a Child

What a Big Pearl

Hanging Junzhe

Secret Symbol

Candy Puff - Bow Boys

Fuguihua Couple

Nezha and Shark Han

Wolf Warriors - Big Hands Small Hands

Citrus Gardenia Babies

Mid-Autumn Mooncakes

Be a Child

What a Big Pearl

Hanging Junzhe

Secret Symbol

Candy Puff - Bow Boys

Fuguihua Couple

Nezha and Shark Han

Figs Part 1

Xianxia Junzhe

Blue Flowers

Ask the Flower, Ask the Leaves

New Year Junzhe

JZ Tea

Happy 29th Birthday

Your Shizuka

Pajama Party! (cross posted to JZEU index)

Chuang 2021 and First Concert

New Year Joint Special Project - Orange Soda

Cozy Junzhe Apartment

Plumeria Han and Butterfly Jun

Citrus Gardenia

Cream and Foam

Hoodies

Hanbao and Cubao

MVP Han and Basketball Jun

Minguo CP

Beef Jerky Smooch

Foot Bath

Junzhe Kindergarten

Moon and Stars

Canned Cat and Dog in Bowl

It's Raining

Birthday Proposal

Bedtime Game (cross posted to JZEU index)

Lace and Ribbons

Puffy Jackets

Run to You

Field and Stream

Hex Ring Cat and Dog

Weibo Night

Duan Duan Tangerine Babies

Unlimited Flowering Period

Golfing Han and 50G Surfer Jun

JZ Love Forever Diorama

Ball and You

Truck Full of Flowers

[go back to Master Fig Index]

[the-purjolokhaj]

btw i'm currently chilling in the vs hex update ost trailer premiere stream

if anyone wants to hop in, do come along, there's 24 minutes until the premiere starts!

[hexhaywire-updates]

Stream will be live in 2-3 hours!

[nis-si-hellhole]

going crazy over the wf d*vstream presentation rn

i thought it was all gonna be related to the koumei update up until like minutes before the stream happened and while the koumei stuff was super cool and all...

heLP ALL THE HEX IN THAT CONCEPT ART FOR THE UPCOMING ANIMATION WERE HOT ALSO MORE PLAYABLE ARTHUR SOON I BELIEVE I MAY EXPLODE-

[fireflowersims]

So, a pretty definitive update before I head into SimPE for more important things.

Many things happened on stream at the osab server:

The Legacy edition crashed many times

The denuvo inclusion on the store page was a mistake. There is (fortunately) no denuvo on the game.

Pink flashing was induced by the abhorrent terrain DR shown in the picture (a couple of 2k textures, 70+ mb pre-compressorization) + "invite all neighbours" in a uberhood.

The exe contains much more data than expected when viewed through a hex editor. There is a lot we can probably uncover from it.

In said exe, there are references to "remaster". Not rerelease. No, REMASTER.

The shadow fix code is too similar to SimNopke's shadow fix to not be stolen. It is slightly modified, but still clearly Nopke's work

The audio might be weird.

The custom skins UI in CAS is VERY broken. Do not use this button. It is not okay.

NOTE on pink flashing: Keep in mind that we DELIBERATELY chose to put that abominable DR in the game (while streaming). The goal was not to simulate normal playing. The goal was to push the game to its limits and see if we could break it. We succeeded. Ideally you should still be keeping an eye on your texture sizes and not regularly hitting it with 2k textures and summoning tens if not hundreds of sims. Do crazy things, get crazy results

What we know about the Sims 2 "Legacy Collection"

IKEA stuff is not included, H&M is

The holiday pack (Santa and toddler new year) is included

Available on Steam, Epic Games and EA App

Requires the EA App to play

Has been "secured" with Denuvo

Minimum system requirements: W10

Sims 2 Legacy Edition: €29,99 (EU)

The Sims 25th Anniversary bundle (also included "The Sims (+7 EP's)" and 2 Sims 4 kits): €39,99 (EU)

The Sims Legacy Edition: € 19,99 (EU)

Will update this post as more news comes in from people actually buying/playing it.

ALRIGHT PEOPLE. We are getting the first reports of people playing it. We also got the feature list

Graphic rules is no longer necessary

The exe has been 4GB patched

They copied simnopke's shadow fix

Better support for widescreen resolutions including improved UI scaling

They "fixed" Pink Soup. As of yet, this has not been verified by a Pink Soup sufferer

"improvements and fixes". Unsure what they are

The structure of the install folder has been changed (disks: each ep has a separate install folder. UC: one install folder containing named Pack folders. Legacy: EP1, SP2 etc)

The game is still 32 bit

It appears Denuvo might not be on it after all. It's Schrödinger's Denuvo right now

Many players have been reporting that it does not seem to be stable. Lots of crashing.

BIG update: we did a stresstest and we managed to get pink soup! Note: the stresstest was done by adding a neighborhood default with many 2k textures, then inviting all neighbours in an uberhood. This is not a normal average situation.

[junichiroishii]

Travelling Without Moving

【>> 日本語】

This series was created from 2020 to 2023 when COVID-19 shut down our borders and severely limited our ability to travel within and outside the country.

In 2020, after the pandemic forced many international artists to return to their home countries, my thoughts contemplated Paris amidst an empty Kyoto. 

Though hard to fathom now, in an average year where people would be out and about during the cherry blossom season, the city was instead pervaded by an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia as a heavy atmosphere descended over society. The authorities constantly recommended that we go digital and encouraged us to buy tablets with subsidies (to keep working).

Linguistic perversions such as online meetings, online exhibitions, and even online artist residencies were solemnly discussed (although these initiatives did open up new possibilities existing today).

Was “moving” truly impossible? What did we even define as “moving” in the first place? COVID-19 was a phenomenon that thrust these fundamental questions upon us. This was the first time in recorded history that societies all over the world experienced the same event at the same time.

The digitalization of society accelerated rapidly along with movements of resistance against fossil fuels. Was every part of society going to move on to the digital sphere? Were we facing a reality where encounters between humans solely occurred through monitors and the histories of every town accessed through search engines? It felt like we were getting glimpses of that reality from the smartphones in our pockets and the laptops at our dining tables.

What would the world look like? Were we facing a reality where we could travel without moving? Could we live fulfilling lives by eliminating physical experiences and reconstructing pixelated information in our brains instead?

While feeling resistant to the migration online, I decided to travel from Kyoto to Paris across its digitally reconstructed world.

《#1 Le tour le monde en…》（2020）

In the beginning of summer 2020, I travelled west from Kyoto and crossed oceans and continents in a journey that took several minutes, entitled Le tour le monde en…. (Le tour le monde en…/Around the World in Eighty Days refers to the title of Jules Verne’s work).

How did people imagine distant lands as they traced their maps with their fingers in a time when traveling was technically much more restricted than today?

Today, as the resolution of our digital communication has increased and our mobile devices can update us on the lockdowns of foreign countries virtually without delay, are we still able to harbor imagination towards far, unknown worlds?

The travel series later renamed Sliding the surface of the Globe is simple. That is to say, it (merely) includes moving from one location to another on Google Maps, but the only rule is that I do not use the Pinch-to-Zoom feature while traveling.

Traversing across the vivid CDA HEX #579cda-colored sea, I cross over the Korean Peninsula into China. I continue west across (seemingly) vast Central Asia with no visible clues. Sometimes my finger relies on the rivers and roads that emerge on the map. Eventually, after passing the Black Sea and entering Europe, I head towards Paris using the surrounding languages (i.e. notations) as guides.  As the battery of my old iPad reaches 2%, I make my way back up the Seine River and slide into the city of Paris.

《#2 Travelling Without Moving 》（2022）

In the summer of 2022, a second travel opportunity arose. Invited to participate in an online exhibition from an artist based in Sydney, I embarked on a journey to the southern hemisphere entitled Travelling Without Moving. (The title refers to a song from the 90s that was randomly streaming on the internet)

I headed south from Kyoto, out to the open sea, and passed by unfamiliar islands on my way to Oceania.

Heading south across the endless meandering Google Maps blue (CDA HEX「#93b3f3」) sea, I thought the first landmass I landed on was Australia, but later realized it was perhaps Papua New Guinea. However, venturing further south on the sea was a decision that would require some extra determination.

If I wasn’t careful, I could end up in Antarctica…but despite my worries, land eventually appeared. Australia was completely foreign to me, but I relied on the coastline as a guide to finally land in Sydney.

《#3 Sliding the surface of the Globe》（2023）

I was in Lyon, France when a gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo invited me to participate in an exhibition with the theme “sphere.”

Though the physical form of my renamed Sliding the surface of the Globe was unlike that of a “sphere,” the work questions what is evoked mentally by the idea of sliding across a sphere (of a globe) on the flat surface (of a screen.) Since I was close and felt my piece was relevant to the theme, I decided to travel from Lyon to Shibuya.

First, I headed west from France for the Black Sea. Due to the experience from the first trip, the journey and surrounding areas felt more familiar this time. The issue was after the Black Sea into China. Though I was trying to go further east, there was the problem of the longitude or the north and south of the map. If I went too far north, I would end up in Russia. If I went too far south, I would end up in South Asia. I tread carefully towards the Japanese peninsula, taking care not to go past East Asia.

I ended up in Hokkaido unaware of where I was going. I noticed Japanese written in the surrounding areas (i.e. notations), but it took me a while to figure out where exactly in Japan I was. As I wandered around aimlessly, I eventually came across a straight railway line. It was the Hokkaido bullet train line launched in 2016. The rest of the trip would be easy once I was on the bullet train. I followed it straight down to Tokyo.

《#4 Throw Away Your Screens, Rally in the Streets》（2023）

Eventually, as we reached the pandemic’s conclusion, international tourists began to trickle back into the streets of Kyoto in 2023. A new life had begun, while there was barely time to process the collective simultaneous event that had affected the world. As life felt abruptly strange and it was too early to conclude that something had changed decisively, I was invited to an exhibition in the small (and unfamiliar) town of Hluboká nad Vltavou in Czechoslovakia.

I decided to embark on my trip with a work entitled Throw Away Your Screens, Rally in the Streets (The title is a homage to Shuji Terayama’s essay collection, Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets).

I took out my tablet and headed west from Kyoto, a trip I was fairly used to by now. I was confident on my way towards the Black Sea. However, my heart danced this time as I passed big towns or those whose names appeared familiar. The name of a big city triggered a desire to unintentionally flaunt it, a superficial “knowing” only in its name and not whether I have been there.

What was this feeling?

Did I take satisfaction in going to “places I know the names of” rather than “places I don’t know”? Where did all the “imagination towards distant, unknown places” go?

The trip goes on. Eventually, as I made it to Hluboká nad Vltavou, I decided I should familiarize myself with the unknown city and travel there afterwards.

[gameforestdach]

Die Vorfreude in der Gaming-Community steigt, denn Supergiant Games hat kürzlich einen verlockenden Einblick in Hades 2 gewährt, die mit Spannung erwartete Fortsetzung ihres Roguelike-Hits, Hades. Diese Vorschau, die in einem überraschenden Gameplay-Reveal-Stream hervorgehoben wurde, hat zahlreiche neue Funktionen, Mechaniken und narrative Elemente enthüllt und bereitet den Boden für einen weiteren tiefen Einblick in die neu interpretierte griechische Mythologie. Hier ist alles, was Fans über das kommende Spiel wissen müssen, von Gameplay-Innovationen bis hin zu Charaktervorstellungen und Story-Erweiterungen. Vorstellung von Melinoë: Eine neue Heldin in einer vertrauten Welt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XucgtuFqIec In Hades 2 lassen die Spieler Zagreus hinter sich, um in die Rolle von Melinoë, seiner Schwester, zu schlüpfen, was eine neue narrative Perspektive und verbesserte Gameplay-Dynamiken bietet. Melinoë, eine unsterbliche Hexe und Zauberin, verfügt über einen einzigartigen Satz magischer Fähigkeiten, die sie deutlich von ihrem Bruder unterscheiden und ein neues Spielgefühl voller strategischer Tiefe versprechen. Grundwaffen: Melinoë führt den Hexenstab und die Schwerter der Schwester, die jeweils unterschiedliche Kampfstile, von Nahkampf bis zu magischen Angriffen bieten und das Spielerlebnis durch diverse taktische Wahlmöglichkeiten bereichern. Magik-System: Eine neuartige Ressource für Melinoë; Magie versorgt ihre Omega-Zauberangriffe, die mächtige AoE-Fähigkeiten bereitstellen und das Kampferlebnis mit spektakulären Zaubersprüchen anreichern. Erweiterter Charakterkader und verbesserte Erzählung Hades 2 treibt nicht nur die Geschichte der Unterwelt voran, sondern vertieft auch die Interaktion des Spielers mit ihren Bewohnern durch eine reichhaltigere Figurenpalette, einschließlich Götter, Titanen und anderer mythischer Wesen: Hekate: Göttin der Hexerei, sie coacht Melinoë und leitet sie durch die Herausforderungen der Unterwelt. Apollo und Nemesis: Neue Gottheiten, die ihre Gaben anbieten, wobei Apollo magische Angriffe verstärkt und Nemesis in Schlüsselkonfrontationen möglicherweise als Widersacher auftritt. Chronos: Der Hauptantagonist, der Titan der Zeit, dessen Flucht und darauffolgende Aktionen den zentralen narrativen Konflikt bilden, der Melinoës Reise antreibt. Gameplay-Innovationen Die Fortsetzung verspricht, die beliebten Kernmechaniken von Hades zu behalten und gleichzeitig neue Elemente einzuführen, die den Gameplay-Loop auffrischen: Neue Schutzsegnungen und Waffen: Durch die Erweiterung des Spielers Arsenal sind diese neuen Ergänzungen so konzipiert, dass sie nahtlos mit dem neuen Magik-System integriert werden und so neue Kombos und Synergien ermöglichen. Technischer Test und Early Access: Vor der vollständigen Veröffentlichung wird Hades 2 durch einen technischen Test und eine Early-Access-Phase verfeinert, um sicherzustellen, dass das Gameplay von Anfang an poliert und fesselnd ist. Einblicke in den Early Access Geplant für eine Veröffentlichung im Early Access im 2. Quartal 2024 auf Steam und im Epic Games Store, zielt Hades 2 darauf ab, die erfolgreiche Formel seines Vorgängers zu replizieren, der geschickt Spielerfeedback mit der Spielentwicklung ausbalancierte. Fans können sich auf eine substantielle frühe Version freuen, die eine breite Palette von Inhalten umfasst und die Bühne für laufende Updates bereitet, die die Spielwelt erweitern und die Mechaniken vertiefen werden. Fazit Mit seinen innovativen Funktionen, der fesselnden Storyline und den strategischen Gameplay-Verbesserungen ist Hades 2 bereit, ein weiteres herausragendes Spiel von Supergiant Games zu sein. Während das Spiel seine Entwicklungsphasen durchläuft, haben die Spieler viel zu erwarten, einschließlich komplexer Story-Entwicklungen, robuster Spielmechaniken und immersiver neuer Umgebungen, die alle durch den geschichtsträchtigen Hintergrund der griechischen Mythologie bereichert werden.