Weekly Rewind: June 12th, 2020

Mantra Music

The Dalai Lama has announced he will release a debut album called Inner World on July 6th to mark his 85th birthday.

As reported by Mixmag The 11-track LP is described as “a sacred offering of mantras and teachings set to music” and will arrive alongside an accompanying booklet explaining the benefits of the teachings, which is written by Buddhist nun Venerable Robina Courtin.

The Dalai Lama said: "Music has the potential to reach many more people with the message that the real source of happiness is warm-heartedness and a concern for others. The very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can. Music can help people in a way that I can’t."

Gamers take up the sword

As the world around us changes quickly and without signs of slowing down, many are searching for novel and innovative ways to fund the revolution. A disruptor in the indie game scene, the distribution platform itch.io has set up a charity Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. Here's how it works: independent creators (mostly hobbyists or game devs who write games on the side, for fun, or as a moonlight hustle) who use the platform to distribute virtual games, which include video games, play-through stories, gaming supplements, printable character sheets, and table top role playing games, donate their game to the bundle. This means that if anyone purchases this bundle, which asks for a minimum donation of $5, they will be able to access all donated games. And these games are bangers. There are award winning games (Celeste), strange indie darlings (6 Bites for 6 Princes), and even full core books of source material (Lancer Core). Interest in almost any game makes this five dollar donation worthwhile. 

Here's where the numbers come in. This bundle includes nearly 1500 games from 1000 game devs and through donations, has raised nearly 2.5 million dollars for the NAACP and the National Bail Fund, each. A massive, unprecedented five million dollars has been raised, with an average donation of $11. With that kind of money itch.io deserves to have an office building named after it. The power of games to change the world has never felt so real.

(Image Credit: Conner Fawcett for Lancer Core)

Let's Play

After a year of drip-feeding glimpses and tech specs about the next evolution in the console cycle, Sony bit the bullet last night and unveiled the PS5 in all it's glory. Despite a 1hour15minute runtime, the machine itself actually took up relatively little screen time, with the lion's share of the duration taken up with GAMES. And GAMES. And MORE GAMES.

Showing a lot more range than the normal shooty/stabby/killy blockbusters we've seen in the past, the showcase included the technically-impressive-but-you-probably-have-to-love-the-subject Gran Turismo 7 and NBA 2K21; the hello-old-friend-you-look-prettier returns of Ratchet & Clank, Oddworld, Sackboy, Hitman, Resident Evil and Horizon; and the what-did-I-just-see-that-looks-like-fun oddball entries like emo-dinosaur sad-romp Goodbye Volcano High and the (seemingly) fighting, exploring and pooing simulator Little Devil Inside. Oh, and there was a game in which you play a cat wandering around a dystopian, robot-populated world. 

Sadly, the reveal didn't include pertinent points like a price and release date (aside from 'this year'), but the impressive breadth of content plus the intriguing future-bot/fancy wifi router look of the machine certainly delighted fans. Plus, a cat sim! Purrfect.

Tweet disposition

Think before tweeting; the 21st century adaptation of the now, surely, antiquated phrase, think before speaking. Though that advice is not always taken, especially so when people retweet links to articles which they think chime with their own point of view, but which they haven't necessarily read in full. That is why, as reported on The Verge, Twitter is introducing a new feature that will prompt users to think before they tweet articles they haven’t read. At the moment the test is limited to Android users in English and, if a user decides to retweet an article before reading it, Twitter may prompt them to open the article before they do so. “Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it,” Twitter said. “To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android.” The testing of this new function is the tech platform's latest attempt to halt the spread of misinformation and encourage more informed debate.