Do you remember all that went down in the virtual realm over the last fortnight? Did you add anything to your Steam library this week? Have you gone down any rabbit holes in the last seven days? No? Would you like to? Do you have a minute?
This week, we have everything from a new Dan and Phil video to some fascinating new Minecraft features. 60 seconds on the clock — on your marks, get set, read!
— Rebecca Smith, Senior Arts Editor, and Cecilia Ledezma, Digital Culture Beat Editor
“Hello, Crafties”: DanAndPhilCRAFTS uploads again
Do you remember, back in ye olde days of Phandom (the DanIsNotOnFire and AmazingPhil fan communities), when every April Fools meant the release of a short-form, pseudo-found-footage, craft-themed horror video? Turns out, so do Howell and Lester. Since it was the first April since revitalizing their joint gaming channel, DanAndPhilGAMES, we should not be too surprised they brought back this long-dead tradition. With the first installment coming out just shy of a decade ago (feel old yet?) and no further sequels after the third year, many would have let this tradition fade into obscurity. However, as part of their channels’ renaissance, Lester and Howell have decided to create a seemingly final video to gently put the series to rest.
“Slime” serves as a perfect closer, with effects and humor ripped right out of its predecessor’s time; the “PROTIP” glitter text, iMovie water droplets running down the screen and the emblematic lolrandom humor give it that classic feel. The lore is maintained, with references to previous videos like repeating the third installment’s catchphrase and mentioning the channel uploading twice daily (as opposed to, say, once in a fool moon) sprinkled throughout. There’s some fun meta stuff going on when Howell acknowledges their followers’ insistence of spreading “the message of this channel on all the other videos on the internet,” sarcastically saying that “everybody enjoyed that” while remaining in his channel persona. For those unfamiliar, he is referencing the deluge of comments quoting the original video right after it came out on approximately any comment section ever.
The video is surprisingly long, with the 14-minute run time making it just slightly shorter than all the other three installments combined. This is because at the halfway mark it becomes a Blair Witch Project-like affair with the woods, rituals and stick-dolls to boot. Though a departure from the typical form, it seems a caring spectacle of farewell, breaking a cycle of crafting videos by revealing what the characters in the videos do when not recording for the channel. Based on the ending of the video, we have a pretty good idea of why it feels so conclusive. Ah, well. C’est la vie. Thank you for the silly present, it was a fun surprise. Don’t cry, craft!
Digital Culture Beat Editor Cecilia Ledezma can be reached at cledezma@umich.edu.
Women are being punched in New York City?
Over the past several weeks, numerous women on TikTok have posted videos claiming they were punched while walking down the street in New York City. Given that some of these creators had platforms, the videos began to go viral and viewers quickly noticed this was not an isolated incident. Women all over the city were being attacked, all unprovoked and all deeply unsettling. One video turned to two turned to five, and even authorities began to notice. The New York Police Department launched an investigation and luckily, an arrest was made.
I won’t give all the credit for this to TikTok (much of that belongs to the women who reported the incidents and the authorities who launched the investigation), but it is reassuring to know that women are at least a little bit safer walking around New York City, partially thanks to the power of the TikTok algorithm. Given how much useless, brain-rotting content comes out of that app on a daily basis, that’s a win.
Senior Arts Editor Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu.
Stardew Valley update
Mysterious green rain, owning multiple pets, cozy winter outfits — these are the things that make my heart soar. Game designer Eric Barone, known as ConcernedApe, included all of these perks and many, many more in the latest Stardew Valley update, which rolled out for PC on March 19. From the new ability to drink mayo to a new farm type to several new festivals and events, Stardew Valley 1.6 introduces one of the biggest patches yet to the farming simulator. I can personally vouch for the depth of the update — although I’ve played more hours of Stardew Valley over the past two weeks than I’m willing to admit to anyone, I still feel like I have hours of new content to discover. Here’s to ConcernedApe, whose attention to detail and care for players makes Stardew Valley an endlessly playable game, almost 10 years out from its initial release.
Daily Arts Writer Laine Brotherton can be reached at laineb@umich.edu.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is finished
The past few years have been big for Dungeons & Dragons fans, and the release of Larian Studios’ massive D&D-based open-world game, Baldur’s Gate 3, took that hype to uncharted levels. Since the game was released on Aug. 3 of last year, it’s been commonplace to see clips and screenshots of the hijinks and adventures of players as they crawl through dungeons, fight goblins and romance their way through the wide cast of NPCs.
Recently, the studio announced the conclusion of the development process in a panel by the game’s director Swen Vincke. During the panel hosted by the Game Developers Conference, Vincke also explained that Larian plans to move away from D&D and is leaving the Baldur’s Gate 3 IP in the sole hands of Wizards of the Coast, to the dismay of fans. WotC, of course, is the same company currently mired in controversy for a series of unpopular decisions in laying off more than 1,000 D&D employees, attempting to crack down on the third-party use of D&D in entertainment media and sending the Pinkertons to a guy’s house.
Either way, Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to have reached its final evolution. There’s probably not going to be a Baldur’s Gate 4, so I guess we’ll just have to subsist on the hundreds of hours of story options and character builds across multiple runs — and like, the infinite options of actual D&D, I guess.
Daily Arts Writer Lin Yang can be reached at yanglinj@umich.edu.
Minecraft: maces and poisonous potatoes`
Hey, do you know what the popular block game Minecraft needs? A big ass weapon — the kind that can one-shot the Warden, Minecraft’s most recently added boss that was previously nearly impossible to defeat. Oh, and more potatoes, of course.
Recently, Minecraft game developers Mojang has been gearing up for its next big update, 1.21 through its time-honored tradition of testing through snapshots. The most popular additions are the Mace — a new weapon — and several enchantments that body any mob in the game (new meta for the Wither unlocked?). However, it’s going to be particularly hard to get this overpowered weapon. New dungeons called “the trail chambers” have officially dropped, giving players a chance to get rare items including the building blocks for the mace — so long as you survive hordes of dubious little creatures. If you’d like a deep dive into what these updates look like before the official release of 1.21, check out xisumavoid’s videos.
Furthermore, Minecraft is fairly known for its April Fools’ Day prank updates — previous pranks have included a villager takeover, a deletion of the inventory and the infinity snapshot where countless dimensions are determined by writing in books. This year, they have blown themselves out of the water by dropping the poisonous potato update, giving the spud the ultimate platform in Minecraft. The update includes flora and fauna taken over by potatoes, a new dimension with a new boss Mega Spud, “the Clucky Contaminator” and new items like a peeler and a lashing potato. What’s even wackier is the inclusion of game changing mechanics like the lashing potato that allows players to grapple and swing across Minecraft and “floataters” that grab entire structures and fly them across the map. Long gone are the days of the choppy animation of slime blocks and pistons to move things, bring on what is functionally a rocket made out of potatoes. Check out their official article for the list of everything and how to play!
Daily Arts Contributor Amanath Khandaker can be reached at amanathk@umich.edu.
Miku Expo 2024: The new DashCon?
I’ve dreamed of seeing holographic superstar Hatsune Miku live in concert since I was 9 years old. I had plans to see her for my high school graduation, but that was 2020 and my Miku Expo dreams were crushed before my very eyes. So here I am, 21 years old and about to graduate college, and I come across a not-too-lethal ticket price for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of seeing her perform at Miku Expo 2024. A friend and I secured our tickets for the perfect post-graduate celebration, and I viciously cried to World is Mine as I basked in my victory. I’m finally going to see Hatsune Miku.
This has been the first Miku Expo since the pandemic began, with fans eagerly awaiting the elaborate stage design and performances. After all, Miku Expo is arguably the biggest Miku-themed event for international fans, and they’ve recently partnered with well-known anime streaming service Crunchyroll for their 2024 shows. What could possibly go wrong? It certainly seemed like they had the money to put on amazing shows, particularly with this year’s expensive ticket prices.
After much anticipation, on April 5, 2024, Miku Expo kicked off in Vancouver, British Columbia. As fans entered the venue, though, they noticed a stark contrast between what was advertised and what was presented — instead of the concert’s typical glass screens which make up Miku’s holographic appearance, a small LED screen was placed on the stage. Miku appeared on the screen, dancing as usual, but the quality difference was extremely apparent. Fans at the venue joked that this screen was the equivalent of the “substitute teacher” television being rolled out — it just wasn’t the same. Previous Miku Expos show beautiful hologram technology, with Miku appearing to be unchained by screens, dancing across the stage however she pleased. Now, she sits trapped within a silly television screen.
The team at Miku Expo has not addressed this discrepancy since the tour began; during the concert’s second showing in Portland, Oregon, the LED screen was once again used to fans’ disappointment. After all, we were told we could only use $50 exclusive Miku Expo 2024 lightsticks so as not to disturb the hologram’s advanced technology during the concert — does that still apply if the “advanced technology” in question is merely a TV screen? Many fans (myself included) are now considering selling their tickets, particularly if it becomes clear these LED screens are a permanent fixture in the concert. For many, it may be worth it to see the virtual icon, but I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to spend several hundred dollars given the event’s pitfalls.
Daily Arts Writer Katelyn Sliwinski can be reached at ksliwi@umich.edu.