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’re recapping new releases, from frightening AI services to popular indie video games. We’re also covering the type of news your middle school self could’ve only dreamed of. 60 seconds on the clock — on your marks, get set, read!
— Campbell Johns, Senior Arts Editor and Ariel Litwak, Digital Culture Beat Editor
OpenAI releases Sora 2
Sora 2, OpenAI’s new video model, is doing some impressive things — it tracks world state much better, including capturing complex kinesthetic routines like skateboarding or gymnastics, while also generating audio on the go. Additionally, OpenAI has introduced Sora, a short-form social media app that exclusively features content generated from Sora.
More broadly, this is a move toward building some sort of general world-building simulator from OpenAI; CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman has expressed interest doing such a thing. However, Altman’s puffy claims have deflated before, like when the hype of GPT-5 as Artificial General Intelligence-adjacent crumbled after the public came into contact with the model. Right now, it’s nothing more than an infinite AI TikTok slop machine — in fact, videos from the model are already spreading to other short-form content platforms.
But OpenAI might face a more pressing issue with the legal concerns of producing such a thing — the ever-so thorny copyright problem. Companies have criticized videos generated from Sora for using their intellectual property; the Motion Picture Association has even called out OpenAI for copyright infringement. The company already has a tumultuous past with intellectual property, like when Suchir Balaji, OpenAI researcher and whistleblower, was found dead in his apartment after calling out the company over its practices in December 2024.
But with each thesis comes an antithesis, and Anthropic has seemingly taken up that helm. It’s positioned itself as anti-AI slop, with pop-ups in New York City giving out coffee and hats with “thinking” written in embroidery, or video adverts scored with MF DOOM’s “All Caps” beat pushing Claude, Anthropic’s LLM model, as “the model for problem solvers.” It’s worth noting that the company has stuck only to text-based models while every other major player at least has some sort of image generation feature. Is this an AI company with a propensity toward human thought and human thinking, or is this just tech bros experiencing advertising geared toward them for the first time in a while? Who knows.
In the meantime, Google’s AI research lab has quietly been trying to solve Navier-Stokes equations, or at least making strides in the physics-informed neural networks world.
I think this slate of news from our favorite frontier AI laboratories will predict how the AI landscape arranges itself hereafter. Still, only time will tell.
Daily Arts Contributor Darrin Zhou can be reached at darrinz@umich.edu.
Electronic Arts sells for a cool $55 billion — and what it means for The Sims 4
So, remember how The Sims 4 was this sandbox safe space where you could make anyone be anyone, build weird houses, love who you want, be weird, etc.? Well, plot twist: The company that owns it — Electronic Arts — just got sold for a whopping $55 billion to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, along with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.
Yes. That EA. That EA whose Sims franchise was partly built on giving people room for Queer expression, alongside messy households, weird fashion and aesthetic chaos. Now, its ownership includes a government fund from a country where these expressions are not legal or freely accepted — and people are freaking out.
So what changes? Nobody knows yet. EA says its values will remain unchanged and that they still aim to “Inspire The World To Play.” But for fans, it’s not enough just to promise good vibes. People want proof: Will LGBTQ+ content still thrive? Will creator freedom get gutted? Will certain themes get censored or shoved behind region locks?
It’s weird to know that your favorite virtual safe space might get influenced (directly or indirectly) by politics and cultural norms that don’t match what the game stands for. Some are hoping for the best. Some are already switching off. Because when ownership changes hands, even with words about creative freedom, the risks are real.
So strap in, Simmers. This could be a turning point.
Daily Arts Writer Estlin Salah can be reached at essalah@umich.edu.
Megabonk goes crazy
Suddenly, and almost out of nowhere, Megabonk released. You might not have heard of this game, and that’s probably because of its lack of advertising. The brand-new roguelike only had one trailer, relying instead on videos on the developer’s YouTube channel and word of mouth to spread knowledge of the game. Despite the limited scope of advertising done by the developer, it still managed to spread like wildfire.
Megabonk takes aspects from Risk of Rain 2 and Vampire Survivors to create a fast-paced experience that is enjoyable even upon multiple replays. In the game, players collect weapons, passive buffs and items to build an increasingly ridiculous toolset to fight against the ever-growing number of enemies over the course of every stage. All weapons activate on their own, giving the gameplay a unique focus on movement and positioning to stay alive as long as possible.
The game’s developer, Vedinad, has been chronicling its development since the trailer was released on YouTube last December. Through multiple YouTube Shorts, the game took shape as more features, weapons and characters were added. In many of the channel’s videos, Vedinad took suggestions for the game from YouTube comments, creating a game that is full of references to online culture.
Megabonk had almost no advertising, but that didn’t stop it from reaching a large audience. After two weeks on the market, the game’s official X account announced it had reached one million copies sold. Not only are the sales numbers impressive, the game has also achieved a “very positive” rating on Steam. The game’s surprising rise in popularity shows that not every game needs an expansive marketing campaign, sometimes solid design and high replayability are enough to push a game into the spotlight.
Daily Arts Contributor Hudsen Mazurek can be reached at hudsen@umich.edu.
Dan and Phil officially hard launch
Everybody (at least internet freaks who were really weird in middle school) remembers where they were when Dan Howell released his coming-out video. And everybody (like, the type of kids who always had one earbud in and enjoyed infantilizing grown men) will now remember where they were when Dan and Phil officially opened up about their relationship.
On Oct. 13, Dan and Phil released a video to their joint YouTube Channel called, “Are Dan and Phil in a Relationship?,” a title not too out of the ordinary for two men who love intentionally suggestive titles. But this time, they actually talked about it. They confirmed their relationship of 16 years, and laid out their history alongside a discussion of the internet shitstorm that came with their specifically hyper-parasocial fandom.
Real Dan and Phil freaks know that it’s not the fact they’re dating that comes as a shock, but that they addressed it publicly. After all the stalking and leaking of personal information that they went through, they never owed the internet any explanation. Still, I’m grateful that they did decide to share, and wish them nothing but the best for the rest of time. At the end of the video, they announced a rebrand of their gaming channel, including a new podcast, which I can’t wait to tune into.
Life is clearly still worth living after middle school if one random Monday in your young adulthood could be the day everything you’ve ever wondered about in life is suddenly confirmed. Thank you for everything, Dan and Phil. How I love you so.
Senior Arts Editor Campbell Johns can be reached at caajohns@umich.edu.
