It is written that when the Sumerian king Gilgamesh first beheld the gleaming ramparts of Uruk‐Haven, many centuries ago, he said unto his architects: "be sure to save up gaps for those long straight ones, and try your best to start a multiplier". But then Gilgamesh realised that, by means of temporal fluctuations too nonsensical to explain, he was actually looking at the submissions page for Falling Block Jam 2025, the latest Itch.io "make a thing with a theme" festival, which ran from last week till today.

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Hello reader who is also a player! Once again I have failed in my fervent efforts to meddle with the Earth's rotation so as to suspend time exactly at 11.30am, Saturday morning. I fear that another week is upon us. Fortunately, it contains some new PC games, spanning full releases and early access launches. Some of those new PC games may even be worth a modest portion of your lifespan and personal capital. Here's a list of the ones I find most appealing or notable.

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Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - the only regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books that has no conception of space, time, responsibility or consistency. Also, I can't read. Still, I'm feeling confident we can get through this together. In that, I have no other choice. This week, it's editor and author for books like Digital Love and Well Played, and writer on games like Orion Trail and Bramblewood, Heidi McDonald! Cheers Heidi! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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Sundays are for looking up the average costs of raising a child, then researching the startup investment required for a currywurst food truck, then wondering how your spouse would react to some kind of Powerpoint pitch deck. Maybe while serving them one of those little cardboard trays, with a sausage in it.

German gastronomy dreams promptly shattered, seems like there’s little else to do but read some of the best games- and not-games-related writing from this past week.

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I'm very sorry, Mungrul and other pixel-combers - I have once again failed to hide a smiley face in the header image for our latest weekend Wappity. Instead, I have cheekily hidden a few upside-down frowns in the curiously tart and succulent descriptions of my absent colleagues, below.

As for those of us who were not absent when this round-up was rounded up on Friday, here's what we're all doing this weekend.

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A group of game industry folks including Reigns studio Nerial, Saturnalia creators Santa Ragione and Streets Of Rage 4 outfit Lizardcube have launched Palestinian Voices in Gaming, an international volunteer network to support current and emerging independent Palestinian developers.

First convened in May 2024, the network are currently looking to connect Palestinian game devs with volunteers and funding partners. They'll provide administrative help to any developer trying to get access to funding, and assistance managing resources and volunteer contributions, once secured. They aim to follow and boost each project from "production to announcement to publication", and are already working with a range of smaller independent games, many of which explore recollections of pain and loss through speculative fiction and fantasy.

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