Happy Monday, folks, and welcome to the Weekly Video Games Thread!

Of course, things in the world of gaming aren’t so happy. We discussed this on the last thread, but on Thursday, just Thursday, two separate bastions of games journalism took a massive blow. Polygon was sold by former parent company Vox to Valnet, the owners of Screenrant, Gamerant, TheGamer, Fextralife, and perhaps the “digital sweatshop” most symbolic of online pop culture’s descent into impersonal, aggregate slop. And in the midst of a fight with its parent company, bloated Wiki empire Fandom, Giant Bomb has been sent into a “strategic reset” with most of its leadership out in the cold. I’m sure it has not escaped you that these sites exist within the grasp of massive, unfeeling media giants. Precious few news sites are not in this day and age.

But I’ll let Lily-Bones provide the more trenchant commentary in her now-out “Game News Roundup.” Make sure to check that out. For me, Polygon was one of the sites I’d go to every day, a few times a day. As a journalist I try to keep abreast of both news and good writing, and they always had both. If there was a story, I wanted to see their take. And I’d be remiss by ignoring the extensive video output they have, whether an analysis by Simone DeRochefort or Patrick Gill or some graphical horror by the McElroy Bros. or Brian David Gilbert’s Unraveled. I can’t claim I have such enthusiasm for Giant Bomb, but it was a fundamentally important part of the gaming news landscape. 2010s games discourse isn’t the same without the work of Jeffs Gerstmann and Grubb, Vinny Caravella, Dan Ryckert, and more. These sites were important and inventive and contributive, and even if they come out of this with a shred of their wit and thought, the human and artistic cost is huge.

I suppose this week’s prompt is your Polygon and Giant Bomb memories. Favorite articles or videos or whatever. I’m sad, and I’d like to explore that sadness, but part of that exploration is also remembrance and wistfulness and the joy that the people in these sites could craft. If you’ve the inclination, add a few. I’d be happy to have more gaming pieces to read.

In the meantime, what did you play this weekend?