Geekly Roundup, April 25th: Playing Games With Your Heart Edition

While we don’t have a podcast this week, we’ve got some fun things, some exciting things, and some strange and unusual things to bring you in this week’s Geekly Roundup!

First, though, a serious note: our hearts go out to those suffering from the devastating earthquake in Nepal and the families of the over 1,800 killed by the tragedy. If you want to provide help, both CNN and Mashable have put together lists of reputable charities working to render aid. Forgoing one comic, app, piece of DLC, collectible, or beverage this week will absolutely be worth it for someone in desperate need right now.

With that said, it’s a Geekly Roundup and so we have to move on to less serious but still terribly interesting news — read on!

 Perlman and LeFauve to write Captain Marvel

Already well-celebrated for their excellent penning of Guardians of the Galaxy’s screenplay, screenwriting team Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve have been tapped to write the script for the upcoming Marvel movie Captain Marvel. Given that this is a strong character with a lot of depth that has resonated strongly with a huge number of fans, the strength of Guardians makes Perlman and LeFauve a brilliant choice for a movie about Carol Danvers.

 Hideo Kojima doesn’t appear at Famitsu

From Kotaku, an account of one of Japan’s most prestigious video game award ceremonies — and the fact that both Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame and Konami as a whole were completely absent from the event, something not at all in line with Kojima historically. The strange confusion in Kojima’s status with Konami — one which the company refuses to explain and on which Kojima has remained oddly silent — has only grown deeper, as it was recently announced that the outstanding downloadable demo for PT will be disappearing from the PlayStation Store shortly.

 JK Simmons to visit alternate universe in Counterpart

The outstanding JK Simmons portrays a UN bureaucrat who discovers his department has a secret portal to an alternate universe in Starz’s new Counterpart, as related by Deadline. The series is written by Jungle Book remake writer Justin Marks and the first episodes will be directed by Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum; the series is described by Deadline as a sci-fi espionage thriller with a metaphysical twist.

 Final Fantasy XIV re-imagined as a fighting game

What do you do when you’re waiting for the release of your much-touted Heavensward DLC? Remake a major boss battle from your MMORPG into a Street Fighter-style game, of course! This YouTube video featured by Kotaku is a showcase for some of the fun visuals offered by FFXIV’s in-game assets. As the video itself points out, there are no plans to add 2D-fighting content to FFXIV, sadly for everyone else.

 Can you survive the Battle of Hogwarts?

Continuing the recent surge in quick-and-dirty choose your own adventure games on news sites, Buzzfeed brings us an enjoyable race through the Battle of Hogwarts featuring two non-main characters trying to contribute to the massive struggle at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Absolutely worth a read if you enjoy choose-your-own-adventures.

Elsewhere around the Internet:

Japan’s maglev train breaks 12-year speed record (Science Hook)

Navy creates clear clay armor (Popular Science)

Ada Lovelace reborn in graphic novel (The Takeaway)

Harleen Quinzel gets her first lab-coated action figure (io9)

A first look at Scream Queens (Entertainment Weekly)

Second Quest: A horrifying modern graphic novel fable based on The Legend of Zelda (Kotaku)

Tokyo Ghoul’s :re cafe is a real place, and you can go there (Kotaku)

And now, Downton Abbey characters battling with lightsabers (Nerdist; Rob James-Collier/YouTube)

Each and every one of these are worth a look, but if you’re at all Star Wars and/or Downton Abbey-inclined, the last one really deserves a glance; it’s a fun and rather self-aware romp that also goes towards James-Collier’s fundraising for the London Marathon. Tune in again next week for more from around the Internet in our next Geekly Roundup!

The Geekly Roundup is a weekly Ace of Geeks feature that brings together all the interesting things we've encountered across the Internet this week.  Contributions for this week's Roundup were submitted by Ellie, Ben, Raven, and Lauren.