Phil Ulrich

If you’re not terminally online like I am — first of all, good for you, because it means you get to miss the latest Nvidia DLSS discourse. The short version is that while DLSS 1 through 4.5 were legitimate ways to improve your framerate in games via some honestly ingenius graphics card shenanigans, DLSS 5 appears to throw all that out the window in favor of taking creative control away from the graphics professionals who designed it and handing it to the same slop factories that are responsible for AI deepfake videos. The internet has reacted accordingly, while Nvidia’s CEO has decided to take the Principal Skinner “no, it’s the children who are wrong” approach to the feedback.

At least we got a bumper crop of memes out of it, right?

Anyway, this is The Queue, our daily question and answer column where we have some thoughts about generative AI, but my mom taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you say it quietly with your friends instead of in public. Let’s get to it.

World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion kicked off off the second part of the Worldsoul Saga as baddie (in every sense of the word) Xal'atath invades Azeroth with an army of void creatures at her beck and call.

On this episode of the Tavern Watch Podcast, the team gets a win -- a win in naming things, it turns out, as Wizards of the Coast (in addition to finally announcing some products for 2026) also has started referring to the 2024 revision of D&D as "D&D 5.5e." Considering it ended up being more a balance update than the massive revolution in tabletop gaming that we were originally sold, we're all of the opinion this is for the better (and is easier to say, to boot).

This little guy might be the highlight of the weekly events for me. Hunting down wayward Magisters and Thornspeakers for a weirdo with a suffering fixation? Holding fancy parties in the woods? Defending a black hole in the Voidstorm? No thanks. I’ll take this little rat loa, his big booming voice, and his pachinko machine world event. Though maybe doing it sixteen times last week by using eight shards from early access and eight more from week one was a lot.

No, your eyes do not deceive you: it’s a brand new Queue author! But if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s authoritatively answering questions like I know what I’m talking about, so let’s get into it; you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

The team of adventurers-turned-detectives in our playthrough of Starfinder's Murder in Metal City has the body of Tier-99-Professor on their hands and the assumed murderer hot in their trail for getting too close -- but does anyone think they're really going to stop before they get answers about what happened?

With a lead in their hot little hands freshly pried from the storage of a hijacked murder-drone, our crew of Starfinder adventurers -- brought together first to meet their friend Tier-99-Professor, then by happenstance to investigate his murder -- dive into the back alleys and data storage centers of Striving to see if they can pin down any clues as to why someone would want the good Professor dead.

In the weeks leading up to the launch of World of Warcraft's newest expansion, Midnight, we've gotten a peek into the trials and tribulations of some of the important characters we know play a role in the expansion -- first Xal'atath, the instigator of the whole expansion, then Lady Liadrin, the very first character we see in Midnight's cinematic.

A group of strangers gather in a dimly lit bar in the mechanical megalopolis of Striving at the behest of one Tier-99-Professor, who promised them some incredible news.

Every February, publishers both accomplished and new take to their favorite crowdfunding platforms to release their newest zines as part of (the event formerly known just as) Zine Quest.

Last week, we got to take a look at the origins (maybe) of Midnight's baddie supreme, Xal'atath, in "Supremacy." This week, we got a look at the past of another important figure in World of Warcraft, and one who's on our side this time: Lady Liadrin, the iconic Blood Elf Paladin, in "All That Is Sacred." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoJgQA4Uhks We also get to see someone new in this animation: High Priest Vandellor, Liadrin's adoptive father who took her in after her parents were slain by Amani trolls, and who first inspired her faith and awe for the light -- in fact, she would eventually follow in his path as High Priestess Liadrin (which you get to see if you're a Blood Elf pursuing your heritage armor, or during the Lorewalking chapter on Elves).