Today, Sunblink and Sanrio launch Hello Kitty Island Adventure, a narrative-driven life simulation game embracing friendship and positivity starring Hello Kitty and Friends, exclusively on Apple Arcade!
Continue reading “‘Hello Kitty Island Adventure’ Launches Today on Apple Arcade”
Solar Ash on the surface feels ethereal yet familiar. The premise of trying to stop a world ending event has never looked so beautiful, and in conjunction with smooth controls and a haunting soundtrack, Solar Ash solidifies itself as a serviceable gaming experience on a console that has been in desperate need of unique games since its launch.
Continue reading “‘Solar Ash’ is Introspective and Beautiful”
Between the pandemic, online bots, scalpers, and increasing demand, the PlayStation 5 is soon to be a year from launch and still a challenge to get your hands on. Sony recently announced that, for the coming Holiday season, they will be holding a lottery-style registration event that will give consumers the chance to purchase one of the limited PS5 Consoles in stock directly from PlayStation.
Continue reading “Sony Introduces Lottery-Style Registration for a Chance to Buy a PS5 During the Holidays”
Ahead of this week’s Halo Infinite Flight, the beta testing period that pits players against one another (or against bots for the first time in Halo), The Nerds of Color got to catch up with one of 343 Industries’ 3D artists to talk shop — but mostly to gush over how incredible the game looks and feels. Hunter Young had a lot of jitters leading up to the reveal of Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer mode this past summer, but when the hype calmed down and the dust settled, he felt even prouder to be part of the team ushering in a new era of Halo.
Continue reading “DevTalks: Hunter Young, 3D Environment Artist on ‘Halo Infinite’”
Like many games finding a surge in popularity at the height of the pandemic, Roblox has amassed a following that could rival the likes of Fortnite with its appeal to younger audiences. However, after weeks of careful research, Quintin Smith, journalist and presenter at People Make Games, discovered that Roblox frequently, and unflinchingly, exploits young video game developers on its platform.
Continue reading “NOC Interview: Quintin Smith of People Make Games on “Roblox Exploitation””
It has been four days, eight hours, fifty minutes and twenty-nine seconds since I played 12 Minutes and I’ve been perplexed as to how to write this review. Normally, this would be kind of a good thing. The moment of reflection that comes after seeing something that feels profound, provoking an introspection as to why it resonated so much doesn’t happen with 12 Minutes.
Continue reading “‘12 Minutes’ Wasn’t Long Enough to Be Compelling”
Epic Games partnered with TIME Studios to bring players an exhibit commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in Washington, D.C. The timed, 20-minute virtual experience takes place inside the sandbox builder Fortnite Creative and arrives in time for the 58th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The biggest question following the reveal of the event was, of all virtual spaces, why Fortnite?
Continue reading “An MLK Exhibit Came to ‘Fortnite’ and We Had a Lot of Questions”
War for Wakanda — Marvel’s Avengers free expansion — dropped last week, and T’Challa’s exploits defending his homeland from the likes of A.I.M. and Ulysses Klaue revitalize the game in considerable ways. When Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics announced their All-Access weekend ahead of the expansion on July 31, their player count spiked to over 10,000 gamers through the weekend, well above the game’s average of around 800 since its release last September.
Continue reading “‘War for Wakanda’ is Proof Black Panther Needs His Own Game Already”
Representation in gaming has grown in size and in demand over the last decade, and countless gamers, content creators, and advocates believe there is still much work to be done to make the space a safer one for gamers of all backgrounds. Australia and New Zealand content creator and gaming influencer Dhayana Sena, who also goes by Miss Deus Geek, is one of those advocates whose voice is making waves.
Continue reading “Dhayana ‘MissDeusGeek’ Sena Talks Gaming, Representation, and Women of Xbox Initiative”
Do you hear that sound? The sound of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” getting louder and louder? Do you know what that sound means? It means we’re getting closer to the release of, honestly, one of my favorite movies of the year so far, Free Guy.
Continue reading “Having a Great Day at the ‘Free Guy’ Press Conference”
Pokémon GO, the 2016 mobile game phenomenon that spanned the globe, is currently facing a boycott. Thousands of players, and dozens of high-profile POGO influencers, believe developers are ignoring their concerns over significant quality of life changes in-game. Over the last year, Niantic, the developers of Pokémon GO, have been pivoting and adjusting to pandemic constraints with new changes to gameplay mechanics.
Continue reading “Niantic Responds After Players Boycott ‘Pokémon GO’ Ahead of Significant Changes”
There was a little bit of buzz surrounding the original Ryan Reynolds vehicle, Free Guy ever since it was supposed to debut back in July of 2020. It was, of course, sadly delayed two more times due to the pandemic, as all movies we’ve seen this year were. And in that timeframe, as anticipated, big blockbuster franchises from F9 to Black Widow, and A Quiet Place to The Suicide Squad, seemingly overshadowed the buzz for this one with star power and dedicated fanbases, hungry for explosive action. But after seeing it for myself, all I can say is we should have never let this one fall off our radars.
Continue reading “NOC Review: ‘Free Guy’ is The Biggest Surprise of the Summer”
DC just announced the ultimate Batman mobile experience for kids, the DC: Batman Bat-Tech Edition app! You can download the free mobile app now in the Apple and Google Play stores. I’ve had the opportunity to play around in the app for the last week and can say it’s a truly immersive and fun way for kids to experience the world of Batman.
Continue reading “DC Launches First-Ever Batman ‘Bat-Tech’ Augmented Reality App”
It’s a huge day for gaming and movie nerds here at The Nerds of Color blog. With Ryan Reynold’s Free Guy around the corner, the NOC had the immense privilege and super special opportunity to speak with two of the gaming world’s biggest names.
Continue reading “Twitch and YouTube Legends Ninja and Jacksepticeye Talk about Their ‘Free Guy’ Cameos”
When I happened upon Street Fighter IV on the Xbox 360 in 2009, it came years after playing Super Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo and falling victim to the cheap tactics of my cousin’s Dhalsim. I had zero knowledge of fighting game mechanics like footsies, whiff punishing, or zoning, but in 2009 I was consumed by everything Street Fighter. Justin Wong was among some of my earliest impressions of the fighting game community’s most prolific figures, clashing with FGC rivals and icons Daigo Umehara, Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez, and Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi throughout the early 2010s.
Continue reading “Fighting Game Legend Justin Wong Talks Gaming, Fatherhood, and More”
Cloud M1, the indie studio that started as a place for 3D animation projects, has built on a foundation working on commercials and CG projects for advertising and media. While working on these projects, they soon learned how their strengths could be applied to the mobile app space, publishing games and apps for iOS specifically. As huge gamers and fans of classic gaming they created Ayo the Clown, their most ambitious game to date and the first of many games to come.
Continue reading “‘Ayo the Clown’ Details Revealed with ‘Where’s the Pup’ Video”
OH MY GOD! Deadpool is officially part of the MCU guys!
In an email sent out today by the Deadpool Corps entitled “[Draft] Deadpool Integration Test Email #1” (timely, Reynolds!), 20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios Disney included a link to an unlisted video featuring everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth AND Korg from the MCU, meaning — DEADPOOL IS OFFICIALLY PART OF THE MCU! THIS IS HIS FIRST CANON APPEARANCE (…I think? Maybe?…Not?)
The visionary and Shondaland Media founder has officially signed a multiyear deal with the mega streaming platform that will expand the partnership’s content beyond television and include films, gaming, live events, and more.
Continue reading “Producer Shonda Rhimes Inks New Multiyear Deal With Netflix”
Sony’s State of Play goes live today at 2PM PT/ 5PM ET with “a nine-minute look at Deathloop’s time-twisted world,” as well as updates to indie and third-party titles. They’ve made it clear on their blog post that today’s presentation will not cover God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, or the next generation of PlayStation VR news. However, folks at PlayStation did say they’ll be sharing news in the future about highly-anticipated titles and more so stay tuned.
Continue reading “Sony’s July State of Play Live Updates”
Xalavier Nelson, Jr. — the award-winning narrative designer, writer, and former journalist — doesn’t just make games that are out of the box, he supplants the box with stock photos of dogs and then has them run an airport for aliens. As silly a concept as it may sound initially, Xalavier and his team at Strange Scaffold released an indie game earlier this year whose premise was just that, and folks really dug it. Xalavier is sincere in his approach to video game development, with a particular emphasis on sustainability, and he strives for it when thinking about any game idea.
Continue reading “DevTalks: Xalavier Nelson, Jr. Brings Representation to New Heights with ‘El Paso, Elsewhere’”
When LeBron James’ jersey first dropped in 2003, I dragged my father through the sweltering streets of Brooklyn to the nearest Foot Locker to buy it, alongside a headband and pair of wristbands to parade around in for the next month. I’d beg my mother to take us to the nearest Barnes & Noble with every new Slam magazine cover James appeared in, just to see if it was in stock. With Space Jam: A New Legacy on the horizon, my hopes of getting my hands on more coveted LeBron James memorabilia dwindle in the face of scalpers and buggy sneaker apps that seem to torture me incessantly.
Continue reading “Nike Teams Up with Xbox For Incredible ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Collab”
If this year’s E3 expo showed us anything it’s that indie game developers are built different. Throughout the span of the four day long event, viewers were shown dozens of new titles coming to consoles and PC, and many of those titles came from small studios turning passion projects into marketable content. Between this summer’s E3 and the 2021 Wholesome Direct, gamers saw first-hand the hard work put in by indie game development studios who were also coming off one of the most damaging events to the industry and globe as a whole.
Continue reading “Indie Developers Thrive Despite Post-Pandemic Challenges”
The other day, my father noticed one of the PC games I was playing and was pretty stunned — not just at the graphics but the overall presentation of gaming today. Growing up, the computer in our home was mostly used for homework, school projects, and of course, Math Blaster. I don’t know that my father knows how deep the rabbit hole of PC gaming goes, or its history, but he remains one of the single most significant figures in introducing video games to me.
Continue reading “After 25 Years and Zero Games Played, My Father Remains the Ultimate Gamer”