Pokemon Go Developer Creates Black Developers Initiative To Fund And Support Games

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has launched a new game development fund called the Black Developers Initiative through which the company aims to fund and support the development of games made by Black creators.

“Our intention is to empower Black game/AR developers and provide access, resources, and support so they can build amazing game experiences that inspire people to explore the world together,” reads a line from the announcement.

Teams who are chosen for the fund will receive five months of funding, executive mentorship, and development support to create a playable prototype.

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A Lot Of Game Devs Refer To Fan Wikis, Apparently

Fan wikis are a great resource when you need to quickly look up a certain item, quest, or character from whatever game you’re playing, and it turns out the developers making those games also rely on wiki pages for the same reason. Double Fine’s Tim Schafer recently tweeted in appreciation of the creators of fan wikis, with a heap of other developers from big games also confessing to referencing fan wikis.

“I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games,” Schafer tweeted, with the many games under his belt including Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Broken Age, and Day of the Tentacle. “I know I do it A LOT.”

Many other developers replied and quote tweeted, noting they also commonly referred to fan wikis. The games represented in their fan-wiki confessions and thanks included Don’t Starve, Civilization, Call Of Duty, Borderlands, Dead By Daylight, EVE Online, Dishonored, and many, many more.

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Behold, Horizon Zero Dawn Running At 72p

In the course of testing the notorious GeForce GT 710 ultra-budget graphics card, YouTuber Kryzzp of zWORMz Gaming has shown just how low-spec Horizon Zero Dawn can be pushed on its PC port. A section of the video shows the game running at an eye-straining 128×72–which can be selected from the game’s visual settings without mods or any extra tinkering.

While Kryzzp’s channel often showcases high-end graphics cards pushing games to their limit, a few videos do the exact opposite. The Horizon Zero Dawn video is framed as a test for the GT 710, with the start of the video showing the low-end card outputting just 3fps when the game is played on Ultra settings at 1080p. The test goes through 720p, 360p, 144p, then 72p, with the card only briefly managing 30fps at the ultra-low resolution.

While the YouTuber refers to it as “Game Boy Advance edition,” an article by The Verge points out that even the 20-year-old handheld console had a higher screen resolution of 240×160. The low-quality Horizon Zero Dawn graphics end up with an almost appealing, retro-game quality–though the lack of any readable text would make it difficult to actually play the game.

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Get A 2-Year VPN For 68% Off—And You Might Even Get 2 Years Free

If you’ve ever been jealous of a different country’s selection of movies on Netflix, then you’ll want to pay attention to this new deal from NordVPN. Right now, new subscribers can get a two-year plan for 68% off–just $3.71 a month. Additionally, every new subscription gets a random gift that can be an extra month, year, or two years of service–yes, it’s a gamble. Once you’ve subscribed, all you need to do is log in or check your email to see how much extra time you’ve received.

VPNs let you mask your network and connect to the internet privately. NordVPN works by letting its users select servers to connect through before browsing. This means you can choose a server in a different country, connect to it, and browse as if you’re located there. While this also provides security and privacy, it lets you view content that’s restricted to specific regions, such as livestreams, websites, and streaming service libraries. The majority of services feature different movies for each region they’re available in, so it’s worth checking out what the best streaming services have available outside of your country.

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New Super Mario Bros. 35 Event And Super Mario Maker 2 Speedrun Course Announced

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury arrives this Friday, but that’s not the only Mario content in store for Switch owners this weekend. Nintendo will soon kick off another Special Battle event for Super Mario Bros. 35, while a new Ninji Speedrun course has been added to Super Mario Maker 2.

The Super Mario Bros. 35 event, the 4th Coin King Special Battle, begins February 11 at 11 PM PT (2 AM ET on February 12) and runs until the same time on February 14. This event takes players through all 32 of the game’s courses in the same sequence as they appear in the original Super Mario Bros., with the main objective being to collect the most coins. After the event ends, Nintendo says it will share the top 10 players in North America.

Super Mario Bros. 35 is a battle royale-style take on the classic Super Mario Bros., released as part of Nintendo’s Super Mario 35th anniversary celebration. The game is free to download and play for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, but it’s a limited-time release; Nintendo says the game will only be available until March 31, the same date Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be pulled from sale.

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HBO’s The Last Of Us Casts Pedro Pascal As Joel

Well, this is surprising. The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal has nabbed another high-profile role in a completely different universe. As first reported by Deadline, he will play the leading role of Joel in HBO’s adaptation of the video game The Last of Us. The news of Pascal’s casting comes hot on the heels of Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey being revealed as taking on the co-leading role of Ellie.

Pascal’s casting was confirmed by Neil Druckmann, who wrote the video game and is also serving as a writer on the series. “Aaaaand there’s the other half,” he wrote of Pascal in a tweet. “Stoked to have Pedro aboard our show!”

What’s interesting about Pascal’s casting is that, per Deadline, The Last of Us has first position. That means HBO essentially has first dibs on scheduling the actor. However, given that his character on The Mandalorian stays masked nearly all of the time he’s on-screen, chances are that won’t be too difficult.

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Gina Carano Will No Longer Be Part Of Star Wars

After months of controversy, Lucasfilm has confirmed that Mandalorian actress Gina Carano is not currently employed at the company, and that there are no plans for her to return in the future. The statement comes after Carano made an Instagram post comparing the persecution of Jewish people in Nazi Germany to “hating someone for their political views.”

A statement by Lucasfilm was obtained by io9, reading: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Carano’s post about Nazi Germany caused the hashtag #FireGinaCarano to trend widely on Twitter. She later deleted the post, but screenshots of it continued to be shared online. The actress’ controversies go back months, however, to before the premiere of The Mandalorian’s second season, in which she featured prominently.

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The Last of Us: Pedro Pascal Cast as Joel in HBO Series Adaptation

The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal has been cast as Joel in the upcoming HBO adaptation of The Last of Us.

As reported by Deadline, Pascal will join Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey, who is set to play Ellie.

The Last of Us series is being developed by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and The Last of Us games’ director and Naughty Dog Co-President Neil Druckmann.

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Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

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