By Makeda Byfield On Christmas of 2012, my nana gave my siblings and me a Wii. We started with two games: Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. After finishing our homework, we’d rush to the living room to make our Miis travel the island and compete against each other in various sports events. The Miis…
By Harold Goldberg Everyone loves a parade, and as I played a thrilling new PS5 game from Sony and Insomniac, I thought of the 76 trombones and the “big parade” in the old Broadway show and movie called “The Music Man.” It’s the stunningly lively parade in the air that got me in “Ratchet &…
By Kimari Rennis Remember those ambiguous, “brain-rotting,” shooter video games that moms in films swore corrupted their sons? Those games were addictive and controlled the minds of young teenagers throughout the night. Housemarque’s Returnal is one of those games come to life, and it is out of this world. As a PlayStation 5 exclusive, Returnal…
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Check out what Critics Circle Founder and President Harold Goldberg has to say about everything from new Reggie news to the 11th New York Game Awards to our Rockstar internship, streaming, giveaways – and more.
By Isaac Espinosa The region of Lental: Home to spectacular vistas, many different species of Pokémon, and most importantly, opportunities for amazing pictures! New Pokémon Snap, developed by Hal Laboratories and Bandai Namco, is the latest addition to the Pokémon line-up of spin-off titles. Building on the original Pokémon Snap released on March 21st of…
By Matt Gerardi Welcome back to The Roundup, the New York Videogame Critics Circle’s look at our members’ writing and news from around the world of videogames. In this installment, our writers give us the dirty details straight from the Epic v. Apple trial and behind the scenes of the PlayStation 5’s next-gen audio tech.…
By Makeda Byfield From the moment I opened Taiko no Tatsujin (or Taiko Pop Tap), I couldn’t stop grinning. The Japanese drum game lights up the screen – literally – with it’s bright colors, cute characters, and lively music. The point of the game is to feel the rhythm and keep up with it. It’s…
By Harold Goldberg It’s happening! Back in January at the 10th Annual New York Game Awards, we announced an ongoing education partnership with Rockstar Games that we’re proud to say has officially begun. Rockstar, along with the Circle, has created a paid internship program that will be tailored to the interests and prior work of each…
By Harold Goldberg When the New York Videogame Critics Circle commissioned Robin Yang to create a winter scene that represented our group for the 3rd Annual New York Game Awards, it became iconic artwork that the Critics Circle uses to this day, even on t-shirts we distribute to underserved students in our journalism and games…
By Makeda Byfield You don’t know why and you don’t know how. But what you do know is that at the opening of Hitchhiker, Versus Evil’s new narrative mystery game, you’ve ended up in a stranger’s car. The driver, Vern, is a talkative raisin farmer. His stories are nice and all but … you just…
By Kimari Rennis I fondly remember the day when I was first introduced to the Monster Hunter franchise. I came home from high school, turned on my PlayStation 4, and my friends were talking about how they were struggling to fight a pink T-rex that sneezed fire. Curious, I asked for a share play so…
By Jade Entien Some people don’t like to tell their life stories. They often have legitimate reasons, like that they don’t think their lives are exciting, or they’re embarrassed by certain parts of it. However, it would be amazing to hear what they have to say, because everyone leaves behind parts of themselves for the…
By Isaac Espinosa On September 14th, 2001, Nintendo introduced the world to the GameCube. It was Nintendo’s newest 3D console, and the company’s way of competing with the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. During the GameCube’s lifespan, one game stood above the rest to me, and to this day it is revered as one of…
By Matt Gerardi Welcome back to The Roundup, the New York Videogame Critics Circle’s look at our members’ writing and news from around the world of videogames. In this installment, our writers go behind the scenes of Hitman 3 to explore its storytelling philosophy, dig into the labor laws and practices that sustain crunch, and…
By Harold Goldberg It’s the 25th Anniversary (!) of Crash Bandicoot. The cheeky marsupial is often overlooked as an essential part of game history, so much so that I devoted a chapter to its creation in my narrative history of games, All Your Base Are Belong To Us (How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop…
