Tribeca Games Spotlight: All the extraordinary Video Games at the 2021 Tribeca Games Showcase

The Tribeca Official Showcase included eight games from small developers (including some that have the backing of large publishers) coming to both PC and consoles. Festival-goers can virtually demo these games, and watch the entire showcase in the Tribeca Games Spotlight stream! (see video below)

Tribeca Games at the Tribeca Festival celebrates the convergence of games, entertainment and culture, highlighting the storytelling, art and innovation of games. Tribeca champions every frontier in the art of storytelling, and video games are at the forefront of pushing narrative to ever greater heights. 

Our advisory board of visionary leaders in both the film and games industry champion Tribeca’s power in shaping the future of games as a powerful form of storytelling.

The festival kicked off with the Tribeca Games Spotlight featuring a line-up of creator interviews, appearances by special guests, and exclusive gameplay from the eight official selections:

Harold Halibut, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Lost In Random, NORCO, Sable, Signalis, The Big Con and Twelve Minutes. Game fans had the opportunity to virtually catch the new Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ trailer, and hear from such celebrities and gaming industry luminaries as Guillermo del Toro, Khalief Adams, Neill Blomkamp, Japanese Breakfast, Tanya DePass, Reggie Fils-Aimé, Bing Gordon, Melissa Joan Hart, Geoff Keighley, Hideo Kojima, Sam Lake, James McAvoy, Norman Reedus, Kiki Wolfkill, Elijah Wood and Jen Zee.

Catch the Spotlight Here!

Tribeca Games Spotlight digital showcase on Friday, June 11 at 2pm ET! We’re celebrating Tribeca Games’ first-ever full games lineup. The digital showcase will feature creator interviews, appearances by special guests, and exclusive gameplay from our 8 Official Selections. Stream it right here on YouTube, as well as Twitch and Facebook. Learn more about Tribeca Games, sign up for demo sessions, and check out how we’re celebrating the innovative art and storytelling of games. https://tribecafilm.com/games For everything Tribeca, head over to https://tribecafilm.com and follow us: https://twitter.com/TribecaFilmFest https://instagram.com/tribeca

Lenni Reviews: Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole

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In this dystopian future, companies hire gamers to battle it out for the rights to advertising space. After my initial hesitation and brief fit of hysteriucal laughter at the thought of eHarmony, Match.com, Christian Mingle, and Farmers Only battling out in a cage match for the right to inundate us with their insipid nonsense (Three-way battle between Papa Johns, Little Caesars, and Dominos? Would CiCi's buffet be an unexpected challenger? Man, I laughed for DAYS!), I started this book with a bit of guilt that I'm not a huge gamer and a healthy load of disbelief this concept would be pulled off in an enjoyable way.

The book is written well. You follow professional gamer PerfectQuestion as he struggles to win for his company, broke, cheating girlfriend, drinking a lot, and at the end of his rope; willing to join an illegal online gaming universe referred to as the Black. Things get out of hand and the online battle for his life spreads into the real world.

By no means is this a 'bad book.' Nick Cole has the writing chops to pull off the gaming action and PerfectQuestion's desperation, so the reading is nice and smooth. Cole's work reminds me of Jeff Somers' work (but Cole is MUCH less depressing). My only complaint perhaps would be it's 100+ pages in before PerfectQuestion is directly threatened. It was cool and all to see PerfectQuestion in action and get to know how his job works and how sick and twisted the Black is, but it seemed to me our protagonist should have met with the main conflict sooner.

Although, I certainly wasn't bored. I was pulled right into the world and loved every second. My hands were twiching for controller buttons and the descriptions left me fiending for some playtime with my consoles. I truly cared about PerfectQuestion, even without knowing his name. I clicked instantly with what Cole is saying about what the anonymity of being online does to people's behavior and how easily the consequences of that behavior can leak into your offline life. I had fun reading this; it was an unexpectedly enjoyable romp. If you're into tech heavy scifi, first person shooters, and the trials of just a normal guy trying to survive, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Can't get enough of Lenni's writing? See more here.