Posts

Showing posts from 2017

5 Reasons To Play Fading

Image
Fading is a minimalist 2D platformer where you play through the mind of a man whose wife is dying of terminal illness as you uncover a story of love, pain and loss. The title itself alone, speaks for what the overarching theme of the game would represent. The red ball and concept of the game reminds me of the game Bounce on Nokia 5130, but unlike bounce you don't grow big, you don't have a certain number of lives and there are no rings to collect. If you're like me and don't understand how the concept depicts the mind of a man, then just wait till you play the game. You'll find out how challenging it is to be in someone's mind based on their mood and reasons why you don't want to ever be in it to start with. With that said, here are 5 reasons to play the game Fading. 1. Great Story The story of fading is beautiful and captivating. It's what the story of bounce could have been if it even had a story. You unravel the story of love an

Buzzing New Releases

Image
If you're a christian believer, fashion freak, endless game lover or just someone who regularly hunts for native Nigerian games, here are 3 buzzing mobile games that are free to download and play. Shakara - African Dress Up and Fashion Highlights Shakara is a dress up game available on Android and iOS Features clothing and accessory from a variety of African countries Take a snapshot of your very own outfit and share with your friends Shakara is a women's wear dress up game developed by Lizzie Creations . Create your own version of an African inspired fashion studio by dressing up Kiki and her friends in beautiful fabrics and fashionable attires from across Africa. With native clothing and design styles from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire and South Africa, creating your perfect outfit is never a dull moment. There are hundreds of unique combinations and creations to be made from more than 70 clothing materials and accessor

Exciting Events This Month of September

Image
Here is a curated list of events related to gaming coming up this month of September. West African Gaming Expo 2017 The fourth edition of the annual technology conference and exhibition is holding at the Landmark Event Center from the 26th - 29th. Read more info here . Lagos Comic Con 2017 The sixth edition of the annual geek event is taking place at NECA house, Alausa on the 15th and 16th. Get more information here . Game Night Reloaded Come and enjoy the very best of video games. A night filled with food, friends, games and more games. What more could you want. Lean more here . Africa Board Game Convention 2017 The second edition of the African tabletop gaming convention is holding on the 17th in Abuja at the Nigeria National Merit Award House, Maitama. Come and experience the very best of local board games and 12 hours of non-stop open gaming. Register here or get more information  here  

WAGE 17 Is Right Around The Corner

Image
The fourth edition of the West African Gaming Expo (WAGE) is just around the corner and this edition promises to be the best so far. WAGE is an annual technology conference and exhibition that brings together all the stakeholders in the gaming industry under one roof. The expo is the leading platform for meeting and networking with gamers, developers, publishers, distributors, service providers, solution providers and gaming enthusiasts in the West African region.  Last year, representatives from Unity Technologies, Logitech and other distinguish guests were present. This year we have a more Sub-Saharan African pack with companies from Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. The event is set to take place from the 26th, to the 29th of September at the Landmark event center, Lagos, Nigeria. The 4 day event will be split into two, the first 2 days will involve a game jam while the conference and exhibition will commensurate the remaining 2 days. The game jam is a 48 hours hackathon th

What's Up With Maliyo?

Image
So last month before Techplus 2017 commenced, I went to check out Maliyo's website and saw this to my surprise. At first I thought Maliyo were going through some kind of restructuring (I mean the company itself), since Techplus introduced Hugo Obi on their website as Manager of Maliyo instead of the usual CEO of Maliyo Games as we've come to know. But my bump in with Hugo at the Maliyo stand during Techplus cleared up any misconceptions I had. Instead its more like re-branding for Maliyo to be a content aggregator as the website says, "Discover Games, Apps Music, Videos & more tailored to your local needs". Maliyo Games will continue to exist, making in-house games as well as contributing content to aid the store.  It is a well know fact that this wouldn't be Maliyo's first attempt at a local store. Gidi Apps was the very first one but it seems practically inactive now. Re-branding it as Maliyo with a few additional improvements smells more like a ver

Throne of Gods is Out!

Image
Finally the buzzing game by Black Ring is out. Throne of Gods, initially named The Throne is a fighting game about African pantheons taking on each other, all for power. The game represents the diverse culture of Africa and also allows you to play as or take on your favourite African deity, mine is Sango (who doesn't like a thunder god). The army of two (Ali Akdogan and Iru Umusu) at Black Ring have been working on the game for more than 2 years now (if I'm correct), and released a demo of the game last year during the West African Gaming Expo (WAGE). In the game, you start with Sango (the god of thunder from Nigeria) and fight other fierce African gods, goddesses and beasts. The more you fight, the more cowries you earn., which allows you to unlock more characters and stages as you progress. The game's art style is quite unique, with all of the characters possessing muscular overtones while clothed in their traditional attire. Throne of Gods is one of the seven g

Nigerian Game Development Companies

Image
In 2012, you could count only 5 game development companies in Nigeria.  Five years later, that number has  quadrupled, with a few still developing their first game. With no real database or catalog of gaming studios in Nigeria, I decided to make a list of my own. Now I must say, not all the gaming studios are on this list. Only the ones that meet a certain criteria are listed here. The criteria for choosing these selected ones, is simply that they have at least two games released on any platform (local or otherwise). So without further ado, here is a curated list of gaming studios in Nigeria. Name:  Avena Location: Lagos Notable Games: Abu's Quest, Cake Pop, Fruity Gang Services: Mobile Games Name:  Chopup Location: Lagos Notable Games: Danfo Reloaded, Sambisa Assault, Mokey Post  Services: Mobile Games Name:  Deluxe Creation Studios Location: Lagos Notable Games: App Rush, Burster Drones Services: Full Suite Digital Design and Development

Unity 3D Meetup is back

Image
After 6 months of absence, the Unity 3D meetup organised by Centre 4 Tech is back for the month of July. The first event was held in December last year and I hoped it would become continuous every month, but alas it didn't. Although Centre 4 Tech have been consistent in organising the yearly Global Game Jam in Lagos on the Mainland successfully for the past two years, I'm personally not putting my money on this one to become a monthly reoccurring thing. Since the major reason I can sense they came back is because of the Ultimate Gaming TV Show .

It's like Ginx but for Nigeria

Image
Okay, so I may be over exaggerating a bit. It's more like a mini series of the earlier  Ginx , which used to air a variety of programs about games and gaming before they switched  their focus to eSports.  Anyways the Ultimate Gaming TV show is the first Nigerian television show  that provides a platform for local developers  to showcase their games, talk about their experiences and promote the culture of gaming in the country.  The show is organised by Ultima Limited , the same guys who organise Who Wants to be a Millionaire Nigeria and MTN Project Fame West Africa. Somehow they seem interested  in video gaming in Nigeria and so far I'm liking it. Considering we need all available arsenals including the media to disseminate the role  video games can play in the society and even on the economy. In America, the video game i ndustry makes more revenue than the Movie Industry (Hollywood). And in Finland,  the video game industry contributes over 25% of revenue in the ICT sector.

African Games with African Themes

Image
I wrote this article for ABOC in 2014 and I can't seem to find it anywhere. So I decided to post it on my blog with a few minor edits because I've become a better writer. I've omitted the worthy mentions because adding them would make this write-up very long. If you're wondering why Kiroo's Aurion didn't make the list? Let's just say they hadn't launched at the time of writing this and I was skeptical. Anyways here you go. Since the birth of video games, there has been a severe lack of African games or games that display African themes. We’ve all seen games that have Western, European or even Japanese cultures for decades, but none that have African cultures. Africa has constantly been referred to as the “Dark Continent” and the same can be said in terms of gaming (sales, development, and adoption) in the continent. Only a small fame has been recorded with games like Resident Evil 5 and Far Cry 2; with justification in the scenery, people, languag