The Kardashians’ Love-Hate Relationship with Gaming

Whether we like it or not, the Kardashians are almost everywhere. Since their family reality show debut in 2007, they’ve managed to step foot in any industry they could. The gaming industry was no different.

Kim Kardashian’s foray into gaming

Kim’s Multimillion-Dollar Gaming App, Kim Kardashian Hollywood

Kim Kardashian and her team went straight to business and launched Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in 2014. The game went extinct this year, but the Kardashians have been more involved in gaming than you might think.

After nine running seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim had already gotten deals and partnerships with shoe brands, TV studios, and so much more. Kim’s PR team, along with her mother Kris Jenner, were in touch with Glu Mobile (the publisher of games like Frontline Commando and Deer Hunter) to create Kim’s character-customization gaming app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

The initial premise of the game was to create a character that players used to climb their way to fame and success and earn their “A-celebrity status.” Although predominantly popular among young girls, the game also had the option to create both female and male characters. Players could choose to style them with different hair, shoes, and clothes.

The game had different levels to get you A-celebrity status, and challenges ranged from having to shop for outfits, attend parties, meet celebrities, do photoshoots, and even deal with the paparazzi. The game gave players rewards like K-fans and K-stars for establishing as many celebrity connections as possible, however crazy this may sound. Kim’s avatar was the one that guided players through different levels by offering little pieces of advice.

According to TMZ, the game generated $85 million for Kim during its first year. But how? External sponsorship and the game’s microtransactions were key elements. In Kardashian style, the game couldn’t go on without selling something. So players could purchase cash and items from the “star shop” to earn K-stars (the game’s other form of currency). However, if players wanted to, they could opt for the free-to-play version instead.

Despite the PR-obsessed nature and controversial takes, in 2019 the game was ranked 82 as one of the best 100 games of the decade by Polygon. The game went on for 10 years total and was finally shut down by April 2024.

Kanye West’s Attempt at a Spiritual Game: Only One

Although not officially a Kardashian, Kim’s ex-husband, Kanye West, tried to leave his mark in the gaming industry. After being a gamer himself and stating his appreciation for music in video games from a young age, Kanye has yet to release an official game.

His closest attempt came when he got in touch with Nintendo executives in 2015. Kanye’s inspiration for a game idea came from his late mother, Donda, who passed in 2007. His idea was revealed at E3 2016, where they showed a trailer for the game idea called Only One.

The trailer showed a group of angels (including Donda) ascending into heaven, either by themselves or a Pegasus-like horse. Kanye and his team also produced the ethereal soundtrack that was meant to be in the game. The idea for the game didn’t reveal much of a plot, but it certainly left fans wanting more. After beginning development with Encyclopedia Pictura, the project was discontinued.

Kim’s Ups and Downs with Roblox

In 2021, Kim opened up about the nuances of parenting and brought up having to learn how to play Roblox with her kids. Later in 2022, an episode of The Kardashians showed an awkward moment; Kim’s son, Saint West, was playing on his iPad, and an ad for another game came up showing Kim’s face and claiming to release another “sex tape” as clickbait.

The incident quickly escalated, and Kim subsequently threatened to sue Roblox for the inappropriate advertisement. Roblox representatives took responsibility and diffused the situation by banning the specific game developer who made the racy claim in their ad.

According to Polygon, a Roblox spokesperson publicly replied, “we have strict moderation and policies to protect our community, including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind which violates our Community Rules. The text reference to the tape that got around our filters was quickly taken down and fortunately visible only to an extremely small number of people on the platform.”

Despite the incident, Kim’s family didn’t seem to have an issue with Roblox and kept playing. In 2023, Kim even shared on her social media that her son, Saint, had asked the tooth fairy for Robux (Roblox money) instead of real money.

With that said, we’ll just have to wait and see what games this family comes up with in the future.

Squid Game: The Challenge Eliminations Explained

Netflix has now dropped the first five episodes of the new reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge, and wow it is intense. The competition show is based on the K-Drama of the same name and sees 456 contestants from around the world compete for $4.56 million by competing in a series of games and challenges which sees them eliminate their fellow contestants.

Similarly to the drama, many of the games such as ‘Red Light, Green Light’ and ‘Dalgona’ have made into the reality show. However, the elimination process from the drama series, which sees contestants killed if they fail a challenge, has obviously not made it into the reality show.

So how do they show a contestant has been eliminated from Squid Game: The Challenge? Here’s the lowdown.

For the first two challenges ‘Red Light, Green Light’ and ‘Dalgona’ contestants wore a packet of black ink (often called a squib) fastened under their shirts. When a player failed the challenge, the squib would be activated to explode and would then burst all over the player’s T-shirt.

During the ‘Red Light, Green Light’ challenge, a high-tech tracking system would detect movement and then burst the ink under the player’s shirts.

For subsequent challenges such as ‘Battleships’ players were lit up in red or blue, depending on the color of their team, when they had been hit by the other team and this indicated that they had been eliminated in the game.

During the mini challenges inside the dormitory, when a player was eliminated they were escorted out by a guard.

At the end of each challenge the number of contestants eliminated from the game is shown on a large video screen in the dormitory and their picture disappears from the screen, with every player eliminated more money is added to the prize fund above their heads.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster: Everything You Need to Know

Capcom has been keeping its fans happy with a constant flow of well-made video game releases. From Resident Evil remakes to new Monster Hunter titles, this Japanese video game publisher has been constantly producing hits. After all these incredible releases, we are getting yet another unexpected yet exciting title, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. This game is set to breathe new life into the beloved 2006 Xbox 360 exclusive classic. The original title captured the hearts of gamers with its unique blend of horror and humor. Now, this remaster will allow players to experience that incredible title once again.

The announcement came via a short trailer for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. It showcased the enhanced visuals and some gameplay and even hinted at some of the exciting new changes to the beloved old formula.

Dead Rising fans would be glad to know that Capcom revealed a lot of new information about this upcoming title. Let’s look at everything Dead Rising remaster has in store for us.

For the uninitiated, Dead Rising is a series of comedy-horror video games where players fight hordes of zombies in one go. They will find themselves collecting various tools and combining them to create deadly zombie-killing weaponry.

There’s also a story to follow, which, in contrast to its quirky gameplay, is quite dramatic. Capcom is keeping all these things intact in this remaster. But there are many things they have changed too.

The developers have now added an auto-save feature to the game, which means this title will now save whenever players reach a milestone in the story, such as completing a mission, etc.

The biggest change to the title, though, is the addition of the ability to move while aiming a weapon. In the original title, while aiming the gun, players could not move; that feat is now possible in this new release. It looks like fans who played the original numerous times will have a reason to play this new release too.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster visuals are also getting a major overhaul. Capcom has developed this remaster using the RE Engine, the same game engine that they used to develop all the recent Resident Evil games, even the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds uses the same engine. This means Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will look incredible when it is released.

Developers have revealed that it will be running at 4K at 60 FPS on a new generation of consoles. The character models in the trailer looked even more detailed than the original, and the world looks more immersive.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It’s quite surprising that they have not announced a Nintendo Switch version for it yet; it looks like they are holding onto it for its much-talked-about successor.