Yeah, you read that title right. We’re straight up talking about Pikmin and Jesus today and that is hilarious to me. Words cannot describe how much I love this church. If you aren’t on the bandwagon for Pikmin Bloom, I’m not too surprised. It’s a pretty obvious cash grab to re-vision the phenomenon that was Pokemon Go (which will never happen again). But there’s a distinct difference between Pokemon and Pikmin… and it’s not just their flower head appendages, cuz Chikorita. Bu

Checkpoint Church has been secretly developing a video game just in time for Advent. If you missed the news, then... well, first off I don't know how because we've been downright annoying about it. But just in case - please go and watch this trailer for the exciting news about our first ever video game Not Another Advent Story! It's going to be releasing every Sunday during Advent and the first episode is available right now. I really have trouble coming up with the words of

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl dropped this past Friday and I guarantee that I am playing them as this video is dropping. I am a lifelong PokeNerd and diehard fan of the series and so I was pretty excited for the announcement that Diamond/Pearl would be the next remake from the franchise. But with the release of Cowboy Bebop, teased images of One Piece live action, and the announcement of a remake of one old video game after another - are we remaking too many thi

Enter the competition here! One of the hallmarks of the gaming year has been the relatively recent tradition of Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards. I find myself anticipating the announcements for nominations each year with bated breath as I see what the somewhat scattered academy of gaming representatives picks as their hallmarks of the year prior. Yesterday the nominations for 2021 were announced and we hosted a stream where I picked my winners for each category. We also anno

We can’t just NOT talk about Dune, right? It’s too jam-packed with imagery and themes and all that mess to possibly get away with avoiding it. But, it’s also a tricky subject, because it’s pretty clearly exploring the themes of another religion entirely. But what can Christians learn from the story of Paul of the house of Atreides, other than just learning to read dense books that are slow as molasses? For this video, we’re going to focus specifically on something you’ll hear

Checkpoint entered into the second official year on the Internet back in August, bringing notifications on social media to look 'back on this day in history.' Seeing things that we were doing a year ago is all at once eerie and exciting. It doesn't feel that we've existed that long. It's exciting that we've had enough of our past behind us that we have a history at all. What I've found through these flashbacks is that there are three reactions we can have to these 'things we

Metroid Dread was a game that no one expected this year - sure it isn’t Metroid Prime 4 that most were anticipating, but we definitely didn’t plan to see a new 2D Metroid title hit the markets alongside the new OLED Nintendo Switch. But it did and here we are - now, Metroid has never exactly been known for its narrative, but the meta-game that it tells in every iteration are helpful for our walks as Christians. How might we better equip ourselves for loving others like Samus

NPN was invited to be in conversation with Rev. Ahnna Lise Stevens-Jennings on the VAUMC podcast. In the pod, the two discuss what nerd culture is, how it can be found or practiced in Christian spaces, and the importance of inclusion in both nerd and Christian spaces. Find the full episode below or on your favorite podcasting app.

I'm not sure about you, but I woke up Monday and couldn't believe that it was November. This year has flashed by like a vision. This newsletter is dropping on November 3rd. If you're a numbers person, November 3rd marks 84.11% of the year passed. I'm an optimist, so I read that as more than 15% of the year remaining. Putting things lightly, 2021 has been a huge year for Checkpoint. We've grown, changed, and evolved by leaps and bounds over the past 10 months. To be frank, it