Dear friends and colleagues, Please join us for two upcoming events (online or in-person) hosted at the University of Waterloo Games Institute <https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/>: 1. On Tuesday, 14 November from 11AM-12PM (EST/UTC-4): Skins Deep: Race, Gender, and Nationality in eSports <https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/events/skins-deep-race-gender-and-nationality-esports>, a lecture by Tara Fickle (Northwestern University). Register for free using this Eventbrite link <https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/guest-lecture-skins-deep-race-gender-and-nationality-in-esports-tickets-745328988067?aff=oddtdtcreator> . Since the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, Asia has remained the center of the manufacturing of video game hardware (China and Southeast Asia), the center of game innovation and the birthplace of most game genres (Japan), and the largest reliable resource of consumers (nearly half of game players reside in Asia). Dr. Fickle asks how video games, in being inextricably tethered to Asia, continue to produce new racializations of Asians around the globe, and the varied impacts games have had on Asian diasporas in North America through forms of digitization, “gamic” worlds, and play itself. The talk will explore a range of relevant contemporary topics in Asian/American gaming, such as esports, visual novels, racial representations, gender, labor and industry culture. 2. On Monday, 20 November from 11AM-12:30PM (EST/UTC-4): Emerging Voices in Asian/American Game Studies <https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/events/emerging-voices-asian-american-game-studies>, featuring Matthew Howard (Loyola University), Sarah Ganzon (Simon Fraser University), and Huan He (Vanderbilt University). Register for free using this Eventbrite link <https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/panel-emerging-voices-in-asianamerican-game-studies-tickets-750731808047?aff=oddtdtcreator> . This panel highlights emerging scholars in Asian/American games studies. Panelists will present recent and/or ongoing work, sharing a glimpse of the emerging research questions animating the field. Topics include He’s analysis of NPC discourse, particularly the phenomena of NPC streaming, as an Asiatic form, Ganzon’s examination of Filipino political activism in digital games that extend public and community spaces, and Howard’s inquiry on 'region locking' in online games as racial practices.