Gaming goes standalone; All Latino Resist concert set
South by Southwest keeps rolling on. Here are five things you need to know about the conference and festivals for Thursday:
1. GET YOUR GAME ON
The SXSW Gaming Conference and Festival kicks into full swing Thursday. Unlike years past, this year’s SXSW Gaming is a separate track, and there is a charge to get in. Sessions will take on the growth of virtual reality and augmented reality in games, what it’s like to become a profession gamer — oh, and there will be cosplay.
2. ALL LATINO RESIST CONCERT PRESENTED BY VOTO LATINO
Latinos have been at the center of many contentious issues lately, from raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a controversial border wall debate. The concert brings together activist musicians Panteón Rococó, Residente and Ozomatli, whose musical styles range from rap to ska. (5 p.m. at SXSW Outdoor Stage at Lady Bird Lake on Riverside Drive and South First Street; free with pass from guestpass.sxsw.com.)
3. BIG SHOWS
Hanson, Lil’ Wayne, Chainsmokers, Benjamin Booker, Snoop Dogg and Betty Who are just a few of the acts we’re looking forward to today.
4. BIG STAGES
The MTV Woodie Awards go down Thursday, along with Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion just outside town.
5. THE FILMS KEEP COMING
Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”) and Zoe Kazan star in “The Big Sick,” a heavily autobiographical comedy about a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian named Kumail Nanjiani who meets a young woman named Emily V. Gordon (Nanjiani’s wife’s name, also the script’s co-writer with her husband). They date, they might be in love, they fight, and she has to be put into a medically induced coma for eight days — typical romcom stuff. The movie, produced by Judd Apatow, premieres at 3:15 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre.