By Eddie Pells, National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Olympic world’s ever-expanding quest to draw in young fans is meeting them where they are โ on Roblox.
The U.S. Olympic team and NBC are collaborating with the kid- and teen-friendly gaming platform to produce a new “Obby” โ that’s Roblox for obstacle course โ and other features that include ways to interact with U.S. athletes while also checking out highlights from the Paris Games and making visits to a virtual Team USA House called “The Vibe House.”
This new Roblox feature debuting Monday includes animated versions of 20 U.S. Olympians, including a surfer, a skateboarder and two break dancers โ all of whom represent sports that have been added recently to the Olympic program in hopes of driving young fans to the games.
“My sister-in-law said my nieces are going to be more excited about me being in Roblox than me being in the Olympics,” said one of the breakers, 35-year-old Sunny Choi.
Roblox says more than half of its 77.7 million daily active users are between 11 and 26.
Choi and breaker Victor Montalvo will be featured in “Emotes” โ animated versions of themselves that will feature some of their favorite dance moves. Four of their Emotes will be available for free, with the other available for purchase, and some of the proceeds going directly to the athletes.
The company says these are the first “official” Emotes created in Roblox based on real athletes and their actual moves.
“I did it because I just thought it was adorable and I’ll take any opportunity to share breaking with the wider community,” Choi said. “It’s so great for kids. The messaging in the game, for me, is very much about ‘be you and do what makes you happy.’ So hopefully, that resonates.”
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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