Home » Sponsored » New MMORPG, AVATARA, Launches on PC, Mobile, and Browser
This article is sponsored by AVATARA.
AVATARA, which will be playable today on mobile, PC, and web browsers — is a new top-end action MMORPG breaking new ground in the world of gaming by bringing the power of blockchain and NFTs to the masses. While billions of people enjoy traditional games, only about one million players have experienced the unique benefits of blockchain gaming. AVATARA aims to change that by providing a more traditional game experience that is easy for anyone to jump into, while still offering all the benefits of blockchain technology.
In the AVATARA universe, players can sign up for a guild, grow their character, participate in battles and wars, and earn rare items and utility tokens. Items, avatars (NFTs), and even characters can be freely traded among users in the game, giving players true ownership of their virtual assets. And with a focus on the “fun of possible embodiments,” AVATARA is poised to bring Web2 players into the exciting world of Web3.
The AVATARA development team is dedicated to improving the “fun of battles” and the “business models and approachability” of the blockchain in Phase 1. In Phase 2, the team will focus on the interoperability of Web3, recognizing that a strong base is essential for continuous player enjoyment.
Players can earn the in-game currency TARA (Utility Token) by hunting monsters and completing quests, and can invest it to grow their character or swap it for NOX (Platform Token) to cash out on exchanges. And with AVATARA’s NFT avatars, players can journey through the world as a representative of God with formidable powers, summoned through the MINT page and able to be freely traded within the game. Join the adventure and become a part of the AVATARA universe today.
NX3GAMES, the developers behind the new blockchain-based MMORPG AVATARA, have a long history of success in the Korean games market. With decades of collective experience and a track record of creating popular titles, the NX3GAMES team is well-equipped to bring AVATARA to the forefront of the gaming industry.
Their previous title, Rohan M, was a particularly impressive accomplishment, ranking #2 in Korea and #8 globally on the Google Play Store.
The NX3GAMES team is made up of members from leading companies in the mobile game market, including Netmarble and Nexon. With years of experience working together, the team is able to demonstrate strong teamwork and a deep understanding of the gaming industry. They have also collaborated with advisors from AAA game studios such as CAPCOM, EA, and Bioware, further strengthening their expertise.
Players can trust that AVATARA is in the hands of a highly experienced and talented team, committed to delivering a top-quality gaming experience.
Bosses such as Gideon the All Knowing, Godrick, Rennala, and Mohg all get rushed down and overwhelmed by the pack of dogs, unable to cleave them all down before they pile on and engulf the bosses in numerous attacks. At some points where the dogs are positioned in a full circle around the bosses, their health plummets down surprisingly fast.
However, not all bosses are so fragile. Rykard probably has the easiest time of it, with all the dogs rushing into the lava around the snake and dying long before reaching phase 2. Melania, too, makes easy work of it, wiping out the majority of the dogs with a single water dance attack. In fact, many of the more difficult fights at the end of the game prove far too much for the dogs, showing some ceiling which they cannot rise above.
Elden Ring was one of our games of the year in 2022, watch why here!
You really have to see it for yourself, which is why we linked it up above. It’s funny to wonder just how far a pack of 50 hungry puppies in Elden Ring can get, and how many people haven’t made it nearly as far as them. Even if they can’t clear the full gambit of bosses, we mark this as an overwhelming win for video game dogs everywhere.
Iron Gate Studios has brought in the new year by outlining its plans for Valheim in 2023 (opens in new tab). The Viking survival sim launched in early access in February 2021 and, despite its high level of polish and hugely positive reception, remains in that state. The studio reckons the game will be finished once three biomes are included. The first is the Mistlands, the subject of last year’s major update, and this year is going to be all about the Ashlands.
The Ashlands will apparently be “quite different from what we’re all used to”, being “a large chunk of land at the far south of the map, rather than small islands spread out over the world”. And unlike Mistlands, the development of which was kept under wraps until close to release, the studio says it wants to be transparent and “show you a lot more of the process”.
Given that Mistlands only came out last month, development on Ashlands is in the very early stages, so we get some enemy concept art of some nasty skeletons called the Charred and a frankly horrific looking thing called Morgen that’s basically a fleshy mouth on legs. The Ashlands is supposed to be the land of the dead, as well as volcanic region, so there’s lot of glowy internals and skulls sticking out everywhere
Then we take a hard right into more cheery territory. The Ashlands doesn’t have an ETA but it’s certainly not imminent, so Iron Gate details some of the smaller updates that’ll be coming in the meantime. The game’s Xbox release in March will come with crossplay, the devs are looking into adding some new difficulty settings, and the next addition will be called Hildir’s quest. This features some natty outfits you can see in the header image, adds the eponymous Hildir, and most importantly will allow you to re-style your character’s hair.
Iron Gate says alongside content updates, it’s also working on ways to improve the accessibility of the game (which it says is “long overdue”). As part of this it especially wants to hear from people who have disabilities or any other factor that affects the gaming experience and provides this contact email (opens in new tab).
The Ashlands expansion is still in pre-production, so don’t expect it anytime soon (though technically it’s already one of the game’s ‘secret’ biomes as explained here (opens in new tab)) I also wouldn’t imagine this will take the 20 months or so that Mistlands did. Valheim was a massive success at launch and was mostly developed by three people, so as Iron Gate itself has said in the past it had to spend considerable resources and time on scaling itself well to deal with it. It’s a good problem to have, sure, but almost two years on from the early access launch Iron Gate is a much larger operation and, one would expect, will knock this biome out a little quicker.
Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter’s #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, my eye has been caught by a pleasing assortment of zippy and dramatic movements—hoverboards, airdashes, grappling hooks—but also some cute, weird, interesting, and uh I guess hypothetically erotic indies games. Come have a look!
Nintendo just announced a new cross promotion for Fire Emblem Heroes(Free) and this week’s new Nintendo Switch title, Fire Emblem Engage. Linking your account to both games will net you orbs in Fire Emblem Heroes and a bonus item set for use in the Nintendo Switch game Fire Emblem Engage. To get the Fire Emblem Engage Order of Heroes item set, you need to have played Fire Emblem Heroes on iOS or Android and have linked your Nintendo Account to the app. The bonus in Fire Emblem Heroes is five orbs, which is not as good as the bonus given when Fire Emblem Three Houses released a few years ago. This collaboration will also see Fire Emblem Engage heroes arrive in Fire Emblem Heroes. Watch the trailer for that below:
If you’re wondering how to claim the Fire Emblem Heroes bonus in Fire Emblem Engage, you can follow the steps here with screenshots. It is worth noting that you should redeem your code within 150 days after getting it for the Nintendo Switch game. I haven’t played Fire Emblem Heroes in a while, but have adored my time with Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes last year. This collaboration got me to re-download Fire Emblem Heroes on iOS. It remains to be seen if I will spend more time with it after the item pack though. If you’ve not gotten it yet, Fire Emblem Heroes is available worldwide for free on iOS and Android. Details for Feh Pass paid subscription are here. If you’ve not played Fire Emblem Heroes for a while or play it regularly, what do you think of the new content and this collaboration?
As our associate editor Tyler Colp recently put it, the fate of Disco Elysium 2 is uncertain, but other games might make up for it. One such potential plug for the Disco-shaped hole in our hearts is Sovereign Syndicate, a CRPG set in an alternate Victorian London. You can tell it’s an alternate reality because the menu screen shows it’s got zeppelins, as all alternate realities are required to have by law. The minotaur’s a bit of a giveaway as well.
While the final version of Sovereign Syndicate will have three player-characters to choose from—Clara the corsair, Otto the automaton, and Atticus the minotaur—the current demo is restricted to the minotaur. An alcoholic in a top hat, Atticus Daley is a small-time illusionist and big-time loser who begins the game in extremely Disco Elysium fashion by waking up from a bender with a head full of voices and a gut full of bad booze.
(Image credit: Crimson Herring)
The similarities extend to the interface, which scrolls dialogue down the right-hand side of the screen as abilities like Wit and Spryness offer their opinions, each illustrated with a stark portrait. One difference is the addition of an external voice called the Crone, who the other chatterers are upset to find cohabiting your skull. The first quest in my journal is to figure out who she is and what she’s up to.
More pressing matters emerge in the shape of the masked stranger who wakes me up, insists we have business, then waits for me to pull myself together. This opening scene involves meandering around a grubby London street, examining discarded junk. From a newspaper and a poster I pick up a couple more quests, one to find some missing orphans, the other a mysterious “courtesan killer”. From the other garbage I pick up my handy sword cane, and some gears and cogs I’ll be able to sell later, immediately reminding me of all those bottles I recycled in Martinaise.
One exit from this street is blocked by an electrified fence, beyond which is the Werewolf Containment Zone. I can’t remember the last time three words made my imagination feel so fizzy, but tragically the Werewolf Containment Zone is beyond the scope of this demo. Instead, we move on to the Red Lotus, an opium den where I’m a regular customer.
Things can go a couple of different ways here, depending on whether I cast an illusion to make myself look a little more human, or stay bull-shaped and force a confrontation with the bigoted centaur behind the front bar. Attempting skill checks, like the one to cast an illusion, costs Nerve. That’s a resource lost whether you pass or fail, based not on dice, but drawing tarot cards face down then choosing one to flip. Each of the four suits relates to one of your four abilities, and while the rules aren’t clearly explained, I muddle through just fine.
(Image credit: Crimson Herring)
Picking dialogue responses and making decisions flagged with abilities gives you points in the bodily humor (opens in new tab) linked to each one. Animal Instinct is yellow bile for instance, while Self Discipline is phlegm. They’re the equivalent of experience points, with every 10 letting you choose to either increase that ability by a point, increase one of the skills related to it by three points, or take a card from the major arcana that has some kind of special bonus.
One major arcana card I earn highlights whichever facedown card I draw during a skill check has the lowest number, while another gives me back three Nerve points every time I flip a face card. It’s a flavorful idea, as is the character sheet styled after a phrenology exam—though given my bull’s head, it also looks kind of like a diagram for cuts of meat.
(Image credit: Crimson Herring)
Successfully hiding my horns makes the next interaction easy, but on a replay I try dealing with this bouncer the hard way. Confrontations are shown as comic strips, each panel a separate step, whether it’s an attempt to bribe your way out of trouble or rapping someone on the chin with the pommel of your cane-sword. The black-and-white pictures are another flavorful touch, like old-timey newspaper illustrations or some of Kevin O’Neill’s art for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. These blow-by-blow comics get in the way of the story less than another combat system full of range penalties and movement modifiers would.
Sovereign Syndicate’s demo covers a few more interactions inside the Red Lotus, then wraps up. It’s clearly got a long way to go, with a suggested release window of “holiday 2024 (opens in new tab).” Right now there’s no way to move the camera, and the ending’s pretty abrupt. It remains pretty high on my list of anticipated games, not out of any particular interest in steampunk—never a big fan of Arcanum, I’m afraid—but because I’d love to see more wordy, Disco-like CRPGs that emphasize story, and squeeze in characterful oddities like the Werewolf Containment Zone. You can try the demo for yourself on Steam (opens in new tab).
There’s plenty to see in that regard. Video games are known for their Easter eggs, the small and obscure references hidden as little surprises in the game. And so it makes sense that HBO’s The Last of Us would do the same, to make subtle (and not so subtle) nods to all the The Last of Us-heads out there. The Last of Us Part 1 felt like it so badly wanted to be a movie or show, and now the TV show is switching that up — at least in one way.
Episode 1 Easter eggs
Halican Drops
Photo: Shane Harvey/HBO
Halican Drops is the name of the band on the T-shirt Joel’s daughter Sarah (played by Nico Parker) is wearing at the beginning of the show — and the game. There’s no real significance for the band in the game, other than a few posters, but the back of the T-shirt does foreshadow how the game plays out: Each tour stop is another location that Ellie and Joel will visit throughout their journey.
When Joel, Tommy, and Sarah are trying to escape Austin during the chaos of the initial outbreak, the show’s directors make clever use of the camera angle to make The Last of Us feel like the video game. It’s all in the third-person view, with the camera in the back seat. This is exactly how the game is shot from the truck — you’re still playing as Sarah at that point, and she’s in the back seat. Several of us noted instantly that it just feels like a video game during these shots, a trick that’s of much better use here than in other TV adaptations of games, like Halo, which tried the first-person view — including player UI.
Sarah waking up
Sarah wakes up in her bedroom in the middle of the night in both the game and the TV show, stumbling around sleepily in the dark to see what’s going on. Both scenes provide a little more context but in different ways. In the video game, you control Sarah, and she’s looking through her house in the dark. You’re not on a set path, and you can pick up things in the house, which provide some more context — one item is a newspaper that details how admittance to local hospitals is up by more than 300%. In the video game, an infected person comes busting through the glass door, but Joel shoots him, before they run outside and Tommy shows up, right on time.
The Last of Us TV show has Sarah waking up, alone, because Joel went to bail Tommy out of jail. She ends up back at the neighbor’s house, bringing their scared dog home. That’s when she gets a very clear glimpse of what’s going on: The infected old lady is munching on her housemates. This scene sets up the horrors of the infected in a different way, giving some more context to show viewers what’s going on.
Joel’s wrench
Tommy and Joel pull up to their neighbor’s house just as Sarah is getting attacked by the infected old lady, but thankfully Joel has a formidable weapon: a wrench. The heavy wrench looks to be of forearm’s length and probably quite handy while they’re escaping the city, but Joel drops it right away.
Why not save it for later use? Toss it into the back of the pickup truck and you don’t even have to hold it. Our best guess is that this is a nod to the video game — in The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2, you get max three hits on your everyday melee weapons. They break all the time, and that’s by design. The Last of Us is a game about survival, and you have to scavenge for everything, including bullets and, yes, wrenches for hitting infected things.
Marlene
Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO
Does Marlene in The Last of Us TV show sound familiar? That’s because the same actor plays both roles. Merle Dandridge plays Marlene in The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2, taking the role on a third time for the HBO adaptation.
When you’re lost in the darkness
Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO
The full phrase, When you’re lost in the darkness, look to the light, appears several times in the show, and it’s plastered all over the games. The phrase is graffiti on walls throughout Boston (and likely elsewhere), a symbol and motto for the revolutionary group the Fireflies — the people who are fighting the oppressive military in the country’s quarantine zones. Marlene’s one of them, and an important one at that: She’s the leader of the Boston faction, and the person who puts Ellie in Joel and Tess’ care.
Curtis and the Viper 2
Curtis and the Viper 2 is the movie that Sarah picks up from the neighbor’s house in The Last of Us, pulled from a shelf alongside the likes of Pink Panther and Murderball. Unlike those two, Curtis and the Viper 2 isn’t a real movie, but it’s still an important one. People who have played The Last of Us Part 2 will remember it tearfully — it’s brought up in the second game as a cheesy ’80s movie, but one that was going to mean a lot to the two people watching it.
“The Long and Winding Road”
When Ellie and Joel are waiting for Tess to scout for the escape from the Boston quarantine zone, Ellie picks up the book of No. 1 music hits and flips through it. There’s one page marked off with a piece of paper — the radio code for Joel and Tess’ smuggling operation. The page it opens to is easy to miss, but may be a nod to the franchise — The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road.” This could be reference to the long, winding road that will take Ellie and Joel across the United States, or maybe the long and winding road it’s been since a The Last of Usmovie adaptation was announced in 2014.
Bigwig’s daughter
In the same scene where Joel and Ellie are discussing the radio code, Joel starts to question Ellie on her own life — why Marlene and the Fireflies are going through so much trouble to smuggle her out of Boston. No one knows yet of Ellie’s true condition — that she’s immune — and she’s sworn to keep it a secret. Joel asks if Ellie is a “bigwig’s daughter” or something, and Ellie responds that it’s “something like that.” These few lines are pulled straight from the game, but in those scenes it’s Tess talking to Ellie when they’re escaping the zone.
Escaping the quarantine zone
Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO
Ellie, Joel, and Tess’ escape from the Boston quarantine zone has a few shots that are heavy references to the game — the overgrown world is dark and gnarled up with cars and buses to crawl under and through. But there’s one scene in particular that stood out for its similarities to an iconic level in The Last of Us Part 1: Chapter 3, “The Outskirts.” Crawling through tunnels and debris, the trio has to dodge spotlights and flashlights from the military guarding the quarantine zone wall — spots in the game where it’s essential to play the game as stealthily as possible. Visually, the show does a clever job of mimicking that feeling.
The first episode of HBO’s The Last of Us has premiered, inviting fans of the video game franchise, as well as those who haven’t played, into the world of Ellie, Joel, clickers, and the end of society as we know it. Anyone who’s spent time playing the Naughty Dog game series knows that The Last of Us isn’t your run of the mill zombie apocalypse story. It’s one of soul-crushing heartbreak and how you move forward from it.
Warning: From here on out, we will be discussing spoilers for the premiere episode of The Last of Us. If you’ve yet to watch the show, head over to HBO Max now and see for yourself what happens.
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That heartbreak is a key component of the opening of the video game, so for those familiar, it should come as no surprise that the first episode of The Last of Us realizes those horrific moments in live-action. The series introduces Joel (Pedro Pascal), his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), as they come to realize a fungal outbreak is turning people into zombified beings. In their fight to escape the horrors, they end up in the crosshairs of members of the military, who gun down Sarah. It’s a disturbing scene to watch play out, as literally nobody seems to know exactly what’s happening or why these newly-minted monsters are attacking other people.
When it came to filming this moment, Parker admits she and Pascal “were listening to sad songs” to get in the right headspace. They also both spoke with showrunner Craig Mazin about the scene.
“I remember Craig came over to us as a last prompt, and he turned to me and he goes, ‘This is the most pain that you’ve ever been in in your entire life. This is the most excruciatingly painful thing that’s ever happened to you,’” she explained. “And then he said the same thing to Pedro. And for me, there’s more of a physical aspect to it, but for Pedro there’s more of an emotional pain.”
The pain and anguish that plays out on screen is palpable. It’s hard to imagine such an iconic moment from the games being captured any better in live-action, largely due to everyone involved knowing how important it was for this scene in particular to strike the right tone.
“It was incredibly intimidating, but also very exciting,” Pascal told GameSpot, TV Guide, and Metacritic in an interview. He added, “It was an incredible opportunity for me to get started in that way. To have Nico Parker, who is amazing–that was an instant father-daughter bond, and fun and a perfect way to start. With Gabriel Luna playing Tommy, my brother, and this little family, essentially, that is instantly torn apart by outbreak day–an iconic moment that exists in the game that fans are all very aware of that basically shapes who this man is for the rest of his journey.”
And while there are certainly tweaks made to make the moment more palatable as a scene on TV, there’s so much pulled directly from the game–down to even the framing of certain shows.
“I remember being struck by the similarities in the way they were framing it,” Luna said. “There’s a lot of expectation on that scene. But what I could see on the monitor and the way we were handling it, we were being really, really true to the game. Tommy, of course, has seen a lot of death in his experience, and I think that what I was trying to get across was that I know what’s done; I can see this wound and I know what’s about to happen. And so a lot of it is just trying to be there for my brother when he tries to come to terms with what’s happening.”
As for whether we’ll see Sarah again in flashbacks, there’s no telling. Whatever the case, there is plenty more The Last of Us story to unfold in the coming episodes.
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays on HBO.
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Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us may be one of gaming’s biggest blockbusters, but it’s safe to say that HBO’s The Last of Us TV series introduced the zombie epic’s acclaimed, contentious story to a whole new audience. And at least some of that audience is wondering: “How does this all end?”
If you were within five yards of a video game in 2013, you may have gotten the sense that The Last of Us tells a story whose ending spawned significant debate. Perhaps you’re curious about where all that drama comes from. Or maybe, after watching the first episode, you’re not sure whether you want to sign up for something that might involve, say, Joel’s new surrogate kid dying. Or maybe you just like to know what you’re getting into, and you devour spoilers as a matter of course.
So before we just tell you what happens at the end of The Last of Us (2013), let’s talk about the reasons why you might actually want to go in cold.
The case for not spoiling the ending of The Last of Us, explained without spoilers
Image: Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The ending of The Last Of Us is not ambiguous in its contents, containing a crystal clear succession of events and motivations — and at the same time, it leaves room for every player to form their own opinion on it. It demands reaction, and discussion, and “X was right” essays and “No, you psychopath, X was wrong” rebuttals.
Whether the ending of The Last of Us is a true twist ending is arguable. But it is an ending that firmly recontextualizes the kind of story that The Last of Us is. Polygon staff who’ve played the game can attest: Knowing the ending beforehand definitely colors how you respond to the show.
If you don’t already know the ending of The Last of Us and aren’t completely set on knowing what happens, we’d advise you not to look it up. Experience the story as it was intended, and enjoy (responsibly) the meaty open questions that it offers!
I just need to know if Ellie or Joel die!
Yeah, that’s legit. Sometimes you just need to know what you’re signing up for — parental-figure death and child death, especially in such a violent story, are heavy emotions! And The Last of Us has plenty of child death to go around (and not just the horrific one in its first episode). Scroll past the image, and we’ll let you know.
[Ed. note: The rest of this piece contains incrementally increasing spoilers for The Last of Us (2013).]
Image: HBO
Neither Joel nor Ellie die at the end of The Last of Us (2013).
Can you just tell me the tone of the ending?
You just wanna know if it’s an upper or a downer? Scroll one more.
Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO
Honestly, this is one of the most hotly debated elements of the ending of The Last of Us (2013). Your mileage may vary, but expect your feelings to be mixed.
OMG just tell me the ending of The Last of Us
You got it, boss.
Photo: HBO
In the final act of The Last of Us (2013), Joel and an unconscious Ellie arrive in Salt Lake City following many brutal adventures, and Ellie is immediately taken in for treatment. Marlene, who had not considered that Joel might develop paternal feelings for the child he was hired to smuggle, tells Joel that the only way to make a cure is to excise part of Ellie’s brain, which will kill her. That becomes the kickoff for The Last of Us’ finale combat sequence.
Joel slaughters everyone in the Firefly lab and carries Ellie from the building. While the player, through Joel, kills plenty of characters in the course of the game, the finale takes pains to underscore this rampage as a thing beyond. And to be clear, unlike more role-play-leaning games, Joel’s actions are not left to player choice — the only way to continue the game is to pilot Joel as he executes doctors who are begging for their lives, shoots Marlene in cold blood, and then lies to Ellie about it.
When Ellie eventually wakes up and asks what happened and why they’re traveling away from the Firefly base, Joel feeds her a complete fabrication, convincing her that the Firefly scientists had already discovered that individual immunity couldn’t produce a cure, and so he had taken her away without incident. Joel and Ellie walk back to refuge together as the game comes to a close, leaving the fate of humanity, and the morality of Joel’s choice, to the player’s imagination.
It’s an ending that recolors Joel and Ellie’s game-long journey from a hopeful quest to save the world to something darker and more personal. It’s a twist in the sense that unexpected things are revealed (Ellie would have to die for a cure; the cure doesn’t get made) but the reveals were not what fueled the discussion. There are a lot of different ways to feel about the events of the ending of The Last of Us — that Joel was wrong, and his acts reprehensible. That Joel’s acts were reprehensible, but he was doing it out of love. That the game’s roping of the player into his rampage was egregious, or bad game design. Or simply that everybody else was overreacting to a pretty fun video game that told an exciting story where you got to kill zombies and cultists and stuff.
But it’s the execution of the end of The Last of Us made sure all of those feelings were felt strongly. And where there are strong feelings, you get endless conversation, and eventually, people who want to Google around to see what everybody’s talking about.
Good evening, savvy property investors and interested home-buyers. Have you ever dreamed of a move to Hollywood, but were put off by a million-dollar pricetag? Well have I got the deal for you.
For sale is this four-bedroom, three-bathroom family home, located just minutes from the North Hollywood shopping centre, surrounded by “an array of shops, dining and entertainment options”. The property has been “recently updated”, with vaulted ceilings and a “kitchen [that] flows seamlessly into the living and dining areas with a wide and spacious open floor plan”.
Normally a house like that, in a location like this, would sell for well over one million dollars, but this is no normal house. This is the CRYPTO HOUSE, and for very obvious reasons, nobody wants to buy it.
Incredible opportunity for first-time home buyers, developers, and/or investors. A contemporary 4 bedroom 3 bath home featuring a bonus structure, pool, and spacious outdoor area, perfect for entertaining and relaxing. Situated on a quiet street in a highly desirable pocket of North Hollywood, the home has been recently updated to compliment the large windows and skylights throughout. The primary bedroom features vaulted ceilings while the kitchen flows seamlessly into the living and dining areas with a wide and spacious open floor plan. The bonus structure / 4th bedroom can be converted into an ADU for supplemental income. Ideal family home or income property for savvy investors, this property is primed for the right buyer. Conveniently located near the North Hollywood shopping center, with an array of shops, dining and entertainment options.
What they’re not mentioning is the fact the house is packed with crypto and NFT stuff splashed across almost every wall, from Bored Ape wallpaper to a bedroom covered in the Doge face. There is even, right next to the kitchen, a huge neon sign that lights up to display the words “Crypto House”.
There is also a room with prints of tweets all over the walls, and another themed entirely around Bitcoin logos. Oh, and a fireplace that is…metallic purple?
This video by devlytle does a great job of taking us room-by-room:
A quick look at the property’s sales history shows that it sold in 2016 for $520,000, then in September 2021—presumably to the current owners, who have been renting it out as a “content space”—for $960,000, which was weirdly way over the $885,000 asking price from just a month earlier.
Here’s a sentence that I never thought I’d type: The Last of Us airs its first episode tonight on HBO and HBO Max.
It’s a surreal feeling. Just think: In a few short hours, Joel and Ellie will be introduced to the entire world in a whole new medium. I’m incredibly grateful to the team at Naughty Dog, HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment, PlayStation Productions, and of course the cast and crew members that helped get us to this historic moment.
I’m particularly thrilled that we found Pedro and Bella to play our iconic leads, Joel and Ellie. I can’t wait for the world to experience their portrayals and the rest of these unforgettable characters in an entirely new way.
Naughty Dog’s Co-President Neil Druckmann also wanted to drop by with a quick message for you folks:
“It’s been an unimaginable honor (and one of my life’s highlights) to collaborate with Craig Mazin and the team at HBO to bring The Last of Us to life as a TV show. Intense pride doesn’t begin to describe my feelings to how the show turned out. I deeply believe it captures the soul of the game that so many of you have fallen in love with. As you can imagine, I’m extremely excited (and extremely nervous) for PlayStation and Naughty Dog fans to dive into the first episode and experience for themselves the love the cast and crew has poured into this adaptation. From myself and everybody at Naughty Dog, thank you! It is due to your incredible passion and support that this show exists! We are forever grateful! Endure and survive!”
– Neil Druckmann, Co-President, Naughty Dog
And another quick note for you The Last of Us veterans. The HBO show follows the broad beats of the overall story from the game, and is quite faithful in tone and spirit. But hopefully it won’t come as a shock that this isn’t a beat-by-beat, line-by-line adaptation of the games. Neil, Craig and the production team took this opportunity to weave in new characters, themes, and locations — only where they felt true to the characters and the world, the “soul” of The Last of Us. Sometimes this was done to expand on ideas only briefly explored in the games, or because it better served the narrative structure of an episodic show.
But rest assured, The Last of Us stays true to the soul of the games. I hope you’ll join us tonight, and definitely let us know what you think!
Stability AI and Midjourney—two of the biggest names in the exploding field of AI-generated imagery—and portfolio site DeviantArt have become the target of a class action lawsuit, filed in California on behalf of artists.
The suit has been brought forward by three plaintiffs, all artists: Sarah Andersen (of Sarah’s Scribbles), Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz, who on behalf of all artists affected are “seeking compensation for damages caused by Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney, and an injunction to prevent future harms”.
It makes numerous and serious allegations:
The lawsuit alleges direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement related to forgeries, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), violation of class members’ rights of publicity, breach of contract related to the DeviantArt Terms of Service, and various violations of California’s unfair competition laws.
As lawyer Matthew Butterick says in his post about the case, the three companies are being targeted by “writers, artists, programmers, and other creators” who are “concerned about AI systems being trained on vast amounts of copyrighted work with no consent, no credit, and no compensation.”
Stability AI and Midjourney are the companies behind the two most popular AI-generated art platforms, while DeviantArt—most commonly known as a portfolio and community art site—is being included for its own work in fucking up massively.
For more technical details on the suit—or contact details if you’re an artist and would like to get involved—you can check out Butterick’s post here.
I was impressed by the trailers for Hellscreen (opens in new tab), a boomer shooter with a striking teal and red color palette and unique twist—a “rear view mirror” in your top center screen showing what’s going on behind you at any given time. But at the same time I thought “oh, that’s a cool trick, but it’s probably just a gimmick, right?” I decided to give Hellscreen’s free demo from Realms Deep 2022 a try, see if it had anything else going on.
Hellscreen doesn’t need anything else going on. The rear view mirror is what’s going on.
It’s not just a tool for situational awareness—right click and you’ll fire backwards, with a little gun and reticle popping up in the mini screen (which can be blown out and toggled back down with the shift key). To incentivize using the feature, Hellscreen gives you double damage while moving and firing forward, while you get quad damage when you move forward and fire backwards. I felt like I was grappling with an entirely new realm of 3D movement on the order of They Came From Dimension X (opens in new tab)‘s gravity-defying firefights, and it’s supremely satisfying to pull off sick Annie Oakley, Buster Scruggs (opens in new tab) mirror shots.
Hellscreen further leans into its main mechanic with enemies and hazards that can only be handled in rear view. Some foes are only visible and vulnerable on the second screen, while one area in the demo blocks out your main view completely, demanding you navigate in reverse. Spiritually, it reminds me of the best Nintendo Wii and DS games that squeezed every bit of innovation and fun out of those weird control inputs, and indeed Hellscreen would probably be right at home on an alternate universe Nintendo 4DS.
My one caveat is that you should probably stay away from Hellscreen if you get motion sickness. I’ve never even had issues with VR before, and yet I definitely felt my stomach drop like I was riding a roller coaster at times. A selling point for me, but something to be aware of.
Hellscreen has been in the works for several years—we first reported on its trailers (opens in new tab) and Kickstarter (opens in new tab) campaign back in 2017 and ’18, but it really looks like the extra time in the oven has helped it come together. Hellscreen is set to release in early access some time before April (Q1, 2023), while you can check out the demo for yourself and wishlist Hellscreen on its Steam (opens in new tab) page.
Home » News » Made In Abyss: Golden City of the Scorching Sun Is Getting a Sequel Project
The Made in Abyss anime series is confirmed to be getting a sequel project, though it’s still unclear when the project will be released.
During a special event held for the series on Jan. 15, it was revealed that a sequel project for Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun has been greenlit and will begin development in the near future. It was not confirmed whether the project would be an adaptation of material following the events in the most recent anime series or if it would be a new exploration of the property through a compilation film or original story.
It also wasn’t revealed when this sequel project might release, though the anime is currently caught up to the source material from the manga save for a few chapters.
The announcement also came with a post to the series’ official website and a promo video, which recaps key moments from throughout the series and films released over the past few years. The video can be viewed in its entirety down below.
The news follows the release of Golden City of the Scorching Sun earlier this year. Released over four years after the conclusion of the series’ first season, the new series continued the adventures of Riko, Reg, and Nanachi as they ventured further into the Abyss. By the new series’ conclusion, they managed to enlist the help of a new ally in Faputa and prepared to journey down to the final layers of the titular Abyss.
The original Made in Abyss anime series, its more recent sequel series, the compilation films, and Dawn of the Deep Soul can all be viewed on HiDive. For more on the series, check out any of the related articles down below.
In Fire Emblem Engage, 1000 years have passed since the four kingdoms cooperated with each other and with heroes from other worlds (aka from other Fire Emblem games) to seal away the Fell Dragon on the continent of Elyos. As the evil prepares to reawaken, you emerge as Alear the Divine Dragon, a chosen hero who can bring back the heroes from other realms and seal the chaos dragon again.
Like other Fire Emblem games, Engage will be a turn-based tactical combat game with a wide array of original characters that you can upgrade and customize to your liking. Your time is split between the tactical tile-based combat and a hub area where you can interact with other characters. In Engage, this non-combat section is a floating fortress called the Somniel, but hold that thought, we’ll come back to the Somniel soon. First, let’s dive into combat.
Fans of traditional Fire Emblem games rejoice, Engage is bringing back the Weapon Triangle, a rock-paper-scissors mechanic of weapon advantages that was altered in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Swords beat axes, axes beat spears, and spears beat swords. Taking advantage of the weapon triangle inflicts break, which prevents the defending unit from countering in that skirmish. Weapons outside of the triangle such as bows, daggers, and spell tomes are weak to physical attacks.Fire Emblem Engage also does away with weapon durability. Once you find or purchase a weapon, it’s yours to keep. This change could mean less time managing a unit’s inventory, and more time battling enemies and chatting up comrades.
Welcome to Brothel Simulator, where your goal is to earn enough money to purchase all of the scenes in the gallery. In order to do this, you must master the art of pleasing your clients by teaching your ladies their desired fetishes and keeping track of your regular customers. Up to 4 clients can visit your hall in a single session. As soon as a client arrives, the pleasure counter will start. Keep your clients entertained by moving one of the 4 girls’ cards to them. Some clients will have specific desires that need to be fulfilled. If the girl does not fulfill them automatically, you must help her by giving the client the appropriate fetish. If you are up for a challenge, you’ll be sure to have a fulfilling and rewarding experience.
Players must manage up to 4 clients in a single session.Clients have specific desires that must be fulfilled to keep them satisfied Players can train their ladies in different fetishes to improve their chances of satisfying clients Successful fulfillment of a client’s desires increases their pleasure meter and the chance they will return If a client’s pleasure meter drops to 0%, they will leave without paying and their chance of returning decreases. Primarily,
Brothel Simulator Uncensored Direct Play:
You’ll be taking orders from facilities, choosing a route, managing stress, stamina and conditions of gear as you traverse the environment. But let’s not to get too far ahead of ourselves; the game throws a lot of terms and phrases at you right out of the proverbial gate. Terms like Chiralium, Timefall, Voidout, Cryptobiote, DOOMS, Bridge Babies, BT’s (Beached Things), “Beach” as a location otherwise not presumed by its name, Repatriate, even the phrase Death Stranding itself.
Features and System Requirements:
Single session
Experience as you work
New levels
1 :: Operating System :: Windows XP/7/8/8./10. 2 :: Processor: Intel Core 2 HZ 3 :: Ram :: 2 GB RAM 4 :: DirectX: Version 9.0 5 :: Graphics:: 1GB VRAM / DirectX 10+ support 6 :: Space Storage:: 1 GB space
Turn Off Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
After the Demon Lord’s defeat, the remaining demons fled to the Dark Realm. A thousand years later, on the verge of extinction, demonkind decides to invade the human world again in one final struggle for survival. However, the world they return to after years in the darkness isn’t the same as it once was. Humans have turned against their fellow man. Downtrodden and defeated, the poor find an unlikely ally: the same demons who terrorized humanity a thousand years ago. Together with the demons, they fight against the world’s victors, the ones who hold all the power, to gain their freedom and create a world they can call home. Play as the demon Deathpolca alongside an eclectic cast of characters, including demons, an FBI agent, and even a gladiator.
Lead demonkind to world domination as they conquer the continent one country at a time. Gain various items and skills as you navigate the story’s twists and turns, then use them to fight powerful enemies. Find hidden treasure and face overwhelming super bosses if you’re looking for a challenge. As you advance your quest for world domination, you’ll meet a wide variety of characters, from lovable allies to detestable villains.
Demons Roots Uncensored Direct Play:
Who will you persuade to join your cause, and who will oppose you to their dying breath? Unlock Music as You Play With a host of memorable tunes, including seven original songs by popular composer Shade, you can access the game’s sound test to listen to any songs you’ve already heard. Feel free to attend and reflect on your world domination to your heart’s desire.
Features and System Requirements:
New challenge
Powerful enemies
New levels
1 :: Operating System :: Windows XP/7/8/8./10. 2 :: Processor: 2+ GHz Processor 3 :: Ram :: 4 GB RAM 4 :: DirectX: Version 9.0 5 :: Graphics:: OpenGL ES 2.0 hardware driver support required for WebGL acceleration. (AMD Catalyst 10.9, nVidia 358.50) 6 :: Space Storage:: 4 GB space
Turn Off Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
A Huge Open-World Hentai RPG Awaits! Explore the world of Gianna as Princess Lilina, who’s been tasked with gathering the six legendary Orbs as part of a plot to overthrow the royal family. Along the way, she’ll make friends, fight enemies and bosses, and experience many, many different status conditions, ranging from mind control to transformations to just about anything you can think of! Experience this new highly-replayable and content-rich RPG.
where game mechanics and erotic content are intertwined in completely new and unique ways! Gianna is a world of many perils, with over 100 enemy types who can inflict your party members with a wide variety of status conditions. These conditions will change your characters’ portraits, their statistics, and sometimes even their class! In addition, almost none of these conditions are strictly negative! A character may be turned to stone, but a passage may need you to place their statue to proceed.
Odyssey Of Gianna Uncensored Pre-Installed:
There may be a small hole that only a party of miniaturized characters can pass through. A character may be transformed into an onahole, but you can use it on enemies to help defeat them! You can keep track of all of these status conditions in the Status Journal, which updates whenever you experience a new one!A Wide World of Possibilities! A couple dwarves, along with the gate guards were left outside. They had the overwatch of the marksdwarves in the gate towers. It was more important to protect the children. In the end, the militia of Kolsherik made short work of the three goblin thieves. We lowered the drawbridge to let the remaining dwarves back in to celebrate.
Features and System Requirements:
New and unique ways
Fight enemies and bosses
New levels
1 :: Operating System :: Windows XP/7/8/8./10. 2 :: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or better 3 :: Ram :: 2 GB RAM 4 :: DirectX: Version 9.0 5 :: Graphics:: DirectX 9/OpenGL 4.1 capable GPU 6 :: Space Storage:: 3 GB space
Turn Off Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
Awesome Games Done Quick, the week-long 24-hour video game speedrunning marathon that raises money for charity, has just raised over $2.6 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
According to Game Done Quick’s official website, AGDQ 2023 featured 150 speedruns and raised a total of $2,644,770.41 from 39,857 donations from 21,519 donors. The max donation was $100,000, the average donation was $66.36, and the median donation was $25.
In case you missed it or want to see it again (who wouldn’t??), BIG GGs to @NotImJhay for getting the WR in Super Mario Galaxy 2! GGs to HardcoreGaming, @SuperT302, and MutantsAbyss for the great race as well, whew! #AGDQ2023pic.twitter.com/vQgCluJ9rP
Prior to AGDQ, Games Done Quick announced that its founder, Mike Uyama, would be stepping down from the company after 13 years. Since the first event that was held in Uyama’s mother’s basement in 2010, GDQ has gone on to raise over $41 million for such charities as the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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