Apple to repair games? SEC Hates Metaverse, Logan Paul Trolled On Steam – Cointelegraph Magazine

Play on Mac to suck less

Is Apple’s reign as the worst gaming platform coming to an end?

Amid all the hype surrounding their VR/AR headset slated for release in early 2024 (the queue outside the Apple Store starts in October), there are other signals that Apple might finally sorting out its below-average game offering. It also releases software that will make it easier to play Windows games on Mac.

Playing on a Mac really sucks. Many games, especially indie and first-to-release games, are not compatible. Keyboard mapping can be funky. To date, I haven’t been able to attach any special gear to my fishing rod (no, that’s not an innuendo) on the Mac edition of Stardew Valley.

With VR games, it’s even worse. If you want to spend hours watching YouTube videos, you can make most VR headsets work with a Mac. But for the moment, the only one that is really officially compatible seems to be the HTC Vive.

The downside of a native Apple product is that it comes with an Apple price tag: $3,499. It’s hard to justify spending so much money exploring the empty, quirky metaverse when you could spend a few months traveling and seeing some of the coolest places in the real world for the same price.

The never-ending legal wrangling over virtual gaming assets

Sandbox, Decentraland, and Axie Infinity tokens — SAND, MANA, and AXS, respectively — made appearances in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s June 5 complaint against crypto exchange Binance.

THE complaint against the crypto exchange contains 13 charges, including that of Binance selling unregistered securities. The SEC has counted SAND, MANA and AXS among these securities, which means that it considers them to be types of investments and not currencies.

Speaking at the Non Fungible conference in Lisbon, Portugal on June 7, The Sandbox COO Sebastien Borget said his team was aware of the dispute but was not making it their own. even the object.

“We don’t necessarily agree with the characterization that has been made in this litigation, including the characterization of SAND as a title,” he said, adding that it would not change the day-to-day operations of the company. ‘business.

Since the announcement, eToro has stated that it remove multiple tokensincluding MANA, for US-based customers.

Creating in-game currency titles is a new spin on the mess that bridges the gap between virtual in-game currencies and real money.

It’s not new. The debate over the legal status of in-game currencies even predates the invention of Bitcoin. Second Life got its First of all millionaire in 2006, and the question of who owes what to whom has continued, exacerbated by the fact that many developers and creators already feel they are paying large “taxes” to platforms.

Yet previous conversations have mostly centered around making sure those who sell virtual assets or dev games on platforms are properly taxed, not on the investment and probably because Web2 digital currencies act more like, well, currencies.

When last checked, the US Internal Revenue Service doesn’t seem too concerned about digital currencies if they don’t leave a game.

Avalanche wants to help Web2 gaming leaders move to Web3

The quest for blockchains to convert gaming companies to the dark side continues with Ava Labs’ launch of Arcad3, a program to help web2 gaming giants “launch powerful blockchain deployments.”

Ava Labs, which has helped game companies build more than ten game subnets on Avalanche and more than 100 Web3 games, will work with teams on game monetization, marketing, user acquisition and risk management.

Early entrants include Tokyo-based companies Gumi and GREE (not to be confused with Chinese air-conditioning giant GREE Electrics), as well as Shrapnel, DeFi Kingdoms, and Gunz Chain by Gunzilla.

GREE’s senior vice president for the metaverse, Eiji Araki, said he believes the program will help the company stay ahead of Web3 games and develop relationships with studios that are experimenting and building space. He is currently working on his first Web3 game, Project INCURSION.

“I can’t share any details other than the project code yet, but it will be a groundbreaking title that successfully combines our nearly 20 years of mobile game development knowledge with the new essence of Web3,” he said. he added in a statement.

GameStop CEO replaced by a billionaire stockbroker meme

Goodbye, Matt Furlong.

The GameStop CEO and former Amazon executive was fired on June 7 after his 24-month contract with the game retailer ended. During this time, he oversaw GameStop’s transition from a primarily brick-and-mortar retailer to a more internet-focused business.

Ryan Cohen will replace Furlong. Cohen made his fortune founding online pet supply retailer Chewy, but he’s perhaps best known for his involvement with meme stocks. He was able to convince people to invest in companies like Bed, Bath and Beyond, and GameStop itself, causing prices to skyrocket. Reviewers say it pumps and empties.

He joined GameStop’s board in January 2021, became chairman of the board the same year, and owns around 12% of the company.

It seems that much of GameStop’s later forays into crypto came from Cohen. In February of this year, he signed an agreement with Immutable to expand GameStop’s NFT Marketplace, which is set to debut later this year.

Favorite: Crypto-Themed Games on Steam

Given the lack of interesting Web3 games that have landed on my desk over the past few weeks, let’s talk about the non-blockchain games that involve crypto.

Steam may not allow crypto games, but it can’t do much for trading simulators and Bitcoin mining tycoon RPGs. None are successful. Most seem ironic.

Take Coin Invaders, for example, which tells players to save Bitcoin by destroying altcoins. It’s basically Space Invaders with extra stages, notes one reviewer.

Or maybe you’ll enjoy Crypto is Dead, in which an attack crippled the global economy and physical currency returned. It is up to you to determine which banknotes are genuine and which are fake. Striking stuff.

Then you can choose from the half-dozen mining tycoon simulators, which require you to build mining rigs and businesses to profit from cryptocurrency in varying degrees of complexity. One version even has a simplified edition for children.

But perhaps the prize for the funniest crypto-themed non-crypto game goes to CryptoZoo, which released in February. I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no: Logan Paul has yet to deliver on his promise to restart the zombie project it earned him a whole series on crypto sleuth Coffeezilla’s YouTube channel.

Instead, the task of making a CryptoZoo game has been taken over by Rye Bread Games, which describes itself on Steam as a merchant who makes games for fun.

According to its deck, CryptoZoo is “…the best CryptoZoo on the market…the best of its kind…the best there is…”

It may not involve NFTs, but at least players get the long-awaited chance to breed animals in scientifically impossible pairings.

Other things

– Heroes of Mavia will release the first phase of its beta game for Land NFT owners on June 30. The wider community will be able to play the game in the second phase from September 1 to October 31.

– Amazon’s Prime Gaming partnerships with Web3 companies continue. He’s gearing up for another deal with Mythical Games’ Blankos Block Party, through which Prime members will be able to claim exclusive packs to use in-game.

– Ahead of Otherside: Legends of the Mara’s scheduled launch this summer, Yuga Labs is ramping up the merch machine with KodaPendants for holders of Otherside Kodas and Vessels. The pendants are the first “relic” of the Otherside Relics by Gucci collection.

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Callan Quinn

Callan Quinn is a British freelance journalist covering crypto and technology. She has worked as a business journalist in China, the UK, Somaliland and the Republic of Georgia. Previously, she was also an NFT, games and metaverse reporter at The Block.