gaming
Teenage Suspect in ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ Leak Pleads Not Guilty
The 17-year-old suspect in the recent Grand Theft Auto VI leak has pleaded “not guilty.” According to a statement made to Eurogamer by the City of London Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, the Oxfordshire boy appeared in a specialist youth court in London on September 24, pleading guilty to two counts of breaching his bail conditions and not guilty to two counts of misuse of a computer. “The teenager has been remanded to a youth detention centre,” added City of London detective inspector Michael O’Sullivan. The unnamed teenager is supposedly a member of the hacking group Lapsus$ and was reportedly one of seven arrested as they were accused of hacking companies like Microsoft and Uber. In March, BBC News also reported on the teenager — who was 16 years old at the time — as someone “accused of being...
3 ‘blockbuster’ titles that could save GameFi — ABGA President
Kevin Shao, Executive President of the Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA) says he’s holding out hope for three “triple-A” blockchain gaming titles that could help propel GameFi into the mainstream and rescue it from the bear market. Speaking to Cointelegraph during Asia Crypto Week, the Executive President said one obstacle preventing mainstream adoption is current GameFi titles often have a focus on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn (P2E) features without caring about “game performance,” and users’ enjoyment. In a P2E model, gamers typically buy an NFT in order to play the game and can win gaming tokens which can then beconverted into Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), fiat currency, or stablecoins. While he acknowledges these current GameFi titles are enjoyable for a...
HHW Gaming: Netflix Is Launching Its Own Video Game Studio
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: INA FASSBENDER / Getty Netflix is very serious about stepping into the world of video games, so serious that the streaming service will launch its own gaming studio. Spotted on Polygon, the streaming giant is building its own video game studio from the ground up, joining the three other studios the movie streaming giant already owns. Per Polygon: Related Stories The new studio — the fourth games studio owned by Netflix — will be based in Helsinki, Finland, and will bolster Netflix’s efforts to bring “engaging original games” to their hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world, vice president of Netflix’s Game Studios said. So far, the company has focused on buying pre-existing studios to invest in game development. This is Netflix’s most s...
HHW Gaming: Skullcandy Gaming Is Back With A Trio of New Headsets
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Skullcandy / Skullcandy Gaming Skullcandy, the brand best known for its affordable premium headphones and earbuds, is reentering the video game space with a trio of new gaming headsets to relaunch Skullcandy Gaming. On Tuesday (Sep.27), the audio brand announced Skullcandy Gaming is back and, to mark its return to the world of video games, revealed three new headsets. Yes, they keep that same affordable energy while offering gamers many features to enhance their gaming experience. Per Skullcandy, each headset will be “offering compatibility across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and mobile, the all-new SLYR, SLYR Pro and PLYR were purpose-built for gamers, delivering rich, detailed sound, crystal-clear communications, and all-day comfort.” So let...
Netflix is Building Its Own Games Studio
Following news of its acquisition of Sydney-based animation studio Animal Logic, which has produced blockbuster films such as Happy Feet, The Lego Movie, and Peter Rabbit, Netflix has now announced that it will be developing its very own games studio in Helsinki, Finland. The plan is to create original games for subscribers without any in-app microtransactions, with Marko Lastikka from Zynga serving as the new studio director. “This is another step in our vision to build a world-class games studio that will bring a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games — with no ads and no in-app purchases — to our hundreds of millions of members around the world,” writes Amir Rahimi, VP of Netflix Game Studios. Finland was reportedly the location of choice due to the nation’s large pool...
HHW Gaming: ‘GTA 6’ Leaker Formally Charged By Police After Achieving 5-Star Wanted Level
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: SOPA Images / Getty Last weekend video game Twitter was on one after a leaker dropped over 90 clips of unfinished GTA 6 footage. It turned out the leaker was a 17-year-old kid, and the teenager bit off more than he could chew, achieving a five-star wanted level, and now has been formally charged by police for his crimes. Per Games Radar, the unnamed minor has been charged with two counts of breach of bail conditions and two counts of computer misuse. The City of London Police shared the news in a statement: The City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on Thursday (September 22) on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit. He has been charged in connection with t...
HHW Gaming: HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Series First Trailer Arrives, Gamers React
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: HBO / The Last of Us Happy TLOU Day. HBO dropped the first trailer for its highly-anticipated series based on Naughty Dog’s masterpiece, The Last of Us, to celebrate the video game holiday. For those who don’t know, TLOU Day (formerly known as Outbreak Day) coincides with 26th September, the day when sh*t goes to hell in the fictional world of The Last of Us. To kick off the celebration of the beloved game that first arrived on PlayStation 3 consoles in June 2013, before seeing a remastered version for PS4 and a complete remake for PS5, HBO decided to say here is a nice trailer for you to enjoy. In the mainly wordless first look of the HBO series, we get glimpses of Outbreak Day, Pedro Pascal as the game’s main protagonist Joel, and Bella Ramsey’s E...
Krool Toys Drops Its First Line of Wearable Merch
Tia Chinai and Stefan Cohen’s dream job became realized almost three years ago when they banded together and created the Krool Toys platform to further achieve their creative goals. As they design and program customized games for Gameboy, they also make handmade art and toys and have just dropped their first line of wearable merchandise for Fall/Winter 2022. Composed of bubble font graphics and animated characters, the new merch consists of a range of “Doraemon,” “Taj,” “Dream” and “Logo” T-shirts in a variety of colorways, including black, purple, red, navy, gold, white and green. As part of the brand’s ethos and approach to life, a signature tee contains the motivational phrase, “Dream to Stay Alive.” In addition to the fun line of shirts – that retail for $38 USD. each – the rising gami...
NFTs bring in-game ownership to a new level, says Blokhaus founder
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the gaming world by storm. Whether it’s through limited edition collectibles, avatar enhancement or play-to-earn incentivization, digital assets have given in-game ownership a new meaning. The ways in which NFTs are available to players are becoming increasingly tangible. In the case of Blockxer, the latest blockchain game from Blokhaus Inc., every component of the game has been NFT-ized and available for modification by users. Mark Soares, the founder of Blokhaus Inc., told Cointelegraph that when every aspect of the game is an NFT, users can create completely “bespoke” game experiences. Everywhere a user turns in this 8-bit, arcade-inspired game, there is an NFT — from the background and the characters to the weapons and more: “Imagine the ...
HHW Gaming: Xbox Wants To Help Black Youth Start Careers In The Video Game Industry With ‘Project Amplify’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Microsoft / Xbox Project Amplify The video game industry severely lacks melanin, and Xbox wants to help rectify that issue with its latest initiative called Project Amplify. Right on time for HBCU Week, Xbox announced Project Amplify. The company describes it as “a video series that aims to magnify Black voices within Xbox to inspire, educate and motivate youth across the U.S. to aspire towards careers in the gaming industry through real-life storytelling from Black leaders and employees across the Xbox ecosystem.” Project Amplify will highlight fourteen Black employees from across Xbox who will share insight on their roles in the company and experiences while working in the video game industry. At the same time, it will teach Black and Brown youth about ...
Spotify Island’s Planet Hip-Hop on Roblox Transports You to Doechii’s Swamp and Other Futuristic Destinations Inspired by the Genre
Spotify announces its latest music-themed portal on Spotify Island, Planet Hip-Hop, following the success of K-Park — a whimsical experience dedicated to the vibrant world of K-Pop — that launched earlier in the year. Planet Hip-Hop is a digital destination that will connect fans of the genre to futuristic landscapes inspired by today’s contemporary hip-hop artists. Planet Hip-Hop inspires creative artist and fan interactions within the Roblox metaverse through music-inspired quests and unlockable content. Planet Hip-Hop is now in orbit ? Take a trip to our new futuristic #SpotifyIsland portal on @Roblox now ? https://t.co/jrp6JaNYKs pic.twitter.com/tTGhft4gp9 — Spotify (@Spotify) September 21, 2022 Planet Hip-Hop embodies elements of the genre expressed through immersive cityscapes render...
Crypto gaming sucks — But devs can fix it
What we have today in terms of Web3 gaming is not working. Play-to-earn has not worked and neither will play-to-earn or any X-to/and-earn. On top of that, traditional gamers view nonfungible tokens (NFTs) with suspicion. They dunk on expensive apes and are skeptical of large game publishers applying the lipstick of NFTs for further monetization. Nobody knows what a successful Web3 game will look like yet. To get there, we need more developers to experiment with more models. We need infrastructure that will lower the barriers to Web3 game development and make it easy for developers to experiment. That’s why it’s imperative to invest in developing the underlying infrastructure rather than getting carried away by the speculative hype. The Web3 gaming infrastructure can be broken into two phas...
