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From Amiga Demoscene to Your PC – the Retro Roots of VergeWorld

Philip Federico
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14 JULY 2022, WARSAW, POLAND – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Developers of the upcoming combat racer VergeWorld have shared a new Steam update about the retro beginnings of their game. You can see how the original fan-made Amiga demoscene project grew into a full-scale indie production coming to PC later this year

Arek Kwaśny wanted to fulfill the childhood dream of creating an Amiga game, a retro sci-fi project inspired by the likes of Rescue on Fractalus and After Burner. He began prototyping his sci-fi adventure game in Unity back in 2018 and later coded it into a working prototype for Amiga 1200.

After this demo, the developers from Bad Bones joined the project and started to push both the Amiga and Sega Genesis hardware to their limits. The game itself evolved from a static space opera into a more dynamic combat racer with story elements. By 2020, the team felt they could do more and appeal to a wider crowd, so they got back to working in Unity and started making a full-scale PC version. They redesigned and expanded every aspect of the game by adding roguelite mechanics, PSX-style 3D visuals, and more.

More details about the development and evolution of VergeWorld from the Amiga prototype to the current PC version can be found in the developer’s latest update on Steam. Both Amiga and Sega Genesis prototypes are also available to download and play for free, and the PC version has a playable demo on Steam.

VergeWorld will release on Steam and other PC storefronts in the fall of 2022. Console versions are planned for the future as well.

VergeWorld on Steam

Full development update on Steam

VergeWorld retro prototype (Amiga, Sega Genesis)

About Bad Bones

Established in 2017, Bad Bones is a small team of ambitious and experienced individuals who worked on games like the Amiga classic Cytadela, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, and The Witcher: Monster Slayer. Their aim is to combine elements of retro and modern games into a completely new fun and unique experience.

About Retrovibe

Retrovibe is a publisher that aims to unlock next levels of fun by delivering new indie games with a retro heart. It was established in 2021 by a group of experienced games industry professionals.

Apico Review

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Apico Review

Apico

Developer: TNgineers
Publisher: Whitethorn Games
Platform: Switch, Windows PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 20 May 2022 (Windows PC), 7 July 2022 (Switch)
Price:  $19.99 USD/$28.95 AUD – Available Here

Video Review

Overview

Apico is a bee keeping game inspired by the mod Forestry for Minecraft. Players will step into the beekeepers suit to raise and crossbreed bees, discover long lost species, and rejuvenate the wild bee population.

Story

Apico follows the classic story set out by the Harvest Moon franchise where the player returns to the family business to bring it back from ruin. This time, it just happens to be bees. Lots of bees. The writing isn’t particularly deep as the relationship with other characters are transactional at best. What is there is decent, just be prepared for endless bee puns.

Gameplay

At its heart, Apico is a Mendelian genetic simulator mixed with a casual sandbox game. The pacing is relaxed as players are free to progress at their own pace. The player’s goal is to collect all the species of bees and plants available in the game by crossbreeding bees, who will then cross pollinate flowers and potentially produce hybrid seeds. The sandbox mechanics are very simple, allowing players to build and customize their own structures and harvest a small handful of resources needed to support beekeeping.

The game’s learning curve is not too steep. The game is very generous with hints and tips on what to do. Instead of forcing players to blindly experiment until they get the right combo, Apico is more concerned about having the player create the ideal circumstances to give themselves the highest chance for success. This means getting the right flowers, bee traits, and environment. I like this approach as it fits the game’s relaxed mentality well and cuts down on a lot of frustration.

There’s something joyous and a little addicting about playing Apico. Once I got a hang of crossbreeding bees with good stats and ideal traits and then churning out clones in my hives, I quickly found myself spiraling down a rabbit hole full of Punnett squares in the age-old quest to collect absolutely everything.

The gameplay loop is tactile, striking a good balance between realism and enjoyable gameplay. I love how machines need some sort of physical input from the player to run. Even the late game machines still require some input, even though it is significantly less work for the amount of outputted material. It goes a long way to impart a little bit of realism to the game.

The user experience is good, though there are a few areas that could use quality of life improvements. The mouse and keyboard controls offer a desktop like experience with multiple pop-up windows. Crafting menus are smart enough to pull items out of already open boxes, and it’s a pure joy to be working through multiple machines and boxes without having to run around and open each one at a time to shift around materials. It’s a UI layout that I hope catches on in more games. On the other hand, the sorting system isn’t the smartest thing in the world when multiple windows are open. It would be nice to get a more context aware sort system. For example, having the game automatically move a bee to the correct bee species box when multiple boxes are open would be a huge quality of life improvement.

The user experience is still very good, albeit more standard, for controller users. Things are a bit more stripped down in comparison which makes it a great alternative for players who find themselves a little overwhelmed by windows.

My biggest issue with the user experience is the lack of a UI zoom function. With a 1440 monitor, the text and the game graphics are a touch small. The ability to at least zoom in the UI by 50% would be a great addition.

The developers are taking a page from their Minecraft mod roots by providing a robust set of modding tools for players. While there’s already a decent amount of content in Apico, the growing list of mods offering new content and quality of life features stretches out the game’s life nicely.

Visuals

Apico offers a great visual style that has a cute, yet slightly serious aesthetic. The rounded square style and the more restrained colour palette gives the game a distinct flair. Almost all the bee species can be differentiated with a quick look, but a few could have their colour differences exaggerated a bit more, like the Verge and Forest bees.

Audio

The audio experience is relaxing. The sound effects are solid and very serviceable. The music is an enjoyable accompaniment that matches the laid-back pace of the game, but it only kicks in occasionally. There is an in-game jukebox with different records that can be purchased, but I would have liked to see an option to increase or decrease the regularity of when the default music kicks in.

Overall

While there isn’t much of a story, Apico delivers addictive gameplay that sneakily teaches players the basics of Mendelian genetics while they create the perfect bee habitat. There are some quality-of-life features that could be addressed, but these are the fixes that would turn a good game into a great one. Combined with the enjoyable audio-visual experience and growing mod scene, Apico is a solid indie game for people looking to relax and scratch that 100% collection impulse at their own pace.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Legends of Kingdom Rush Review

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Legends of Kingdom Rush Review

Legends of Kingdom Rush

Developer: Ironhide Game Studio
Publisher: Ironhide Game Studio
Platform: Mac, Windows
Release Date: 14 July 2022
Price:  $14.99 USD/$21.50 AUD – Available Here

Video Review

Overview

Ironhide Game Studio is continuing to branch out into new genres with their new rogue-lite tactical RPG Legends of Kingdom Rush. The new game brings back fan favourite characters the Kingdom Rush franchise for a humorous adventure to save the kingdom from an evil bent on destruction.

Story

Legends of Kingdom Rush is a little light on story like many rogue-lite titles. The plot is pushed forward by short comic-style cutscenes at the beginning of a run and smaller in-game chats ahead of combat. The writing is lighthearted and is heavily salted with some intentionally bad jokes. The bulk of the content is the narrative events that can happen during a run. Everything is well written, fun, and never takes itself too seriously.

Gameplay

Character progression is somewhere between a rogue-like and a rogue-lite. While characters do not get significantly more powerful as they’re used, they do unlock level two and three abilities to be used in battle. There is a cap on how powerful a character can get though, as each character is limited to one ability per tier. Once the first level three ability is unlocked, players are simply benefiting from flexibility. The flexibility is helpful though as players only select three out of four party members: one hero and two adventurers. The fourth and final adventurer will be randomly selected early in the run. Characters always start from level one at the beginning of each run and level up anew each time.

The character ability design is enjoyable. Each character has a clear theme, and many have interesting combo opportunities with other characters. Several characters also have creative and unique mechanics. Bruxa is probably my favourite as she stores the souls of fallen enemies in battle and spend the souls to beef up her abilities.

Legends of Kingdom Rush features turn based strategic combat, similar to games like XCOM. It’s extremely simple, forgoing a lot of common mechanics like side attacks in favour of a stripped-down experience that is easier to learn. The developer is likely trying to make an easy to learn, hard to master type game, but it is ruined by the poor game balance.  Player ranged units can be easily one shot by the more powerful enemy ranged units. Matters are made worse by the fact units who die in battle are revived with one less point of maximum health that can only be cured with an item. The game’s low movement speed slows down the game’s pacing significantly, especially for melee characters. Players are incentivized to simply stand their ground and let enemies come towards them while the player pokes at the enemy with their ranged units while the melee wait in reserve. A big part in solving the balancing issue will be to increase the amount of health the player has and scaling everything accordingly. This will give the developers a chance to do punishing amounts of damage but have more opportunity to prevent untimely one-shot kills. Another may be increasing the movement speed of melee units to three to allow them to close the gap more effectively.

The map design is a mixed bag. The boss fights are made well. The mechanics are creative, and the multi-stage battles are great fun. On the other hand, there are quite a few duds as well. An example is the Yeti mini-boss fight in the mountains. Players are usually relying on a bit of luck so the three yetis will clump close enough to the two explosive barrels that they’ll be able to do enough damage to kill one yeti so another can be crowd controlled safely.

It is clear the game was designed with tablet touch screens in mind as everything is controlled with a single mouse button click. There are some keyboard shortcuts to initiate a bound ability, but it still requires a mouse click to confirm the shortcut. It’s not much faster than using the mouse to do the exact same thing. To make matters worse, the confirm action button on the UI is not very responsive, as I ran into multiple occasions were trying to click the button resulted in the mouse clicking through the button and onto the tile underneath. The game is also in desperate need of a fast forward button so players can zip through often long enemy turns.

The UI is inconsistent. The close screen buttons are found in a variety of different locations depending on the menu. System menus use the traditional X at the top right corner. The hero menus have them in different locations on the bottom right of the screen, and most infuriatingly places a tutorial menu where the close window button traditionally sits.

Visuals

Legends of Kingdom Rush uses the same art style as their previous titles. It’s cute, lighthearted, and colourful.

Audio

The audio experience is good. The sound effects are solid. The music is an enjoyable accompaniment.  The voice acting is decent, but the quantity is extremely limited. An extra two or three lines per friendly unit would help.

Overall

Legends of Kingdom Rush is an unbalanced disappointment. The turtle-style tactics become dull quickly and are only interrupted by the odd final boss fight. While the character, audio, and visual design is enjoyable, the mediocre user experience hamstrings the game. Unless the developers are able to pull off a major rebalancing of the game, it’s hard to recommend Legends of Kingdom Rush to anyone other than die hard fans of the franchise.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Legends of Kingdom Rush Gameplay

Philip Federico
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Legends of Kingdom Rush Gameplay

We’re breaking out of jail and taking down a village of aggressive orcs hellbent on destroying the forest in the first two adventures in Legends of Kingdom Rush.

RPG turn-based combat game with deep tactics and bad jokes! Do you have what it takes to save the kingdom?

Legends of Kingdom Rush
Developer: Ironhide Game Studio
Publisher: Ironhide Game Studio
Website: http://www.ironhidegames.com/
Platform: Windows
Release Date: 15 Jul, 2022
Price: $14.99 USD

Available now on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1904860/Legends_of_Kingdom_Rush/

Summary:

Not Recommended – “An unbalanced disappointment best left to die hard fans of the Kingdom Rush franchise.”

Check out our Review for Legends of Kingdom Rush here!

—

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Spidersaurs Review

Travis Bruno
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Spidersaurs Review

Spidersaurs

Developer: WayForward
Publisher: WayForward
Platforms: Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S (Reviewed)
Release Date: July 14, 2022
Price: $19.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

When it comes to WayForward players never quite know what they will be working on next. Their line-up of titles cover a wide range of unique titles and throwbacks to classic genres with modern elements. This includes the likes of River City Girls, the Shantae series, and even Contra 4 back in 2007 and now the team has taken their experience and created a strange mash-up of 80s/90s cartoon stylization with run-and-gun shooting in the form of Spidersaurs. Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive back in 2019 this shooter has arrived on modern platforms but has it made the jump well enough to be worthwhile?

Story

Set in a near future where solar flares and overpopulation have ruined the world’s food supply, a gene modification company known as InGest has taken the opportunity to solve the food shortage the best way they know how, by creating genetically modified food that can be grown in a lab. Of course any basic food would be boring so InGest went all out by mixing dinosaur DNA with that of insects to create Spidersaurs, an apparently delicious and dangerous combination that just like always, eventually goes wrong.

When the Spidersaurs break out of the lab and start wreaking havoc within the company it is up to two freshly hired interns in the form of the indie rockstar Victoria and cop-in-training Adrian to put them down. Thankfully not only are these two desperate for money, they also have begun to develop unique abilities by consuming so much of the genetically modified food making them perfect for the job.

Spidersaurs plays the comedy card hard and it works in its favor with plenty of little references to other properties that involve bringing dinosaurs back to life. The actual plot is incredibly straightforward with only small bits of dialogue changes depending on which character players are using while playing through a stage though it does have a unique little twist at the end as the console release of the game has now seen the addition of a true ending and final boss to face off against that expands upon the story a little bit more but doesn’t expand the game from being a little over two hours long. 

Gameplay

It becomes quite clear as soon as players start making their way through Spidersaurs that WayForward is putting their skills from Contra 4 to good use here as the title plays incredibly close to that series. Players will run through a stage while platforming as needed to avoid hazards all while shooting down creatures and obtaining weapon pick-ups by shooting down flying drones. While their movement options are the same Victoria and Adrian’s weaponry couldn’t be more different from one another. While Victoria uses her modified guitar to blast enemies and has weapon upgrades that fires wall piercing lasers, shotgun blasts, and more while Adrian’s baseball launcher upgrades to a flamethrower or ricochet shot that spawns extra projectiles after hitting anything. These weapons can be upgraded to a second level should players pick up the same weapon drop though it will immediately be downgraded when damage is taken.

Of course another element that remains true in Spidersaurs is a fairly brutal level of difficulty that can be frustrating at times, especially during sequences that force players to traverse hazard filled areas while the camera forces upward or downward progression. To make these sequences worse, while players can take three hits from enemies and hazards before losing a life, falling off screen results in an immediate death. There are some factors that help with the difficulty a bit and that happens to be newly added mid-level checkpoints. These are situated after the mid-boss of any given level and allow players to load up a level or revive halfway through a stage with all of their lives intact. Another aspect is the ability to select between three difficulty options but it is worth noting that if players beat the game on the easy difficulty they cannot access the new final stage and true ending.

As far as enemies go Spidersaurs features a solid variety of standard creatures for players to face off against as well as a mantis-like creature that will attack when players stand still too long. The best time that the game shines however happens to be the various mid-bosses and bosses for most stages. Only a few of these bosses are fairly predictable while most others feature some unique challenge or twist to keep things feeling fresh and challenging.

One unique aspect that sets Spidersaurs apart from WayForward’s previous run-and-gun work is the ability to gain various genetic upgrades from defeating bosses. Anytime a boss is defeated players are rewarded with a nice chunk of meat that unlocks abilities such as wall climbing, double jumping, and more to help make players feel more mobile and navigate the stages that they will face in the future with a few extra attacks as well. It is possible to return to old stages with these upgrades but for the most part they do not offer much in the way of extra exploration and often certain upgrades feel like they feel like they come too late to be useful outside of their specific stage.

Once the fairly short story mode is completed players will unlock two additional modes in the form of a time trial that will immediately unlock all genetic mutations and have players rush against the clock to rank on the leaderboards as well as an arcade mode that is literally just the story mode minus all character interactions. It is disappointing that, outside of the story and co-op play, the game is fairly barebones especially since the title feels like it would be a perfect fit for a boss rush mode at least.

Visuals & Audio

Once again WayForward has shown just how amazing their team is when it comes to providing games with a unique aesthetic as Spidersaurs feels like it captures the style of 90s cartoons perfectly including an opening cinematic right out of a Saturday morning cartoon line-up. The character and enemy designs are fantastic with a solid amount of variety while boss designs are splendid to look at and although some levels can get a bit busy looking and occasionally distracting, they are nicely designed all the same.

Every line of dialogue in the game is voiced by a solid voice cast and while fighting against a boss, the characters will occasionally chime up to alert players that certain attacks are coming and help telegraph them a bit more. Spidersaurs also boasts an incredible sounding set of background music composed by the veteran Harumi Fujita through the various stages alongside its fitting opening theme.

Overall

Spidersaurs offers some challenging, and occasionally frustrating, run and gun gameplay that Contra fans will feel right at home with and in classic WayForward fashion the team has managed to put enough unique elements in to make the game stand out. Between the unique cartoon aesthetic, ridiculous premise, and solid gameplay Spidersaurs may be a bit short and lacking in extra features but offers its own twist on a genre that needs as much revitalization as possible.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

THE DIVISION RESURGENCE DEBUTS GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE

Philip Federico
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NEW YORK CITY IS IN YOUR HANDS; THE DIVISION RESURGENCE DEBUTS GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE

Sydney, Australia — July 14, 2022 — Today, Ubisoft debuted gameplay footage for Tom Clancy’s The Division® Resurgence.

The footage shows Division Agents encountering enemies in the streets of New York. In addition, players will see how the game is reimagined up for mobile devices, and will get a closer look into weapon customization and shooting mechanics.  

Gameplay Walkthrough: Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcBTSPb98Ss

Players will have a chance to experience the open world of The Division Resurgence during upcoming tests. The Division Resurgence will be available for iOS and Android™ devices on the App Store® and Google Play™. Go to thedivisionresurgence.com for a chance to participate in the upcoming tests.


About Ubisoft 

Ubisoft is a creator of worlds, committed to enriching players’ lives with original and memorable entertainment experiences. Ubisoft’s global teams create and develop a deep and diverse portfolio of games, featuring brands such as Assassin’s Creed®, Brawlhalla®, For Honor®, Far Cry®, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon®, Just Dance®, Rabbids®, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six®, The Crew®, Tom Clancy’s The Division®, and Watch Dogs®. Through Ubisoft Connect, players can enjoy an ecosystem of services to enhance their gaming experience, get rewards and connect with friends across platforms. With Ubisoft+, the subscription service, they can access a growing catalog of more than 100 Ubisoft games and DLC. For the 2021–22 fiscal year, Ubisoft generated net bookings of €2,129 million. To learn more, please visit: www.ubisoftgroup.com

© 2022 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are registered trademarks in the US and/or other countries. 

PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue lineup for July: Stray, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Marvel’s Avengers

Philip Federico
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PlayStation Australia is happy to reveal the inaugural Game Catalogue lineup for the all-new PlayStation Plus, which will be available to play for Extra and Deluxe members on July 19. It’s headlined by the much-anticipated feline adventure Stray, which makes its debut as part of the catalogue. 

Also featured in this month’s Game Catalogue lineup are Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Marvel’s Avengers, five Assassin’s Creed titles, and two Saints Row titles. You can take a look at the full list below.  

PlayStation Plus Deluxe members can also enjoy classic games No Heroes Allowed! (PSP) and LocoRoco Midnight Carnival (PSP). These titles will also be available to play on July 19. 

Let’s take a closer look at the lineup.

Stray | PS4, PS5

Lost, alone and separated from family, a stray cat must untangle an ancient mystery to escape a long-forgotten cybercity and find the way home. Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly.  See the world through the eyes of a stray and interact with the environment in playful ways, as this lost feline adventurer untangles an ancient mystery to escape and find a way home. 

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade | PS5 

This expanded version of Final Fantasy VII Remake has been enhanced for PS5, offering extra immersion with the DualSense controller, improved visuals, and comes bundled with FF7R Episode INTERmission, an exhilarating new story as Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi infiltrates Midgar to steal the ultimate materia. 

Final Fantasy VII Remake is also available as part of this month’s Game Catalogue for PS4 owners. 

Marvel’s Avengers | PS4, PS5

Marvel’s Avengers is an epic, third-person, action-adventure game that combines an original, cinematic story with single-player and co-operative gameplay. Assemble into a team of up to four players online, master extraordinary abilities, customize a growing roster of Heroes, and defend the Earth from escalating threats.

Also available on July 19 are: 

Assassin’s Creed Unity | PS4
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag | PS4
Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered | PS4
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry | PS4
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection | PS4
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected | PS4
Saints Row Gat out of Hell | PS4
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition | PS5
Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure | PS4
Jumanji The Video Game | PS4
Paw Patrol on a Roll! | PS4
ReadySet Heroes | PS4

Classics Catalogue lineup for PlayStation Plus Deluxe members:

No Heroes Allowed! (PSP)
LocoRoco Midnight Carnival (PSP)

To find out more about the updates to PlayStation Plus head to PlayStation.com.

For the latest PlayStation news, follow on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Third-person MOBA Fault: Elder Orb Exits Early Access, Goes Free-to-Play on Epic Games Store July 18, 2022

Philip Federico
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Third-person MOBA Fault: Elder Orb Exits Early Access, Goes Free-to-Play on Epic Games Store July 18, 2022

GREENWICH, Conn. – July 13, 2022 – Fault: Elder Orb, the multiversal third-person action MOBA developed by Strange Matter Studios and published by Pocketful of Quarters, leaves Early Access and crosses over into the free-to-play dimension on PC via Epic Games Store starting Monday, July 18, 2022.

At the intersection of colliding universes, encounter Heroes fighting for the survival of their worlds and experience a familiar multiplayer arena from a fresh, next-gen viewpoint. Feel each tangible high-octane match from an over-the-shoulder perspective while maintaining classic tactical strategies and roles the genre is known for. Defeat minions and rival Heroes to collect gold for legendary gear. Increase characters’ stats and spend experience points into one of four different abilities tied to each hero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKw_BsC_rxQ

Navigate intricate maps full of jungle paths, boon awarding creatures, and sneaky hiding spots all useful for changing the flow of each lane’s minion wave. Keep an eye on the sky and ruined rooftops for potential ambushes that take advantage of Fault’s sense of verticality in a full 3D space.

Master a growing roster of 24 dramatically different heroes across dimensions including the likes of earth-bending mages, angelic robots, and otherworldly behemoths. Collaborate and experiment with teammates to discover Hero ability combinations and unleash torrents of pain on the enemy team while advancing on their towers and obliterating the base’s core. Seamlessly join tournaments hosted by streamers everywhere on POQ.gg thanks to Quarters integration. Win Quarters in these community events and purchase in-game items in the POQ prize store for any game that accepts Quarters, including Fault: Elder Orb.

“As a small team of indie devs that kept this ambitious project running for nearly three years without a hard marketing push, we think we have accomplished something truly impressive,” said Ryan Red, Community Director & PR Manager of Strange Matter Studios. “Our Early Access period gave us valuable time with our biggest supporters and implementing their essential feedback. We have taken it all to heart, their words have led to so many positive changes for Fault! We will keep following this path and continue improving the game beyond its v1.0 launch.”

“We believe the future of gaming is turning premium games into free to play,” said Mike Weiksner, co-founder and CEO of Pocketful of Quarters. “There are so many games stuck behind paywalls, and the launch of Fault: Elder Orb serves as a use case on how to make experiences player-centric through the use of interoperable, multi-game currencies like Quarters.”

Fault: Elder Orb will be available and free-to-play on PC via the Epic Game Store starting Monday, July 18, 2022.

For more information on Fault: Elder Orb, please visit the game’s official website, join the community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord and Twitch. 

About Strange Matter Studios

Strange Matter Studios is a nearly twenty person sized development studio based in Montreal, Canada. Together they share the collective drive to create games that can reach across the entire globe. Every team member’s role is dedicated to creating an enjoyable, solid, gameplay experience dedicating their design philosophy to well crafted game mechanics above all else. With their first game Fault: Elder Orb, they are invested in rebuilding and improving upon the 3D action MOBA genre.

About Pocketful of Quarters

Pocketful of Quarters (POQ) is taking back video games for players with its Quarters, a game and platform agnostic digital currency that enables players to seamlessly move tokens and assets between games and utilize them across hundreds of gaming titles and genres. POQ received no-action relief for its platform payment token, Quarters, meaning it is accessible for gamers in the United States and around the world. Additionally, with POQ’s patented Zero-click transfer technology, players can earn and spend blockchain and crypto tokens just by taking actions within games.

Backed by an all-star team of investors and advisors like Tim Draper (Draper Associates), Michelle Phan (Co-Founder of Ipsy) and Chris Cross (Formerly of Blizzard Entertainment, THQ, EA, and DreamWorks Interactive), Pocketful of Quarters aims to empower players with choice and transform the way they play with a universal currency across all games.

The Sandbox partners with Tony Hawk and Autograph to create the world’s biggest skatepark in the metaverse

Philip Federico
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0

Legendary pro-skateboarder will bring skate culture to his Tony Hawk LAND in The Sandbox

HONG KONG – 13 July 2022 – The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, announced today it has partnered with Tony Hawk Inc. and Autograph to create a Tony Hawk LAND in The Sandbox, marking the first entry of Tony Hawk into the metaverse.

Through the partnership, Tony Hawk Inc. and The Sandbox will collaborate on Tony Hawk’s 6×6 LAND to build the largest virtual skatepark ever made. In addition, Autograph will create Tony Hawk avatar NFTs based on Tony Hawk and his most iconic skateboards, equipment, and apparel including the legendary skateboard Tony Hawk used to land the 900 at the X Games in 1999. The Sandbox will make these NFTs interoperable in its open metaverse, turning Autograph’s high-fidelity avatars into 3D voxel versions that have in-game functionality for experiences, adding utility and value for their owners.

Tony Hawk is a legendary skateboarder, entrepreneur, and founder of The Skatepark Project. He became a pro skateboarder at the age of 14, and by 16 was considered the best competitive skateboarder on Earth. A World Champion for 12 years in a row, he continues to skate demos and exhibitions internationally, and remains the most recognized action-sports figure in the world. He considers skateboarding to be an art form, a lifestyle, and a sport, and was the first skateboarder to land a 900 – considered one of skateboarding’s most technically demanding moves – among many other achievements. Hawk is an inaugural member of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. 

“I have been a fan of new technology all of my life – from the first videogames and home computers with CGI capabilities – so I am fascinated by the metaverse, and excited to bring our culture into the virtual landscape of The Sandbox,” said Tony Hawk.

“Tony Hawk embodies the perseverance of constantly striving for improvement while never giving up, and it forged him into a skateboarding legend and successful entrepreneur,” said Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “We share his passion for innovation, creativity, and the drive to constantly create something: this is the energy that powers our entertainment metaverse. There’s no better way to bring skateboarding culture to The Sandbox than by following the example of the greatest skateboarder of all time, whose legacy stretches from the sport and lifestyle’s early days to the present and beyond.”

“At Autograph, we strive to build otherwise impossible experiences for communities of fans and this is a step towards our goal of connecting them uniquely and at scale to Tony Hawk and each other,” said Dillon Rosenblatt, co-founder and CEO at Autograph. “We are thrilled to be working with The Sandbox and Tony Hawk on this activation and many others.”

Part virtual real estate, part amusement park, The Sandbox fully embraces the idea of the metaverse as a continuous shared digital space where worlds and heroes collide to make magic. Tony Hawk joins over 300 existing partnerships including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, and CryptoKitties, all following The Sandbox team’s vision of empowering players to create their own experiences using both original and well-known characters and worlds.

Find more information on The Sandbox on our Medium page: https://medium.com/sandbox-game

About The Sandbox

The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.

About Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner and ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse. The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E. It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, and TinyTap. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.

About Tony Hawk Inc.

After more than 30 years of building a global brand ranging from apparel, toys, events, endorsements, social media, film production, and one of the most successful video game franchises ever, legendary pro-skateboarder Tony Hawk remains one of the most popular athletes in the world. Hawk’s foundation, The Skatepark Project, helps finance public skateparks in underserved communities across the USA and other parts of the world. And he still skates regularly.

About Autograph

Co-founded by Tom Brady and headquartered in Los Angeles, Autograph is an NFT platform that brings together the most iconic brands and legendary names in sports, entertainment, and culture to create unique digital collections and experiences for fans. Members of its star-studded Advisory Board have dropped collections that all sold out in record time, including Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk, James Harden, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, Wayne Gretzky, Derek Jeter, Sabrina Ionescu, and more.

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Calling All Rangers! Rune Factory 5 ventures onto Steam Today

Philip Federico
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0

Join SEED and Uncover the Mysteries of the Frontier While Finding a New Home and Family in the Town of Rigbarth

London, United Kingdom – July 13, 2022 – Marvelous Europe is pleased to announce that Rune Factory 5 is now available on Windows PC via Steam featuring visual updates and new customization options, as well as dual-audio support for both English and Japanese voice tracks.

The farming/life sim RPG title is available as a standard edition for €59.99/£49.99 and a ‘Digital Deluxe Edition’, featuring 13 exclusive outfits inspired by marriage candidates from Rune Factory 4, for €69.99/£59.99, with a 10% launch week discount on both ending July 20. Additional DLC content, including costumes and in-game items, is also now available with pricing ranging from €1.99 – €4.99/£1.69 – £4.29.

The farming/life sim RPG title delivers a full 3D adventure that has players exploring treacherous dungeons and battling dangerous foes to unravel a mystery threatening their adopted home of Rigbarth. In between each day’s adventure, they’ll grow crops, participate in local festivals, and build friendships with a lovable cast of townsfolk. Rune Factory 5 includes features new to the series such as link attacks, co-op cooking, and same-sex marriage.

Additionally, if players own Rune Factory 4 Special on Steam, fan-favorites Doug and Margaret will take up residence in Rigbarth’s Blue Moon Inn. Each character will offer their own requests on the task board, with the successful completion rewarding players with the outfits for Lest and Frey, the protagonists of Rune Factory 4. Doug and Margaret are fully integrated into the world of Rune Factory 5, and while neither are eligible for marriage, they will be found around town and can join the protagonist’s party before adventuring!

About Rune Factory 5
In the sleepy border town of Rigbarth, a shift is happening. Mysterious events are unfolding, affecting the runes that govern the balance between humanity and nature…

As the newest ranger for the peacekeeping organisation, SEED, protect the frontier town by rounding up rowdy monsters with your official SEED-issued spell seal. When not on a mission, work with the people of Rigbarth to help the town flourish through farming, festivals and friendships!

As the balance of peace begins to shift, however, it comes time to prove yourself. Team up with townsfolk and embark on a grand adventure to unravel the mystery befalling the land, embracing your inner-power to halt the descent into chaos.

Key Features:
● Fast-paced action RPG combat: Venture into the vast, vibrant wilderness with friends from Rigbarth by your side to unlock powerful and stylish link attacks that encourage teamwork and strategy.
● Forge friendships and find love: Forge friendships, fall in love and even marry the townsfolk who live and work alongside you in Rigbarth, including same-sex marriage for the first time in the series.
● Relaxing life simulation gameplay: Take time out of your adventure to enjoy the gentler pace of town life. Compete in cooking, crafting, and fishing contests or invite your sweetheart to join you for stargazing during one of Rigbarth’s many seasonal festivals.
● Fantasy farming taken to new heights: Grow a wide variety of crops in the field or on a dragon’s back and tame monsters to serve as your helpful farmhands.

Developed by Marvelous Inc., Rune Factory 5 is now available via Windows PC via Steam. The Nintendo Switch™ version was released in Europe and Australia on March 25th, 2022. The game is rated PEGI 12, USK 6 and M in Australia.

Fans can also follow Marvelous Europe on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or go to the website for more information: marvelousgames.com

About Marvelous Europe
Founded in April 2012, Marvelous Europe Limited is the European arm of Marvelous Inc. a publicly listed entertainment company based in Tokyo. Marvelous is both a game developer and publisher having released popular PC and console titles including Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, in addition to third-party acquisitions such as Granblue Fantasy Versus and Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin.

For more information about Marvelous Europe products, please visit www.marvelousgames.com. Nintendo Switch is a trademark of Nintendo.

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