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February 24, 2024
Issue No. 92
CURATOR:
Welcome to this week's AtherXplorer, covering the latest in gaming, blockchain, and everything in between.
This week’s top picks include:
Featured
Sipher Odyssey Pre-Registration Now Live on Mobile App Stores
Pre-registration for Sipher Odyssey now live on the App Store and Google Play Store. Gather your squad and get ready to embark on an epic adventure like no other!
You can find pre-registration links below:
- iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sipher-odyssey/id6443806584
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atherlabs.sipherodyssey.arpg
Pre-registration is currently available in countries including the USA, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Brazil, Vietnam, and Argentina. However, the pre-registration will open up for more countries in the future.
Following the listing on mobile app stores, the app was trending within the ‘Coming Soon’ category in Vietnam, India, and the Philippines just within 2 days of being listed.
Tin Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Sipher, shared his emotions shortly after via an X post, noting that this was his first game, first web3 studio, and the first time being featured on the App Store homepage. He expressed gratitude to the Sipher community, team, backers, and believers for their part in this achievement.
$SIPHER Token Now Available on OKX Wallet & OKX Web3 DEX
The $SIPHER token recently got listed on OKX DEX and Web3 Wallet. With this new listing, users can now trade the $SIPHER token on the OKXWeb3 decentralized exchange and store their tokens inside the OKX Wallet.
To trade $SIPHER on the OKXWeb3 DEX, users should head to their OKXWeb3 Wallet, click "Trade" and search for "SIPHER". From there, they can perform a "Swap" or place a "Limit Order" to trade $SIPHER.
Artificial Intelligence
Adobe Acrobat Adds AI Assistant, Allowing you to ‘Chat with Documents’
Adobe is adding a new AI Assistant to Acrobat that aims to make finding and understanding information in large documents easier. The conversational engine can summarize documents, answer questions about their contents, and make recommendations. It reduces the time spent on tasks like research projects or summarizing reports.
AI Assistant abides by Adobe's security protocols and will not store or use customer document data to train itself. It is available in beta for paying Acrobat users. The assistant can assess a document and recommend questions for the user, provide answers while citing sources, and create clickable links to specific information. It can also consolidate data into formatted copies for sharing.
The beta experience is available at no extra cost for Standard, Pro, and Teams subscribers across desktop and web. However, a senior vice president said non-Reader customers will eventually need an add-on subscription for full capabilities. Adobe plans future integrations like using its Firefly model and simultaneously pulling information from multiple sources and document types. It also aims to generate drafts and edits.
ElevenLabs Unveils AI Sound Effects Tool
AI startup ElevenLabs, known for text-to-speech and voice cloning, teased a new text-to-sound model allowing creators to generate effects by describing them. A minute-long teaser showcased Sora-generated videos enhanced with ElevenLabs' AI sounds.
Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs researches making audio and video accessible across languages and geographies. It offers text-to-speech and speech-to-speech models in 29 languages that deliver natural voice and emotions. While these and AI tools like Runway, Pika, and Sora's videos gain adoption, the lack of default audio is an issue.
The new model aims to easily allow AI creators to enhance works with background sounds naturally occurring in described scenarios, such as chirping birds, vehicles, conversation or activity noises. It could also apply sounds to plain speech, videos, or games needing ambient audio.
Resharing the teaser, ElevenLabs' growth head wrote they had so much more in development beyond text-to-speech. When Sora launched without sound, they decided to preview this product line. Interested users can sign up with their information and a sample prompt to potentially optimize responses. On the waitlist, they will get early access when the model launches, although the timeline remains uncertain.
Google Pauses Gemini’s Image Generation Due to Inaccuracies While Depicting People
Google has temporarily suspended Gemini’s new AI image generation feature. The company announced a "pause" on the ability to generate people while it works to address recent problems related to historical inaccuracies in outputs involving human depictions.
Examples surfacing on social media showed incongruous images produced by Gemini, such as portrayals of founding fathers as people of color. This drew criticism and ridicule. A venture capitalist joined in labeling Google's AI a "nonsensical DEI parody."
Google confirmed it was aware of inaccuracies in some historical depictions and stated it would improve representations immediately. While Gemini generally produces a wide range of human portrayals, it was missing the mark in these cases.
Generative AI tools produce data based on training and parameters, leading to issues like bias. Earlier, Google faced outrage over an image classification system misidentifying Black men as gorillas in 2015, though its fixes were workarounds like blocking gorilla recognition entirely. Google is working to update Gemini to improve historical accuracy in human images.
In Other AI News…
Gaming
Kingmakers Reveal Trailer Takes the Headlines, Showing a Mix of Medieval Warfare and Modern Weaponry
Kingmakers is an upcoming hybrid RTS/action game that combines medieval warfare with modern weaponry. A trailer was released showcasing gameplay where the player wields contemporary arms like an Apache helicopter and grenade launcher against armies of medieval soldiers.
Developed by Redemption Road Games, Kingmakers offers a unique experience of time traveling humans altering the course of history in epic battles. Players can direct friendly medieval units from a top-down view and also participate in first-person combat. The game aims to launch in 2024 and will feature co-op for up to three players.
The trailer generated excitement, depicting various scenarios like mowing down enemies with an armored vehicle, sniping from a castle, and bombarding opponents with a grenade launcher. Enemy units include soldiers on foot and horseback. The storyline involves changing the past to prevent a future apocalypse.
Every battle will involve thousands of simultaneous troops in a real-time simulation. While the focus on first-person combat may preclude it from being among the best strategy games, Kingmakers hopes to stand out as one of the premier medieval combat experiences. The developer, Redemption Road Games, previously worked on the popular biking game Road Redemption.
Elden Ring's Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC Trailer Promises A June Release Date
Bandai Namco and From Software revealed details of the upcoming Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, through a trailer announcing a June 21 release date. The trailer showed new areas and optional bosses from the main game, like where Miquella's egg can be found. Various new monsters and bosses were previewed, such as a lion with a rotating head, a creature made of flames, and what seemed to be the main boss Mesmer the Impaler.
New abilities, items, weapons including a bear head, as well as enemies like a porcupine alligator were shown, including a scene where the player’s character sprouted angel wings during a battle. Shadow of the Erdtree features an all-new story set in the Land of Shadow filled with mystery, perilous dungeons, and new ways to fight including enemies, weapons, and equipment. Bandai Namco will release a Shadow of the Erdtree Collector's Edition including a statue and extras.
The official product page confirms the DLC is not standalone and requires the base Elden Ring game. It describes an immersive experience within the engaging story and characters of Lands Between.
Borderlands Movie Announced, First Trailer Revealed
Borderlands has an upcoming movie based on the popular video game series. Directed by Eli Roth, the film stars Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Jack Black voicing Claptrap, and others. Like the games, the movie follows a group of Vault Hunters searching for a valuable relic on the planet Pandora while protecting a girl with a powerful secret.
The first images of the live-action adaptation were revealed earlier this week, introducing the main cast in costume. An image shows the key characters Tiny Tina, Krieg, Tannis, Claptrap, Roland, and Lilith, with Blanchett taking the lead role. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Tannis and Jack Black voices the robot Claptrap.
Following the images, its first trailer was released, showing over-the-top action and humor expected to mimic the ridiculous tone of the games.
Additional details were provided about the plot involving Lilith reluctantly returning to Pandora to find the missing daughter of the powerful Atlas, joining with an unlikely team of heroes for the mission. The fate of the universe may depend on them working together. The movie is scheduled for release on August 9th.
In Other Gaming News…
Web3, Metaverse, and NFTs
Pudgy Toys Line Sells Over $10M in Less than a Year, Expands Toy Line to Over 3,000 Walmart Stores
Pudgy Penguins announced a second line of Pudgy Toys will launch in an expanded partnership with Walmart. The toys will now be available across 3,100 Walmart locations, an increase of 1,100 stores from the first collection. A Pudgy Penguins spokesperson stated that the initial line of toys sold over 750,000 units amounting to $10 million in sales in under a year.
CEO Luca Netz commented that the Walmart collaboration has allowed Pudgy Penguins to reach new heights in mainstream consumer markets. Each toy features a QR code unlocking NFT items and customizations in the upcoming Pudgy World game. Previously, Netz said they aimed to increase the conversion rate of buyers scanning codes and claiming free NFTs from 20% to 50%.
Pudgy Penguins has seen great success as one of the biggest NFT projects, with the Ethereum NFTs increasing 5x in price over three months amid a falling market. The toys also directly benefit NFT holders through an IP licensing program providing royalties of up to 20% on toy sales depending on the item. Decrypt named Pudgy Penguins its 2023 NFT project of the year for these mainstream expansion efforts succeeding in a bear market.
EigenLayer Raises $100M from a16z crypto
EigenLayer announced that Eigen Labs, the core team developing EigenLayer and EigenDA, has raised $100 million from a16z crypto. Eigen Labs was founded in 2021 with the mission to empower open innovation across blockchain infrastructure by building the EigenLayer protocol. EigenLayer allows developers access to Ethereum's security and decentralization to more easily launch new protocols.
There were several reasons cited for being excited about the partnership with a16z crypto. A16z crypto's research team is led by widely respected researchers and Eigen Labs' focus is on academic research. Moreover, a16z crypto contributes to open source work and the industry through projects like Helios. A16z also demonstrated long-term commitment to the crypto industry since 2013 through publications, advocacy, and supporting innovation.
The name "Eigen" means "your own" in German and was chosen because empowering developers with programmable crypto-economic trust allows launching unique protocols and applications. Chris Dixon's recent book "Read Write Own" echoes this thesis of the future of blockchains. Both Eigen Labs and a16z crypto aim for long-term support to maximize open innovation for the crypto ecosystem. The investment will further this shared mission.
PIXEL Debuts at a $441M Market Cap, Airdropping over $140M Tokens to Participants
The $PIXEL token for the popular blockchain farming game Pixels debuted on the Binance exchange as planned following multiple play-to-airdrop campaigns. PIXEL started trading at over $0.58 with a market cap of $441 million, putting it in the top 200 cryptocurrencies. Approximately 771 million of the maximum 5 billion total supply are currently circulating.
Binance held a liquidity mining program awarding 350 million PIXEL for staking BNB or FDUSD. An unexpected airdrop of 20 million PIXEL also occurred for those staking RON tokens on Ronin network. RON's price rose 17% over the past week and earlier hit a two-year high.
Pixels is a retro-style game similar to Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley with a token economy and NFT land/pets. It originally launched on Polygon but migrated to Ronin last fall, which helped drive adoption on Ronin from 20,000 daily users last fall to over 300,000 as of late. Ronin was created for Axie Infinity by Sky Mavis and has since onboarded more games, establishing itself as a prominent gaming blockchain.
In Other Web3 & Metaverse News…
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