Crypto Thief, SEGA blockchain game, AI games rights fight — Web3 Gamer – Cointelegraph Magazine

Valve Allows AI Content on Steam

Game developers can use AI-generated content in games listed on Steam. But only if it was not generated using copyright-infringing content.

That’s the official line from Valve, creator of the game distribution platform Steam, which came out in response to the events of June. reddit post News has been circulating about a developer whose game was rejected by Steam for using artificial intelligence.

Developer Artoonu specializes in NSFW games (such as furries and hentai games), explain The company required him to “explicitly confirm that you own the rights to all intellectual property rights used in the dataset used to train the AI ​​to create assets in your game” in order to be accepted, an impossible request.

Valve appears to be concerned about the legal implications of hosting AI-generated content. Maybe they should. Artists are outraged by the fact that AI image generators are trained on their work. ChatGPT pulls large amounts of data from the web, most of which is copyrighted. Recordings of voiceover artists from years ago have been unearthed and used by companies to train artificial intelligence speech models without their explicit consent.

Valve spokesperson Kaci Boyle told Gizmodo this week that the introduction of AI makes it harder for developers to prove they have sufficient intellectual property rights when using AI to create assets, including images, text, and music.

“In particular, there is some legal uncertainty about the data used to train AI models. It’s the onus on developers to make sure they have the proper rights to distribute their games,” Boyle said.

AI is a double-edged sword. For critics, it’s dispossessing artists of their rights and their jobs. For its backers, it brings a whole new set of creative tools. Atunu said artificial intelligence has brought him “unprecedented creativity”.

“There is almost no limit to what kind of stories I can write. I can generate almost any background I can imagine, and its instability adds to it a charm that I love. Plus, I’m twice as efficient or better. I can focus on the characters and dialogue instead of drawing,” he said.

Gods Unchained, My Pet Hooligan Available on Epic Games Store

Immutable’s collectible card game Gods Unchained and AMGI’s My Pet Hooligan are the latest Web3 games to join the Epic Games Store.

Launched in 2019, Gods Unchained is a Magic-style card game where each card is an NFT. Executive producer Daniel Paez said in a statement that it’s hard to overestimate the importance of the game’s release on one of the world’s largest PC gaming platforms. Epic Games has more than 230 million users.

“We’re very excited to be able to present our game to a whole new, truly massive audience of traditional PC gamers and TCG fans. It’s a natural continuation of our journey and delivers on our commitment to the community to continue bringing Gods Unchained to the For a new and diverse player base.”

Meanwhile, in a bunny-themed virtual universe where the biggest villain is basically Mark Zuckerberg… My Pet Rascal was finally announced on June 28 that it had been approved by Epic. It pushed back its original release date as it was going through stores.

The two games will join other Web3 games that have put content on Epic, including Star Atlas and Gala Games’ Grit.

Ubisoft’s first Web3 game

A little-known Japanese blockchain company is making a big sweep when it comes to partnering with gaming giants.

Oasys, a gaming-focused chain whose founders include executives from companies like Bandai Namco and PlayStation, is developing Web3 games based on IP from Ubisoft and Sega.

Ubisoft plans to launch the first on-chain Web3 game. Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles will be a player-vs-player tactical RPG.

Previously, Ubisoft had some success in the NFT space with its Rabbids NFT and its partnership with The Sandbox. However, in January, it also canceled a rumored NFT competitive game called Project Q.

An old Sega arcade game, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, will also be getting a makeover on Oasys with the help of blockchain gaming company Double Jump Tokyo. It is currently in development and is expected to launch by the end of this year.

Super Mario crypto-stealing malware

A popular fan-made Super Mario game installer wants to steal your passwords, warn Report From Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs.

Cybercriminals are distributing a modified version of the Super Mario 3: Forever Mario installer containing malware via social media and forums.

Installers include XMR Miner, a program that mines the privacy-focused Monero coin, and Umbral Stealer, which steals information from victims’ machines, including browser-stored logins and credentials, cryptocurrency wallet keys, and session token.

Umbral Stealer is particularly good at allowing criminals to compromise social media and gaming accounts such as Telegram, Discord, Roblox, and Minecraft. It can also take screenshots and access webcam footage.

First launched in 2004, Forever Mario, an unofficial game based on the Nintendo franchise, has nearly 17 million downloads through CNET alone. Fan-made Super Mario is popular on PC, as nearly all 24 official original Super Mario games and their spinoffs, remakes, and remakes are only playable on Nintendo’s own platform.

Games are an ideal way for users to inadvertently install malware on their computers. Large file sizes and the general trust of game installers make malware less likely to be detected, while large numbers of gamers provide ample targets. However, there are ways to protect yourself, just download games from official sources, be careful when downloading mods, and use a password manager instead of saving passwords in your browser.

If a dodgy site offers something too good to be true, such as a game that hasn’t been released, maybe don’t trust it.

Popular Work: Paradise Tycoon

My original plan for this two-week hit was Yuga Labs’ HV-MTL (see “Other Content” below), but the limited-access version doesn’t seem to be out yet, and for some odd reason I can’t get myself Participate and pay over $1,000 for a single game. Shocking, I know.

So I took a look at a cute little island game from Finland called Paradise Tycoon.

As the team behind it noted on Medium, “Finland is not only known for its saunas, Santa Claus, and Nokia, but also for its thriving gaming industry.” As Angry Birds and Clash of Clans , a country that generates roughly $3 billion in annual gaming revenue.

Empires Not Vampires, the makers of Paradise Tycoon, started in 2017 with a focus on idle tycoon games before moving to blockchain in their latest release. It may be Web3, but Tropico will still be familiar to those more familiar with Web2 games, and not intimidating.

Set on a tropical island – watch out for the sharks in the water, they’ll eat you and kill you – its white paper calls it “a balance between gathering resources, crafting, trading, building, exploring and social interaction.” interaction”.

The company claims that Paradise Tycoon has been downloaded more than 200,000 times since its launch on Android and browsers.

Part of the reason it does well compared to other offerings is how easy it is to get started. You can set it up without connecting a wallet – you don’t even need an email address – but you can choose if you want. This beats a lot of NFT games that not only require your wallet and email, but often entitlement to your first child and a detailed list of everything you ate for dinner last month.

Combining an easy onboarding experience with lovely artwork – the characters are downright adorable – it’s a great introduction to what the team has to offer. Of course, the production process could have been less laborious, and it would have been nice to have more character customization, but that’s a small price to pay for a playable game, which is still a rarity in Web3.

other things

— Yuga Labs has another game out, and it’s not the long-awaited Otherside metaverse. HV-MTL (pronounced “heavy metal”) Forge is a token-gated competitive crafting game. A limited release will be available to non-NFT holders. “Think of it like Tamagotchi meets Dreamland meets some kind of popularity contest,” said Spencer Tucker, chief gaming officer at Yuga Labs.

— Heroes of Mavia launched in beta on July 1st. Skrice Studios is an MMO strategy game set on the fantasy island of Mavia where players build bases and engage in battle.

— Web3 game studio Mythical Games has raised $37 million in an extended Series C funding round, following a $150 million round in November 2021. Participants in the latest funding round include Animoca Brands, a16z and ARK Invest. It plans to raise an additional $200-30 million later this year.

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Karan Quinn

Callan Quinn is a UK-based freelance journalist covering cryptocurrency and tech news. She has worked as a business reporter in China, the UK, Somaliland and the Republic of Georgia. Previously, she was an NFT, gaming and virtual universes reporter for The Block.