Crypto Thief, Sega blockchain game, fight for AI gaming rights - Web3 Gamer - Cointelegraph Magazine [Advance Cash ]

Valve allows AI content on Steam

Game developers may use AI-generated content in games listed on Steam, but only if it is not generated using copyright-infringing content.

This is the official line from Valve, the creator of the Steam game publishing platform, which he made in response to a June Reddit post that made the rounds from a developer whose game was rejected by Steam for using AI.

Developer artoonuwhich specializes in making NSFW games (think furries and hentai), said the company asked him to "affirmatively confirm that you own the rights to all intellectual property used in the dataset that caused the AI ​​to create your game assets" for it to be accepted, which is an impossible request.

Valve, it seems, is worried about the legal implications of hosting AI-generated content. And maybe it should be. Artists are furious that AI image generators are trained using their work. ChatGPT extracts huge amounts of data from the web, most of which is copyrighted. Recordings of voice artists from years ago have been unearthed and are being used by companies to train AI voice models without their explicit consent.

Valve spokesperson Kaci Boyle told Gizmodo this week that the introduction of AI makes it more difficult to show that a developer has sufficient intellectual property rights when using AI to create software. assets, including images, text, and music.

“In particular, there is some legal uncertainty regarding the data used to train AI models. It is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that they have the appropriate rights to ship their game,” Boyle said.

AI is a double-edged sword. For its detractors, it is depriving artists of rights and work. For its followers, it brings them a whole new suite of creative tools. Artoonu said the AI ​​has taken his creativity to "an all-time high".

“There was almost no limit to the kind of story I could write. I could generate almost any background I imagined, and its flickering added a charm to it that I loved. In addition, my efficiency doubled or was even better. I could focus on characters and dialogue instead of drawing,” they said.

Launch of Gods Unchained, My Pet Hooligan on the Epic Games Store

Immutable Gods Unchained's trading card game 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: The Gathering-esque card game where every card is an NFT. Its executive producer, Daniel Paez, said in a statement that it's hard to overstate the significance of the game's launch on one of the biggest PC gaming platforms in the world. Epic Games has over 230 million users.

“We are extremely excited to introduce our game to a completely new and truly massive audience of traditional PC gamers and TCG enthusiasts. It's a natural continuation of our journey and fulfills our promise to our community to continue to bring Gods Unchained to a new and diverse playerbase,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the bunny-themed metaverse where the big bad is essentially Mark Zuckerberg, My Pet Hooligan finally announced it was Epic approved on June 28. It had pushed back its original launch date as it went through the approval process for shipping through the store.

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

Ubisoft's first Web3 game

A little-known Japanese blockchain company is mopping up its collaborations with gaming giants.

Oasys, a games-focused blockchain whose founders include the likes of Bandai Namco and PlayStation, is working on IP-based Web3 games from Ubisoft and Sega.

Ubisoft plans to launch its first Web3 game built on the channel. Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles will be a player versus player tactical role-playing game.

The announcement comes after Ubisoft has found some success in the NFT space with its Rabbids NFT and collaborations with The Sandbox. However, he also quashed a rumored NFT arena battle dubbed Project Q in January.

Sangokushi Taisen, an old Sega arcade game, will also get a makeover on Oasys thanks to blockchain game company Double Jump Tokyo. It is currently under development and should be released by the end of this year.

Super Mario Cipher Theft Malware

A popular fan-made Super Mario game installer wants to steal your crypto, warns a report from Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs.

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

The installer includes XMR Miner, a program that mines privacy-focused Monero coins, and Umbral Stealer, which steals information from a victim's machine, including usernames and credentials stored in the browser , cryptocurrency wallet keys and session tokens.

Umbral Stealer is particularly effective in allowing criminals to compromise social networks and game accounts such as Telegram, Discord, Roblox and Minecraft. It can also capture and access webcam footage.

First released in 2004, Mario Forever is an unofficial game based on the Nintendo franchise with nearly 17 million downloads through CNET alone. Fan-made versions of Super Mario are popular on PC, as nearly all of the official original 24 Super Mario games – as well as its spin-offs, remakes and remasters – are only available on Nintendo's own platforms.

Games are an ideal method to trick users into unintentionally installing malware on their computers. The large file sizes and general trust of game installers reduce the chances of malware detection, while the large number of players provides plenty of targets. But there are ways to protect yourself by only downloading games from official sources, being careful when downloading mods, and using a password manager instead of saving passwords in your browser.

And if a dubious site offers something too good to be true, like a game that hasn't been released yet, maybe don't believe it.

Favorite: Paradise Tycoon

My original plan for this fortnight's hot take was Yuga Labs' HV-MTL (see below in "Other Stuff"), but the limited access version doesn't seem to be available yet, and for some weird reason I just couldn't bring myself to pay over $1,000 for a game. Shocking, I know.

So instead I checked out a nice little island game from Finland called Paradise Tycoon.

As the team behind Medium notes, "Finland is not only known for being the happiest country in the world, for its saunas, Santa Claus and Nokia, but also for the thriving gaming industry." Home to Angry Birds and Clash of Clans, the country generates around $3 billion in gaming revenue annually.

The creator of Paradise Tycoon, Empires Not Vampires was founded in 2017 and focused on idle tycoon games before going blockchain with this new release. It may be Web3, but Paradise Tycoon will still be familiar and non-intimidating to those more familiar with Web2 games.

Set on a tropical island - beware of sharks in the water that will eat and kill you - its whitepaper describes it as a "balanced interplay of resource gathering, crafting, trading, building, quest and social interaction".

The company claims that the game has had over 200,000 downloads since Paradise Tycoon launched on Android and browsers.

Part of the reason it may have done well compared to other launches is that integration is easy. You can set it up without connecting a wallet - you don't even need an email address - but the option is there if you want it. This beats many NFT games out there that not only require your wallet and email, but quite often the rights to your first child and a detailed list of everything you had for dinner in the last month.

Combine the ease of integration with adorable artwork - the characters are extremely cute - and it makes for a great introduction to what the team has to offer. Sure, the crafting process could be less laborious, and it would be nice to have more character customization, but that's a small price to pay for a playable game, which is still rare in Web3.

Other things

– Yuga Labs has launched another game that is not the long-awaited Otherside metaverse. HV-MTL (pronounced "heavy metal") Forge is a competitive coin-operated crafting game. A limited version will be available for non-NFT holders. "Think of it like Tamagotchi meets Homescapes meets some kind of popularity contest," said Spencer Tucker, director of games at Yuga Labs.

– Heroes of Mavia launched its beta on July 1. Skrice Studios' MMO strategy game is based on the fantasy island of Mavia, and players can build bases and engage in battles.

- Web3 game studio Mythical Games raised $37 million in a Series C expansion round following a $150 million raise in November 2021. Participants in the latest raise include Animoca Brands, a16z and ARK Invest. It plans to raise another $20-30 million later this year.