The Last Bullet – A Cowboy shooter for the ZX Spectrum by Mananuk

Futureverse Accelerates Metaverse Strategy with the Acquisition of Candy Digital – NFTgators

Metaverse

By

-

April 16, 2025

Futureverse Accelerates Metaverse Strategy with the Acquisition of Candy Digital – NFTgators

Quick take:

The acquisition is part of Futureverse’s strategy to bring AI to the forefront in the next chapter of immersive experiences for brands and sports entertainment.

Digital Candy boasts a high-profile IP of over 4M digital collectibles and a massive customer base of over 1.5M accounts.

It will be integrated into the Root Network, Futurverse’s layer-1 blockchain, which helps address AI-related brand issues like creative rights and ownership.

AI and immersive gaming technology provider Futureverse has announced the acquisition of the non-fungible token (NFT) platform Candy Digital.

The acquisition represents a major step in Futureverse’s strategy as it aims to advance its metaverse strategy by bringing AI to the forefront in the next chapter of immersive experiences for brands and sports entertainment.

Digital Candy boasts a high-profile IP of over 4M digital collectibles and a massive customer base of over 1.5M accounts, which will all be integrated into Futureverse’s layer-1 blockchain Root Network.

Root Network is designed to address the brand challenges that arise when deploying AI, including creative rights and ownership.

This acquisition allows Futureverse to leverage IP of some of the leading brands in the world, including Major League Baseball (MLB), Netflix, Getty Images, Warner Bros. Discovery, and DC Comics.

“Brands like MLB and DC Comics already sit at the intersection of digital and real-world fandom,” said Aaron McDonald, Co-Founder and CEO, Futureverse. “By bringing them into Futureverse’s ecosystem, we can leverage our technology to build the kind of immersive experiences that enhance brand loyalty and create a new format for great brands, beloved characters and world-class stories to deepen their user engagement.”

Futureverse’s approach to brand rights does not rely on the traditional legal frameworks, with the company opting for its trusted technology. By embedding IP protection into its technology, it gives the brands the power to unlock new revenue and allow their protected assets to be safely used across gaming and new digital experiences, the company shared via a press release seen by NFTgators.

On the other hand, Candy Digital has established itself as one of the leading digital collectibles, platforms, at one point raising funds at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Its platform combines emerging technology with purpose-driven design to create loyalty programs, digital ticketing, on-chain gaming, and fan marketplaces that reward participation while strengthening fan communities.

Matt Novogratz, Co-Founder and SVP of Candy Digital, commented: “It’s a natural move for us to join forces with Futureverse who are true industry leaders with patented technology that is defining how brands will engage in this ever-evolving digital world where most interactions take place.”

Stay on top of things:

Subscribe to our newsletter using this link – we won’t spam!

Follow us on X and Telegram.

AI Narrative Might Face Significant Threat from Trump

Arts

By

-

April 16, 2025

AI Narrative Might Face Significant Threat from Trump

President Donald Trump’s escalating trade policies and the recent U.S. ban on NVIDIA selling advanced AI chips to China are causing significant disruptions in the global semiconductor industry. This action could significantly disrupt the AI and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) ecosystems.

A Blow to the Semiconductor Supply Chain

According to BBC, semiconductors, the backbone of modern technology, power everything from iPhones to military jets. These chips, while invented in the U.S., rely on a complex global supply chain. Chips are often designed in the U.S., manufactured in Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea using rare earths mined in China, packaged in Vietnam, and assembled in China before being shipped globally. Donald Trump’s decision to block NVIDIA’s AI chip sales to China, particularly the H20 GPU, tailored for the Chinese market, disrupts this delicate ecosystem.

Additionally, President Trump has imposed tariffs of 32% on Taiwanese GPUs and servers and 46% on Vietnamese-assembled components. These measures increase costs across the supply chain as part of a broader strategy to counter China’s technological rise and incentivize U.S. manufacturing. However, China has retaliated with a substantially high tariff on U.S. chipmakers, and restrictions on rare earth exports further exacerbate shortages, as the U.S. relies on China for 90% of these critical materials.

This trade war and barriers would lead to higher costs of semiconductor chips, directly affecting the related industries.

Immediate Impact on the Traditional AI Industry

The traditional AI industry, encompassing chipmakers and cloud providers, has been hit hard by the NVIDIA ban and associated tariffs, with significant stock market declines reflecting investor fears.

NVIDIA’s Stock Plunge

NVIDIA, according to CNBC, announced on April 15, 2025, that it would record a $5.5 billion charge in its fiscal first quarter ending April 27, 2025, due to U.S. restrictions on exporting H20 graphics processing units to China and other destinations. The charge covers inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves for H20 chips, which generated an estimated $12 billion to $15 billion in revenue in 2024.

Following the announcement, NVIDIA’s stock slid more than 6% in extended trading, reflecting investor concerns over lost revenue from China, where companies like ByteDance ordered $16 billion in H20 chips in Q1 2025.

Source: Yahoo Finance

AMD’s Sharp Decline

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a competitor developing AI chips like the MI309 Instinct, saw its stock fall 8% in after-hours trading on April 15, 2025, as posted on X by The Kobeissi Letter. Investors fear AMD could face similar restrictions, which would lead to a significant drop in its revenue due to its reliance on the Chinese market and TSMC’s manufacturing.

Challenges for AI DePIN Systems

DePIN platforms like io.net and Render, which aggregate GPUs for AI training, rendering, and data processing, face unique vulnerabilities due to the challenges from the traditional AI supply chain:

Rising Operational Costs: Higher GPU prices due to tariffs directly increase costs for DePIN networks. For example, Render RENDER, backed by NVIDIA, may see squeezed margins as hardware expenses climb, potentially reducing payouts to node operators.Supply Constraints: Limited GPU availability could prevent individuals from joining DePIN networks, shrinking computational capacity. Projects like Io.net IO, aiming to source over a million GPUs, may struggle to scale if supply tightens.Revenue Pressure: DePIN platforms may need to raise fees for AI developers or cut rewards for node contributors, risking user growth. Recent market corrections in AI and DePIN tokens, as they continue, suggest declining sentiment, potentially linked to NVIDIA’s woes.

Responding to these negative changes, the DePIN market has experienced significant declines today, mirroring the downturn in traditional AI stocks like NVIDIA and AMD.

ProjectTokenPrice (USD)24h ChangeBittensorTAO$231.21-2.80%RenderRNDR$3.64-8.70%io.netIO$0.57-7.50%AIOZ NetworkAIOZ$0.25-9.31%Akash NetworkAKT$1.04-6.22%

These declines reflect broader market sentiment, as investors react to the NVIDIA ban’s implications for GPU supply and costs, which are critical for DePIN operations. The parallel downturn in DePIN tokens and traditional stocks underscores the interconnected risks across AI infrastructure markets.

Learn more: Binance Low Performance Impacts Severely on Investors’ Belief

A Silver Lining? Trump’s Push for U.S. Chip Production

On the sidelines, Trump has vowed to fast-track permits for domestic chip manufacturing following NVIDIA’s announcement of a $500 billion plan to build AI supercomputers and chips in the U.S. This initiative aims to reduce reliance on Asian supply chains and bolster U.S. technological leadership. While promising for long-term domestic production, the plan faces significant hurdles, including high costs and a shortage of skilled labor.

Therefore, in the short term, it does little to alleviate the immediate supply chain disruptions impacting AI and DePIN projects. AI DePIN projects must navigate a turbulent landscape to maintain their edge, while the broader AI industry grapples with the fallout of geopolitical trade wars.

Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay trailer released by Bloober Team | TheSixthAxis

Gaming

By

-

April 16, 2025

Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay trailer released by Bloober Team | TheSixthAxis

Bloober Team has released the first gameplay trailer for its upcoming survival horror Cronos: The New Dawn, naming this trailer ‘Don’t Let The Merge.’ You can see why from the trailer as enemies can absorb other enemies to become bigger threats, with more powerful attacks and increased speed. The trailer also shows how you will navigate different locations, including some areas where gravity doesn’t have much of a pull.

Announced last October, the behind the scenes video explores Cronos: The New Dawn’s setting, a post-apocalyptic rendition of 1980s Poland. This is the home to a survival horror adventure with some hefty helpings of sci-fi and time travel. You’ll play as a time-hopping Traveller, going back through time rifts to try and extract people who didn’t survive the apocalypse. Some of the most notable inspirations include the Dead Space franchise and the movie Twelve Monkeys. The Traveller’s own suit takes its inspiration from older deep sea diving suits, alluding to the theme of diving through time to save people.

Cronos: The New Dawn is set to launch in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Source: Press Release

Moonsigil Atlas is a deckbuilding roguelike with tile-based energy that’s Tetris meets Slay The Spire

Gaming

By

-

April 16, 2025

Moonsigil Atlas is a deckbuilding roguelike with tile-based energy that’s Tetris meets Slay The Spire

Now this blending of ideas looks damn cool. Moonsigil Atlas looks like it really warps deckbuilders into something quite unique, and I can’t wait to check this one out. The developer said it’s basically Tetris meets Slay the Spire, and as far as comparisons go it’s quite a fun hook to think on.

Here you play your cards by positioning special magic sigils on the big crescent moon, playing as many as you can that you have the space to fit in. The game will have multiple characters to play as, along with hundreds of cards for a whole lot of possible decks to build.

Depending on where you place your sigils you might get bonuses for adjacency, overlap, and more. With some persisting between turns, or with ongoing effects, and enemies to face that can cast their own hostile sigils to mess with you too.

I really do love the style of this one. Check out their announcement trailer below:

There’s a Steam demo page live for you to follow now too and the game will have Native Linux support. High up on my wishlist this goes!

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Fern Britton fans gush over star’s incredible weight-loss transformation: ‘You look fantastic!’

By

-

April 16, 2025

Fern Britton fans gush over star’s incredible weight-loss transformation: ‘You look fantastic!’

TV star Fern Britton has shown off her impressive weight loss transformation in a new social media update.

The former This Morning presenter has been open about her weight over the years. In 2008, she revealed she lost five stone after having a gastric band. The incredible results saw Fern drop from a size 22 to a size 12.

Fern lost five stone following the gastric band (Credit: ITV)

Fern Britton weight loss transformation

Over the years, Fern has continued to document her weight loss. Following the gastric bypass surgery, she has maintained her weight through diets and fitness.

In 2023, Fern completed the Couch to 5k challenge, a running plan for beginners. Months prior, she had a shoulder replacement due to painful arthritis.

Last year, Fern completed the same challenge and told her followers: “I know I did it last year and I was very excited. And then after I had my shoulder done, I gave it eight weeks before I started again.”

Now, in her most recent update from today (April 16), Fern has shown off her latest transformation. Wearing a long-sleeved pink T-shirt paired with black shorts, the 67-year-old former Celebrity Big Brother star posed in front of the mirror.

Flashing a radiant smile, she was surrounded by fitness equipment, including various weights.

“REPOWERING after a sloth like winter … #TheOlderIGet out in paperback now,” she wrote in her caption as she promoted her book.

Fern Britton smiling — Fern enjoys fitness (Credit: Splashnews.com)

‘You look fantastic!’

Following her most recent upload, Fern’s fans rushed to the comments section to praise her latest selfie.

“Wow. You look amazing, Fern. Have a great day,” one user wrote.

“You look incredible fern! All the hardwork has paid off! Fitness never felt so good!” another person shared.

“You are looking bloody fab, but better than that it looks as if you feel it,” a third remarked.

“It is lovely to see you looking radiant and happy. Keep doing what it is that makes you shine and feel fine. xx,” a fourth person expressed.

“You look fantastic,” a fifth said.

Read more: Inside Fern Britton’s bitter ‘feud’ with Phillip Schofield – ‘Things were tricky’

This Morning Legend Fern Britton Returns to the Sofa Bringing All The CBB Gossip | This Morning

What do you think of this story? You can leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.

OSgrid back online after extended maintenance – Hypergrid Business

Metaverse

By

-

April 16, 2025

OSgrid back online after extended maintenance – Hypergrid Business

(Image courtesy OSgrid.)

OSgrid, the popular OpenSim-based virtual world, has officially reopened to the public after a period of extended maintenance. The grid’s return marks a significant milestone for the OpenSim community, providing users with what administrators describe as “a more professional and stable experience.”

The grid went down in early March, due to problems with user inventory files.

You can read our previous article here: OSgrid enters immediate long-term maintenance.

“We’re happy to announce the official reopening of OSgrid,” the OSgrid team said in an announcement posted today. “This slightly extended downtime has allowed us to come back stronger.”

Users returning to OSgrid must follow several important technical steps to ensure a smooth transition, the grid said. All returning residents should clear both texture and inventory caches in their viewers before logging in. Additionally, region owners must update to the latest code available on the OSgrid website.

Region owners should also reload their OAR files using a specific command that forces asset reloading: load oar –force-assets filename.oar

However, inventory restoration through IAR files is temporarily delayed to maintain system stability.

The grid has also rolled out a solution for the common cloud avatar issue at LBSA Plaza, where a clickable question mark provides users with the necessary appearance folders.

OSgrid, the oldest and largest OpenSim grids, has long been a central hub for the open-source virtual world community, allowing users to attach home-based regions for free and serving as a testbed for OpenSimulator development.

Will it be the largest grid again? It has come back from longer outages before, so the odds are good.

Hypergrid Business editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist. During the day, Maria Korolov is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@hypergridbusiness.com. Her first virtual world novella, Krim Times, made the Amazon best-seller list in its category. Her second novella, The Lost King of Krim, is out now. She is also the publisher of MetaStellar, a new online magazine of speculative fiction.

Futureverse Acquires Candy Digital, Taps DC Comics and Netflix IP to Boost Metaverse Strategy – Decrypt

Web3

By

-

April 16, 2025

Futureverse Acquires Candy Digital, Taps DC Comics and Netflix IP to Boost Metaverse Strategy – Decrypt

Futureverse, an AI and metaverse tech firm, announced Wednesday it has acquired Candy Digital, a digital collectibles platform, even as interest in the sector has waned in recent years.

The deal gives Futureverse access to the latter’s sprawling blue-chip brand portfolio, including Major League Baseball, Netflix, and DC Comics.

Those brands “already sit at the intersection of digital and real-world fandom,” Aaron McDonald, co-founder and CEO of Futureverse, said in a statement shared with Decrypt.

The acquisition gives Futureverse access to Candy’s portfolio of over 4 million digital collectibles and customer base of 1.5 million accounts, with the AI and metaverse firm planning to gradually integrate its tech with Candy’s high-profile intellectual property partnerships.

Futureverse claims that bringing in these brands and stories could help it make and “build immersive experiences” to “enhance brand loyalty.”

Since its formation in late 2022 and after its $54 million Series A almost two years ago, the company has positioned itself as a leader in developing infrastructure for what it calls the “open metaverse.”

The company was last valued in 2023 at roughly $1 billion, making it the first Māori-founded unicorn, according to Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand’s government innovation agency.

Candy’s content library will be integrated into The Root Network, Futureverse’s layer-1 blockchain designed to address intellectual property protection concerns. Futureverse believes the integration could help brands signed with Candy Digital to “safely use” and protect their IP.

‘Natural move’

The acquisition was a “natural move” for Candy Digital, its co-founder and senior vice president Matt Novogratz said in the statement. Futureverse has “patented technology” that has helped define how brands engage people in the digital world, “where most interactions take place,” he adds.

But skepticism over the term “metaverse,” fueled by the general market decline of NFTs, raises concerns for projects like Futureverse.

From sales of premier collections at a loss, to major tech firms shutting down their NFT projects, to marketplaces shifting to AI instead, those trends in the crypto industry have waned over the years.

Still, Futureverse has expanded rapidly through strategic acquisitions and concurrent partnerships.

Those included IP collaborations with Warner Bros., FIFA, and Reebok, among others. Meanwhile, the company’s technology stack includes generative AI tools, blockchain infrastructure, and developer tools for creating interoperable digital experiences.

Candy Digital’s investors, including Galaxy Digital, ConsenSys Mesh, and Microsoft, will join the Futureverse ecosystem as part of the acquisition.

The exact financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Decrypt did not immediately receive responses from Futureverse on that matter.

Disclaimer: ConsenSys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

GG Newsletter

Get the latest web3 gaming news, hear directly from gaming studios and influencers covering the space, and receive power-ups from our partners.

Pacific Spirit: Vinyl Meets Code in a Groundbreaking Generative Drop on Art Blocks | NFT CULTURE | NFT News | Web3 Culture | NFTs & Crypto Art

Arts

By

-

April 16, 2025

Pacific Spirit: Vinyl Meets Code in a Groundbreaking Generative Drop on Art Blocks | NFT CULTURE | NFT News | Web3 Culture | NFTs & Crypto Art

When the analog warmth of vinyl collides with digital innovation, you get a truly collectible fusion of music, art, and algorithmic design

On April 25th, a beautifully experimental cross-medium collaboration will come to life with the release of Pacific Spirit, a generative art and vinyl fusion from visual artist and friend of NFTCulture, Emily Nicoll (@enicoll) and Canadian electronic music producer 747 (Ryan Chan). Hosted on Art Blocks Studio, this drop fuses code, sound, and physical media—resulting in a collection that’s as tactile as it is collectible.

Every NFT minted will serve as the unique vinyl sleeve for Pacific Spirit, the forthcoming 2×12” album from 747. That’s right: collectors not only receive a one-of-a-kind generative artwork, but also a matching physical record featuring that exact artwork as its cover. This isn’t just another digital drop—it’s a multimedia experience and a love letter to analog culture through the lens of blockchain innovation.

The Sonic Landscape: 747’s Pacific Spirit

Known for his signature acid techno (most notably Aurora Centralis), 747 is a pillar of the global underground, delivering emotionally rich electronic music with analog heart. With Pacific Spirit, his second studio album released via Aquaregia, 747 moves into fluid, dreamy territory, incorporating jungle breaks, ambient textures, and intricate rhythmic design.

The album’s name and tone are drawn from the natural world and urban edge of British Columbia, particularly the west side of Vancouver where 747 grew up. That emotional geography becomes the bedrock for the visuals—artworks that feel like they were listened into existence.

1950s tech meets 2025 tech

often we take technology so far it loses the original essence of the medium. in the era of music streaming & a-la-carte listening, songwriters have adapted to that behavior to the detriment of the craft. sometimes we must go backwards to move forward https://t.co/P13TCRHvpN

— 747 (@RChan747) April 15, 2025

Code as Canvas: Enicoll’s Generative Vision

Our community knows and loves @enicoll for her thoughtful, emotionally resonant work—and this marks her first foray into on-chain generative art. Built in p5.js, her algorithm weaves together hand-drawn aesthetics, wave-inspired motion, and typographic fragments into pieces that echo both sonic energy and landscape memory.

Visual Highlights:

Stroke forms that channel the energy of audio waveforms

Lettering from “PACIFIC SPIRIT” and “747,” scribbled in system fonts and hand styles

Color palettes grounded in British Columbia geography:

Pacific Spirit – Skyline and sea (default, ~50%)

Camosun Bog – Earthy wetlands

Sea to Sky – Pastel blues and high-altitude calm

Second Narrows – Industrial greys with tension

Layout Modes:

Wave – Most common (~40%), echoing both water and sound

Scatter, Radial, Grid, Concentric – Each with its own rhythm and compositional logic

One ultra-fun trait, dubbed “acid”, appears in just 3.03% of pieces and features smiley faces as a playful nod to the Roland TB-303—the beating heart of acid music.

Mint One, Get One: Digital Art + Physical Vinyl

Each minted artwork comes with a 2×12″ vinyl copy of the Pacific Spirit album, printed with the artwork you minted as the record sleeve. This creates a personal, tangible bond between the collector and the artist—a fusion of code, identity, and sound.

Any unminted pieces (up to 300 total) will be printed and shipped to record shops around the world through Triple Vision Record Distribution, expanding the reach of this generative series far beyond the blockchain.

Art Blocks Meets Aquaregia: New Frontiers in Art & Music

With Art Blocks providing the technical infrastructure and Aquaregia setting the sonic tone, this drop hits at the sweet spot of innovation and emotional storytelling. It’s a pioneering model for what’s possible when blockchain technology meets physical art forms—and it shows how generative art can evolve into something personal, playable, and permanent.

TL;DR:

Pacific Spirit is a generative art and vinyl collaboration by music producer 747 and NFTCulture’s friend Emily Nicoll, releasing April 25 on Art Blocks. Each NFT also serves as the cover for a 2×12” vinyl copy of the album—shipped directly to collectors. It’s a code-based reflection of acid-infused electronica and BC landscapes, packed with rare traits and built-in nostalgia.

Tags:

Bybit Closes NFT Marketplace Over Security and Market Decline – Metaverseplanet.net

Metaverse

By

-

April 16, 2025