GUN token’s $69M milestone, Pudgy Penguins go to LOL Land: Web3 Gamer

‘Expect fireworks’ — Off The Grid’s $GUN token launches on Binance

After five months of anticipation, the most exciting Web3 game of 2024 finally rolled out its cryptocurrency token this week.

Third-person battle royale shooting game Off The Grid’s native token, GUNZ (GUN), launched on crypto exchange Binance on March 31, alongside the launch of the Avalanche-based GUNZ mainnet.

Within hours of the launch, the token tapped a market cap of $69 million before retracing back near $44.39 million, according to CoinMarketCap data. Avalanche said it was a “major milestone for Web3 gaming and purpose-built Avalanche L1s.”

It is still early days for the token, which got plenty of hype. Speaking ahead of the launch, RR2 Capital co-founder Richard Seiler said that fans of the shooter game could “expect fireworks” and that the combo of Gunzilla Games and Binance was like “two giants supporting each other.”

Gaming commentator Mash said that if the token takes off this week, it could be the catalyst for “the gaming supercycle on Avalanche.” Popular gaming streamer Yellow Panther said the token will “fuel” the entire Gunzilla layer-1 network, which has over 480 million transactions and 14.7 million active wallets on testnet.

Off The Grid launched its early release in October on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, making it the first crypto game on mainstream consoles.

Likened to Web3’s Call of Duty, the game was a hit straightaway with crypto gamers after a few years of hit-and-miss blockchain game releases.

Gaming commentator Mac said Off The Grid was the first game he saw in the store when he purchased his PS5 and this was the first time he’s seen a “good Web2 game” launch a token.

The token launch comes amid the rest of the gaming crypto token market taking a beating. The overall gaming market cap is $11.56 billion, down 9.56% over the past 30 days, according to CoinMarketCap data.

However, crypto tokens often see significant traction shortly after being listed on Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Among the 15 memecoins listed by Binance in 2024, 12 saw significant increases in value after going live on the exchange.

Stack your crypto bag playing this insane new board game for degens

Maybe simple is best for crypto games, after all. Yield Guild Games (YGG) just announced LOL Land, a new browser-based casual board game for degens, which the trailer suggests looks a lot like Monopoly… if Monopoly was on ice and you were a penguin.

It’s like a mash-up of crypto, the massively multiplayer online game Club Penguin, and a board game.

“Roll, move on tiles, earn YGG and collect points and NFTs while earning Abstract XP,” is how LOL Land describes itself in a March 29 X post.

The game will live on the Ethereum layer-2 network Abstract chain, which is already home to many popular Web3 gaming titles, such as the recently launched RPG game Gigaverse.

Pudgy Penguins’ parent company also created Abstract and the game will feature members of the Pudgy Penguins community.

Users can earn the Yield Guild Games (YGG) token, which is down 18% over the past month alongside the rest of the crypto market, trading at $0.1873.

Hot Take: Super Champs Racket Rampage

Action-packed tennis RPG game Super Champs Racket Rampage adds a bit more spice to tennis than your standard (and relatively dull) Wimbledon and US Open tournaments.

Frying pans instead of tennis rackets and anime-style characters are just some of the features of the game, which is based on the layer-3 Super Champs Chain.

Developed by Web3 platform Joyride Games, Super Champs Racket Rampage is a fun addition to your portfolio of mobile games, but you’ll probably face a learning curve to start with.

Having no buttons on the screen and just being able to freely swipe and go in sync with the game is a rarity among mobile blockchain games.

But figuring out how hard to swipe without sending the ball flying takes some practice.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite fun to play. You can pull off heaps of different shots — drop shots, slam shots, crit shots, you name it.

The best part is your player moves to the ball automatically, so you don’t have to mess around with positioning and hitting simultaneously.

If you’ve ever played a game where you have to do both, you know how much of a hassle it is — way too tedious for a mobile game.

Everyone starts with a standard “Champ” character, but if you want something better, you can grab an NFT from the Ethereum-based Super Champs: Racket Rampage Genesis Collection.

That gets you a legendary-rarity Champ, the highest-tier NFT in the game.

Overall, it’s a fun and quirky mobile tennis game with solid controls that make it easy to play.

Other News

— The Ronin Network has integrated with the NFT marketplace OpenSea, and within the first 24 hours, over 2,900 traders had already interacted with Ronin in the marketplace.

— ATMTA, the leading developers of MMORPG Star Atlas, just teamed up with SingularityNET to bring “advanced AGI” into the game, aiming to build the “most immersive gaming metaverse” yet. (AGI doesn’t exist yet, however.)