Tag:

news

Bitcoin At $1 Million By 2026? Not The Good News You Think

by admin August 17, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Bitcoin crossing the $1 million mark in 2025 is a scenario many crypto enthusiasts dream of, but not everyone sees it as good news. Instead of celebrating, some experts warn it would reveal deep cracks in the US economy.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said in a recent podcast that such a price surge wouldn’t be a victory but a warning sign.

He explained that the crypto could only reach that level if the country is facing severe economic distress.

“I’d rather have a lower Bitcoin price in a more stable United States than the opposite,” he said, stressing that sudden currency collapses often come at a heavy social cost.

Bitcoin Seen As A Crisis Hedge

When national currencies weaken, investors often turn to Bitcoin, calling it “digital gold.” That’s why Novogratz believes a skyrocketing BTC price would be tied to instability.

His comments echo remarks from crypto analyst Wolf Of All Streets, who said last year that if BTC moves too fast, it likely means the world is in trouble.

Stories and lessons from a decade in crypto with Mike @Novogratz.

We talk about $GLXY, the 80,000 bitcoin transaction, whether Mike has any investing regrets, maxis and altcoin communities, Bitcoin’s roadmap to $1 million and much more.

Timecodes:
00:00 Meet Mike Novogratz:… pic.twitter.com/4HrOi1juE5

— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) August 12, 2025

Still, not all predictions are gloomy. Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes Bitcoin could hit as high as $1.5 million by 2030. Even her lower estimates land in the hundreds of thousands, with the forecast tied to growing institutional demand and the crypto’s limited supply.

Reports show that BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes expects Bitcoin to climb between $750,000 and $1 million by 2026, while Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor recently said that “Winter is not coming back,” and he went as far as saying that if Bitcoin is not going to zero it could reach $1 million.

Concerns Over US Debt

Novogratz also voiced frustration with how the government is handling debt. He said US President Donald Trump’s choice of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hasn’t produced the results many expected. According to him, debt-to-GDP remains unaddressed and the US deficit is set to rise, not shrink.

BTCUSD now trading at $118,222. Chart: TradingView

That fiscal outlook has added to investor anxiety. Market watchers believe rising debt and deficits could weaken confidence in the dollar, fueling demand for Bitcoin.

But Novogratz warned against cheering too loudly, suggesting the long-term costs of such a shift could outweigh the short-term price excitement.

Treasury Adoption Sparks Worries

Another point of concern for Novogratz is the growing number of companies adopting Bitcoin for their treasuries. He revealed Galaxy Digital is now receiving around five calls a week from businesses wanting to put BTC on their balance sheets. To him, this surge feels more like a frenzy than steady adoption.

For Novogratz, the warning is clear: Bitcoin at $1 million wouldn’t mean triumph. It would mean the US economy is in a fragile and dangerous place.

Featured image from BCB Group, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

Source link

August 17, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

1930s media mogul sim News Tower leaves early access in November, letting you build your journalism empire on the shoulders of the Mafia

by admin August 17, 2025

Playing a game about being in the newspaper business sounds a bit like a busman’s holiday to me, though with News Tower being set in the 1930s, at least the bus won’t be at constant risk of breaking down or steering into a ravine.

In any case, I’m always up for a new spin of the management sim, and that goes double when your managerial duties also involve dealing with the Mafia. Such criminal complications is one of several new features News Tower will add when it publishes its 1.0 edition this November.

News Tower sees players don the waistcoat of a newly minted media mogul aiming to seize control of Noo Yoik Ciddy through the power of print. Starting with just your own willpower and, er, an entire skyscraper at your disposal, you’ll build a functioning newsroom by hiring journalists and photographers, assigning them leads, and assembling your paper article by article before sending it off the presses every Sunday.

But News Tower is about more than what happens in the newsroom. Your magnate’s goal is to have total oversight of what the city reads. Your news tower exists in a larger overworld map where you can attempt to push two rival papers—The Jersey Beacon and the Empire Observer—out of other regions and claim their readers for yourself.

The 1.0 version will bring several extra layers to this. Within your tower, the perception system allows you to define your paper’s editorial voice, choosing between informational, moderate, or sensationalist styles. This decision will affect how readers view your paper, and enable you to boost your sales in as-yet unspecified ways.

News Tower – Release Date Announcement – YouTube

Watch On

In the streets, meanwhile, there are two new mechanics at play. The first is that competition system I already referred to, though there’s a lot more to it than what I summarised. Your competitors only appear once you already control a sizeable chunk of New York, which you achieve by rolling out your paper into new districts on a weekly basis.

Once your rivals appear, you can choose either to prioritise empty districts, or muscle in on a competitor’s turf. If you opt for the latter, this will trigger a journalistic scuffle over that region’s news, with both papers competing over time-sensitive stories and one-off scoops that can be nabbed by a carefully placed reporter.

Beyond this, News Tower’s release version will also introduce a faction system. Here, you can align your paper with one of several non-media organisations in the game. These are the mayor’s office, the military, high society, and the Mafia.

Developer Sparrow Night hasn’t explained this in as much detail as the competitor system yet, but it appears more narrative focused, with set quests you can take on to build your reputation with a given faction. Those objectives might oppose the interests of another faction, though, so you’ll need to choose your allies (and your enemies) carefully.

News Tower leaves early access on November 4. Alexander Chatziioannou proof-read the alpha version in February last year, and found its approach to building a virtual paper to be both characterful and smartly implemented. “Sparrow Night has come up with an array of unexpected flourishes and tactical dilemmas inject considerable depth into the process, meaningfully interweaving individual assignments with the overall progress of your organisation.”

Best gaming PC 2025

All our current recommendations

Source link

August 17, 2025 0 comments

A man with a violet top hat and a feathered collar looks angrily at the viewer

Gaming Gear

Clockwork Revolution: Key details and latest news, summarized by humans

by admin June 24, 2025

We’ve still got time before Clockwork Revolution, the steampunk FPS RPG from InXile Entertainment, is here. Following a quiet few years since its announcement in 2023, it resurfaced during the summer Xbox Games Showcase. It’s no Bioshock Infinite clone, but a full-on RPG in the style of Fallout 4 with a character creator, dialogue trees, and weapon customization.

Just like the original trailer, the new one ended without a concrete release date.

But comparing the two trailers shows signs of Clockwork Revolution coming a long way over the last few years. It’s starting to look like a real playable videogame that will hopefully channel the choice-driven depth of InXile’s past work on the Wasteland series and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

Here are all the details we know about Clockwork Revolution so far.

Clockwork Revolution release details

(Image credit: inXile Entertainment)

Clockwork Revolution doesn’t currently have a release date, but we know it’ll eventually come out on PC and Xbox Series X|S. We first heard about it during the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase with a trailer teasing its steampunk setting and overall tone. At this year’s Xbox Games Showcase, we got a trailer more than twice as long with actual gameplay footage, suggesting that it won’t be super far off. Microsoft’s refusal to even put a release window on it makes me think the earliest we could see it is in the latter half of 2026, though.

Clockwork Revolution trailers and gameplay footage

Clockwork Revolution | Xbox Games Showcase 2025 – YouTube

Watch On

The most recent trailer for Clockwork Revolution is stuffed with aspects of the game we’ve never seen before. Notable characters—one of whom is an irate talking doll—take the spotlight as the insufferable aristocracy who will presumably be our primary targets as our character tries to overthrow the city of Avalon’s monarchy. Character creation happens as one of them describes your character’s features to a robot cop, showing off the variety of backgrounds, builds, and mustaches you can choose from.

Like any good RPG, there are dialogue options and pivotal decisions, like choosing whether or not to spare the life of a character, that will shape how the story plays out. The trailer shows how your choices affect the combat too: Weapon crafting will let you swap out gun barrels, stocks, and other parts to specialize your approach to its first-person combat. And on top of that you’ll have a glove that can manipulate time, giving you the ability to freeze enemies in place, rewind, and suck the bullets back into your gun after firing them—not even Bioshock Infinite had that.

Clockwork Revolution – Official Reveal Trailer – YouTube

Watch On

The original reveal trailer for Clockwork Revolution is kind of like a mood piece for what would eventually be in the 2025 trailer. We get an early look at the cobbled streets of Avalon and some teasers on the time-manipulating powers we’ll be able to play with. Street signs and newspapers shift to reveal different outcomes for our choices as we try to end the tyrannical rule of Lady Ironwood.

Clockwork Revolution story and setting details

(Image credit: inXile Entertainment)

The title makes it pretty obvious what your goal will be in the story, but the most recent trailer starts to fill in how we’ll become revolutionaries (or maybe time bandits?). Your character is from the slums of Avalon and is part of the Rotten Row Hooligans. Somehow they got their hands on a glove that can manipulate time, a technology previously reserved for the city’s ruler, Lady Ironwood. Although the game takes place in 1895, there are several hints that we’ll be jumping forward and backward in time as the story progresses. In the trailer we can see entire districts in Avalon change to reflect your choices and I’m going to bet they’re not all for the better.

Snippets of scenes also hint at different factions in the game that you’ll run into as well as quests that deal with bigger issues, like the position of the robot people in Avalon’s society. InXile isn’t in the business of telling straightforward stories and the trailer heavily suggests there are multiple ways things can play out.

Clockwork Revolution gameplay features

(Image credit: inXile Entertainment)

Everything in the summer Xbox Games Showcase trailer for Clockwork Revolution makes it seem like it could be a steampunk alternative to games like Avowed and Fallout 4. Its first-person combat has a mix of shooting and time-bending abilities that can manipulate the environment and enemies around you. At one point, the main character tosses a stopwatch at an enemy’s feet, sending them flying into the air for a follow-up shot that pops them like a bloody firework.

In the brief peek at character customization, we can see that there will be RPG attributes, like agility and social, that will influence your character’s strengths and weaknesses in both combat and non-combat scenarios. While there were no obvious dialogue checks that involved them, I think we can safely assume they’ll come into play eventually. There are also traits with names like “Street Stalker” and “Scrap Savvy,” which sound similar to Fallout’s perks.

Weapon customization and crafting seems to be a big deal as well. Every weapon has a number of stats that dictate things like damage output, rate of fire, and accuracy. Using crafting materials to craft barrels and stocks, you can tailor your guns to your playstyle. One of the rifles we see shoots explosive bullets that sets enemies on fire. The trailer also shows a grenade that shocks enemies, which might mean you’ll have to utilize the weapon crafting to exploit elemental weaknesses on tougher foes.

Clockwork Revolution took more inspiration from a 2001 RPG than Bioshock Infinite

Project director Chad Moore made it explicit in a post on X around the game’s announcement: “I’ve always described [Clockwork Revolution] as the love child of [Arcanum] and [Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines].”

Moore used to work at now-defunct developer Troika Games and worked on cult hit RPG Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Arcanum was an isometric RPG set in a fantasy world of elves and magic that also mixed in elements of steampunk. It came out not that long after Fallout 2 and offered an even bigger world to explore and make decisions in. Arcanum never took off like Fallout did (we named it an underrated RPG still worth playing years later), but Clockwork Revolution carries its spirit forward.

Source link

June 24, 2025 0 comments

Red Dead Redemption star teases he "cannot wait" for us to know about a big announcement that's coming "before Friday"

Game Reviews

Red Dead Redemption star says he “possibly misled some people” but insists “exciting” news is still on the way

by admin June 21, 2025

Red Dead Redemption 2 actor said he “possibly misled some people” when he teased a Red Dead Redemption-related announcement was on the way.

Last week, John Marston himself – or, at least, the actor who brings him to life, Rob Wiethoff – was very excited indeed about an upcoming announcement, stressing that he was particularly excited as he livestreamed “this game”, the original Red Dead Redemption. His tease came just days after we heard another rumour that Red Dead Redemption 2 may be getting a next-gen update alongside a Nintendo Switch 2 port, and Roger Clark – who portrays Red Dead 2’s Arthur Morgan – backed up Wiethoff’s tease.

Now, however, Wiethoff has walked back his comments, reminding fans that he “do[es] not make announcements for Rockstar Games”, yet still insists he has something exciting to tell us.

Gym Buddy with Rob Wiethoff.Watch on YouTube

“There’s one more thing I wanna say,” Wiethoff told his viewers on YouTube as he introduced a livestreamed gym buddy session on YouTube. “I don’t know how to say this exactly, I’ll just say the one thing, uh, that I need to say, and I think all of you recognise this and know this, anyway.

“I do have something I’m really excited about. I truly am. And I think you will be, too, I really do think so. But I possibly, uh, misled some people when I announced that I have something to announce that I can’t talk about right now. Just please recognise – and I know that you know this – but let me remind you, I guess: I do not make announcements for Rockstar Games. We all know that. I’m just reminding you. I do not make announcements for Rockstar Games. Rockstar Games makes announcements for Rockstar Games, and they don’t use me to do that. So please know that.

“And again, I still think that, uh, a lot of you are going to be really excited about this news. Absolutely. Also, I can’t share it with you yet. And I’m so sorry,” he finished. “But I truly am that excited. That’s all I’m gonna say about that right now.”

Shortly thereafter, fans noticed a main cast reunion was scheduled for the National Gaming Expo in Tampa, Florida, from 8th-10th August, leading some to think this could be the “announcement” he was excited about (thanks, Push Square). The line-up for that was announced several weeks back, though, which doesn’t quite track with Wiethoff’s timeline.

Whatever it is, the announcement has seemingly been delayed. Going by Wiethoff’s original tease, we should’ve finally found out by yesterday, 20th June. However, when asked by a fan today, 21st June, for an update, he replied: “It’s coming. Sorry for the delay. Ha! There are a lot of moving parts. We want to get this right. I think it will be clear why once we’re able to say what’s going on.

“I can assure you, I want to tell you as soon as possible. Ha! I love it. Let’s goooooooo!”

Source link

June 21, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Trumps May Have Sold WLFI (USD1) Stake as U.S. Stablecoins See Wave of Good News

by admin June 21, 2025

Stablecoins are enjoying a moment in U.S. policy circles as the Senate just passed a regulation bill with major bipartisan numbers. As that moment approached, President Donald Trump and his family apparently offloaded about 20% of their stake in the parent company controlling World Liberty Financial, a crypto business that includes its own stablecoin.

DT Marks DEFI LLC is a company that now owns about 40% of the holding company over WLFI, down from an earlier 60%, according to the legal disclosures at the bottom of the platform’s website. DT Marks DEFI is “an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members,” it says.

Trump’s crypto dealings are extensive and have reportedly directly gained him tens of millions of dollars, at least, but they’ve also taken a starring role in the debate over digital assets regulation in the U.S. The stablecoin bill that is now in the hands of the House of Representatives was temporarily stalled in the Senate as Democrats made noise about Trump’s own stablecoin operation.

Despite corruption complaints from lawmakers such as Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and arguments that it’s inappropriate for the president to be taking a hand in the regulation of his own business, the advancement of the bill potentially leaves World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin approaching steadier footing, assuming the company is prepared to comply with rigorous reserve and oversight demands.

While Trump’s political allies and his administration claim his business ties are transparent, the family’s crypto dealings remain murky, without full disclosures of the business stakes of individual members, including the president. It is still unclear what the family’s specific ownership or management involvement may be with World Liberty Financial.

Representatives from WLFI and Trump’s business interests didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from CoinDesk.

And his growing ties to crypto don’t end there. Trump drew the bulk of recent criticism for his hosting of a private dinner for the leading investors in his personal memecoin, many of whom were foreign nationals and went unidentified to the public. The one-time crypto skeptic has sold multiple rounds of non-fungible tokens (NFTs); his media company announced this year it was raising $2.5 billion to build a bitcoin treasury; and son Eric has been helping run a new bitcoin mining venture. There are few corners of the industry the president doesn’t have close connections to.

Read More: Trump’s Empire Pulled In $57M From Family-Linked Crypto Firm Last Year, Filing Shows

Source link

June 21, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Grounded 2: Key details and latest news, summarized by humans

by admin June 20, 2025

Grounded 2 is just around the corner, and it’s looking like you can expect big things from this tiny survival-crafter.

Five years after its predecessor entered early access, Grounded 2 was announced at the recent Xbox Games Showcase and promised to deliver even wilder miniaturised adventures for fans of the original game. Hey, we’re even wandering beyond the confines of the back yard this time.

I’ve brought together all the need-to-know info on Grounded 2, so you can stay up to date with all the key details on the upcoming sequel. Whether you’re looking to be filled in on Grounded 2’s early release date, gameplay, story, or story, it’s all here.

Grounded 2 release date and platforms

Early access for Grounded 2 begins July 29 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, meaning it really won’t be long until you’re ant-sized and battling bugs once again. That said, it’s difficult to say exactly how long the game will be in this early access period.

Grounded spent about two years in Xbox Game Preview before the full version’s release in 2022, if that’s anything to go by. However, what’ll really be the deciding factors behind when the 1.0 release drops are how the development team’s early access roadmap pans out, and how the existing build is received by players.

Will Grounded 2 be available on Xbox Game Pass?

(Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment)

Grounded 2 will be available on PC and Xbox Game Pass during early access. Given that the small print doesn’t specify a particular Xbox Game Pass tier, it’s safe to assume that all subscribers (from Core to Ultimate) will be able to play Grounded 2 as part of their subscription.

When is Grounded 2 coming to Playstation and Switch?

As of yet, there hasn’t been any indication of Grounded 2 coming to Playstation 5 or Nintendo Switch 2. For reference, it took two years after Grounded’s full release for the game to come to a platform other than PC and Xbox. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Grounded 2 receive a similar timed exclusive treatment.

Grounded 2 trailers

Grounded 2 – Official Announce Trailer – YouTube

Watch On

Grounded 2 was the big surprise during Xbox’s Summer Showcase this year. We got our first look at the Grounded sequel just over a month prior to its early access release.

The announcement trailer opened with an in-universe TV commercial for a new Yoked Girth toy (Grounded’s silly, muscle-bound parody of He-Man) before cutting into a breaking news segment. Here, we learn that—two years after their original ordeal at the hands of Ominent—the four teens from Grounded have mysteriously vanished.

What the authorities don’t realise is that the teens are still in the park where they went ‘missing’; they’ve just been shrunken to approximately the size of an ant… again. The rest of the trailer shows the teens fighting and exploring through the abandoned park, taking on everything from battling scorpions to climbing giant mountains of ice cream.

Grounded 2 story

(Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment)

Grounded 2 takes place in 1992, two years after the events of Grounded. As far as the public are concerned, Ominent—the malevolent corporation behind the events of the first game—is undergoing a bit of a redemption arc, as the company dedicates a statue to the four teen heroes that turned Dalton Schmector into the authorities. However, the reality of the situation is a bit more complicated than that.

During the unveiling ceremony in Brookhollow Park, an explosion erupts (a distraction or a malfunctioning SPAC.R?) leading to the apparent disappearance of the kids and Dr. Tully.

In actuality, the teenagers have been shrunken down and are fighting for survival in the grass below everyone’s feet. You take up the role of one of these puny protagonists and work to embiggen yourself once more, all while taking on the deadly threats found within the park and discovering who exactly is behind the plot to shrink you in the first place.

Yeah, yeah. That’s cool and all but will Grounded 2 finally reveal the identity of the fifth teen?

Grounded isn’t all base building and figuring out how to perfect block; there’s a surprising bit of lore too. A lingering question that has bugged players since the release of the first game is who exactly emerged from that fifth slot in the kid case. While the remains of a camp that seemingly belonged to the fifth teen in the first game, their fate is unknown. We don’t even know if they survived the challenges of the backyard.

That said, there are some clues that suggest the missing fifth kid might play a role in Grounded 2. For one, the Steam page for the game reads, “something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten you,” which leaves room to theorise that the fifth kid could’ve survived to hold a grudge against the other four for leaving them behind. So, we might see the fifth teen in Grounded 2… but they could be a friend or a foe.

Grounded 2 gameplay

(Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment)

While Grounded 2’s gameplay will feature the same mix of building, exploration, combat, and survival, there are a couple of key changes in the sequel that we’ve already gotten a glimpse at.

For starters, Grounded 2’s map is three times bigger than the first game’s. With such a big world to explore, your little legs can only take you so far before your stamina starts to take a hit. To help lighten the load and get you where you need to go faster, Grounded 2 introduces a new variety of insect mounts called buggies.

Alongside helping you to get from A to B(ee), buggies also offer support with exploration, building, and combat, with each species having its one set of unique abilities. We haven’t gotten a full picture of every kind of buggy the game will include, but we do know you definitely can pop a saddle on a red ant or opt to ride an orb weaver spider for some hardcore arachnophobia exposure therapy.

Another new addition in Grounded 2 is the Omni-tool. While inventory management may be some folks’ idea of meditation, it can also be an unwelcome distraction from the real business of surviving and/or crafting. To save you the hassle of juggling a shovel, an axe, a hammer, and a wrench in your backpack all at once, Grounded 2 graces players with the Omni-tool, which does the job of all four tools in one.

Source link

June 20, 2025 0 comments

A close-up shot of James Bone in 007 First Light wearing dark sunglasses and a pink shirt in a tropical location

Product Reviews

007 First Light: Key details and latest news, summarized by humans

by admin June 20, 2025

The cover’s blown on 007 First Light, IO Interactive’s stealth action game starring a young James Bond. After some teasing and years of quiet work on “Project 007,” we finally know what kind of game the Hitman developer has been cooking up for the iconic character. A short trailer that debuted during Sony’s June State of Play gave us a look at 007 First Light’s original version of Bond, the many locations the story will take us to, and a release date. Well, okay, a release year.

First Light’s announcement trailer has moments that look quite a lot like Hitman as Bond ducks behind cover and tosses objects at enemies, but it also seems to have the kind of explosive action setpieces ripped right out of the films. Unlike Agent 47, though, this baby-faced Bond has a lot to learn before he can truly take on the role of MI6’s spy extraordinaire.

Here are all the details we’ve been able to decode from Bond’s dossier so far.

007 First Light release details

(Image credit: IO Interactive)

007 First Light will be released sometime in 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2. IO Interactive didn’t give an exact date at the end of the announcement trailer during Sony’s June State of Play, but it did promise to reveal more about it later this summer. The trailer also mentions that signing up for an IO Interactive account on the website will unlock the “On Duty” skin for Bond and the “Gilded Wraith” golden weapon skin—which are the kind of concrete in-game bonuses that make me think it’s far enough along that it’ll drop earlier, rather than later, in the year.

007 Fight Light trailers and gameplay footage

007 First Light – Announcement Trailer – YouTube

Watch On

A lot of details are packed into the opening conversation in 007 First Light’s announcement trailer. We not only get a sense of the tone IO Interactive is going for, but a broad picture of its version of Bond through the eyes of his handlers. They describe him as a “bullet without a target,” much like how creator Ian Fleming conceptualized the character back in 1953 as a blunt instrument wielded by the government. This Bond is young, naive, reckless, and unbelievably lucky when things go awry—a perfect lump of clay for MI6 to mold into a dashing killer.

The rest of the trailer plants the seeds for what kind of gadgets and weapons we’ll be able to use as we chase our target, rogue agent 009, across the globe. There’s a watch that sparks a jet engine in a dirt bike, detective vision for highlighting nearby enemies, some kind of pocket tranquilizer dart, a wristwatch laser beam, cars, boats, and a whole arsenal of guns.

Exclusive interview with IO Interactive

007 First Light: Exclusive behind the scenes developer interview – PC Gaming Show 2025 – YouTube

Watch On

We visited IO Interactive for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the development of 007 First Light. Check it out!

007 First Light story and setting details

(Image credit: IO Interactive)

We only have the announcement trailer to work off of, but thankfully it’s packed with hints at what we can expect as Bond earns his numbers in 007 First Light. MI6 recruits Bond after making a surprisingly heroic act on a mission in Iceland and fires him directly at rogue agent 009. The trailer shows several brief shots of all the places Bond will visit as he tracks his target down.

Here’s everything about 007 First Light’s story we know so far:

After losing his parents on a climbing expedition when he was 11, this version of Bond rabble roused through several boarding schools before ending up in the royal navy
The story is set in the modern day and begins with a 26-year-old Bond who’s picked up by MI6 after a heroic act during an Iceland mission
His mentor, Greenway, thinks he’s a risk, but reluctantly agrees to train him
Rogue agent 009 is his target and is described as a “master manipulator”
Bond will travel to several locations, including what looks like Slovakia and Vietnam
Familiar characters from the franchise will return, including M, Q, and Moneypenny
At some point Bond and Greenway will be tied up in a pit full of crocodiles

007 First Light gameplay features

(Image credit: IO Interactive)

The announcement trailer made it pretty clear that 007 First Light will be a third-person stealth action game that leans more toward the action. There will be a variety of levels set around the world with objectives to chase after. And once you finish the campaign, you’ll be able to revisit each mission with “additional modifiers,” much like Escalations in Hitman.

IO Interactive has been clear about one thing though: 007 First Light isn’t Hitman with James Bond. Agent 47 may be a trained killer like Bond, but his speciality is getting the job done completely undetected. Bond’s approach “has a lot more forward momentum,” narrative and cinematic director Martin Emborg told told PC Gamer in an exclusive interview.

“You need a lot of patience to play Hitman,” Emborg said. “You need to be sitting there seeing the patrol—he goes over there, and he likes wine, and you overhear that thing. But Bond, he can also just walk through the front door. ‘I’m actually just going to go and talk to them. I’m just going to go punch him right now’.”

IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak told PC Gamer that there are “elements in the game that you would expect from IO Interactive—with the freedom of approach, solving puzzles in different ways, and social spaces that are very deep with rich crowds.” But despite having some major differences from Hitman, Abrak said that, for the team, 007 First Light is “all that skill, all that practice coming together and finally seeing the ultimate spy fantasy come to life.”

It’s frighteningly possible Bond knows what TikTok is

(Image credit: IO Interactive)

Look at him: He’s a barely-out-of-school twenty-something who probably grew up with an iPad. There’s no way he knows what a cassette tape is—which has me convinced he’s got TikTok installed on his phone. I just need one mission to involve Rainbolting the location of a target via someone doing a viral dance on a fake TikTok video.

Source link

June 20, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Solana Price Falls on Macro Jitters Despite Bullish News From Major SOL HODLer

by admin June 19, 2025

Solana’s native token, SOL

, dropped to $143.38 Tuesday, down 1.21%, closing near the day’s low after failing to hold above $147, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.

The weakness came even as the ecosystem drew fresh institutional backing: Canadian blockchain investor Sol Strategies filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 18 to pursue a Nasdaq listing under the ticker STKE.

While the filing itself is not an immediate market mover, it highlights a growing institutional commitment to Solana’s long-term outlook. Sol Strategies disclosed earlier this month that it holds more than 420,000 SOL, worth over $61 million, and has made SOL the centerpiece of its treasury strategy. The firm is also seeking regulatory approval in Canada to raise up to $1 billion, in addition to an earlier $500 million convertible note issuance in April used to acquire and stake SOL.

Despite these bullish signals, SOL continues to trade defensively. Price action has been confined to a horizontal band for much of the past week, with the most recent breakout attempt above $147.80 failing to generate follow-through. Bears regained control during the final hours of trading, pushing SOL below the $144 psychological support. With price trending below major moving averages and volume tapering off mid-session, sentiment remains fragile even as long-term backing intensifies.

Technical Analysis Highlights

SOL traded in a 24-hour range from $143.23 to $147.80, a 2.83% swing.
Resistance held at $147.80 after a failed breakout during the 22:00 UTC candle on June 18.
Price declined steadily to $143.38, closing near the low after weak recovery attempts.
Sellers were active between 13:46–14:00 UTC, with a drop from $144.62 to $143.38 on strong downside momentum.
The $144–$145 zone remains critical; failure to reclaim it may open a path toward deeper support near $140.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Source link

June 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Elden Ring Nightreign’s latest patch is good news for madness fans, and should save you from auto-death after boss fight revives

by admin June 19, 2025

Elden Ring Nightreign. It’s gotten another patch, and while not as beefy as you might like, it’s a box of bug fixes that you should know about. Especially if you’ve ever been fighting a Nightlord, gone down, been revived, and then immediately flopped back down dead.

Also, there’s a single balancing tweak which goes one step beyond to encourage the use of madness-infused weapons that I’m sure would look good with your baggy trousers.

As outlined in the notes for Version 1.01.3, the latest effort on FromSoft’s part to beat the bug bosses into submission via Carian code cutlasses, that sole balancing change is an increase to your chance of obtaining weapons with the madness status ailment. So, if you’ve yet to have a go at frenzying everything in sight, now’s your chance.

Delving into the bug fixes, one’s for an issue “where players would lose a battle after being revived from near death against a Nightlord or other Night bosses”. Judging by Reddit, this was just as frustrating to encounter as it sounds, with one player dubbing it a “hidden bossfight” and another likening it to psychological horror. A hidden bossfight in a FromSoft game that I’m not discovering via a video of a streamer beating it using a dance pad, cool.

Others rectify stuff like the Demon Merchant spawning near the Night’s Tide when you run into the Demon Merchant curse event, the damage dealt to some enemies when sniping weak points via Ironeye’s “Marking” skill not being right, and folks being able to nullify incoming Lightning Damage when affected by the Bolt of Gransax’s passive effect Power of the Great Ancient Dragon.

FromSoft also note that they’ve added “staff information” to the game’s credits, which is good to see. The final tweak I think it’s worth mentioning before directing you to check out the full notes if you want the rest is Steam-specific. It should stop the game freezing “momentarily or for an extended period in some environments” on PC, which is handy.

If you’ve not given Nightreign a go yet, make sure to check out Nic’s review of it and the stuff FromSoft has confirmed is coming to it down the road.

Source link

June 19, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

BTC Tops $108K on JPMorgan Crypto Filing, XRP Rallies on ETF News

by admin June 17, 2025

Crypto markets pushed higher on Monday as traders have shifted focus from geopolitical anxieties to crypto-related institutional developments ahead of the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting.

Bitcoin

has risen 3.1% in the last 24 hours and is now trading for $108,600, only a couple of thousand dollars below its all-time record. It certainly wasn’t alone in its ascension. The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins — is up 4.3% in the same period of time, buoyed by strong performances from and chainlink , which both notched 6-7% gains, and most other tokens rising at least 3%.

A check at traditional markets shows that risk appetite has returned after last week’s jitters on Israel and Iran launching missiles. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes bounced 0.9% and 1.4%, while safe haven gold declined 1.5%.

Crypto stocks also joined the surge. Coinbase (COIN) and Circle (CRCL) closed the day 7.7% and 13% in the green. Among bitcoin miners, Bitdeer (BTDR) and Hut 8 (HUT) gained 6.9% and 5.6% respectively. Remarkably, one of the only equities in the red was Strategy (MSTR), which lost almost 0.2%, while rival bitcoin treasury companies Metaplanet rose 25% on the Japanese stock market.

Positive crypto-related news added further fuel to today’s rally: JPMorgan has filed a trademark application for a product that seeks to offer digital asset services such as trading, exchange, payment services and issuance. Meanwhile, asset manager Purpose is set to launch its spot XRP exchange-traded fund in Canada as momentum for altcoin-focused ETFs grows.

When altcoin season?

While today’s altcoin outperformance may have inspired some traders’ hope for an imminent alt season, Nansen research analyst Nicolai Søndergaard poured cold water on such expectations.

It’s still bitcoin that’s leading the market, he said, with strength often tracing back to the largest crypto’s performance.

“BTC has mostly served as a trigger for altcoins,” Søndergaard. “Some alts also do well. BTC breaks an ATH? The market likes that.” Some profits from BTC’s rise to fresh record high may have trickled down to other cryptos, while some sectors such as DeFi have enjoyed short-term bursts of outperformance.

“These have, however, not been prolonged runs for alts, and looking at the grand scheme of things, most alts have been bleeding for some time,” he said. The focus is still very much on BTC.”

Bitcoin’s strong rebound from Friday’s low could bode well for the crypto market.

Bitfinex analysts noted that the sentiment index Fear and Greed Index dropped into “Fear” territory last week, while Bitcoin’s Net Taker Volume showed aggressive selling.

“This behavior, combined with a spike in liquidations, resembles past capitulation-style setups that often mark local bottoms,” the analysts said. “If BTC can hold the $102,000-$103,000 zone, it may suggest that selling pressure is being absorbed and that the market could be primed for recovery.”

Eyes on the Fed and Powell

From a macro lens, attention is squarely on the Federal Reserve and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.

Investors overwhelmingly expect the Fed to keep benchmark rates steady this week and the following meeting in July, according to the CME FedWatch tool, market participants will focus on Powell’s remarks about clues on how policymakers navigate inflation and job market pressures.

“Powell’s tone, not the rate decision, will drive volatility,” digital asset analytics firm Swissblock said in a Monday note. “Expect whiplash trading across commodities, yields and risk assets.”

Source link

June 17, 2025 0 comments