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Here’s what we got for you this week:

• Time to pay attention to Pirate Nation

• Parallel’s AI game

• Market commentary

Let’s get started!

Time to Pay Attention to Pirate Nation

When no one’s paying attention to a certain project or narrative, it is when you double down to see if there’s something of value hidden. For example, the majority of market participants dismissed Solana after the FTX fallout. But it’s now up nearly 20x from its lows a couple years back.

Finding such inefficiencies or mispricings early will be extremely rewarding. In gaming, the project to pay attention to is Pirate Nation. So many games have launched tokens recently. They are now valued at a couple billion dollars. The market is likely to price upcoming games in this range, given the game has enough traction.

In the case of Pirate Nation, there is no sign of a token yet. The team is teasing something exciting though. While we get more clarity, it is worth exploring Pirate Nation. The team is composed of industry veterans who previously built Farmville. They also raised from a leading investor in crypto a16z.

Now let’s talk about the game itself. It’s a pirate-themed RPG built completely on-chain. They have their chain that is built using Arbitrum Orbit. The game also has NFTs integrated with Founder Pirates and other in-game items.

The team has also shipped so many features to lower entry barriers for players. For example, they sponsor transactions and provide gasless listing/delisting on the marketplace. Since launch, the game has attracted a great number of active players and activated many strong communities.

It is likely the game will announce something big as they move to open access soon. If it’s a play-to-airdrop event, it can be worthwhile farming.

Parallel’s AI Game

The gaming and blockchain worlds are eagerly watching as Parallel Studios, known for its Ethereum-based NFT card-battling game Parallel, takes a significant leap with its upcoming project.

Just a month after launching the open beta of Parallel, the studio is expanding its horizons with a new venture into the crypto gaming space, this time utilising the Solana blockchain for its innovative game, Colony.

Colony marks a distinct departure from Parallel's card-battling roots, venturing into the realm of survival simulation. This new game promises a fresh experience, building on the Parallel universe's lore but introducing gameplay that diverges significantly from its predecessor.

What sets Colony apart is its unique integration of generative AI, powering autonomous agents that players cannot directly control. 

Players initiate their journey in Colony by setting the base personality of their agents through a series of questions. However, the intrigue of the game lies in the evolution of these agents over time, independent of direct player input. The game introduces a novel interaction model where players can suggest actions to their agents, such as planting an apple tree for future sustenance. 

At its core, Colony is tethered to the Parallel universe through the integration of Parallel Avatar NFTs, with an existing supply of 11,001 on Ethereum. The game's whitepaper hints at a potential expansion of this number through a governance proposal, allowing for minting on Solana.

Parallel Studios has set an ambitious timeline, eyeing a public alpha launch of Colony in late 2024 or early 2025. This project not only expands the Parallel universe but also tests the waters of player agency and AI interaction in gaming.

Market Commentary

We finally had that scary dip in crypto this week. Bitcoin fell to $66k. The difference between previous dips and this recent one is that we didn’t pump right back up. It was not mainly a leverage wipeout. There was also continuous spot selling happening.

While the market structure has changed, Bitcoin has bounced back above to previous all-time highs. Many altcoins have also recovered. Solana, Fantom, Sei, and Aptos are some of the best performers.

Besides the top tokens, the main action in the market right now is happening in the memecoin sphere. A memecoin called Book of Meme or BOME reached 1+ billion market cap in less than 48 hours.

A pre-sale was held at 5 market cap and people had to send at least 1 SOL to get allocation. Many early buyers have made hundreds of thousands and cashed out. One of them sent 420 SOL and sits at $26 million in profit. What’s fascinating is that the token is getting listed on Binance already. This news pumped the token by nearly 40%.

Many people are now rushing to find the next BOME. Few influencers are repeating the same pre-sale meta to launch their own token. Some have already succeeded, raising more than 10 million. This just shows how crazy bull markets can get.

• Cards Ahoy has an upcoming play-to-airdrop opportunity, where players are going to get 70% of the token supply. 

• Nifty Island announced the top 5 communities on the leaderboard will get a big $ISLAND airdrop boost. 

• Nyan Heroes went live with their airdrop campaign and saw over 200k registered users. 

• Pixels reached 1 million monthly active users and opened early access to Guilds. 

• Imaginary Ones added Polygon Ventures as their latest strategic investor.

• Parallel unveiled a whitepaper for their AI-driven simulation game, Colony, and revealed plans for a launch on the Solana blockchain. 

• MapleStory is set to transition to Avalanche to develop a scalable gaming ecosystem, kicking off with their MMORPG, MapleStory N. 

• BlockGames introduced $BLOCK farming as part of its SocialFi initiative, allowing users to earn points, alongside unveiling pre-sale details. 

• The proposal for an Arbitrum gaming catalyst program is now up for discussion on their forum. 

• Proof of Play has launched a feature for gasless listing and delisting, aimed at reducing barriers for players.

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