Castlevania gets bloody NFTs | PC gamers
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Castlevania, a series that has been delivering great 2D whiplash adventures since the NES days, and even the venerable 3D Lord of Shadows (the dodging sequel). Like many of Konami’s biggest series, it appears to have been on a hiatus for a while, barring re-releases, but any hopes of a surprise new entry to mark the anniversary were dashed: instead, we’re getting NFTs.
Konami has announced the “Konami Memorial NFT Series,” which does sound like a worrisome funeral, featuring 14 Castlevania images, including game scenes, music, and some new visuals from the series’ history.The collection will be auctioned on January 12 an official websitePretty cool that the provided images of the above NFTs are all tagged as “samples”, just in case anyone has naughty ideas, you know, right click and save them.
Here are some pictures and the entire collection can be viewed at the website link above.
This is Konami’s first NFT project, although it’s far from the first major publisher interested in the irreplaceable space. Ubisoft is the most almighty at this point, Square Enix thinks 2022 will be the year of NFTs, but it’s part of a broader trend of big tech companies toying with the idea, and not all of them are being Sold. EA called NFTs “the future of our industry,” but Xbox boss Phil Spencer feared they could be “exploitative,” Discord scoffed at their integration, then quickly turned around after backlash, and Steam just decided to ban them altogether.
Since this is Konami, it may go down like a lead balloon, and as with many NFT projects, it’s odd that the obvious selling point of NFTs (they’re transferable, so theoretically usable in different digital environments) doesn’t apply. You’re just buying a picture of Dracula’s castle or something. “As the company’s first project in this space, and with NFTs and blockchain technology in its infancy,” the press release said, “Konami will continue to explore new developments and listen to player feedback.”
The most recent Castlevania release is the Castlevania Premium Collection, which brings a ton of (very good) portable games to PC, while other older titles are available on Steam and elsewhere.
At the end of the official slogan about NFTs there is a glimmer of hope: “Looking ahead to the future of the Castlevania series, we will continue to support currently available games while also evaluating new opportunities for games that will meet and exceed players’ expectations.” I am very Wanted to play a new Castlevania that met and exceeded my expectations, so fingers, whip, rosary, everything was crossed.