A new console focused on ‘Web 3 gaming’ has been announced and immediately met resistance from a number of players.
Web 3 company Polium claims its ‘Polium One’ system will be “the world’s first multi-chain game console” that will be able to run games built on different blockchains.
“The console will be powerful enough to run high-performance games and will be easy to use for a traditional gamer who doesn’t understand Web 3,” said Polium.
The console, which Polium says will be released in Q3 2024, can only be reserved by players who purchase a ‘Polium Pass’, an NFT on the Ethereum network of which 10,000 will be minted.
According to Polium, the console’s controller will include a fingerprint scanner for security and a “wallet” button to give players quick access to the console’s multi-chain wallet designed for “trading, swapping, wagering and receiving cryptocurrency.” “.
Despite Polium’s admission that only four people are working on the hardware, it also claims the console will be capable of 8K HDR at 120 fps and ray tracing.
The announcement has been met with much criticism and skepticism from a number of players who are at best unconvinced of the benefits of blockchain gaming and at worst believe it to be a scam.
Some have also pointed out that the console’s logo appears to be an inverted take on the GameCube logo.
“It looks familiar, but GameCube has a G and the cube represents their name,” the company tweeted. “Our cube stands for blockchain and the P stands for Polium.”
Even the newly created Poium Discord server, which seemed to start without moderation, was not free from criticism.
In Discord’s “scam alert” channel, supposedly set up to let users report potential NFT scams, a number of users simply replied “this whole project”.
In the ideas and feedback channel, the first comment simply says “give up”.
Polium has now posted a statement on the Discord addressing the initial response, accusing some of being “FUD,” an acronym meaning “fear, uncertainty and doubt.”
“We have received FUD and criticism regarding our ability to execute,” the statement reads. “To clarify, the four of us are building the functional prototype for the console and controller.
“We have experience in hardware and software development. We are currently working on the power tree for the console board. We should have a functional prototype by November or sooner.
“We will show the prototype live on YouTube or show a trusted influencer. The prototype will prove that the console can run games that are on different blockchains and built with different programming languages.
“We are not taking pre-orders/funding until we show the prototype and if the community is interested. Once we have a functional prototype, we will build the console for production.
As for the lack of confirmed games, the statement reads: “There will be games on the console and we will make some announcements shortly. We are currently in talks with game developers.
“We didn’t copy for the logo Nintendo‘s GameCube logo. But we are listening to the community and we will hire a new illustrator to design a more original logo for us.”
The conclusion: “Some of you are not passionate about Web 3 and are only here for entertainment and FUD. But we’re going to ban people. Anything is possible when you are passionate about a problem. We will deliver. Stay tuned.”
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