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May 2018

Newsbytes archive for April 2018

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Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, Acton, BlindWolf8, dronon, earthfurst, Fred, GreenReaper, and Rakuen Growlithe.

Kickstarter for 'Backbone', a furry adventure game

Your rating: None Average: 4.4 (9 votes)

Backbone is a Kickstarter for an anthropomorphic computer adventure game featuring a raccoon detective, using pixel art and set in a dystopian retro-futuristic/Blade Runner-esque Vancouver. It's the first game by EggNut, a Canadian studio.

Crowdfunding started in April, aiming for $63,000 CAD (~ $50,000 USD) with a deadline of May 27th, 2018. As of May 4, with 23 days to go, they're at 46% of that goal.

A demo is planned for Summer 2018, and they hope to have the game released by mid-2019. It should be available for PC, Mac and Linux, with possible additional platforms depending on stretch goals.

Along with detective work, there will also be stealth sequences that use smell-based mechanics, for when you're trying to hide from (or follow) a suspect. Combat will be another game element, with "The Artifact", which looks like a giant metal claw. A dark jazz soundtrack will provide additional atmosphere.

Review: 'Ghost of a Tale'

Your rating: None Average: 3.9 (12 votes)

Ghost of a Tale is described as an action-RPG game with stealth elements, dialogues and quests. Of particular interest to furs is that you play as an anthropomorphic mouse character in a world that's very reminiscent of Brian Jacques' Redwall series. Impressively, it is primarily the work of a single developer, Seith, and was funded via IndieGoGo. Ghost of a Tale was available in early access for a long time, although I waited until after the full game was released, in March 2018, before buying a copy.

 

2017 Ursa Major Award winners announced at FurDU 2018

Your rating: None Average: 4.1 (10 votes)

Ursa Major Awards banner by EosFoxx The results of the 2017 Ursa Major Awards were presented at an awards ceremony at FurDU 2018 in Surfer’s Paradise, Queensland on Saturday May 5 at 6 PM AEST [UTC+10].

Winners were selected by the public from nominations made earlier in the year. Each voter could choose three items in each category, providing three, two and one votes.

The winners and runners-up (in descending preference) are…

Review: 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Your rating: None Average: 3 (17 votes)

Avengers: Infinity WarTo begin, a little bit of justification as to why I'm reviewing this. In addition to being the 19th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Avengers three ... point five ... ish, this movie is also essentially Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2.5. And seeing as how that team just won its second motion picture Ursa Major by a pretty good margin over historically fierce competition, well, this is a team furries apparently care about, even if it's really just Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) bringing the furry.

Next, a little bit of warning. This movie ends on what could be a cliffhanger which may totally be retconned out of existence by the end of next year's Untitled Avengers Film, or maybe not, in which case there is a lot, a lot, of stuff to spoil. Now, people have a tendency to act, well, spoiled about spoilers, which basically didn't exist before Alfred Hitchcock invented the idea to promote Psycho, despite the fact that the trailer consists of Hitchcock giving the game away, since it doesn't matter.

However, there's no need to be rude, so I'm not going into the ending, other than I think I will reveal Rocket's fate, so you know whether or not, as a furry, you should just give up on this Marvel Cinematic Universe or not.

But I'll do that after the break, so if you don't want to know, well, don't click "read more".

Bucktown Tiger returns to 'Jeopardy' to defend 3-day winning streak

Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (13 votes)

Go Josh Go.jpgBucktown Tiger, a well known musician in the furry fandom, faced regret in the winter of 2017 for not being able to attend what would become largest furry convention in the world in the unseasonably warm Chicago. The piano-playing feline had another, conflicting engagement: auditioning for the classic America trivia game show of Jeopardy.

This audition was fruitful, gaining the furry a contestant slot. Now a half year later, the tiger has risen up to the challenge of his rivals on the stage, winning three shows in a row in the first week of May, and bringing home a three-day purse of $82,866. And he’s not done yet; following the Teacher’s Tournament, he'll be returning this Monday (May 21st) to defend his title. Want to watch and see if he'll continue the streak? Use this webpage to find your local broadcast time and station.

Update 5/26: Game 8 did not go so great for the tiger, with two fresh and competitive contestants a weary tiger fell behind. Virginia got a mountain of cash as she aggressively bid on correct answers in all three daily doubles and final jeopardy. Bucktown however, should rest up, as the winningest contestant of this Jeopardy season he will be returning for the Tournament of Champions in the future. His final run: 7 days and $163,721.

2017 Cóyotl Awards winners announced

Your rating: None Average: 4.4 (9 votes)

The Coyotl Awards logo.The Cóyotl Awards are awarded annually by the Furry Writers' Guild to recognize excellence in anthropomorphic literature. The winners and nominees for 2017, who were announced on May 25 at Furlandia 2018 in Portland, Oregon, are...

Aggretsuko: More cute furry content dealing with Workaholism

Your rating: None Average: 3.5 (15 votes)

Aggretsko_0.jpgI don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get a feeling this year’s furry content is coordinating their themes. It’s always interesting when common threads start to show up near each other, especially when they were not intentional. I remember when Fred Patten’s anthology Furry Future was thought to have had prejudice as a subtheme by a non-furry reviewer. It might have seemed odd that all but one story in the anthology touched on the idea of social inequities without coaxing from the collection editor, but it was just coincidence that the writers felt like writing stories about that theme at the time.

It is surely strange coincidence that just after I played a game with a deeply ingrained theme of a protagonist diving head first into responsibilities to the point of self-detriment that there is an anime playing off this same subject released onto Netflix. However, unlike Yet Another Research Dog, which was a highly niche affair that probably only I had played of those I know, Aggretsuko was already slaying the fandom by the time I had gotten around to hitting the play button.

So what is all the hub about and is it worth the hype?