Culture Round-up: Danish videogame sells 365 million kr worth of digital real estate

Elsewhere, Danish children’s show ‘John Dillermand’ has caught the attention of American talk show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Danish housing market is thriving and now the sale of virtual property is doing the same.

The Danish videogame ‘Ember Sword’ is set to be released in late 2022, but developers have already sold 365 million kr of land in the digital world.

‘Ember Swords’ is developed by Bright Star Studios and will feature an online gaming universe in the style of ‘World of Warcraft’ with large areas that can be explored.

Players will have the opportunity to buy a piece of land that they can own in the game and thereby have an influence on the virtual world.

Sold out in 15 seconds
Bright Star Studios started selling virtual land in May. When the first pieces of property were put up for sale the interest was so massive that the systems crashed.

“By our calculations, everything would have been sold out in 15 seconds if the servers hadn’t crashed,” said Mark Laursen, founder and manager at Bright Star Studios.

Overall, the earnings are expected to pass 630 million kr before sales end.

“Players are looking forward to being able to control a whole gaming world and we are excited to launch the game.”

When ‘Ember Swords’ releases it will be free to play and sales within the game are entirely optional.


Danish children’s program featured on American late-night talk show
When the Danish children’s program ‘John Dillermand’ premiered in January this year, it made waves both nationally and internationally. The animated show aimed at children aged 4-8 was both criticized and applauded for its premise of a man and his long magical penis that can both play tennis, tame lions and fly like a helicopter. Now ‘John Dillermand’ has once again caught attention overseas – this time from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The TV-host was in fact on holiday – but cut it short when he heard about the children’s show in order to film a feature about it. “It’s much more imaginative than what passes for children’s entertainment here,” he said, comparing ‘John Dillermand’ to American TV shows. He went on to praise Danish children’s television in general for its creativity and willingness to address difficult topics.

 

Museums struggling with lack of visitors in the wake of COVID-19
Several of the country’s largest museums have experienced a large drop in the number of visitors in recent months. In June, Glyptoteket only saw 28 percent of their pre-pandemic visitor numbers and Rosenborg Castle was down to just 9 percent. According to museum manager Thomas C. Thulstrup, the drop is caused by a lack of tourists and a general disinterest in museums after the reopening. “People have primarily wanted to go to cafés and restaurants and be social in a different way to what museums offer,” he said to Berlingske. “I also think that the corona passport has played a role because people have been prevented from going to museums impulsively.”

 

Thousands of music fans choose the best Danish album of all time
Since June 10 last year, thousands of music fans have been busy voting for the best Danish album among 2.048 entries. Voting have taken place on the Facebook-page ‘Det bedste danske album nogensinde’, where almost 5000 people have taken part. The winner was the first solo album by Kim Larsen, ‘Værsgo’ from 1973. Kim Larsen has generally been dominant in the voting with runners-ups consisting of Larsen’s ‘Midt om natten’ and ‘Efter endnu en dag’ by Larsen fronted band ‘Gasolin’. Other top entries include ‘Rigtige mænd gider ikke høre mere vrøvl’ by tv·2, ‘No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims’ by D-A-D and ‘The Good Life’ by Kashmir.

 

Charity event fights cancer with padel
A charity padel tennis tournament to raise money for cancer treatments has been announced at the end of the summer. ‘Padel 24 – Against Cancer’ takes place at Racket Club, either at Kløvermarken or in Dragør, where corporate and private groups can sign up to play padel for an hour and a half. All earnings will go to the Danish Cancer Society, Kræftens Bekæmpelse. The event runs from September 10, 17:00 to September 11, 17:00.