LG Electronics is evolving its smart TVs with enhanced gaming options and support for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
Earlier this year, Samsung made headlines with the launch of its “Gaming Hub”, which consolidates various video game services such as Xbox Live, Google Stadia, GeForce Now, Utomik and Amazon Luna.
Now, LG Electronics is responding to that offering with the launch of its very own Gaming Shelf, which is a new, video game-focused section found within webOS. Gaming Shelf, which is available for LG OLED and LCD TVs that run webOS 6 (2021 TVs) or webOS 22 (2022 models), will provide direct access to various games from Nvidia's GeForce Now at launch. Later, users will also see highlighted games from Google Stadia and other gaming services.
In addition to that, LG said it’s adding two new cloud gaming apps to webOS; again only for 2021 and 2022 LG models. These are Blacknut and Utomik.
While their catalogues aren’t as big as Xbox Live or the other major game streaming platforms, Blacknut and Utomik are still well worth having. Blacknut is home to more than 500 console and PC games, and tends to add new titles each month, Some of its partners include brands such as Disney, Square Enix and Crytek, so there are plenty of games from those companies available through the service.
Utomik also offers a collection of well known games, with some of its biggest titles including Borderlands and Metro 2033.
Blacknut costs £12.99 per month, while Utomik has a range of subscription options, starting at £17.99 for a three-month personal plan. Users can also choose from six- and 12-month recurring billing options.
As if responding to Samsung’s Gaming Hub wasn’t enough, LG separately announced that it has created its very own NFT store, again following in the footsteps of its arch rival. Samsung became the first TV brand to offer an integrated NFT Store back in May, and now LG has its own platform, known as the LG Art Lab, based on the Hedera blockchain network.
LG Art Lab is available on LG TVs in the U.S. that run webOS 5 or later and is accessible directly from the Home Screen. With it, users can buy, sell and enjoy high quality digital artwork, the company claims. It says its “state-of-the-art TVs” are of course, the perfect medium for viewing your NFT collection.
NFTs are digital tokens that use the blockchain to record who owns a specific digital image. So people can buy an artwork and sell it later on. However, people can still simply copy the artwork by right clicking on it and saving it as a .jpeg or other kind of image file. But they don’t “own” it in the official sense.
The webOS 5 operating system runs on TVs made in 2020 and later, so those who own an older set will sadly miss out. The Art Lab also includes a Marketplace that allows people to trade their NFTs.
The company didn’t mention if it has any plans to bring the LG Art Lab to regions outside of the U.S.
