Werewolf News

Australia, everything I hear about you further validates my theory that you are the Most Hardcore Country, and now I find out you’re making werewolf money.

As part of their Mythical Creatures series, Coin Club Australia has released a limited edition coin featuring that most financially solvent of Mythical Creatures, the werewolf. The coin was commissioned from The Perth Mint and contains 1oz of 99.9% pure silver (what else?) in proof quality (that’s a good thing, I looked it up). It has a monetary denomination of one Australian dollar, but it’s only legal tender in Tuvalu, and regardless of its value or its cost, only a drongo would try to spend a coin like this.

The Coin Club web site has a delightfully thorough description of the coin’s art, which displays Queen Elizabeth II on the front, and on the reverse, a “werewolf fiercely prowling in a dense forest beneath a full moon. A medieval banner displays a silhouette of a werewolf and the $1 monetary denomination, with the inscription ‘werewolf’ also featured on a stylised scroll.”

Whoah. I was listening to this while I read that description, and the combination was pretty intense in an “awesome airbrushed van” sort of way. On second thought, perhaps a coin this epic could be spent on food items to enhance your Punch and Kick abilities.

The Werewolf coin has a limited mintage of 5,000, costs $90.86 AUD, and one dollar of each purchase is donated to UNICEF-Australia. It’s housed in a “contemporary brown” presentation case and custom-designed shipper, and is accompanied by a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. Many thanks to Werewolf News reader John for sharing!

IGN’s Destin Legarie hangs out with Dave Verfaillie (Design Director at Double Helix) and a mystery man identified only as “Rich” as the latter two show off Sabrewulf from the new Killer Instinct game, available exclusively on the Xbox One. This video is from July, but I didn’t see it until this past #WerewolfWednesday, courtesy of @hamstertoybox. The game (and the system it’s playable on) launch today, with Sabrewulf as one of the six initial  characters, and holy shit does this tweaked-out medical experiment of a werewolf look good. And by “good” I mean “rabid killing machine”.

Throughout the 12-minute video, Dave explains Sabrewulf’s combat style and unique attributes (quickest dash in the game!) and discusses the design decisions behind his appearance and his stage, The Alchemical Lab. Despite Sabrewulf’s efforts to regain his humanity – enhancements like bionic arms are gone, replaced by bandages and other vestiges of medical equipment – they played up the “animal within” angle, which is obvious from the ragged panting, shuddering twitches and sprays of drool that make up much of his animation.

I’m going to level with you. I never played the original KI in the arcade or on the SNES, and I’m still more likely to get a Wii U than an Xbone or a P Ess Four, but there’s something about the gameplay, animation and sound design in this video that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Did you get an Xbox One and this game today, and if so, what’s your opinion? Should I take my credit card over to Amazon and buy myself an early Christmas gift?