Hello and welcome to this week's edition of The Neopian News Brief, your one-stop guide to the latest headlines coming out of Neopia, from the dusty dunes of the Lost Desert to the harrowing heights of Terror Mountain. There's plenty of new material to cover, so let's go ahead and get started...
Our lead story this week is the arrival of April Fool's Day. In the days leading up to April 1st, speculators throughout Neopia tried to guess what nefarious plot The NeoPets Team might have tucked up their sleeves. Well, on Tuesday they found out, as the staff unleashed their latest brilliant idea: Neopetz (that's right, Neopetz... with a z). Along with the unveiling of "Nick Neopia", the site's new mascot, and a "totally radical" new look (complete with skateboards, backward caps, and other "x-treme" accessories), it was also decreed that Neopetz would be doing away with NP (after all, it is the root of all evil). From now on, every item, including those in the Hidden Tower, would be totally free to all. Imagine not having to deal with the hassle of waiting for shops to restock! Plus, once everybody had the same exact weapons, the Battledome would be so much fun! Just think of the possibilities... okay, maybe not.
Also creating a good deal of excitement this week was the arrival of some sassy new NeoHome items. It all began on Tuesday, when a quartet of bathroom rugs were released in rainbow, fancy, cloud and brick styles (a perfect match for those sinks and toilets that everyone's been getting these past few weeks).
Once you've spruced up your NeoHome's interior decoration, it's time to head out and take a look at the garden. Along with a handsome assortment of gnomes, bridges and exotic flowers, maybe what your garden could use is a nice place to have a seat.
After all, who wants to plop down on the ground and get ants in their pants? Available in four great styles (pebble, leafy, monumental and Darigan-style), you're sure to find one that's ideally suited to your pastoral comforts of your yard.
Another bit of news turning up on Tuesday was the grand opening of the Thinkway Toy Factory. In addition to offering a look at the six species that are currently available as voice activated pets, the big story turned out to be a sneak preview of some voice activated plushies, which are said to be "coming soon."
There are six pet species shown (Scorchio, Aisha, Kougra, Shoyru, Kacheek, and Uni), but that's not all! The voice activated pets will also be accompanied by a half-dozen petpets (Puppyblew, Noil, Harris, Doglefox, Harris, and Angelpuss). Yay, we can almost hear them chattering away already!
This past week, things were really hopping over at the Rainbow Pool, as a quintet of stunning new styles made their debuts. It all began on Monday, as plushie Eyries became available for the first time. Apparently, one plushie paint brush style just wasn't enough for this week, as Tuesday saw the unveiling of plushie Zafaras. Thursday brought about a pair of new styles, as pink Lennies and orange Kougras received their premieres. Rounding out the week on Friday was the arrival of checkered Pteris.
Not to be outdone, petpets were also sporting some stylish new looks this week. Adding to the seven new rainbow petpets that we mentioned in last week's News Brief, four new species got their turn to "go 'bow"--Snorkles, Greebles, Baabaas, and Unioctos. Also, Gulpers became available in yellow, white, pink and blue.
Given their status as Neopia's most popular pet, it would be reasonable to expect that quite a big deal would be made about the celebration of Shoyru Day. Well, as Wednesday arrived, Shoyru admirers certainly had plenty to get excited about, as Shoyrus had a whole heap of new goodies bestowed upon them. It all began with the usual assortment of tasty treats, Battledome goodies, and literary offerings (including a spine-tingling tome entitled Shoyru Mysteries... oooh!).
Also in tow were two new paint brush styles (pink and checkered), a set of Fun Images, and a special exhibit in the Art Gallery. Additionally, Shoyrus were also featured in this week's Caption and Poetry Contests, as well as the latest Gallery Spotlight. Hurray for Shoyrus!
Now it's time to take a closer look at today's financial headlines. After last week's catastrophic drop of 123 points, there were quite a few investors who were eagerly expecting the economy to bounce back. However, any attempts at a rebound are still on hold, as the Neodaq fell a considerably less traumatic thirteen points this week. The biggest shocker about the economic events of the past few days has actually turned out to be the total flop of Peophin Water Parks, which tumbled a troubling eighty-one points, falling from 246 NPs a share all the way down to 165 NPs.
In fact, there are some who would claim that, other than the miserable showing by PEOP, the Neopian economy actually has recovered. Considering that there was only one other company that took a double-digit loss (Fuzz-I-Ow! Plasters, which dropped ten points), the rest of the board has managed to apparently do quite well. Leading the way this week was Shop Wizard N-Commerce, which, after holding around the 140 NP range for the past three weeks, saw an opportunity to make their move, climbing a whopping forty-six NPs a share to end the week as Neopia's most valuable stock, at 186 NPs.
So then, with only twenty NPs separating the top two stocks on the board, and five more companies tightly grouped in a second tier between 34 and 67 NPs a share, it now seems as though a sense of parity has begun to overtake the Neodaq. Will the competition between these evenly matched companies lead to the economy flourishing once more, or will one or two of them pull ahead, causing everyone else to suffer? We'll just have to wait and see....
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