Jujutsu Kaisen manga and anime

The manga series first appeared in a popular Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump, in March of 2018. The series was a prequel to Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School. Later it was renamed Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

The series was created by Gege Akutami. In 2020, the animation studio responsible for the final season of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin,) MAPPA, released a 24 episode adaptation of the manga series. The anime ran from October of 2020 to March of the following year.

What is Jujutsu Kaisen about?

The story follows young Yuji Itadori, a physically gifted student. He is quite sought after by his school’s athletics teams, but he avoids getting involved as a result of the time commitment involved with sports. Instead, he joins the school’s Occult Research Club, which will allow him more time to visit his ailing grandfather in the hospital.

On his deathbed, his grandfather leaves him with two gems of elderly wisdom. He tells Yuji to “always help people” and to “die surrounded by people”. He seems greatly affected by his grandad’s words, and distilled his wisdom into a single statement “everybody deserves a proper death.”

Shortly after his grandfather’s passing, he encounters a sorcerer, Megumi Fushiguro, who can control cursed animals. Megumi is in search of a powerful cursed talisman. Unfortunately, the item is in the possession of the Occult club, who have already unsealed the talisman. What follows is an attack of dark curses on the school.

Early Plottwist of the show

Curses, in the context of this narrative, are wicked spiritual entities born from the negative emotions that flow through humans. They consume the energy of sorcerers and other magically charged objects.

Yuki, probably acting on his grandfather’s last words to him, acts to protect his friends by swallowing the cursed object which has brought on all the mayhem. This causes him to be possessed by Ryomen Sukuna, a powerful evil spirit, who has the potential to bring about unspeakable imbalance in the world.

Sukuna is to be exorcized on sight along with his host. However, Yuji’s mental and other faculties remain unchanged. Megumi’s teacher takes Yuji to the Kyoto school of Jujutsu so he can propose a delay of the execution to his superiors.

The cast

The series was first announced as early as 2019, with MAPPA responsible for all products of the series. Producer, Sunghoo Park took charge of the adaptation, while Hiroshi Seko oversaw scripts. Tadashi Hiramatsu was in charge of character design.

The post Jujutsu Kaisen: Review appeared first on Bizznerd.

2021 is probably the year in which the newest VR headsets found their way onto the market. Everyone from tech heavyweights like Hewlett Packard (HP,) to newcomers like Lynx are all hard at work, trying to stake a claim to a unique corner of the market.

Here, Bizznerd takes a look at the best that 2021 had to offer, in terms of VR headsets. We did not just go for the highest sales, which would speak – mostly – to popularity, but we looked at functionality as well. Without any further chit-chat, here are the best VR headsets of 2021.

5 Valve Index

The Valve Index is a class-leading piece of VR equipment, with its 2880 x 1600 at 120 Hz AMOLED display and individual finger tracking. Its sole letdown is its price, too restrictive for most consumers. Valve’s display system gives the Quest 2 and Vive Pro a decent run for their money, with a superior refresh rate of 120Hz as a standard feature. The 144Hz upgrade is still an experimental feature though. In addition to that, it offers an impressive 130° field of vision, which completely trumps competitors. The Valve Index would be higher up the list – at the top position – except, it’s the price (one could buy three Quest 2’s for its price) which makes it out of reach for the average consumer. More of an aspirational device for many.

4 HTC Vive Cosmos

The HTC Vive Cosmos has quite a lot going for it as a VR headset. With crisply accurate hand tracking, it fits comfortably and has the bonus of a conveniently modular design. The gripes that one might have with the device is that it is a tethered Head Mounted Display system, requiring connection to a PC. It also has a lower screen resolution than it should, for the price it fetches. The modular design seems to be the best selling point if you ask us. It offers the convenience of customizing one’s device with upgrades that they believe would be most beneficial to their immersive experience.

3 HP Reverb G2

On paper, this is a phenomenal headset. A 4K display system, at a lower price point than most competitors. The device also boasts a 114° Field of View in its 4320 x 2160 pixel, per eye, lenses. The only way this bad boy doesn’t trump the Quest 2 is its refresh rate, which equal’s Meta’s top-selling Quest 2 HMD system, at 90Hz. What lets this device down is the most sites tracking system, rather limited without – additional cost causing – base stations.

2 HTC Vive Pro 2

Then we have our runner-up, the HTC Vive Pro 2. This beast boasts a 4896 x 2448 display system, delivering a refresh rate of 120Hz. The LCD-based visual delivery system offers a 120° FoV, which is just awesome. The downside, however, is that this device – though it offers incredibly accurate hand tracking – requires a headset and tracking devices, which include a pair of controllers, and a pair of satellites. Which will set one back a cool 1,300 dollars. The headset alone will cost $799.

1 Meta Quest 2

Taking number one is the Meta – formerly Oculus – Quest 2, which stole the show in 2021. The 1832 x 1920 (per eye) display offers a 90 Hz (upgraded to 120HZ display, and a 100° FoV). Technically, it has drives that knock its abilities into the ground, but Quest 2 delivered the most consumer-friendly devices of the lot. Offering a competitive piece of VR technology, at a very consumer-centric price, the device became the go-to headset for consumers, new and old, to VR.

The post The Best VR Headsets of 2021 appeared first on Bizznerd.

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, in the VR title, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, puts the player – through immersion – in a zombie tale similar to the ones the franchise usually present. The player even has the opportunity to make moral choices, which have an effect on gameplay.

Arizona Sunshine, developed by Jaywalkers Interactive, and Published by Vertigo Games, sees the player dealing with a lot of loneliness, while fending off waves of zombies. It relies on a single, nameless character – who may be the only surviving human – as opposed to it’s genre-mate, which has players deal with a good number of in-game characters.

We gave a look at both Zombie titles to see which was best. Here’s what we found:

Saints & Sinners

Developed and published by Skydance Interactive, in close association which The Walking Dead franchise creators, Skybound Entertainment, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a VR-based First-Person-Shooter, Survival Horror title based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie franchise.

The game follows a lone traveller known as the Tourist. As the Trourist, who can be male or female – as the player chooses – one happens upon a post-zombie outbreak New Orleans. There are two factions vying for control of, zombie infested, New Orleans, the Reclaimed, and the Tower.

The game doesn’t get off to a friendly start, and informs the player of the realities of a zombie apocalypse right from the get-go. The first acquaintance one makes in the game – who is good for orientation purposes – soon meets his end, after the player is swarmed by zombies in the water. The player can either mercy-kill character known as Henri or let him die.

This is the first of several moral choices that the game will put in a player’s hands. Killing May Benoit, or not? Flooding an old military facility, or not? which of the factions to side with? The player faces a few choices that affect the overall storyline.

The game, released in 2020, saw a lot of critical praise after release. In addition to being nominated for awards, Saints and Sinners was lauded on if the best things to happen to the VR title. Though much of the praise could be attributed to the franchise it’s attached to.

Arizona Sunshine

This title puts the player on a lonelier path. As – what is seemingly – the sole human survivor of a zombie apocalypse, the nameless protagonist of this title has no allies to rely on, and must rough it alone. Waking in the middle of the Arizona River Valley, the player must hack and slash through zombie hordes until they come across a radio, wich offers one’s first glimmer of hope.

After finding a stronger radio, and determining the source of the signal (a refinery that enjoys military protection.) disappointed to find the place overrun by zombies, he goes into a fit of rage, and kills everything walking. His next stop is Sunshine, an Arizona town, which reveals an interesting twist in the plot.

Dates of Release: Arizona Sunshine was released in December of 2016, while Saints & Sinners saw 3 separate platform releases – January, May, and October – during 2020. Saints and Sinners has the advantage of being a newer game, allowing for updated graphics, and VR gameplay improvements, though Arizona Sunshine is no slacker on updates.

Platforms: Saints & Sinners can be enjoyed on Oculus Rift PC, PlayStation VR, and Meta Quest. Arizona Sunshine – on the other hand – is available on a number of VR platforms, Windows, PlayStation 4, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive, Valve Index, on account of being an older game.

Which Is Best?

Well that’s a matter of preference. Both titles have something to offer. While The Walking Dead’s storyline offers a lot of characters to interact with, one cannot enjoy multiplayer action while running through this title, Arizona Sunshine, on the other hand, allows for multiplayer, and single player action.

As we said, it depends on your style of gaming, Arizona Sunshine, though allowing multiple players to connect, only has zombies as in-game characters, while Saints & Sinners tries to be a complete story, having one make decisions around what a certain in-game character may have said, or done.

The post Arizona Sunshine VS The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners appeared first on Bizznerd.

Eren Jaeger, Mikasa, Armin and the rest of the Survey Corps return, four years after events that saw the Armoured and Colossal Titans attempt to kidnap Eren for his Titan. Things have changed, and one is left unsure of which side to root for all, as the story reveals the – quite justifiable – motivations of the other side.

In the third season of Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan,) it was revealed that the world is a lot bigger than the confines of the walls the story has played out all along. It is also revealed that the hordes of Titans who have devastated the land are pawns in a military game. They were put there to terrorize the land of India.

Season four puts us in the land of Marley, a rival nation to the native land of Eren and his group. In Marley, we see how the other side lives, and what drove the motivations of Annie, Reiner and the others when they infiltrated India.

A new group of recruits to the Marleyian army, who are of Eldian descent – and therefore can turn into Titans – is introduced early in the season. The group find themselves swearing loyalty to land that hates them for their abilities, though they are rather integral to their military strategy.

They are also faced with the spectre of impending annihilation as a war with a new faction, the Mid-Eastern Alliance, reveals technological advancements – in the way of warfare – that may soon see the use of Titans fall away. This may mean that the Marleyian army may do away with them, should they no longer need them.

This season turns slightly away from the central theme of previous seasons, “who is the real enemy“, to posing a series of moral questions. It puts characters at the mercy of institutionalized racism while questioning their ideologies. It also continues to ask the question, through the actions of its main protagonist, Eren, “at what point has one gone too far?”

The series is still, very much, survival-focused and the stakes are a lot higher. One suddenly realizes how big the Attack on Titan world is, and how focusing on a small part of it for so long has caused one to miss out on a good amount of perspective. While feeling lied to, and doing one’s damnedest to decide one’s position – in light of all that has suddenly been revealed – one begins to wonder if anyone is truly innocent.

Eren himself seems to flip a gasket and goes from being a passionate young man who is willing to put it all on the line for his friends, to looking more like a reckless lunatic who has been fighting for so long that he may no longer be sure of what he’s fighting for. He makes a few questionable actions, ones that somehow also make one understand the very personal sacrifices everyone has made throughout the conflict.

This is still Attack on Titan, and attachment to any particular character is still folly, as the series kills off some characters that have – pretty much – become institutional. The second part of the final season will be on our screens soon, and from what we’ve seen thus far, the Attack on Titan narrative looks as though it may conclude with a few explosive revelations.

The post The Final Season of Attack On Titan appeared first on Bizznerd.

There are more VR gaming titles out there than ever before. They span a wide variety of products, with many easily accessed on third-party ecosystems like steam VR.

Of the many VR games that are out there, there are a few that stand out. Here we have listed several VR games that bring a little more to the immersive experience than mere entertainment. They are some of the most engaging, and conceptually crisp titles we can find.

Lone Echo 2

Returning for a second run is photo-realistic, well-designed sci-fi thriller Lone Echo 2. The immersive experience sees the player take on the role of an android, Jack, who must help their human compatriot decipher a dangerous mystery.

Learning to navigate through Zero Gravity environments by pushing off objects will be tricky at first, but worth it. This title is incredible to play, and with the mystery only getting deeper in the sequel, it’s bound to keep one engaged for hours.

No Man’s Sky

This action-adventure survival game was one of the most anticipated games of 2019. It didn’t disappoint, as it delivered dozens of progressively generated planets to explore.

Blade & Sorcery

This medieval combat simulator is something epic. Immersed into a world where one has a blade, and sorcery as weapons – or both simultaneously – against computer-generated foes.

Firing bolts of lightning or infusing said lightning into one’s weapon, to brutally dispatch with foes is sure to deliver hours of fun – as well as stress relief. This offers one of the most unique VR experiences when lightsabers just won’t cut it.

Batman Arkham VR

Batman Arkham VR was a surprise title, as the last Batman game, Batman Arkham Knight was meant to be the final game in the Arkham series. The studio behind it decided to put VR enthusiasts in the Batman hood, with an investigative Batman title.

One does not get to be a violent, thug-beating Batman, but are forced to take on the role of Batman the world’s greatest detective. This title has the Bat solving a mystery while exploring the darker, grittier parts of Gotham, with a few appearances from a few of the hero’s most famous foes.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

This is a platformer that is just great, the fact that it’s VR based is more of a bonus. This game – you’ll have to play it to believe it – is just incredible.

Armed with an assortment of guns, the player must travel across space to rescue crew members. The worlds are 3D, which offers a unique dynamic to the platformer genre.

Danger Goat

Danger Goat is a puzzle/platform game from nDreams, a British VR gaming studio. Now available on PSVR, and Windows VR, the title was designed to showcase the now discontinued Google Daydream MR (Mixed Reality headset.)

Using one’s controllers, one must manipulate the world which Danger Goat must traverse to reach safety. There are 28 inventive levels laden with boobytraps and enemies who fully intend to destroy your goat friend.

Beat Saber

This is Dance Dance Revolution mixed with Star Wars. To a tune, one is expected to hack and slash at floating blocks, while ducking under, over and sliding away from obstacles.

Not a game one can enjoy in a seated position, Beat Saber is one design to have you breaking a sweat. Very simple concept, also incredibly engaging. This title is fantastic for a solid cardio workout.

Half-Life: Alyx

The first Half-Life game in quite some time. Half-Life: Alyx has players take on the role of Alyx Vance, a fan-favourite character, attached to the Half-Life series of games.

The title is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. This is 11 hours of solving mysteries and combating Combine alien enemies. Experiencing the Half-Life universe through the immersive power of VR is quite the trip.

Star Wars: Squadrons

Star Wars is one of those franchises that are just may for immersive experiences. The sci-fi genre seems to fit quite well with Vy.

In Squadrons, players have the choice of being either Rebel or Imperial pilots. Whichever side you pick doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that one gets to pilot a spacecraft and take part in the most epic space-based dog fights. It’s a combat flight simulator that puts one in the cockpit of one of those Star Wars jets, and blasts enemies to smithereens.

The post The Best VR Games of 2021 appeared first on Bizznerd.

There are two titles in the genre, Splatoon, and Spellbreak, which are so different from any other game that they deserve special mention. More than a special mention, they ought to be put against one another to see which is best.

They stand out so starkly from everything else, in terms of concept, that the games are unique, and not much else out there can even come close enough to compete. Splatoon is a lighthearted tale about underwater creatures, squids and octopuses, who battle it out in cartoon-like environments, for control of the turf. Spell break, on the other hand, is a battle royale title in the traditional sense, but does away with guns and grenades and replaces weapons with magic.

Both titles offer unique takes on the traditional battle royale shooter, which gives them their unique appeal. Here is a more detailed look at each.

Splatoon

Developed and owned by Nintendo, Splatoon is a third-person shooter title that first saw release in 2015, for the Nintendo Wii U gaming console. The gaming series – which has seen two releases, with a third scheduled for release in 2022 – features anthropomorphic cephalopods or squids and octopuses with the ability to turn into humans.

Said cephalopods can – as cephalopods – swim away from brightly coloured ink clouds, or hide in them, as the situation calls. They can also – at will – morph into humanoid form, which allows them to hold guns that fire differently coloured ink.

Though the game has a storyline, it is mainly focused on its online multiplayer offering, which spawned an export tournament circuit. Its matches are quite compact, having 8 players split into teams of 4 for a match to begin.

The Turf Wars are won by the team that covers the most turf in their team’s ink. Players have the option of using an ink bomb, or primary weapon to accomplish this end. The title is brightly coloured, and designed to look more fun than other games in the genre, which focus heavily on graphical presentation.

Spellbreak

Spellbreak is more battle royale-based than Splatoon and spans more platforms than the Nintendo exclusive. This title is available on PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, as well as Xbox One.

This game is basically with guns and mechanical weapons and, instead, has experimented with elemental magic to battle it out for the title of top battlemage. One can choose between one of six elemental types – Fire, Wind, Earth, Ice, Poison or Lightning.

One chooses their base element before the beginning of a match, while a secondary power is added during play. Each element has 2 attack types, a Spell, and a Sorcery, which can be combined to create devastating mixed attacks which may turn the odds in one’s favour.

The game allows up to 45 players per match while dropping them onto wide maps, which allow for exploring, collecting items, and battling. One can also develop flight as the match progresses, though equipped through scrolls, increasing mana. The title is incredibly engaging and aesthetically pleasing enough to keep one playing over time.

The Verdict

Bog titles are engaging enough and offer, simple enough, gameplay to easily master in no time at all. Which one a gamer ought to pick depends on the available console, and desired depth of engagement.

Splatoon is light enough for simple, casual play, offering a fun twist to weapon weapons-based which can be enjoyed by a family, or among friends. Spellbreak is a more serious title, which may require as much focus as any other battle royale title. The mixing of magical elements to form unique attacks and having more opponents to contend with makes for more serious gaming sessions.

Ultimately, it all depends on one’s goals. Splatoon for lighthearted, simple gaming, Spellbreak for more serious, engaged play sessions.

The post Spellbreak VS Splatoon appeared first on Bizznerd.

The device is one of the more steeply-priced crypto storage devices that Bizznerd has encountered and, at first glance, the product seems to justify the price. The device features a 3.97 inch – full color – touch screen, and a single side button for powering up. It also comes in a metallic cover, which offers one a degree of ease of mind, knowing that the valuable crypto assets stored in the device are in less jeopardy than with flimsy-looming competitors, Trezor, or Ledger’s offerings.

Ellipal’s focus on product design is geared towards the modern crypto user, who would be keener to interact with their crypto assets on a smartphone, then via a bulky PC, or laptop. The Elliptical Titan is designed with this in mind, featuring an air-gapped security system which keeps one’s private keys from ever connecting – and being intercepted – via the internet.

The Ellipal Titan supports over 41 blockchains and can store a variety of digital assets, over 10 thousand in total. Moonpay and Simplex partnerships also enable users to purchase – using a credit, or debit card – crypto assets directly from the Ellipal ecosystem. Allowing crypto enthusiasts to build up their portfolios without ever needing to connect to a 3rd party crypto service.

In addition to enabling users from about 173 countries (at time of writing) to purchase crypto by payment card, Ellipal has also partnered with Changelly and Swift, to allow for the on-wallet swapping of different assets, so reveallancing one’s portfolio, directly, from the Ellipal system is a synch.

The full metal-cased, $169 device – available for purchase, exclusively, from Ellipal – also enables users to grow their funds by staking a few popular assets, Cosmos, Tezos, Polkadot, Kusama, and Cardano right on the device. This Is in addition to being connected to Decentralized Applications (Dapps) and Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) from the wallet ecosystem.

Security

The Ellipal Titan’s security relies, mostly on the fact that the device cannot connect to the internet, and only uses a microSD slot for firmware updates. The device is air-gapped, meaning that it is incapable of connecting to the internet, and only interacts with the supporting mo old app via QR codes.

Setting Up

The Ellipal Titan is quite straightforward to set up. This is, in part, owing to the device’s large – full touch – color screen, and intuitive design.

First, one has to select a language to operate the device with. Then one will be asked to scan a QR code, which will direct one to a direct download of the app. Alternatively, one can go to the Ellipal website and download the app directly.

One can create, or import a wallet, or simply import a private key. After selecting your account type, you will be asked to select which crypto assets the wallet should hold. From there, one will be required to choose an alphanumeric password.

Following this step, one will have to backup their wallet by recording the 12 phrase seed which appears on the device. Once it is properly recorded, one will be asked to confirm the seed phrase by

placing the words in the correct order that they first appeared. Then one is good to go.

Transaction confirmation, and signing – between hardware wallet and app – will require a 2-factor authentication (2FA) process. This means one will be required to scan QR codes, on either, depending on where one is sending or receiving funds.

Conclusion

The Titan’s easy-to-use design, and air-gapped security system offers an advantage over many other hardware wallet makers. The fact that it offers a complete cryptocurrency-based suite of services, from card purchases to interacting with popular Defi services like Compound Finance, or Uniswap are an added bonus.

What lets the device down is the fact that it only supports the BIP44 Bitcoin address system (making for more expensive transactions) and offers no support for privacy-focused coins. It also only generates 12 word seed phrases, which first it on the security front. It could also stand to be a little more affordable, as it’s price is on the high end, compared to other cold storage devices.

The post Ellipal Titan Cold Storage Wallet Review appeared first on Bizznerd.

Since the mobile device is – almost by default – the primary device that most digital asset enthusiasts use to store and transact their crypto holdings, one would likely need a secure storage option that operates in tandem with a mobile. SafePal offers one such hardware wallet, in it’s SafePal S1 offline digital asset storage device.

Then Shenzhen, a China-headquartered firm launched their first product – the SafePal S1 – in January of 2019. The fledgling firm is backed by the world’s most successful digital assets exchange platform, Binance’s venture wing, Binance Labs, which may offer – at least for a good number of crypto enthusiasts –  some degree of trust in the company’s product.

SafePal’s sleek and fun-sized initial offering, the S1 comes packing a 1.3 Inch IPS screen, and a few physical buttons. This bad boy offers storage of assets native to 19 blockchains and can store a whopping 10,000+ crypto assets. It even offers storage of NFTs.

The SafePal S1 – as a result of the Binance Labs backing – also supports Binance Chain, and Binance SmartChain (BSC) tokens, offering a secure offline wallet for Binance blockchain assets. The crypto storage product even has it’s own native BSC-based digital asset, SafePal Token (SFP) which holds utility functionality with the SafePal ecosystem. The are 500 million (hard capped) SFP tokens in circulation.

SafePal Token holders can use the digital asset to pay for the transaction – and other – fees within the SafePal ecosystem. Individuals who invest in SFP can even derive the additional benefit of reaping rewards from staking the asset, in addition to being first in line for bonuses and airdrops. The SFP utility asset goes as far as having governance token functionality, allowing holders to vote on, or submit, proposals geared towards ionroving the SafePal ecosystem.

The little device also offers financial-industry level encryption at an inviting price point. Usually going for $59.99, the SafePal S1 can – currently – be acquired for the promotional price of $39.99. The device can either be purchased through Amazon, or directly from SafePal. For an extra $10 one could even make off with a protective leather case – with velvet interior, to protect the device’s speak glossy finish – which doubles as a card holder (for that sophisticated vibe.)

Security

On the security front, the device comes packing some serious heat. As mentioned above, the SafePal S1 comes equipped with a financial industry-level – claimed to be hack-proof – EAL5 encryption chip. The EAL5 chip stores private keys and comes with self-destruct function, should someone gain unauthorized access to the device.

The SafePal S1 provides the user with 12 or 24 phrase encryption keys. These should be written down and stored in a safe place. Every transaction to, and from, the S1 to the SafePal mobile app is designed to be signed through a QR code-based 2-factor authentication system. The system requires no internet connection, Bluetooth, or NFC, and is completely offline – reducing the risk of transactions being intercepted over the air.

 Setting Up

First impressions? The SafePal S1 is an incredibly aesthetically pleasing device. The sleek gloss finish of the front cover really complements the decently sized screen. The screen is also large enough to read.

The first step to getting your device setting is selecting a language (either English or a host of Asian languages at this point,) then pressing the OK button. Then one has to create a wallet by generating a mnemonic phrase. The private key can either be 12, or 24, phrases in total -/as the user chooses.

The S1 then offers up a quick read on mnemonic phrases, their uses, and a few  warnings regarding the encryption technology. Getting through this helpful feature takes one to the mnemonic phrase. Which should be written down in the provided note, and stored safely.

After verifying the private key, one can move on to the next phase of the set up process, which is to create a PIN. The difficulty with which one sets up their six-digit PIN depends entirely on the size of their fingers. Either way, it’s minor inconvenience on the way to the ultimate goal of securely storing one’s crypto.

Once that is done, one gets to name the wallet, and download the SafePal mobile app to their mobile. Signing, and confirming, transactions that go between the S1 and one’s mobile will require a QR-based 2FA process, which operates completely offline.

The Verdict

The SafePal S1 is simple and straightforward to set up, and use, the accompanying mobile app also offers no trouble. It offers great securety, while being speak and stylish. The device’s price is also a great plus.

The post SaefePal Hardeware Wallet Review appeared first on Bizznerd.

Based on a successful manga series by writer/illustrator, Paru Itagaki, the Beastars anime series, developed by Orange, was first released towards the end of 2019. The second season was released earlier this year, being aired in Japan, from January to March of this year.

The second season of Beastars picks up where the last season left off, adding more detail to certain characters, which reveals deeper – sometimes dark – truths about who they are. The anthropomorphic animals of the Beastars universe lead modern, human-like lives, going to school, working, and enjoying all manner of recreational activity.

Things aren’t as rosy as they first seem, however, as those are still animals at the end of the day. The anthropomorphic animal society, of Blasters, is divided along herbivore/carnivore lines. To integrate the two sides, carnivorous animals take medication to dull their killer instincts and are expected to eat synthetic meat.

For the most, they comply, but the medication has adverse side effects, which leads them to have violent outbursts. There is also a dark element to this society. There exists, within this world, a Black Market, where herbivores are sold to carnivores who still eat meat, and make no effort to repress their carnal instincts.

This is the reality which a teenaged grey wolf, Legoshi finds himself contending with, as he takes it upon himself to investigate the mystery behind the death of a herbivorous classmate. Legos must also come to terms with his repressed carnal instincts while trying to remain integrated into anthropomorphic animal society, and forming deeper relationships with non-carnivore friends.

One of Legos the wolf’s drama club – at school – rivals, Louis, reveals a darker, more conflicted part to his character. He is a herbivore marked for death since birth and becomes a member of one of the criminal elements which run the Black Market. This is all done in an effort, for Louis, to escape his destiny, which he eventually does, but not in the way that he initially sets out to get it done.

The killer of Tem, an Alpaca is finally revealed more than halfway through the 12 episode season. The anime series has been dropping hints as to who the killer might be, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone who isn’t might have been paying attention. Legoshi are forced to combat the carnivorous figure, and must also – in so doing – come face-to-face with a moral dilemma.

The guy – or in this case, the great wolf – even gets the girl, like Legos, after his heroic display against Tem’s killer. Legoshi, who has been thinking about dropping out of school, is forced to reconsider his position on the matter after Haru, a bunny girl, finally returns his affection towards her.

The series, after some harrowing twists and turns, comes to a happy conclusion. Mystery solves, and the object of Legoshi’ romantic efforts ts is also in the bag. What is still uncle, ar, however, is whether or not our hero takes the title of Beastars.

The post Beastars Season 2 appeared first on Bizznerd.

What is Subway Surfers?

The mobile-based Endless Runner title, Subway Surfers entered the gaming scene during a period where Endless Runners were big in the mobile gaming arena. It came out alongside Temple Run and Sonic Dash but quickly rose to take the spotlight for its urban appeal.

Paying homage to modern street culture, fashion, and youth activities like skating, and getting in trouble with the authorities seems to have been a great move by the game’s developer, SYBO games. The game’s unique themes seem to have struck a chord with a younger generation of mobile gamers, as they have taken to the game in a big way.

Unbelievable success of the franchise

Subway Surfers, according to videogamestats.com, has logged 3 billion downloads. The game, which also has 100 million active monthly users, and makes over $80 million in revenue, on the iOS platform alone, has been so successful that it has spawned various editions of the title. Each edition of the Subway Surfers franchise is themed to a certain continent.

Sylvester Rishøj Jensen and Bodie Jahn-Mulliner founded SYBO Games – the studio behind the Subway Surfers title – in 2010 after winning a competition for a similar short film the previous year. The firm worked alongside games publisher Kiloo for two years, and the title saw its first release in 2012.

Subway Surfers – an urban legend

Mathias Gredel Norvig, the game stable’s current CEO, was a lead developer on the game during the early days. For a brief period, earlier this year, Subway Surfers became the subject of an urban legend that stated that the inspiration behind the game came from a grieving father/game developer who had lost his son in a similar train skating accident to the one depicted in the game.

The games house quickly took to Twitter to clear up any confusion that the rumor may have created. The game was designed to pay homage to street culture and diversity, according to the firm. SYBO CEO, Norvig claimed that “The influences for the game were a mix of passion, street culture, fashion, animation, music, graffiti, skateboarding.”

“We created Subway Surfers to pay homage to street culture and diversity. We feel that the game allows for creativity and fun in a safe and entertaining environment.” Tweet from SYBO Games, 30 July 2020.

Closing thoughts

The Subway Surfers title has almost become a household name, as families have competed against one another to complete its challenges. The game is so in tune with modern popular culture that it captured the most common aspects of modern youth. Because of that, it found global appeal and has been played on every continent on the planet.

The post The Success Of The Subway Surfers Franchise appeared first on Bizznerd.

What Kena: Bridge of Spirits is about?

Controlling the title character, Kena, the player must navigate a mystical world. That includes trying to solve problems that fall on the metaphysical side of existence. Aided by little creatures known as Rot, Kena is tasked with lifting a mystical corruption from her village and helping guide those who have passed into the next world. 

The title is the first offering from the developer, Ember Labs. The studio spent the first five years of its existence developing commercials and branded apps for firms. In 2016 they started putting-in work towards a full gaming project. 

Story of the game

The title features an engaging plot, even though there isn’t much of a backstory to the title character herself. The plot is based on mysticism and lore. It follows a young girl, named Kena, who helps guide spirits who are stranded between this world and the next. That includes helping them make peace with the mistakes of their past. As she travels about, she collects little spirit creatures called Rot, which help her in various ways.

Kena (voiced by Dewa Ayu Dewi Larassanti) is a spirit guide who, on her way to the Sacred Mountain Shrine, comes across an abandoned village. The village and the surrounding area happen to be under a curse. The curse causes the forest to decay and makes monsters spring up everywhere. This is revealed to be the doing of a masked spirit, who initially refuses Kena’s guidance. It is an elderly being named Zajuro, who informs Kena that helping the lost spirits within the village is what will clear her path to the Sacred Mountain Shrine. 

Spiritism inside Kena: Bridge of Spirits

She encounters the spirits of two young children, whose older sibling is a restless spirit that is overcome by corruption. The siblings were separated after an explosion. Emanating from the Sacred Mountain Shrine, it wiped out their village. The older sibling, Taro, searched for the little ones but was overwhelmed by the corruption which afflicts his village. After Kena collects the relics attached to the memories he (Taro) had in life, she can free him from the curse and guide the sibling spirits into the afterlife.

After some more touching tales, in which Kena battles and puzzle-solves her way to helping the deceased move on, she encounters the powerful, masked spirit again. It turns out to be Toshi, a former leader of the village. Her attempts to help him move on are, once again, rebuffed – as a result of the corruption being too strong.

She crossed into the spirit realm to collect relics connected to Toshi’s life but failed to free him. The showdown occurs on a mountain – quite fitting for a metaphysically themed title – where he fuses the Rot spirits with the corruption and creates a giant, super Rot. After defeating the creature and releasing the Rot, Toshi finally reveals how things got to that point. 

The Gameplay

Available on PlayStation 4, and 5 and PC – Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an Action/Adventure title with Platformer, and Puzzle elements embedded into the storyline. It is played from a third-person perspective and only allows for a single player. 

Kena’s arsenal is quite simple but effective. It features a staff and a spirit shield. Her staff can be used in combat, as a grappling hook, and as a plain old stick, to bash crystals while solving puzzles. An upgrade to the staff renders it with the ability to be used as a bow, enabling Kena to fire magical energy arrows at enemies.

On the defensive front, Kena is equipped with magic called Pulse Ability. When Pulse Ability is activated, it acts as her shield. It’s not permanent though and has its own health meter, which is depleted by attacks from enemies. The Pulse Ability can be used to find clues, or activate objects. Upgrading enables the player to dash forward, stun enemies, and pass through barriers leading to the spirit realm. The Pulse Ability shines when it allows Kena to lift and move big rocks, for platforming, or pancaking enemies. 

Kena also needs to collect little spiritual creatures called Rot, while running about completing tasks. These Rot act as helpers. Once Kena has collected enough Courage, she can employ the Rot to move objects, take certain shapes, and distract enemies. They can also be infused into an attack to make it stronger.

Final Thoughts

Kena: Bridge of Spirits, is a great Action/Adventure title, even though it is the first game from the developer. The game mixes a few old, and new, gaming concepts and delivers a charmingly enjoyable title.

The game’s visuals are phenomenal, with Ember’s animation experience shining through with this game. The infusion of Eastern spiritual concepts – Karma, meditation, etc. – into gameplay also offers a unique touch.

The post Kena: Bridge of Spirits – A Fantastically Animated RPG Title appeared first on Bizznerd.

What is Dragon Ball Super?

Arriving 12 years after the Dragon Ball Z series was terminated, Dragon Ball Super picks the tale up from where the Majin Buu saga left off. This story features our favorite Saiyan warriors, Goku and Vegeta, taking on greater challenges than ever before. Meanwhile, unlocking the new potential within themselves.

The narrative started as a sequel to the original Dragon Ball Z series. It first saw the light of day as a manga series in the Japanese manga magazine V Jump. The animated adaptation, by Toei Animation, was also released that same year. 

The Dragon Ball narrative continues to be written by Toriyama, with Toyotarou providing illustrative artworks. The anime television series, developed under Akira Toriyama’s supervision, saw a total of 131 episodes run from 2015 to 2018. That followed up with the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie. The Broly movie was so successful that it became the highest-grossing animated film in the history of the Dragon Ball series. 

Story of Dragon Ball Super

The story is set within the 10-year gap between the Majin Buu saga of Dragon Ball Z, and the tale that follows. It is intended to be a new story arc, which alters the Dragon Ball narrative. The main protagonist, Goku, under the behest of his wife, Chichi, has taken to a life of farming. Life is, pretty much, peaceful for him and the gang, following all the trials they’ve faced.

That’s when things change. The God of destruction, Beerus, awakens from a decades-long slumber. After recalling the existence of the Super Saiyan God, he immediately goes in search of the said being.

He makes a bee-line for Earth, where he encounters Goku and Vegeta. They were beaten up by him, as they could only get up to Super Saiyan 3 level at that point. Beerus spends time on earth but is infuriated by Majin Buu, who refuses to share his pudding with the God of destruction. That prompts him to threaten to do what he does best to the plane if he is not met by a worthy foe; the legendary Super Saiyan God. 

Goku and Vegeta find the magical dragon Shenron who tells them how to become Super Saiyan Gods. Them two then go on to reach the transformation with blue hair – the legendary Super Saiyan God form.

They face Beerus, who still defeats them, but the good of destruction is so pleased with the battle that he spares the Earth. Goku and Vegeta then begin training under the God of destruction’s apprentice, Whis.

New upcoming movie

The series also sees the repeated return of the intergalactic tyrant, Frieza, as well as the appearance of new challengers. The tale culminates in a movie that features a retold origin story of the legendary rage-powered Super Saiyan, Broly. A new Dragon Ball Super movie – Super Hero is currently in the works and is set for a 2022 release. 

Closing

Apart from a little criticism from fans of the series due to some episodes being poorly animated, the series has received a lot of positive feedback. Many critics praised the explosive combat sequences featured in Dragon Ball Super and touched on the nostalgia the series evokes. 

If you were, or still are, a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball Super may make a great addition to your collection. The story promises improvements to the original tale. Hopefully, it will make up for the whole Dragon Ball GT series, which was painful to watch. 

The post Dragon Ball Super appeared first on Bizznerd.

What is Akame ga Kill?

The story created by Takahiro and illustrator, Tetsuya Tashiro revolves around a young man. He, in order to escape poverty, travels to the city to join the army. Upon his arrival, he is shocked to find the city rotten with corruption. He is soon separated from the two mates he traveled with, as a result of some confusion caused by a robbery. Without money and down on his luck, he is grateful to then be taken in by a noble family.

That night he witnesses the noble family’s estate get raided by a group of assassins who call themselves Night Raid. They execute the noble family and inform the lad that the family had intended to torture and kill him, as they had done to his friends.

This probably made him easier to recruit, as Tatsumi soon joins Night Raid as a member. They’ve also informed him of their mission to overthrow a corrupt government that is behind all the pain and suffering of his nation.

The Night Raid of Akame ga Kill

This is no ordinary group of assassins, as each is equipped with a special weapon known as Imperial Arms. They are created from a unique Danger Beast of incredible power. Imperial Arms aren’t the kind of weapons one would shake a finger at. The legend has it that when two Imperial Arms wielders fight, one of them is bound to die.

The Night Raid group consists of 7 members, excluding Tatsumi, who each laid down their lives for the cause. Akame is a dark-haired swordswoman. Leone is a beastly fighter who is cat-like in skill and behavior. Mine is a genius sniper, and Sheele wields giant Scissors. Lubbock can manipulate, while Bulat wears an enchanted armor that Tatsumi inherited after Bulat’s passing.

Story progression and animation

Steele is the first member of Night Raid to die, as she lost in a battle against Seryu. Team Night Raid accomplishes many of its missions. However, the government enlists the aid of general Esdeath and her three Danger Beasts to help deal with the threat of the revolutionary force to the established order.

Bulat also takes a fall, leaving his armor in the care and charge of Tatsumi. Together with Night Raid and recruits, Tatsumi goes into battle with a group called the Jaegers. Their job is to hunt down and destroy Night Raid. Interestingly, one of the Jaeger members is the younger sister of Akame, who goes by the name Kurome. 

For its brightly colored animation style, the show is rather violent and packed with gore, which is one of the things fans probably enjoyed most about the anime. That and the fact that the show spares no character from a brutal end.

Closing

There has been talk of a second season. The studio behind the title however hasn’t revealed any information, so it remains to be seen when it may occur. There have been no announcements, only a speculative release date so far. 

Without giving too much of the show’s plot away, this is an animation that we heavily recommended. Their unique presentation of a battle for the greater good is as relevant today as it was when this anime first aired, and will likely be so for the rest of  time

The post Akame ga Kill appeared first on Bizznerd.

The main plot of Sword Art Online

The series follows the exploits of two main protagonists, Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki. Those two are trapped in a Virtual Reality-based multiplayer online role-playing game known as Sword Art Online. The game is played through an advanced headset called NerveGear. It stimulates the 5 senses, so a player experiences a game as though they are in real life.

Players log into the game only to find out that they cannot log back out. The Game Master announces that death in the game will result in death in real life as well. This causes panic. The virtual world descends into anarchy, as the game master listed no further rules. This is temporary however, a society soon develops. Players collaborate or clash with one another to achieve different ends.

Kirito, having previously been a tester for the game, opts to play alone. That is because he wished to avoid any discrimination or victimization having had previous experience with the VR title. He soon meets Asuna. They form a close relationship which leads to marriage.

They soon discover that the game master was hiding in plain sight, as the head of a guild to which Asuna belongs. Kirito finally escapes the game, but revealing and dark real-world plots which tie into in-game action.>

First Sword Art Online Movie

Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night is the first film that follows the Progressive story arc. The upcoming movie,  Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo follows Asuna’s experiences with the Sword Art Online game before and after meeting Kirito.

The day that she happened to don the NerveGear, Asuna Yuuki was a third-year middle school student who’d never even touched an online game before. On November 6, 2022, the world’s first VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, was officially launched. But the players, still euphoric over having logged in, suddenly find themselves trapped inside the game when the Game Master deprives them of any way to log out.” The premise of the movie, According to Funimation.

Upcoming movie details

The studio behind the film has offered little detail as to what one ought to expect from the new film. No announcements on international release yet either. However, we know that the title will release in Japan sometime next year.

The title of the upcoming film is a reference to volume four of the light novel manga series. That suggests the movie may cover Asuna and Kirito’s advancement through a giant metal floating castle, Aincrad.

The post New Sword Art Online Movie To Release In 2022 appeared first on Bizznerd.

One of the best animé series to come out of the ’90s, Cowboy Bebop – more than 20 years since it was first released – is still regarded as a groundbreaking anime television series. The series, especially the English dubbed version, is still regarded as an iconic series, and a great introduction to animé, in general.

The series follows the exploits of a crew of bounty hunters aboard a spacecraft, called the Bebop. The protagonists of this tale, Spike, Jet Black, and Faye each have a past they wish they could shake, in a series that explores loneliness and other existential issues.

The series, which saw great commercial – as well as, critical – success when it was first released in ’98 has captured the imagination for more than two decades. The cult classic recently had a live-action adaptation created by the streaming giant, Netflix. It has met with mixed responses but does speak to the anime series’ enduring appeal.

So What’s Cowboy Bebop?

Not everybody reading this post will be aware of what Cowboy Bebop is all about, so we ought to backtrack a tad and offer more information. Cowboy Bebop science fiction, western, film noir-inspired mash-up of an animé series that kind of cut its path in terms of genre.

The series first saw the light of day in 1998 and was created by an anime production studio, Sunrise. Shinichirō Watanabe was the director behind the series, while the series’ soundtrack was the creative contribution of composer Yoko Kanno.

Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, in a world where humanity no longer lives on Earth, but is dispersed across the Solar System. One can imagine what a logistical nightmare law enforcement would be in that sort of reality, so the powers that reinstated the Bounty Hunter system.

Characters

The series follows the crew of a small rickety spacecraft known as the Bebop. Spike, Jet, Faye Valentine, Ed, and data dog, Ein. The team of bounty hunters each have a unique past, Spike Spiegel is a former hitman for the Red Dragon criminal organization. He has a rough history with a character named Julia.

Jet Black is a former police officer, while Faye – who joins the crew – is a con artist with amnesia. Ed is an eccentric girl with a talent for hacking, while Ein is a genetically-engineered Pembroke Welsh Corgi with human-level intelligence.

Story of Cowboy Bebop

The main story arc follows Spike’s bitter love triangle, between himself, the bombshell Julia, and ambitious gangster Vicious. However, the show allows one a glimpse into the pasts of the other characters. The circumstances behind Jet’s departure from law enforcement, Faye’s history as a young lady from the earth, cryogenically frozen to save her life. Even Ed’s weird meanderings.

The show explores several existential issues, with hunger being one of them. The series often sees the crew getting into a mishap that drains their funds, and they find themselves – quite often – having to go without essentials; food, vital ship parts, fuel.

Most of the tale’,s focus, however, is given to Spike’s former gang life. He and Julia fell in love while he was a hitman for the Red Dragon crime syndicate. Except she was the girlfriend of a former friend, Vicious. They had planned to escape the gang life to be together but Vicious found out about the affair and blackmailed Julia into killing Spike.

To get out of going through with it, she goes into hiding, while Spike fakes his death and goes into exile. Things between him and his past come to a head when he reunites with his sweetheart, and our broody protagonist finds himself making very personal decisions.

Cowboy Bebop has been successful in Japanese and Western markets, particularly the United States. It explores the concepts of existentialism, loneliness, and a past that just won’t let you go through its characters. The series has been one of the past 2 decade’s gateway series into the world of anime.

Live-Action TV Series

Announced as far back as 2017, the live-action adaptation by Netflix – released in 2021 – was criticized for not carrying the general mood of the animé effectively. Though the Netflix version of Cowboy Bebop, starring John Cho, and Mustafar Shakir kept true to the original anime, in terms of Music. The stretched episodes – for some reason – made for a more playful series.

In Closing

Cowboy Bebop is a classic, no doubt about that. Most animé fans will have a story of the first encounter with the series. Whether one familiarizes themselves with the live-action version or not, they would probably be doing themselves a great disservice by not checking out the original anime.

The post Cowboy Bebop: A Classic Anime Series appeared first on Bizznerd.

Set will be released in April of 2022 and was developed by startup XR (extended reality) firm, Lynx. The VR-MR headset is designed to deliver the best of both worlds and will blend Virtual Reality (VR,) and Mixed Reality (MR) capabilities into a single device.   

The device is so popular with extended reality fans – ahead of launch – that its Kickstarter fundraising effort doubled its target funding amount. The 15 personnel-strong firm, headed by founder Stan Larroque is hard at work, getting the R1 VR-MR headset ready for its 2022 release – mostly working on software. 

Stats of the Lynx Headset

The Lynx-R1, which is set to be positioned as a competitor to VR-technology’s breakout hardware device, the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2, comes packing some decent, though not class-leading, heat. Battery-life remains a contentious issue, however, as the R1 headset needs the standard 3 hours before it needs a recharge. 

It also packs in its innards a two-LCD display system, running 1600×1600 pixels at 90Hz per screen. The display system offers a 90° field of view – both, horizontally and vertically – on a 56-72mm two, individually adjustable, screen. 

The compact – weighing about 500g – XR device rocks 6GB of RAM, as well as 128GB of internal storage (extendable, up to, 1TB through an SD card.) The device’s in-class competitive hardware is supported by the – the industry-standard – Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, and is set to come in at a (quite comfortable,) $500 price point when it reaches the market. 

The Lynx-R1’s developer, Lynx – perhaps, as a result of its blending of XR technologies into a single device  – has put a great deal of focus on its (the R1 headset’s) hand-tracking capabilities. The firm has equipped the device with a 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom) Ultrareal hand-tracking system. 

The R1 will also feature Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5 connectivity technology, and while being a standalone device, is also PCVR compatible, and can connect to Steam VR through WiFi. The lenses of the device are quite well designed. The Four-fold catadioptric freeform prism shape gives a distinct look while delivering competitive display technology.

The best selling point of the headset

The Lynx-R1’s greatest selling point – if we have anything to say about it – is the headset’s unique transitioning functionality, between Virtual, and Mixed Reality. Through a technology called RGB passthrough, one can go from being fully immersed in a VR environment, to interacting with virtual objects in the real world. 

The device that is currently available – for critical testing, and prototype display -is a Devkit version, running an Android 10 operating system. The company is still building-out the R1 headset, on the software front, and hopes to be done by April 2022, when the device is set for release. 

Once completed, the device will have its operating system, and fully decked-out ecosystem, and feature the ability to connect to OpenXR. Its display utilities will also get a software-side boost, which ought to take care of the slightly pixelated display and lag in visual adjustment that critics have pointed out. 

Closing

All-in-all, The Lynx R1 is a promising device, with the potential to take up a good amount of market share in the burgeoning XR industry. Ely has potential for new industries – if not, new forms of industrial use – with its VR – MR through capabilities. 

The post Lynx R1 AR/VR Headset appeared first on Bizznerd.

Released in 2017, 5 years after the last instalment of the original Mass Effect trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda – though based on the original set of games – took the Mass Effect narrative in a completely different direction. Much to the chagrin of the franchise’s most die-hard fans, the fourth Mass Effect title took on a more exploration feel to the original. 

How does Mass Effect: Andromeda differ from other Mass Effect games?

As the game was set in a different galaxy, it put less emphasis on combat, and more on exploration and relationship building. Leaning too heavily on the first Mass Effect game’s strengths backfired, however, and fans – who probably expected more of the intense combat offered in the follow-up Mass Effect titles – expressed their displeasure at the game’s slow pace. 

Mass Effect: Andromeda – being the extended exploration of the Citadel Space Station is set in 2185, sometime between the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3. Humanity – in collaboration with other races in the Milky Way galaxy – set out on a mission to colonize the Andromeda galaxy. 

The Andromeda Initiative (as the mission is called) fleet arrives in the Andromeda galaxy 637 years after departing, and things don’t go as planned. Much of the fleet’s Arks – each housing about 20,000 of the potential population – are unaccounted for, and conditions in the new world are very different from what scans originally revealed. 

The story and exploration-focused nature of the game would probably be a dream for the immersive experiences offered by Virtual Reality. From the light – and quite predictable – missions, to all the conversations and discoveries that one does while playing the title. 

The backlash of the new title

Although the game may have missed the mark – in the eyes of fans – in terms of being a great sci-fi shooter – its slower narrative, and emphasis on the main character’s social life may have been better carried through in a VR format. Immersive technology, like VR, may have been a better medium on which to present the gaming studio’s intention, which 4 years on, seem much clearer. 

Mass Effect: Andromeda was intended to be a completely different tale from the original trilogy. As with the first game in the original set of Mass Effect titles, it looks to have been intended to lay the foundation for a much bigger story.

Bioware and Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda was shelved by Bioware due to all the criticism received, and lacklustre sales. However, four years on – and being less angry with the title – one can’t help but wonder how the story may have turned out, had it continued. One Also wonders what the game’s phenomenally designed environments and conversations would have been like in a VR.

The title is, in many ways, similar to the first Mass Effect game, with it’s its world design, allowing for a great deal of exploration and relationship development. As the main character, tasked to lead humanity into a brave new world, one is thrust into a similar position as the original trilogy’s Shepard character, de facto ambassador. Not just an ambassador for a single race, but the entire galaxy. 

Closing

Much like the Star Trek, instead of Star Wars, Andromeda’s “weaknesses”  would make it a great VR title, in the league of Lone Echo, No Man’s Sky, or Star Trek: Bridge Crew. The conversations, where what one says determines how a relationship with another life form develops is something that would have set Andromeda apart, in VR, as opposed to being its Achilles heel in PC, PlayStation, and Xbox formats.

The post Why Mass Effect: Andromeda Would Make A Great VR Game appeared first on Bizznerd.

While Meta plans on creating a metaverse that is, essentially, an extended – and immersive – version of a social network, Microsoft metaverse plans are more targeted at the corporate world. 

How did these Metaverse projects start?

Announced a week apart, the two projects will see the companies repositioning their offerings, in preparation for a more engaging version of the internet known today.  Microsoft, through its Hololens, Augmented Reality glasses, and Meta, through its Oculus line of Head Mounted Display (HMD) gear, are already capable of enabling users to interact with these proposed metaverses. 

The two companies, both, have different approaches planned for the metaverse offerings. Meta, which is the parent company of online social brands, Facebook, Instagram,  Whatsapp, and VR brand Oculus, aims to deliver a metaverse that users can experience through VR goggles. The firm is currently in the process of developing a device that will facilitate optimized interaction with said metaverse, Project Cambria. 

Microsoft’s ambitions – on the other hand – are focused purely on enabling a more dispersed workforce to build team cohesion by interacting in virtual workspaces. They aim to allow for a multitude of devices to access their metaverse, however. 

Mesh For Teams

Microsoft plans to expand on their Team collaborative tool, by incorporating a metaverse element through Mesh, a technology developed and sold by Extended Reality (XR) firm, Accenture. Combining Microsoft’s 12-year experience in the field –  the Hololens being their first project – with the XR expertise of Accenture, the software giant (Microsoft) aims to recreate the collaborative spirit of working in an office, virtually, for remote workers to develop stronger professional relationships. 

Research-backed Metaverse

The move to develop a professional metaverse that allows for companies to set up virtual offices and meeting spaces was inspired by the firm’s – Microsoft’s – research team’s findings. Productivity experts at Microsoft found that, although remote workers proved to be quite productive, the people who now found themselves working from home – due to Covid-19 social distancing regulations – missed office interactions. They also found it harder to develop professional relationships from the other side of the screen. 

The firm’s productivity team also found that remote workers had more difficulty in feeling engaged, and part of a team when some members, in a group video call, had their cameras turned off. Being at home was sighted as the main reason some team members would have their cameras turned off; not being in the appropriate clothing, wanting privacy while multitasking, kids, and dogs running around in the background, etc.

Working and collaborating with the rest of one’s team through a virtual double, known as an avatar, solves both issues for remote employees, asserts Alex Kipman, technical fellow at Microsoft. Working in a metaverse-based environment allows team members to collaborate and engage as though in a real office, while still being allowed the privacy of home. 

To make the metaverse a reality, Microsoft has harnessed Accenture’s expertise to add a metaverse element to their collaborative tools. They aim to allow their users to access this metaverse via any available device, not just VR headsets. 

“Welcome to Mesh for Teams,” said Kipman. “As a company whose focus is on productivity, on knowledge workers, it’s something that customers are asking us for, and it’s coupled with the vision of mixed reality that we’ve been working on for 12 years. It’s all coming together.”

Metaverse and Meta

Repositioning its core business model from social media powerhouse, to XR company, Facebook, which owns social media brands, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, along with VR brand Oculus, have rebranded to Meta. The tech firm’s transformation so the Oculus brand being absorbed into the Meta brand – emphasizing the company’s intentions. 

Meta’s plans are slightly different from Microsoft’s however. The – newly repositioned – XR firm aims to have its digital world extend beyond the corporate world and, in essence, become a second world. Being a more social-oriented metaverse, the horizon will allow for humans to live, work, and play within the digital environment. 

Unlike Microsoft, which will allow for the accessing of their virtual workspaces from any given device, Meta’s Horizon metaverse will only be accessible via VR headsets. The firm already has a specialized XR device in the works, codenamed Project Cambria, the VR and MR (Mixed Reality) accommodating device is set to optimize interaction with said metaverse. 

Closing

Both firms may take quite some time to develop these worlds into spaces that everyone can access, but the potential for them to enable humanity to connect and interact on a different level is huge. These digital worlds – in addition to relationships – could open up new, virtual-based economies and opportunities for their users. 

The technology is still in its nascent state however and may take a while to develop. With things looking as though the internet will eventually give way to the met metaverse, two firms appear to be positioning themselves ahead of the pack. 

The post Meta & Microsofts Metaverse Plan appeared first on Bizznerd.

Cambria and its Predecessor 

Said to be the device that brought VR to display technology into the mainstream, Meta’s (formerly Facebook) second-generation Quest VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2 (Now the Meta Quest 2) enabled users to enjoy a host of immersive experiences without the need to connect to a headset. Quest 2 has been so successful, that it was reported to have reached the milestone of 10 million units sold, this November. 

It was a combination of breakthrough features and timing that propelled the top VR headset of 2021 into the position of glory it currently enjoys. First, its attractive price point, considering what it offers, helped make it into a virtual (pun unintentional) household name. 

At $299 for the 64GB, and $399 for the 256GB variants of the device, the 1.1 lbs (0.499 kg) device houses 6GB of RAM along with 1832 x 1920 display resolution – per eye – all powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor came to market quotes well ahead of other devices in its class. It kind of set the standard. The fact that it didn’t need to be tethered to a PC, and that it offered a brilliant escape for many individuals confined to their homes by global Covid-19 lockdown regulations saw the device sales records.

Project Cambria

Quest 2 provided quite the platform for its upcoming stablemate to leap off of, and critics have gone as far as referring to it as the Quest 3; just under different branding. One could not be faulted for thinking so, as much of Project Cambria’s base functionality is borrowed, directly, from the Quest 2 – give, more than take, a few added extras. 

Although there isn’t much information to go on, as to the codenamed Cambria device, we do have an idea of what the finished product might look like. This is, in part, thanks to a Twitter user who leaked 3D renderings of the device through a post in late October. 

Meta itself, followed up in early November, with a teaser video, revealing that it would likely be available for public consumption sometime in 2022. Meta also revealed that it would also be a more high-end device than its stablemate, the Quest 2 – this would fetch a slightly higher price point than what consumers have become accustomed to. 

“We’re pushing the limits of what’s possible with display technology and form factor with something called ‘pancake optics’,” said Angela Chang, head of VR devices, Meta, at the Facebook Connect event, where the project was revealed. “They essentially work by folding light several times over to achieve a slimmer profile than current lenses.”

Known Features

As previously mentioned, Meta’s new headset is set to be a higher-end device than the Quest series. What has been made clear – so far – is that it will host a lot more sensors than the Quest. 

As a result, we don’t expect that the Cambria device will be any lighter than the Quest 2. The increased number of sensors, however, will enable the device to pick up and reflect one’s facial expressions – in real-time – onto an Avatar.

“There’s a ton of new tech going into Cambria,” explained Chang. “For example, your avatar will be able to make natural eye contact and reflect your facial expressions in real-time. This way people you’re interacting with will have a real sense of how you’re feeling.”

Project Cambria, as confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg himself, is not a rebranded version of the Quest 3, which does not yet have a release date – no prototype to speak of either, as of yet  – will be a standalone line, separate to the Quest brand. With technology that makes it fitting for both leisure and industrial purposes. 

The device will utilize new sensor technology called Pancake Optics, which folds light many times over to “achieve a slimmer profile than current lenses.”  The aforementioned sensor technology will enable devices with the capability of accommodating a variety of facial types, including facial hair and glasses. The Project Cambria headset will also feature Augmented reality features, allowing users to interact with digital, and analog environments, simultaneously.

The post Meta’s Project Cambria Headset appeared first on Bizznerd.

How did Shiba Inu start?

Issued by an individual, or group, going by the name of Ryoshi, Shiba Inu (SHIB,) came into existence at a time when the crypto industry seemed to be proliferating with dog-themed crypto-assets – all touting themselves as the next Dogecoin. One could not be faulted for lumping the digital asset with the rest of the hyped-based doge-themed meme coins in the market. 

Philosophy of the Shiba Inu coin

The asset’s creator’s philosophy behind the existence of the asset, however, seems to have struck a chord with crypto investors, as the token has enjoyed a meteoric rise since its inception in August of 2020. The philosophy asks a simple question of investors, what could a token become if it was fully controlled by its community? 

The token aims to be a more useful Doge, by giving full say in how the ecosystem develops to the asset’s holders. The idea behind it, as it seems, is to achieve a fully decentralized ecosystem. Opting to create the coin on the Ethereum blockchain – claims the creator – will help achieve this, as Ethereum features one of the most developed decentralized ecosystems available in space today. 

Shiba Inu started as a simple Ethereum-based ERC20 token, Shiba Inu – In the year since its creation – seems to have become more than just my crypto, and Is now the operating token for a Defi and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) ecosystem. All made possible through little input from the creator, its developments have mostly been community-driven. 

Costing – at time of writing – a mere fraction of a cent ($0.0004040), the coin, which once had a circulating supply of 1 quadrillion coins, has risen – in value – to the point that its market capitalization challenged that of original canine-coin, Dogecoin. The coin’s recent run, back in October, saw the asset log over 700% in gains – this, after experiencing a 7000% rally earlier in the year.

The token’s creator, Ryoshi, disposed of his SHIB holdings – which equated to half of the total 1 Quadrillion Shiba Inu tokens in existence – by giving them to Ethereum creator, Vitalik Buterin. The Ethereum founder promptly sold a billion dollars worth of the crypto asset and gave it to charity; he burned the remaining 40%. The resulting scarcity drove up demand for the token as speculative hype around the asset reached a fever pitch.

Just Another Dog Coin?

Well, not exactly, the Shiba Inu token has developed into a gateway to what is developing into a veritable ecosystem with Defi, and NFT functionality. The SHIB ecosystem houses three tokens within it, each serving a certain function. 

SHIB is the principal token of the – Japanese Shiba Inu – themed ecosystem. There’s about 50% of a quadrillion of these bad boys out there – since Buterin helped out with a massive token burn – and serves as the main incentivized asset on the Shiba Inu Decentralized Exchange (DEX.)

LEASH is the second asset on the Shiba Inu ecosystem’s roster of proprietary assets and also serves an incentivized asset function. With a total supply of 107,646 tokens, the token offers favorable potential rewards for users who utilize it to supply liquidity. 

BONE, on the other hand, exists for ecosystem governance purposes. This asset enables members of the ecosystem – the ShibArmy – to vote on upcoming proposals. There are 250 million digital assets in circulation. 

These tokens do not, merely, exist by themselves. They are attached to a vibrant ecosystem that recently reported a milestone of 1 million active wallets. The Shiba Inu ecosystem currently stands on the following pillars:

Shibaswap is the ecosystem’s DEX platform. This platform holds the ecosystem’s Defi functionality, allowing users to trade digital assets in a decentralized manner. Providing liquidity for the transactions executed on the ecosystem, in SHIB or LEASH, unlocks potentially lucrative rewards for participants.

Shiba Inu Incubator is an art-focused platform. The platform is designed to help the discovery and “incubation” of artists who operate outside of the orthodox artforms. 

Shiboshi is NFT generated through the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Compared to the Ethereum blockchain, each Shiboshi contains – within its code – unique attributes which distinguish it from any other. 

Closing

From the looks of things, Shiba Inu, and its cohort of supporters seem to be building out a legitimate ecosystem. The project – at present – shows a lot of promise, as they have, recently, gone as far as pointing out a Shiba Inu scale to protect user funds. 

The project’s value, however, still falls within the realm of speculation. Investors ought to practice caution when buying into the asset, and only spend what they are comfortable with losing – should the whole thing fail to usurp Dogecoin which it seems close to doing. 

The post Shiba Inu: Is It More Than Just a Dog Themed Meme Coin? appeared first on Bizznerd.

The series, taking a very fresh approach to the old demon slayer genre, sees a pair of siblings forced into the world of demon-slaying after a demon comes calling at the family’s door. With one of their parents dying, and one of the siblings turning into a demon who retains human cognitive, and emotional capacity, they embark on a quest to find a cure. 

The Story of Demon Slayer

Set in the Taisho era of Japan’s history, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Blade of Demon Destruction) is a tale about two siblings, a brother, and a sister, who must join forces with demon slayers to find a cure for the demon curse that the younger sister finds herself afflicted with after a demon attacks the family. 

Tanjiro becomes his family’s breadwinner, following the death of his father. He returns from selling charcoal in a nearby village, to find his family has been attacked by a demon. His mother is dead, while his sister Nezuko, is left with a curse that gives her the appearance of a demon, though her emotional and cognitive faculties remain unchanged. 

Soon afterward, Tanjiro meets and is recruited by demon slayer, Giyū Tomioka. The demon slayer sends him to Sakonji Urokodaki, who is a former demon slayer who will assume the role of mentor to Tanjiro, imparting all knowledge he has on slaying demons to him. This marks the beginning of a journey to restoring his sister to human form and avenging his slain family. 

Characters of Demon Slayer

Demons, in the context of the Kimetsu no Yaiba narrative, are humans who have surrendered their humanity for great power. They feed on the fear of humans and have superhuman abilities; super strength, regenerative capabilities, as well as magical powers. Demon slayers, who under the banner of the Demon Slayer Corps have been waging a centuries-long war against demons, are simply human. 

Humans whose only special ability is a sword made from Sun Steel and doused with a poison made from wisteria flowers which enables them to kill demons. Other than that, the demon slayers are equipped with a set of breathing techniques that enable them to perform seemingly superhuman feats, like running faster or longer, leaping higher with exaggerated strength

Mugen Train

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train would be the resulting sequel. It is a movie that grossed over 500 million at the box office, making it the single most commercially successful anime film of all time. In part, due to crazed participation, It’s success can also be attributed to the timing of the release. Going public at a time when Japan was just easing up Covid-19 restrictions, fans of the flick found little else to compete with Mugen Train in terms of options at the box office at the time. 

The movie sees Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu board a train to help Kyōjurō Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, get a demon that has been making a name for itself, killing quite several demon slayers. They fall into a deep sleep as soon as they are settled onto the train. Emu then instructs four insomniac passengers to invade the dreams of the demon slayers, in exchange for sweet dreams of their own. 

The events that follow are gripping and intense, as there is a clear race against time, to get everyone back into consciousness, and deal with the demon who is out to get them. Tanjiro soon finds that it will take more than beheading this demon to put an end to it. 

In Closing

Demon slayers usually fall into the realm of fantasy, so does Demon slayer. Being set in a time when belief in such phenomena was still a big part of the human way of thinking, the story draws from its setting, but adds a very special-forces element to demon demon-slaying makes the series extra enjoyable for fans who aren’t big on magical themes. 

The post Demon Slayer: Review appeared first on Bizznerd.

Despite the game’s over-the-top settings, and characters, along with Asura’s ridiculous motivations, it remains intensely fun to play. Well, there’s so little for the player to do except “help” the gameplay itself by mashing buttons here and there to help Asura along, as one will mostly be watching brilliantly presented cutscenes.

Any other title would fall flat on its face were it to be presented in the manner in which the Asura’s Wrath title is presented. CyberConnect2 mixed so many genres into this title, that it works brilliantly. At its base, it is an Action Brawler title but borrows elements from rail shooters, Science Fiction, Eastern mythology, and manga/animé that delivers an intensely entertaining story.

It’s pretty much an interactive animé, where the manly stereotypes that gave titles of the era their edgy appeal, are overplayed so brilliantly that Asura’s Wrath becomes a ridiculously fantastic masterpiece. Armed with a rage that knows no bounds, the lead character punches his way to vengeance against former allies, who have become immensely powerful cosmic beings.  He more than rises to the occasion; several times. 

The Story of Asura’s Wrath

Asura’s Wrath is set in a universe where the title character, Asura, is a powerful demigod who is powered by his wrath. He starts as one of the Eight Guardian Generals, who lead the Shinkoku Army against an evil force known as the Gohma. A fellow general, Deus, approaches him with a plan for a new age, called The Rebirth, but he refuses. Not too long afterwards, the Emperor is murdered and Asura has been framed for the act. His wife is murdered, his daughter taken from him, and he is executed and banished to Earth, or Gaea.

12,000 years pass before Asura, thanks to his rage and the urging of a clockwork spider known as the Golden Spider, climbs from the pits of hell and retakes his body. Back among the living, and disgusted at his former comrades for failing to end the Gohma threat in 12 millennia, as well as betraying him, Asura assumes the path of vengeance. 

Assura, while saving a village from a Gohma attack, soon meets with one of his old allies, Wyzen, who has come down to earth in a Capital ship. Wyzen tells Asura of the events that have taken place since his banishment, but Asura, angered by it all, interrupts the villain’s monologue with a punch to the mug. An intense battle ensues, but Asura makes quick work of Wyzen.

Not content to go down so easily, and perhaps eager to show his old ally how powerful he’s gotten over the years, Wyzen takes on a new form. As Gongen Wyzen, his promotions are exaggerated to the point where he is the size of a solar system. Giant Wyzen tries to crush Asura with an enormous finger, but the indomitable God of Wrath beats on the finger till the body attached to it is consumed in flame. 

This is just the beginning of the insanity. It gets more, and more, intense and satisfying as the story progresses. Asura dies a few more times but keeps returning by the power of his wrath. He is driven by the motivation to seek revenge for his betrayal, to recover his daughter who powers a machine that harvests human souls and to rid the world of the Gohma demon forces. And he does it with flair befitting a cosmic being. 

The gameplay of Asura’s Wrath

Though Asura’s Wrath is a beat-em-up styled title. It often finds itself switching between genres of game. Each level of the game is styled like an anime episode, and each level is grander and more spectacular than the previous one. We swear, there’s little chance for one to get bored here.

Asura comes with three gauges, your standard health gauge lets you know how close you are to restarting the level, while a burst gauge must be filled by doing damage to enemies. There is also a third gauge, the ‘Unlimited Gauge’, which works much like the burst gauge but allows one to deal heavier damage while it is engaged.

The burst gauge is usually engaged at moments that are vital to the plot, like finishing off a boss fight to advance through to the next cutscene. The game is, at times, a third-person beat-em-up, sometimes a rail shooter where Asura moves on a fixed axis and can only manoeuvre enough to get out of the way of enemy fire. 

Also integrated into gameplay, are interactive cutscenes, which will have users frantically pressing buttons to advance to the next stage in the sequence. Failure to keep up with the prompt button sequences may have one restarting the entire cutscene, which can happen often on higher difficulty levels. 

Platforms

This title, seeing as it first saw release back in 2012, is available on PlayStation, and Xbox 360. The game was built on unreal engine 4, which probably explains a lot. I mean, the title is just vibrant with the special effects, albeit presented in a 2D manga/animé style. 

The Verdict

Asura’s Wrath began to be developed in 2007, and the intention behind the concept, according to CyberConnect2, was to create a gaming title that would be appealing to a global audience. This would suggest that there was a method to the interactive anime styling of the title, as well as the mad action that makes up the game. 

The title came together quite well, being an instant hit in Japan while having mixed reviews in the West. Some western critics found the title’s interactive anime-Esque cutscenes refreshing, while others complained that they detracted from regular beat-em-up, brawler gameplay.  Either way, it seems critics could agree that the action in Asura’s Wrath makes sure the game is never predictable and creates anticipation for the next chapter in the story. 

Though the title has gotten on in years, it is still worth the occasional visit, as the overdone action just doesn’t get old. Asura’s Wrath was a one-time release, which has made it a sort of classic, one that one may want to interact with during these trying times. Asura’s never-say-die attitude is something of an inspiration. 

The post Asura’s Wrath appeared first on Bizznerd.

Two, relatively new, online multiplayer shooter titles have taken the gaming industry by a storm of late. Riot’s VALORANT and Respawn’s Apex Legends are the two popular contemporary action shooters. The debate has begun to spring up in online forums, as to which may be the better game. We checked it out!

Apex Legends

Apex Legends is an online multiplayer battle royale gaming title coming from the same people who brought us the Titan Fall series of games. Developed by Respawn Entertainment, the game pits players against one another in a 3-on-3 deathmatch where teams must outlast opposing squads to win.

Based on TitanFall, though it is a different game, Apex legends has players go up against each other in control of any of 18 (currently) precast characters. Players have access to purchasable skins and weapons which will differentiate their character from another, but that’s beside the point.

Players take part in the action as one of 30 2-person, or 20 3-person teams. Teams are airdropped onto a map where the team leader chooses where the team lands. Once teams are on the ground, they search for supplies, weapons, ammo, and armor. Then they search for teams to battle.

The play area gets smaller as the game progresses, forcing teams into combat situations. Any player who remains outside of the play area long enough takes damage to the point where they can die. The team with the most players alive at the end of play are crowned match winners.

VALORANT

VALORANT on the other hand is an online multiplayer first-person hero shooter that, though having a futuristic theme, is very similar, in gameplay, to counter-Strike or Overwatch. The Riot Games title challenges players to fight more strategically than its fast-paced counterpart.

Pitting players against each other in 5-against-5 battles. Using weapons and special abilities, users strategically navigate through maps to complete objectives. Similar to Counter-Strike, VALORANT features a bomb planting mission, where an attacking team must duke it out against a defending team, to plant and detonate an explosive device known as a Spike.

Players get a wider assortment of weapons (along with customizable skins) on VALORANT, from submachine guns to pistols, to machine guns, to shotguns, they will find that they are spoiled for choice, in terms of which weapons and strategies to go with.

Like other tactical shooters, matches consist of Rounds, and the team with the most rounds won, at the end of the play, gets the overall victory. There are different modes of play, in which different challenges are set out for opposing teams. Spike Rush mode – for instance, is a bomb-planting challenge such as one might find on Counter-Strike.

The game features an Unrated gaming mode, Spike Rush (aforementioned,) a Competitive mode which ranks players on performance, A Deathmatch (free-for-all) mode, and a mode called escalation, which is similar to the Gun Game mode available in Counter-Strike, and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

A lot of competitive players seek help from Valorant coaching to quickly climb through the ranks especially when compared to a fast-paced game like Apex Legends where a more tactical mind is required.

So is Apex Legends or VALORANT the best?

Well, that depends entirely on what the gamer is after. If one has an appetite for a fast-paced survival action, then Apex Legends would be the game to go for. If one is after a more tactical gaming experience, where the wrong step could jeopardize the whole team, then VALORANT is the better game.

Either way, both games are brilliant and deliver enough of their own unique appeal to have players alternating between the two of them, depending on the mood, without ever having to pick a favourite. Apex’s Legend’s shrinking battleground mechanism offers hair-raising moments, while VALORANT has one in perpetual suspense in anticipation of the next enemy encounter.

The post Apex Legends VS VALORANT appeared first on Bizznerd.

AscendEX – the rebranding of BitMax

Being a rebranded version of the old BitMax crypto exchange platform, AscendEX already hosts 1 million users on a highly liquid, and expertly-run digital assets platform. The trading platform is available in over 200 territories, globally, spanning the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, as well as Asia.

In terms of the team, the AscendEX trading platform is manned by financial industry veterans, technology, as well as legal experts. With founder, and CEO, George Cao, and co-founder and Chief Operations Officer (COO,) Ariel Ling, at the helm, supported by a team of quantitative Wall Street types, along with other experts in their field, AscendEX delivers a robust trading platform.

Fees for AscendEX

Fees on the AscendEX platform are competitive when compared to most exchanges in the digital assets industry. What the exchange takes, per trade, depends on user holdings over 30 days, the platform also follows a tiered fee structure. 0.100% Maker + Taker fees for Large Cap assets, while Altcoin trades fetch a 0.200% levy – this is for the lowest tier account level (VIP0.)

Fees get lower as account tiers get higher, of course. A VIP1 account, with a $100,000 threshold or account holding equal to, or greater than, $500,000 of platform-native, ASD within 30 days. The highest account level, VIP9 (pronounced: Whale) demands $500,000,000 (yes, that much) in monthly trading volume, or $5,000,000, or more in ASD holdings.

Regarding withdrawal fees, AscendEX remains competitive, charging a fair withdrawal fee, per asset that a user may wish to withdraw. Withdrawing Bitcoin will cost 0.005 BTC while removing Ethereum holdings from the platform will cost 0.01 ETH.

Deposit & Withdrawal

AscendEX hasn’t gone and reinvented the wheel, in terms of Deposit & Withdrawal methods, and has kept things simple, while also allowing for the convenience of purchasing fiat with crypto.

One can similarly deposit crypto to other trading platforms. By going to the exchange wallet, selecting which asset they intend to deposit, and copying the deposit address into the wallet one intends to send from, then following all necessary actions to complete the transaction.

Withdrawal works inversely, with added security measures to secure user assets. As previously mentioned, there is a fiat-crypto option that enables users to buy digital assets with their fiat-based debit/credit cards. The service supports Visa and Mastercard payments. One can use USD, EUR, GBP, UAH, RUB, JPY, and TRY to purchase BTC, BCH, USDT, ETH, TRX, BAT, or ALGO.

The Platform of AscendEX

AscendEX employs a sleek, easy-to-navigate trading view, with neat order windows, and effective charts. This, along with all necessary info, order book, and token prices, makes the trading experience comfortable.

The exchange platform also features different order types, as well as forms of trading. One can buy and sell assets to derive profits from value gains with Spot Trading. Then have a Margin account, which comes ready to use upon Sign-Up, and charges no interest if the loan is prepared within eight hours.

AscendEX also offers Futures Trading, which enables traders to bet on the price moves of an underlying asset, without actually having to own said asset. Trading is purely contractual, and as the name suggests, has speculators bet on an asset’s future price. The Futures contracts that AscendEX deals in are of the Perpetual assortment, meaning that they have no expiration date, and positions can be held perpetually.

The Singapore-based digital assets trading platform features are pretty convenient. Beginners can take the Copy Trading option, which will have one’s trading account mimic the trading actions of a pro trader. Traders can select which pros to follow from a dedicated webpage and take advantage of profits made by certain traders by having their accounts copy their orders.

Supported Countries

AscendEX’s digital assets trading services are supported in territories across most of the globe. A few countries cannot be found on the exchange’s ‘supported’ list; the USA, Algeria, The Balkans, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Côte D’Ivoire, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Nepal, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, as well as Zimbabwe are not supported by the exchanges for various reasons.

Supported Assets

AscendEX offers over +200 digital assets for trading, with over 50 large caps, and low cap assets available for leveraged trading.

Mobile

For modern traders, who like to stay on top of market action wherever they are, there is a mobile version of the app, available for Android, and Apple iOS devices.

All-In-All

The exchange was designed with low-level, intermediate, professional, and institutional traders in mind, allowing access to digital assets markets for a wide variety of customers. AscendEX also offers an API for algorithmic traders to take advantage of, as well as an OTC desk for private clients.

This is in addition to enabling access to Defi markets, and a variety of other crypto-based investment options. Honestly, the only complaint we have with this platform, and we’ve seen a few, is the (at time of writing) lack Of support for TradingView’s advanced charting service.

The post AscendEX – A Global Cryptocurrency Trading Platform appeared first on Bizznerd.

The mod features no Portal Gun but enables the use of Half-Life: Alyx-native Gravity Gloves, which will aid one in pulling objects (cubes in this case) closer. The mod does a phenomenal job of recreating Valve’s Portal 2 – despite the Portal Gun being absent from this playable mod.

What the mod is like?

In 2020, the game’s developers teased fans with a mod that allowed one to walk through a Portal 2 map. This time around, players were able to interact with the environment, thanks to the added gameplay that this mod comes with. Instead of merely exploring the map, and picking items, one encounters some challenges.

It took a team of four developers and less than a month to put the demo together. The Aperture VR mod features over 200 models, either ported or freshly created. The creators even went as far as offering a Source Pack which includes all scripts, maps, models, prefabs, etc. This is intended to enable developers to create custom test chambers in VR.

The portals seem to be a good basis for something more, and it seems the development team has similar hopes. By making the mod’s Source Pack widely available, they hoped to attract a wider team of developers to create more test chambers for the VR title. The mod can be found here.

Test Chambers

Half-Life Test Chambers have a dark history. They were set up in, according to game history, in the ’70s by Aperture Science to test products. The Chambers required live humans. They created GlaDOS – a half-human.

The plan goes awry when GlaDOS is first activated. The artificial life form attempts to gain control of the facility housing the chambers. Her creators seize control despite the havoc she creates, but she soon breaks free of their control and accomplishes her goal. This leaves a lot of scientists trapped, and a good number of test subjects dead as a result of her unforgiving testing.

The test chambers have a sterile feel to them, looking, very much, like clinics, or laboratories. The dull, grey walls are flanked by observation room windows, likely designed to give the subject the impression that they are constantly being evaluated by an unseen person, or group. They also operate as light sources for many of the chambers.

Having gone from era to era, and the facility dilapidated, or partially demolished, and being rebuilt repeatedly, the number of chambers has increased from the first Portal era to the Portal2 era.

In Closing

The Aperture VR: Thinking Without Portals mod has brought the Half-Life Refreshment Center Test Chambers experience to life. Being immersed in the Test Chambers brings that eerily serious feel of a hospital home, the use of Gravity Gloves as opposed to Chell’s Portal Gun is also something that gives the mod an updated, VR feel.

The post A Half-Life Alyx Mod for Interactive Portal 2 Test Chambers appeared first on Bizznerd.

The digital assets exchange hosts almost 400 different digital assets, in an intuitively designed, easy to navigate platform where one can participate in lending and staking of assets, in addition to trading. Huobi’s digital exchange platform – featuring several crypto investment opportunities.

The Platform of Huobi Global

One will have to be familiar with more complex trading platforms to navigate the Huobi platform – as it was designed with more advanced traders in mind. Nevertheless, users will likely find the platform aesthetically pleasing, generally uncluttered – only displaying what information is necessary to facilitate sound trading decisions.

Available in no fewer than 10 languages, Huobi’s platform features a fairly intuitive interface, which enables users to sign up, and initiate their first trade within 5 minutes. For making one’s first purchase of crypto, the exchange offers a host of options.

Exchange options of Huobi Global

From the exchange’s reputed Peer-to-Peer (P2P,) to direct crypto deposits, to debit/credit card purchases, the exchanges give one almost no excuse not to execute that initial trade. The Huobi Global crypto exchange platform allows for the purchase of crypto in about 57 fiat currencies and offers over 60 payment methods.

Unlike most exchanges geared towards a more sophisticated market exchange platform, Huobi does not have an account minimum but does hold trader deposits to a minimum value of $100. There are no fees attached to deposits, however, withdrawals from the exchange carry an asset-dependent fee. The platform also features an express withdrawal option, which, for a small fee, has transactions carried out a little quicker.

The Huobi Global exchange platform’s trading view, from an advanced trader’s perspective, intuitively marries all the important statistical tools needed to get a feel of potential market action. The Order Window is placed in a very “sensible” position; beneath the price chart, in the center, at the bottom of the screen.

The chart allows one to toggle a TradingView integrated chart, which enables one to access drawing tools. The exchange is targeted at more advanced traders. Order types available on the exchange are Market Orders, Limit Orders, and Stop-Limit Orders allowing for different risk management strategies.

The order book and market trades list can be accessed to the right-hand side of the screen, while the left-hand window offers a list of tokens, and supported pairs. Aside from offering a variety of crypto asset-based trading options, from Spot trading to Margin trading, to Futures (both regular and Perpetual,) Options. Huobi also does a lot to be a one-stop crypto finance platform, enabling users to access staking pools, bot trading, as well as loans.

Security

Huobi appears to put a great deal of emphasis on securing user assets, having run several third-party audits on its security systems over the years. The exchange allows users the ability to secure their accounts through 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication,) SMS, PGP encrypted email. The bulk (98%) of assets deposited by users is stored in cold wallets, which are offline and will not be connected to the net should a security breach occur. Said wallets are also monitored 24/7, just in case.

Support

Regarding where the exchange is supported, the platform used to be mostly focused on Chinese, and US market participants. However, seeing as regulations in their biggest market, China, have taken a hard stance against crypto, the firm has since adopted a more global approach to its user intake model, and is now available in most territories on the planet.

In terms of customer support, the firm goes the extra mile to offer support to its users, regarding all issues. Huobi’s support team can be reached support@huobi.pro or more conveniently, via their on-platform channel. By navigating to the support center, one can have an AI-bot help them sift through Huobi’s extensive FAQ or live chat with a representative for more complicated issues.

Mobile App

Having launched in 2017, on both Android and iOS mobile platforms, the Huobi Pro mobile app is Huobi in the palm of one’s hand. The app seems to attest to the exchange’s popularity since it has racked up a million downloads, on Android alone.

The app – like the main exchange platform is available in 10 languages, enables access to customer support, as well as much of the features available on the web platform One remains in control of much of their Huobi account from the mobile app and isn’t just limited to trading.

The app’s charts feature basic drawing tools, as well as support for fast deposit/withdrawal, and real-time streaming of price data. Showing that Huobi developed their entire platform offering with professional traders in mind.

Conclusion

All-in-all Huobi offers high-security standards, customer support, and a professional, internationally patronized exchange. The platform hosts an extensive number of altcoin, and exclusive projects to invest in.

In addition to customer support, and FAQ, the exchange also has a ton of news and articles targeted at professional traders. This means users can gain access to market-moving news without ever leaving the platform.

Huobi is highly liquid and has a matching engine that allows for fast order execution. If one is in the market for a reliable, professionally presented digital asset exchange platform, then Huobi would be a good one to try out, as it caters to a more experienced sort of market operator.

The post Huobi Global: A Digital Assets Exchange For Pro Traders appeared first on Bizznerd.

Characters of Unruly Heroes

Taking control of any of the four characters, Sanzang the Sleeping Monkey, Monkey King, Wukong, Kihong the Greedy Pig, and SandMonk, who is a Sensitive brute, the player must embark on an enjoyable quest to retrieve the pieces of a Sacred Scroll, which keeps the world in balance. As one can imagine, things aren’t as easy as they first seem, as the forces that have ripped the scroll up and have consequently unleashed the evils of the night and day.

One can instantly switch between the members of the venturing party of four at any time during gameplay, to access their unique skills and abilities to solve certain problems or overcome particular enemies. The heroes face off against an assortment of fantastical enemies in this game, all set in a beautiful, hand-drawn world.

Gameplay

Wukong the Monkey King, for instance, is able to deal lightning-quick, ranged blows with his staff. His staff also comes equipped with an extension feature, which enables him to bridge wide gaps, allowing team members to get across.

Sleeping Monkey, Sanzang on the other hand has the power to possess enemies and make them do his bidding, while Sand Monk, being a brute, is strong enough to punch through quite a bit. Kihong has the power to balloon and float up vertical areas.

In terms of difficulty, many might find the game to be seated perfectly on the right side of enjoyable. Challenging enough, but not to the point of tormenting the player. In both, a casual Easy Mode, as well as in the higher difficulty. The game is so lenient, that if one repeatedly fails a level, they are given an option to skip said level and move on to the next.

The level-by-level puzzle-solving, defeating of enemies, and overcoming of obstacles doesn’t become redundant, as the game challenges the senses. From the soundtrack in action sequences – as well as overall gameplay. Enemies also have such well-designed personalities and attacks that one doesn’t ever get at being bored.

What to Expect from Unruly Heroes?

One can expect to be thoroughly entertained while playing this game. The team behind this tile has previously contributed to the creation of Rayman Legends, and the inspiration shines through in the game’s presentation. With incredible visuals and gameplay that is the right amount of challenging and engaging, this game has anything you’d ever want.

The post Unruly Heroes: A Platform Brawler Inspired By Chinese Folklore appeared first on Bizznerd.

Batman as a human

“What if he was real?” was the premise behind this under-explored part of Batman’s past. He is, after all, a man. It looks deeply into how Bruce Wayne’s past led to the existence of the Bat and paints it more realistically as a mental health issue (acting out unresolved traumas) as opposed to the romanticized heroic story.

A mental health issue created Batman. The tale kicks off with a wounded Batman crashing into Dr. Leslie Tompkins’ office. As she pulls off the vigilante’s mask, she discovers his true identity. This leaves her with two options, reveal Bruce Wayne to be the masked vigilante who’s garnered a lot of enemies in the year he’s been active, or treat a wounded patient?

Batman and therapy

Either way, both choices would have made for an interesting story, but she opts for the latter of the two. On condition that the man behind the mask, Bruce Wayne attends nightly therapy sessions or she calls the authorities. Being a fan himself, writer Tomlin is quite aware that deeply rooted Batman’s persona is a childhood trauma that is integral to his character. It defines him.

He bravely casts a spotlight on the dark way Batman depends on the psychological damage the trauma did to Bruce Wayne to exist. It depicts a rather precarious beginning for the Dark Knight, as Bruce battles to come to terms with his past, the Batman persona spawns a murderous persona who goes after some of the Bat’s enemies, likely to frame him.

In the past, while Andrea Sorrentino and Jordie Bellaire deliver the gritty art and colorwork.

“As a lifelong Batman fan, putting my spin on Gotham City has been a dream come true,” commented Tomlin “Taking the question of ‘What if Batman was real?’ as far as narratively possible conjured incredible potential that hasn’t recently been explored in the comics. Batman: The Imposter treats Bruce Wayne and the people around him as tragically flawed and vividly real, with the obstacles Batman faces coming from a reality show that closely mirrors our own.” – Mattson Tomlin, the writer behind Batman: The Imposter.ž

Closing

Exploring the part of Batman’s past, which we know so well, is never explored from this site is he and the direction that Tomlinson, and the team, have taken. It is quite an interesting read, one that connects fans, more deeply, to the Dark Knight, as they get to know Bruce Wayne as more than just the man behind the Batman persona.

The post Batman: A Fresh Perspective on Bruce Wayne’s Mental Health appeared first on Bizznerd.

Social Media and theft of data

Another concern that the public have voiced is the fact that these companies collect, store, and use user data in ways that are extremely unclear. The spread of misinformation on these social communication tools often leads to skewed views and negatively impacts conversations around important topics, as seen with the spate of misinformation found on social media, regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is suggested that blockchain technology could help address some of the issues that centralized social platforms find themselves grappling with. Decentralized social networks or federated networks could give users more control over their network, posts they see, as well as their data, which would, theoretically, do away with censorship, and myriad other issues.

Decentralized Social Media

A decentralized social network is a social communication platform that runs on blockchain technology.  As opposed to your run-of-the-mill social platform, which stores information on a central, company-owned server, and whose policies are governed by a few – their decentralized counterparts store information on a globally dispersed, network of, independently owned servers.

In decentralizing a social platform, developers hope to democratize the social media experience, allowing users to have a say on policy, control what content they view, as well as do away with political censorship, and other platforms. With greater autonomy, it is hoped, more robust conversations can be had, without the worry of Big Tech curating their communication with over users.

By running decentralized platforms on blockchain, much of the policy enforcement work can be handled automatically, by code. Decentralization also carries the added benefit of cross-platform communication.

The Good, The Bad

As with every new idea, there are issues that arise which the creators could not have expected, though it addresses an existing issue. Social networks – the decentralized variant – can, like centralized counterparts, foster the growth of the community and the sharing of information in a way that can affect social and political change in unprecedented ways. Except, the moderated nature of decentralized platforms can also lead to the exacerbation of both negative and positive issues.

On The Plus Side of decentralized networks, there is communication, the sharing of knowledge, the promotion of social/political awareness, which could help raise money for causes or simply sell a product or service to new customers.

On The Negative end of the spectrum, social media is a favorite tool for the spread of misinformation, cyberbullying, and actual criminal activity. Without humans to actively watch this problem, they could lead to hate groups using social media to openly organize a disruptive activity.

Closing

Decentralized networks offer many advantages over their centralized counterparts, such as more control over personal data, as well as the content that one is privy to once on the platform. Humans being humans, however, this approach to social media could have effects that ripple into analog society.

A careful approach to a social platform where users have free reign will need to be carefully thought out before being rushed into the market. It has the potential to do as much harm as it does good.

The post Decentralized Social Media, Is It Really A Good Idea? appeared first on Bizznerd.

The group, loosely named after famed Equities Short Stop trading group, Wall Street Bets is known for regularly organizing pump-and-dump operations, small-value, or low market capitalization digital assets. The group’s chat is reported to have been packed with user’s posts, praising the coin and forecasting a $1/Dogecoin price, as well as images of Shiba Inu dogs, in the days and hours prior to the digital asset’s price rally.

Dogecoin price jumps and Elon Musk

Tech billionaire, Elon Musk has also been known to contribute to Dogecoin’s price jumps. He has been claimed to have an influence on the price moves of the digital currency, an influence he exercises through Dogecoin-favoring posts (or Tweets) on popular social networking platform, Twitter.

Such was the frenzy created by his tweets in the second and third quarters of 2020, that he was joined by celebrities, Snoop Dogg, and rockstar, Gene Simmons. The trio managed to generate such enthusiasm around the digital asset back in may that Dogecoin reached an all-time high above $0.60 before the June-July crypto market dump.

The aforementioned Dogecoin rally also coincided with the addition of the asset to the global trading platform, eToro, which exposed the meme crypto-asset to a wide, new audience. An audience which, seemingly, was chomping at the bit to get in on the asset.

The Pump & Dump

The pump and dump operation is an age-old scheme. Almost as old as the stock market itself, where certain market operators collude to artificially raise the value of an asset. Only to sell out and leave a lot of unsuspecting investors holding an asset that will rapidly retrace all of its gains.

The practice is normally illegal, but with crypto currently unregulated, the practice has found a new home. Pump-and-dump operations occur pretty regularly in crypto. Reddit, Telegram, and Discord have been flagged as popular platforms for the organization of the operation.

The Data of Dogecoin of Wall Street

A University of Rome Study, by Massimo La Morgia, Alessandro Mei, Franco Sassi, and Julinda Stefa named The Doge of Wall Street: Analysis and Detection of Pump and Dump Cryptocurrency Manipulations performed a deep analysis of the pump-and-dump ecosystem. La Morgia and the team found a high prevalence of pump-and-dump fraud activity being organized on Social Media platforms; Telegram and Discord in particular.

Using an AI system the research team discovered over 900 pump-and-dump schemes on a single exchange platform, between mid-2017 to January of 2021. So, are Reddit users responsible for Dogecoin’s price rallies? Likely so.

The post The Relationship Between Dogecoin Rallies and Reddit Activity appeared first on Bizznerd.