As people become more excited about the possibility to make astronomical profits, the cycle of greed blinds the to the equal possibility of their investment sinking into an abys of valueless decimals shown on their screens – a reality that exists in with every asset class you can invest in.

Whe unfortunate investors fell victim to the now infamous SquidGame Token – a scamcoin that shamelessly rode the coattails of the popular South Korean series by copying its name, the only ones who saw any real gains where the scammers behind the subterfuge.

Decpite having made away with roughly $3,4 million – which is by no means an insignificant sum, the SquidGame Token Rug-pull is not the biggest cryptoscam to have ripped off investors this year. However, the brazen use of them of one the most popular shows on Netflix was always going to draw a lot attention – that’s probably why the scammers did it.

The immoral developers behind this sham marketed it as a token that would function in the burgeoning segment of play-to-earn gaming – titles like Axie Infinity and Decentraland fall into this category, a nother aspect that the scammers derived directly from the hit series.

This strategy worked like a charm, furled by a flood of money from “naïve retail investors” as per Eswar Parsad – a Cornell University told the BBC,  the Squid Game inspired scamcoin took just under a week to soar more than 70 000% in a hasty climb from $0.01 to a high of roughly $2,860.

However, the euphoric feelings that come with watching your money grow would be just as be just as short-lived as the price rises they stemmed from. The lie began unraveling when many investors reported of being unable to move their funds, and as the alarm bells rang, CoinMarket Cap published a notice to its users that only corroborated their fears.

And a cofounder of CoinGecko, Bobby Ong, told a notable news media outlet – “The scam has completed its cycle, and the price has just dropped significantly,” . That “significantly” was a bit of an understatement, it took only a few minutes for the scamcoin’s value to drop back down below the dollar mark.

The Squid Game token debacle serves as a reminder to those who have been in the crypto currency market for some time and a lesson to those who are just getting started, in this market, stay vigilant and do your own research – what goes up must come down.

Ups and downs are a normal part of how markets move, however, the one thing that nobody wants is to get caught in an asset that is destined to dip perpetually because the creators went for the door.

The post SquidGame Token: The Most Publicised Rug-pull Of 2021 appeared first on Bizznerd.

What is Sky: Children of the Light?

Developed and published by an indie game studio, Thatgamecompany, Sky: Children of The Light is categorized as an indie adventure game. Though not a sequel to Journey or any of the titles that preceded it, it is built on the exact same principles. However, Sky adds a more social element to the gameplay. The visuals are charming yet simplistic and though there are objectives, exploration and discovery are central to what makes Sky a unique game.

Sky: Children of the Light plays out in a vast open world that stretches across seven explorable areas. Each landscape presents its own uniqueness. Players use their cape to move around the rolling hills, picturesque grasslands, cloudy landscape with floating islands, and rain-soaked forests. Sky offers players the most unrestricted world.

The objective of Sky: Children of the Light

After taking in the glorious scenery, one notices that the developer’s simplistic approach is carried throughout every aspect of the game. The players are given a simple objective, explore the entire kingdom in search of lingering spirits that are spread across the seven areas of Sky’s world.

However, meeting and interacting with the spirits isn’t part of the buildup to the heroic finale. Instead, one’s meetings with the spirits and the “children of the light” are solely to acquire items that help players do even more exploring. That makes discovery the main objective.

Interactions within the game

With Sky: Children of The Light, socializing is an important part of the game, and interactions with other players are not at all uncommon. In fact, social interactions with other players are very near to mandatory. Becoming in-game friends with someone is part of the experience.

However, Sky takes a simple and noninvasive approach to this aspect of the gameplay. There is no typing out full messages as most interaction between players happens in the form of simple gestures. More importantly, if one chooses the option to befriend another player, they are also given a nickname of their own choosing. This is significant because it deliberately eliminates the unintended exchange of more personal information between players.

That simplicity is part of what makes Sky such a great experience, furthermore, it conceals the depth of the game’s social elements in the same way as its predecessor – if not better. The bonds that one can build with total strangers in an undisclosed fantasy world are surprising, to say the least.

Closing

Sky: Children of The Light is a free-to-play game that puts all the responsibility of making it a worthwhile experience solely on the player. It’s also great that the developers keep adding new content to keep the gameplay interesting and players immersed in the Sky experience.

The post Sky: Children Of The Light appeared first on Bizznerd.

Developed by MercurySteam in partnership with Nintendo EPD and was originally planned for a release on Nintendo DS back in 2005, however, technological limitations lead developers to a dead end. More than ten years later during the company’s E3 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation on June 15th, the company officially announced that Metroid Dread was already in development.

What’s it all about?

Metroid Dread is a single player sci-fi action adventure the that was released on Nintendo Switch on the 8th of October this year – and just like every other Metroid title that came before it, Metroid Dread follows the interstellar adventures of EMMI (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers) robot, Samus Aran.

This time, The Galactic Federation  deployes her to the planet ZDR to investigate suspicious events around a group of EMMI bots that were sent ahead of her and the possible presence of The X – a parasitic species that were thought to have gone extinct.

The gameplay

Playing Metroid Dread is much like playing any of its predecessors, however, this installation is richly layered. The maps feel significantly bigger with more exploration options and allow more movement between the different sectors of the planet.

Furthermore, the added layering goes beyond the scenery and extends to the special abilities and the array of weapons that Samus builds and gathers as players progress through the game. Without omitting the classics like the Screw Attack and Varia Suit, Metroid Dread brings in a wider range of suit upgrades, missiles, beams to suit different situations and preferences.

That said, this iteration of the Metroid series is decidedly focused on combat more than it does on exploration – the attack focused upgrade list is proof of this, even though Samus has a Phantom Cloak ability for added stealth. More evidence of Metroid Dread’s pro-action orientation can be seen in the game’s boss encounters, where developers chose to follow a “the more the merrier” philosophy – more frequent, more intense and more time consuming.

Key features

In many ways, Metroid Dread has stayed true to the Metroidvania sub genre that it has always been a central figure in. Looking for unlockable areas, hidden treasures and collectibles by blasting at textures that seem a little off is rewarded in this game.

Another key feature of Metroid Dread is the addition of unkillable enemies – those aforementioned EMMI robots that went to planet to ZDR, which are an important part of the story and add a new dynamic to the “final” installation of the Metroid series.

Closing thoughts

After more than three decades entertaining Nintendo players and keeping fans waiting for more than decade for this latest addition, Metroid Dread still manages to captivate with it simplistic genius, from the weapons and abilities, to Samus’ movements and the maps that players gradually unlock – Metroid Dread is a pleasurable final salute to a Nintendo classic.

The post Metroid Dread: A Nintendo Classic’s Last hurrah appeared first on Bizznerd.

The biggest issue regarding the Ethereum blockchain is scalability. As the network grows its user base, the process of validating transactions starts to become more expensive and time consuming. To deal with this problem, Vitalik Buterin and his team have started the roll out of Ethereum 2.0 – however, a full migration to the new and improved Ethereum will only be realised next year.

With the crypto market moving closer and closer to mainstream acceptance through NFTs and Crypto gaming, other blockchains have come up to challenge Ethereum’s dominance. All these blockchains promise faster transaction speeds at a significantly reduced cost when compared with the number 2 blockchain – without the need to add a second layer to relieve network congestion.

Though Ethereum remains a prominent figure in the push for decentralization, the competition – dubbed the Ethereum killers – have been making massive gains all throughout the year and increasing their user bases enough to possibly pose a threat to Buterin’s baby. So without further ado, here are the blockchains that look well suited to dethrone Ethereum.

Avalanche (AVAX)

Just like Ethereum 2.0, Avalanche runs on the more energy efficient Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. The biggest difference is that AVAX does it a whole lot faster, claiming a capacity to process more than than 4500 transactions per second.

Apart from the high speeds and lower costs, another advantage of the Avalanche network is it’s compatibility with Ethereum’s Solidity – making migration from Ethereum a simple process.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance is a name that is more synonymous with the act of trading cryptocurrencies in order to profit from their price fluctuations, after all, it is the world’s largest digital assets exchange. However, Binance also runs a programmable blockchain –  the Binance Smart Chain, which isn’t too dissimilar to Ether’s.

The BSC has been around since 2019 and offers significantly cheaper transaction fees than Ethereum at $0.01-$0.05 while managing up to 39.2 transactions per second.

Solana (SOL)

If the speed at which a blockchain network runs is its most valuable asset, then Solana is king in this department having claimed an ability to process up to 50 000 transactions per second. Thanks to those speeds, Solana has become home to Circle’s USDC stable coin and has had the value of its native token SOL increasing by more than 10,000% this year.

Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)

Hedera is not one of the most renowned crypto projects out there, however, there are a few things about this coin that make it a noteworthy competitor in the tussle to be the number one programmable crypto currency network. 

Firstly, Hedera runs a unique Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism that is powered by their proprietary hashgraph and boasts more than 10 000 transactions per second. Secondly, Hedera has also gained a lot of support from major corporations like Google, IBM, LG and TATA Communications – to name just a few, which puts Hedera a step ahead of Ethereum when it comes to attracting institutional investment.

The post The Ethereum Killers: List of Chains that may pose A threat to ETH appeared first on Bizznerd.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Storm Ground is a turn-based tactical combat game that – as the name suggests – plays out in Warhammer’s fantasy world. This comes on the back of other Warhammer video games – digital card games and auto battles – that were not well received. So right out of the gate, Storm Ground has a lot of convincing to do.

The plot & the gameplay?

The game is set in a time of conflict between three gods who’s hoards of loyal followers are sent to battle it out on their crusades. The factions that partake in the hostilities are the Stormcast – the followers of Sigmar, the Nighthaunt – who serve the Nagash the Lord of Undeath and, the Maggotkin – servants of the plague god Nurgle.

After picking a faction, players are met with roguelike gameplay where they’ll assume control of a champion character with a band of followers in tow and guide them through grinding out new items, gathering loot, increasing skills, recruiting new members and tactical turn-based combat encounters.

Though not without its own flaws, battles themselves are probably the best executed and most pleasant part of playing Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Storm Ground. The turn-based combat follows simplistic rules and mechanics that maintain fairness without being rigid. The result is a predictable rhythm to the gameplay that anybody can get used to.

At the beginning of each round, players are allocated “power” resources – represented by a power meter – which is used to summon units. Any power which isn’t spent on summoning is then automatically converted to Aether, the in-game currency that is used to activate your units special abilities.

As each round passes and a new round begins, the power bar is refilled and will expand slightly, allowing players to requisition more expensive units as the battle draws on – giving Storm Ground’s combat system a sense of natural escalation.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Storm Ground comes with PvP,  player v AI skirmishes and a roguelike campaign. The latter of which is the most disappointing. It turns an activity that is meant to be fun into a tedious task, not to mention that progress from the campaign is separate from the other modes.

Pros

The game is visually pleasing enough and the simplistic approach to tactical turn-based combat makes Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Storm Ground an easy game for anyone to appreciate. There is also sufficient variety between the different playable factions.

Cons

A number of aspects of both the campaign mode and the single-player need to be reconsidered, like the insane amount of time that is spent grinding.

Another letdown is in the rules, through brilliantly simple there are a few inconsistencies to how they work – especially when it comes to how traps are triggered. Lastly, it is littered with bugs that make playing an irritating experience at some points.

The post Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Storm Ground appeared first on Bizznerd.

After spending the last few years wading through a public relations mudslide, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, used the company’s Oculus Connect event to announce the company’s plans to rebrand Facebook to Meta – reasoning that the name change resonated with the company’s goal of building the Metaverse.

“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future. Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and identity on what we’re building toward,” Zuckerberg told his audience.

However, the Facebook name will remain in service with respect to the company’s already running social media products like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. As for the Oculus brand, this marks the end of an era.

Navigate to Oculus.com and one immediately sees the “subtle” changes. The new logo and the name “Meta Quest” are some of the changes that Quest users will have to get accustomed to from here on out. Naturally, the change of names – that Facebook sees as a better fit with falling in under the Meta umbrella – will extend to the Oculus mobile app and the former Facebook Reality Labs. They are set to change to the Meta Quest app and Meta Reality Labs.

The path of Facebook’s evolution to Meta is a double edged sword. On one end it symbolises a new beginning, on the other hand, it represents the end of Oculus as a brand – one that has been a key player in the virtual reality market since its founding in 2012.

“We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make. While we’re changing the brand of the hardware, Oculus will continue to be a core part of our DNA and will live on in things like software and developer tools,” reads part of a post by Facebook’s head of VR and AR, Andew Bosworth.

At this point in time, there is no reason to think that Facebook Inc’s metamorphosis to Meta will have any major impact on Quest’s core products – these changes will not go any deeper than the skin of the Oculus brand and the vast majority of users shouldn’t find much to complain about.

Likewise, the rebranding isn’t expected to have much of an effect on the Quest’s dominance in the virtual reality market. The Quest 2 is still a highly sought after VR headset and will likely maintain a hold on its roughly 35% share of the VR market – as per the data sets shared via the Steam Hardware & Software Survey: October 2021.

The post Facebook’s Name Change To Meta Will Not Spare Oculus & It’s Already Started appeared first on Bizznerd.

Since 2015, HTC shifted its focus from the smartphones that had helped the Taiwanese corporations gain the International acclaim it enjoys – a direct result of increased competition from Apple and Samsung, to fighting for a leading position in the fledgling Virtual Reality market.

To that end, HTC spent a good part of the past half a decade or so concentrating mostly on commerce-oriented Virtual Reality solutions – even though the company’s Vive range offered headsets that were up to task for the purpose of VR gaming.

This time, the HTC Vive Flow brings the company’s focus right back to the entertainment focused VR consumers – everyday people like you and I trying to get a taste of the latest in immersive entertainment technology. However, one should not look at the ultra lightweight Vive Flow as a direct competitor to the Oculus Quest 2 – even though the MSRP of $499 might have you thinking that it is.

Key features and specs

One of the HTC Vive Flow’s most noticeable characteristics is how it looks – visually, this headset definitely doesn’t follow the same design ethos of the typical VR goggles that we see on the market. It’s front end features a pair of sizable mirrored lenses that give it a Magic Leap AR Glasses x WW2 pilot goggles look.

That said, the Vive Flow’s price tag should not get the gaming focused VR enthusiast too excited as this headset was not developed with Half Life Alyx in mind – you won’t find any handheld controllers for this pair of VR goggles. Instead, HTC made portability and convenience their main areas of focus of the Vive Flow.

“We wanted to get to something lighter, more wearable, easier to travel with,” noted Dan O’Brien, the head of HTC’s VR division.

A goal that O’Brien and his team definitely fulfilled, the Vive Flow weighs in at an ultra light 189g – especially impressive when considering the Oculus Quest 2’s comparatively hefty weight reading of 500g – and works by connecting to your Android device.

However, to achieve this goal, some concessions had to be made. Beyond almost completely ignoring the rapidly growing VR gaming market with the Vive Flow, this VR headset relies mostly on external sources to power it. According to HTC, using a fully charged 10,000 mAh power bank should get you roughly 4-5 hours of immersion – or simply plugin to the nearest USB-C port.

That aforementioned immersion is experienced through two 1600 × 1600 resolution displays – giving you a total resolution of 3,2k – with a 75Hz refresh rate. The field of view seems a little restricted at 100 degrees, especially when compared to the Quest 2’s 120 degrees.

On the inside, the Vive Flow is powered by the Qualcomm’s XR1 processor and 4GB of RAM. The Vive Flow gives the user 64GB of memory – which cannot be expanded – and has two cameras on the front end that are responsible for motion tracking.

Final thoughts

From it’s rather unique design, to it working via an Android device, the HTC Vive Flow is substantially different from any other VR headset on the market – in fact, it could easily be mistaken for a pair of Augmented Reality glasses.

That said, the fact that it isn’t meant for gaming puts a lot of restrictions on the headset’s use cases – especially at that price point. For many everyday consumers, $499 might be a little too steep for the simple pleasures of VR during a flight or a long haul bus ride – even with the 100-150 apps it supports.

The post HTC Vive Flow; A Decidedly Different Approach To VR appeared first on Bizznerd.

Though not as restricted as the previous year, this one presented its own challenges which have most people rejoicing that we are approaching the end – now we’ll have even more free time to watch all the anime we want. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of this year’s most anticipated anime releases in the build up to the happy season.

Anime to look forward to seeing

Demon Slayer Season 2

Thanks to top class production work from Studio Ufotable, the first season of Demon Slayer quickly became one of the most popular anime series in recent times – followed by an equally well received movie, Demon Slayer’s second season was left with a pair of sizable shoes to fill.

However, Fans of Demon Slayer don’t have much to worry about because it’s Ufotable in the driver’s seat for season 2 as well. The second season will once again focus on the adventures of the Demon Slayer Corps – this time, going toe-to-toe with their adversaries in Yoshiwara red-light district.

Sonny Boy

Sonny Boy was bound to draw a lot of attention from anime fans as it is an original creation from the same mind that directed the hit series, One Punch Man. This time, Studio Madhouse and Shingo Natsume bring us a story of 36 students who find themselves trapped in a mysterious world with its own rules and physics. As they try to find a way out, they each start to discover that they have unique abilities and it is not long before individual differences lead to a factional rift between the students.

World’s End Harem

World’s End Harem is quite different yet promises to leave viewers satisfied with its unique science fiction themed approach to Ecchi anime. The story plays out in a world devastated by a disease that decimated the male population, leaving only a few men like the main character, Mizuhara Reito – who had been asleep in a cryogenic state during the outbreak.

However, our leading man has no real interest in repopulating the planet, his greatest interest goes by the name Tachibana Erisa – it’s a story of love and temptation that is told from a refreshingly different perspective.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus

Not only is Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a collaborative endeavor between AdultSwim and Crunchyroll, it is also the result of a team effort from the director of Appleseed – Shinji Aramaki, and his counterpart in the production of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Kenji Kamiyama.

The story is set in 2032 Los Angeles, California and picks things up from about a decade following the events of the short film – Blade Runner: Black Out 2022.

Platinum End

Platinum End is an anime adaptation of a manga series that was created by the same minds that brought us Death Note. The story revolves around a student who is saved from death by their guardian angel, who also confers special powers to the boy – which is quite necessary considering that he is among a group of 13 who have been selected as potential candidates to replace God who soon to relinquish his title.

The post The Most Entertaining Animes To Watch This Festive Season; whether Ready or On The Way appeared first on Bizznerd.

Things tend to develop white rapidly in the gaming industry, as a result, 2014 feels like eons ago. However, Blizzard built its solid reputation by developing games that are hard to get tired of playing – Take Diablo, OverWatch or World of Warcraft, for example, these titles offer players a lot of repeat playability.

Being a product of this stable and having run for this long, it seems that Hearthstone – originally subtitled “Heroes of Warcraft” – might carry the same traits. That’s beside the consistent updates as hints of how successful this game is.

What exactly is Hearthstone?

Hearthstone is another facet of the World of Warcraft, it is a free-to-play online digital collectable cards game that is available for Mobile gamers, PC and Mac OS users – essentially a direct attack on Magic The Gathering’s Dominance in the realm of fantasy-themed card games.

Hearthstone offers both single player (taking on an AI opponent) and Player-v-Player modes where each player competitor is equipped with their own deck of cards. Players are limited to 30 cards per deck and gameplay follows a turn-based structure where the objective is to destroy the opponent’s Hero.

Being that it is a free-to-play release, Ine should expect the usuals like the in-app purchases and microtransactions that you’ll inevitably find yourself in when working to upgrade your deck.

It may also be interesting to note that Hearthstone’s origin was more experimental rather than being a planned full-budget title. Nevertheless, Blizzard was able to achieve what they wanted to do with this game – to recreate the feel of a physical card game via an intuitive interface and to remove the possibility of a sneaky play from the opponent during a player’s turn.

Is it still playable in 2021 and onwards?

Over the years, Hearthstone has proven to be a successful project for Blizzard – receiving a warm welcome from the gaming community and growing into a popular e-sport. As for the question of playability in 2021 and moving forward, Blizzard has not taken Hearthstone’s success for granted and are constantly updating – with the latest one set to reach players during this December.

That said, well put together card games rarely ever suffer from longevity issues and offer an entertaining pastime for many years. However, if the numbers don’t lie, then Hearthstone might be in a bit of trouble.

According to data gathered in 2018, Blizzard could boast about Hearthstone’s more than 100 million active players across platforms that year. Fast forward to 2021 and we start to see a different picture. Intel from ActivePlayer counted a peak of just over 3,5 million active players across platforms, a massive drop from 2018 and particularly worrying because most games saw an increase due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

If the drop in player count and decreased viewership on Twitch are anything to go by, then Hearthstone might be losing its flare.

The post Hearthstone; Is It Still Worth Playing In 2021 & Onwards? appeared first on Bizznerd.

One of the first things that potential viewers ought to know about The World’s Finest Assassin is that it falls into the Isekai sub-genre of anime, therefore, one should expect to see themes usually associated with this genre – which might not be to everyone’s tastes.

That said, The World’s Finest Assassin is adapted directly from a light novel that was penned by Rui Tsukiyo, the very same writer behind the popular Redo of Healer – which may have something to do with this title’s fanfare. The anime series is brought to our screens under the directorship of Tamura Masafumi, who is a notable name in Japan’s animation scene and boasts titles like Two Car and Ange Vierge on his belt.

The anime series is a collaborative effort by Silver Link and Studio Palette, the former a veteran with more than 10 years in the anime industry – as for the latter, the production process behind The World Finest Assassin anime series is part of the learning process.

So, what’s it about?

Well, the title is quite self explanatory. The story revolves around our protagonist, Lugh. However, being that this series falls into the particular genre that it does, what we have is the usual suspect of an overpowered lead character.

The story plays out in a fantasy world of magic casting nobles who are also in the habit of hiring assassins to kill for them and

kicks off with our protagonist – not necessarily a good guy, but simply the lead character – finds himself being disposed of after fulfilling his duties. However, Lugh wins the favor of a goddess who reincarnates him as a member of a noble family.

“After spending my final day thinking through my options, I decided to stick with what I’d chosen the previous day.

I’d use Rapid Recovery and Limitless Growth to improve my fundamental abilities. Martial Arts would sharpen my movements. Spell Weaver and Total Affinity would greatly increase the tools at my disposal, and my D-Rank skill would be my ace in the hole.”  The protagonist thinking about what he’ll need to start his new life.

Naturally, this would not be much of a story if there wasn’t some kind of a twist. To that end, our protagonist is tasked with killing a hero in the future, so the whole story revolves around Lugh’s preparations to kill a target 18 years after his resurrection.

As mentioned before, this is an isekai and because of that, viewers won’t find very much in the way of character development. I mean, our protagonist starts his new life already knowing what to do, what skill sets he has at his disposal and a wealth of experience as an assassin in his past life.

That’s the one of the biggest challenges that come with overpowered lead characters; the only way to add depth to a story is either to limit the character, or incorporate similarly overpowered adversaries. The World’s Finest Assassin opted to go with the latter option, however, our equally matched opponent remains a distant concept until the actual encounter with our protagonist – and It doesn’t look like we’re anywhere near that point.

All in all, this is a series that has the potential to be a good viewing, however, there are those points that let it down. If one feels like those are forgivable, then The World’s Finest Assassin could be a good choice for them.

The post Words Finest Assassin, Everything You Should Know appeared first on Bizznerd.

Produced by David Production, the Fire Force anime series is adapted from a manga that was written by Atsush Ōkubo and was first published by Kodansha in September of 2015 – and it’s still going strong by the way.

So, what’s it about?

Before going into exactly what Fire Force is about, it might be worth remembering beforehand that very few things are truly flawless and this anime title is no exception. To that effect, the early stages of Fire Force could leave many viewers disinterested due to the rather generic story behind the lead character.

The protagonist in this series follows the typical blueprint of coming from a background of tragic events which fuels an insatiable appetite to be the best at what he does, we’ve seen this countless times and not just in anime. To make matters worse, the series takes a bit of time in getting viewers to the fin parts.

That said, Fire Force is set in a fictional period in a time dubbed Tokyo’s Solar Era. The year is 198, more than two hundred years after The Great Cataclysm. An event that saw entire nations being wiped out as the vast portions of the world were set ablaze and people perished from spontaneous human combustion.

However, those who spontaneously set on fire don’t die as a result, instead of turning into a horde of flaming demons known as infernals. These living infernos are a first-generation result of the phenomenon, which are soon followed by the second generation of a more powerful horned variety of called demons. There is also a third-generation, one that has the power to control fire – an ability referred to as pyrokinesis – while retaining their full human form and characteristics.

As the rest of the world collapsed, a pocket of humanity was able to thrive in Tokyo with the help of Haijima Industries, and their belief in the sun god, Holy Sol. This is where our protagonist, Shinra Kusakabe, joins the Fire Force, an elite unit made up of mostly pyrokinesis powered people and It’s not long before questions about the origin of the internal are questioned.

What’s good?

Fire Force puts a nice fanatical theme on fire fighting, which is a theme that’s been played with more than a few times but never in this manner – the series has a way of playing out this fantasy in a way that still manages to incorporate a good amount of realism.

What’s not?

Though Fire Force has its shiny facets, it is not perfect. Being an action-packed story of fighting with fire, it doesn’t seem to match up with its most comparable series – Promare. Furthermore, the series is shonen to the core, so it carries all the pros and cons of this genre of anime.

The post Fire Force appeared first on Bizznerd.

The Dark Souls: Nightfall mod is the result of a concerted effort between a small band of developers who started working on the project in 2019. In quite an impressive display, the undersized team published the first preview of what they’d been tirelessly working on in February this year.

According to their own website, “Nightfall is a direct fan-made sequel to Dark Souls, with a new story, new characters and bosses, new world map (built mostly from the existing pieces), and much more,”

Though it starts players off in the Undead Asylum and builds on the events of the original game, the indie sequel to Dark Souls is a new story and players will be treated to a number of new additions.

“It’s basically a brand new Souls game built using the Dark Souls engine and assets. Combat will be faster-paced, against a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar foes, with brand new voiced NPCs and side-quests. Nightfall also takes many cues from the design of Majora’s Mask, one of my favourite games.” as per the Dark Souls: Nightfall website.

Dark Souls: Nightfall is delivered as a single-player only package and as a deliberately inserted protective measure against the possibility of players experiencing l issues with the mod, Dark Souls: Remastered players with the Nightfall mod active will not be able to connect to the game’s servers.

The exact date of Dark Souls: Nightfall’s launch is another interesting point. The 21st December date means the mod’s release is planned to happen exactly one month in advance of Elden Ring’s launch – which many people consider an official sequel to the original Dark Souls. This was another deliberate move from the developers behind the Nightfall mod, with their website indicating how they made a point of avoiding a clash with Elden Ring’s planned launch.

For fans who miss the crypts, swamps, fortresses and hamlets of the original Dark Souls – it really has been quite a while right? – and also happen to have the remastered version available (technical limitations mean that the original Dark Souls is not compatible) then the Nightfall mod is exactly what you need to keep your composure while waiting for the 21st of January.

Nightfall is a grand exhibition of what is possible in terms of modding Dark Souls: Remastered and the reworked world map, new characters, new areas and an improved combat system promise to reignite ones passion for Dark Souls and keep them glued to their screens as they rediscover this fan-favourite title. However, until Dark Souls: Nightfall is officially released, the only thing we can do is watch the pretty cool work in progress videos that developers have been kind enough to share.

The post Dark Souls: Remastered’s Fan-Made Sequel, Nightfall, Is Soon To Launch; Here Are All The Details appeared first on Bizznerd.

Developed and published by WarpFrog, Blade and Sorcery: Nomad is a Meta Quest 2 exclusive of the immensely popular “built-for-VR medieval fantasy sandbox” game that’s been making waves on PCVR since its release in December 2018.

Being a version that is optimized to suit a stand-alone VR headset, Blade and Sorcery: Nomad has had a little bit of it shaved off so one should not expect it to be as visually gratifying as its PCVR counterpart. However, the physics – which is a major factor of why this is such a great title – remains largely unchanged.

What’s it like to play?

Blade and Sorcery: Nomad is all about the player, by that I mean, there is no storyline that dictates when you get to do what. With this game “the combat is limited only by your own creativity.”  Though it is a game, Blade and Sorcery simply aims to be the best simulation of medieval combat – with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure.

“A big component of Blade & Sorcery, and something that might be tricky for people to wrap their head around at first, is that primarily it is a simulation and secondary a game,” as per The Barro, who is a  developer at WarpFrog and the community manager of Blades and Sorcery.

That said, Quest 2 owners who want to give  Blade and Sorcery: Nomad a run will be in for a little less in the way of enemies and maps. For example, players who’ve had a taste of the PCVR version might notice that Nomad is missing the Citadel map – which thes been giving the developers a hard time as they’ve been battling to get it to work on Quest 2.

Besides using the games renowned physics and a wide variety of medieval weapons to slay hilariously doll-like “AI” enemies, Nomad also features a “Dungeons” game mode that is a little more structured than the regular sandbox delivery of play – it’s the same thing, just procedurally-generated.

Magic is also a key part of playing Blades and Sorcery: Nomad and it can be used as a direct attack – like throwing a ball of fire at a foe, or used to enchant an equipped weapon, or even slow down time for those YouTube worthy cinematics. All in all, this game amounts to a satisfactory experience for those who would be interested in simulating the gore of medieval combat – even with the enemy’s clownish behaviour.

Other key points

Nomad is set to receive all the exact updates as it’s PCVR sibling, meaning Quest 2 players are also in line to get the “Progression mode” update that is set to release next year – basically an upgraded form of the Dungeons mode. What this entails is the ability to unlock new weapons, create a separate character from your sandbox character and a range of new abilities and being able to collect loot.

The post Blade and Sorcecery: Nomad VR Game appeared first on Bizznerd.

The decision from Valve – which was taken sometime in October – came as a surprise to many, especially when one considers the massive growth that’s been happening on the back of a sharp rise in the popularity of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). These NFTs, coupled with an in-game cryptocurrency, play a central role in the economics of the vast majority of blockchain built games.

Valve’s decision to ban crypto games as a whole was brought to the public’s attention by SpacePirate, a game developer directly affected by the new rules. Using Twitter as a voice, the developer behind the blockchain game, Age of Rust, reiterated Valve’s new publishing guidelines which do not want blockchain built games that “that issue or allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs’ ‘.

With Steam being one the biggest distribution points for the gaming industry, SpacePirate’s views the new rules as having the potential to create significant disruptions for crypto gaming.

“While I’m disappointed for Age of Rust being removed, the point is more to the fact that Blockchain games as a whole are going to be removed. This is a setback for all.” As SpacePirate explained on Twitter, “While I respect their choice, I fundamentally believe that NFTs and blockchain games are the future. It’s why I started this journey with all of you.”

Though Valve themselves have avoided giving the public any kind of rationale regarding the changes, there have been a few speculative ideas that have done the rounds. One of those being that the company would like to avoid the possibility of getting pulled into some of the bad press that’s been associated with the NFT market,  with the evolved apes debacle being thrown around as an example.

However, according to Space Pirate Games, Valve’s reasoning is as simple as “items [NFTs and in-game cryptocurrencies]  have value and they don’t allow items that can have real-world value on their platform,”.

It’s not game over yet

Though the decision to ban crypto games on one of the most popular game distribution platforms made ripples, the blockchain built games and in-game cryptocurrencies is a concept that’s been gaining momentum for a few years now, and riding the wave of an all-round bull was an added bonus for this segment blockchain technology.

Beyond the general resilience and willingness to adapt that is seen in legitimate blockchain projects and the cryptocurrency market – which have been called scams a countless number of times, one should also consider the fact that Steam has competition, it has competition that is always looking to get an upper hand.

One of those competitors is Epic Games, also a bug name in the gaming industry, Epic believes that NFTs and crypto gaming pose no real threat to their business and are open to having them hosted on their distribution platform. However, the company had previously stated that they currently have no desire to incorporate crypto or NFTs in their own games.

What to take home

Steam’s ban on crypto and NFT infused games was never really going to cripple the new segment, however, it does point to a problem that has been with the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector since the heyday of ICOs – something needs to be done about the scams.

On one hand, decentralization has always been one of the most attractive attributes of blockchain and crypto, however, this leaves the sector quite exposed to the potential threats that look to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. This is not to say that the more centralized approach is flawless, scams have been around before cryptocurrency – in an endless game of cat and mouse with authorities.

Realistically, this is probably the fate of crypto gaming as well. The developers and the public will have to constantly adapt to threats that will consistently do the same and a failure to do so means losses. This is especially true for the public as they are the scammer’s main targets.

The post Valve’s Ban On Crypto Games, How Bad Could It Be? appeared first on Bizznerd.

In order to get this right, Blizzard Entertainment and its partner in the development of Diablo Immortal – NetEase Games – went straight to the players for advice. This was done via an exclusive public alpha demo of the game that ran from December 2020 to January 2021. The Android exclusive beta testing went live on the 28th of October 2021.

“At the end of our Technical Alpha, we looked at every single piece of feedback we got … We basically did a summit where we had all the team on a Zoom, and I was sharing my screen, and we just went line-by-line” started Diablo Immortal’s lead game producer, Caleb Arseneaux.

The Plot and Gameplay

The timeline of Diablo Immortal’s story is set 5 years after Diablo 2, but well prior to the start of Diablo 3. This nestles the title nicely into the existing storyline. In staying true to the games that came before Diablo Immortal, it is from interacting with the wise old man, Deckard Cain, that players learn of their quest. Their job is to locate and destroy pieces of the World Stone in order to prevent the impending disaster.

The graphics are better than those of Diablo 2. However, one shouldn’t expect a Diablo 3 level of sleekness to them. Diablo Immortal players will have six character classes to choose from and the game will also feature new areas. Furthermore, being an MMO title means that this version of Diablo will naturally have a greater focus on the multiplayer side of things. Hopefully,  this won’t disturb the single-player value that the Diablo series has always had.

Closing notes

It is quite interesting that a game that was initially so harshly received that it even negatively affected Activision’s stocks is now one of the most anticipated titles. It’s also great to see developer teams that actively engage in discussions with the gaming community to develop products that the consumers want. Let’s hope that the democratic approach to game development leads to fruitful results.

The post Diablo Immortal: Here’s What To Expect In 2022 appeared first on Bizznerd.

What is Genshin Impact?

Genshin Impact is one of the most well-received RPG (Role Playing Game) titles in recent times. The free-to-play game managed to rake in just under $250 million in the first month of its official launch on mobile platforms and maintained that fan-fueled momentum all through this year.

More specifically, Genshin Impact Mobile leaped ahead of the competition – PUBG & Honor of Kings –  to snatch the highest-grossing mobile game (though it is available on PC,  PS4, and PS5) in September. Exactly 12 months following its official release. This is an indication of just how much gamers have grown to love this title.

There are a number of aspects that make Genshin Impact an appealing and engrossing game. From its distinct anime-derived look to its captivating storytelling and interesting characters, plus the vast and ever-expanding world for players to explore, there’s always something to keep players engaged. Even with the gacha mechanics that are synonymous with free-to-play titles.

Here’s what makes Genshin Impact Mobile a great game 

Apart from being able to play on the move, there are a number of things that make the mobile incarnation of Genshin Impact an awesome game to play. In fact, in some instances, it’s better than the game on other platforms – namely PS4. Without further ado, here are some of the things that make Genshin Impact Mobile a great game.

Accessing the saved game across different platforms

This is a point where playing Genshin Impact on your mobile device comes with more perks than playing on PS4. Unfortunately for PS4 players, continuing a saved game on a different device like your PC or phone is impossible since a player’s game progress is linked to their PlayStation Network account. That severely limits one’s flexibility.

However, Genshin Impact players who use either mobile or PC as their main gaming platform have their game progress tied to their miHOYO accounts. For them, getting to their saved game progress is as easy as logging in.

IOS Controller Support

Being able to play your favorite games while on a plane or on a lunch break is always a win. This is one of the biggest selling points of mobile gaming. However, there are some drawbacks to it. The touch controls on the screen can be difficult for many players to master.

To tackle this issue, miHOYO added controller support for players who use IOS devices. However, the developer is yet to release an equivalent for Android device users.

Materials & Commissions are easier to acquire on mobile

As with most – if not all – games that co-habit this genre with Genshin Impact, unlocking in-game rewards is time-consuming work, such much so, that some Genshin Impact accounts are worth thousands! Genshin Impact requires players to complete numerous quests and daily commissions. Being able to do this wherever you are is a major bonus for the mobile version of the game.

So, What Might Need a Little Improvement in Genshin Impact Mobile?

As with most good games, there are some points here and there that might not fit in well, or simply annoy players and Genshin Impact is by no means immune to this reality.

The lack of controller support for Android

This is a major factor, one would think that the developers would consider dishing out something like this to both platforms shortly apart from one another if a simultaneous release was impossible. This is particularly frustrating for players whose phones have smaller screens.

Level-gated Quests

One should note that their quest log will be awash with quest lines that they can’t access due to the low character levels. Solving this seems as easy as leveling upright? However, it’s not that simple when you have to pay attention to leveling up a four-character party to relatively similar levels in order to maintain a balanced team.

Closing thoughts 

Genshin Impact is a thoroughly enjoyable title, even for players who aren’t necessarily fans of the RPG genre. The unique art style and vast fully explorable world are always a joy to experience on your mobile, even with the minor aforementioned issues.

The post Genshin Impact Mobile: The Good and The Bad appeared first on Bizznerd.

That’s the most common association when it comes to anime and manga series that revolve around the lives of little girls. Gunslinger Girl is the exact negative of that. It is a title for those who are able to stomach a plot that raises serious moral questions and a bit of gore. This is not to be confused with Bubblegum Crisis.

What is Gunslinger Girl?

Produced by Madhouse Gunslinger Girl’s rather serious story is played out in Italy. It revolves around the lives of a group of little girls who were taken in by a government organization called the Social Welfare Agency. However, the “Social Welfare” aspect of things isn’t necessarily about the girls. This is a secret organization that uses high-tech medical engineering to rehabilitate vulnerable children with serious injuries which they deploy as assassins – a clandestine unit of cyborg child soldiers.

Fratellos

Their main mission is to take out the mob and separatist terrorists. Each child is attached to an adult to form teams that are referred to as “Fratellos”. As the story plays out episodically, each one tries to focus on the interactions between each girl and her handler. However, the show pays more attention to the leading character, Henrietta, and her handler Jose.

The very nature of its plot and the stark differences between each individual Fratello add to the seriousness of this series. For example, Henrietta enjoys a friendlier relationship with her handler. It resembles that of a father and his daughter, or an older brother and younger sister. On the other hand, another one of the girls who goes by the name, Rico, receives a far worse treatment from her handler. He saw her as nothing more than a tool to help him achieve the objectives the agency gives him.

The Good

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this anime series is the attention to detail. It starts with the modern Italian setting (you can even spot a Ferrari in one scene) and flows through to the realism of the well-animated gunfights. Henrietta’s FN P-90 and Rico’s Dragunov sniper rifle definitely sound as real as the real-world versions.

This attention to detail can also be seen in layers of each individual character as they are revealed. Whenever they aren’t engaged in anti-terror operations, the girls generally behave their age.

The Bad

There is a lot of things this series does right. However, there are a few areas where the creators could have done a much better job. The most damning of these is the duration and frequency of the action scenes. Even though they are fluid and gripping, the number of action scenes is low. The lack of them makes the viewer want more. It sometimes feels as though the creators were trying a little too hard to stick to the realism of it.

Another issue is the focus on the girls’ lives, it seems to play a role in robbing viewers of action while never really reaching a meaningful conclusion. To add to this, there is a sense of vagueness to how the story plays out.

The post Review: Gunslinger Girl  appeared first on Bizznerd.

The main plot of Seven Deadly Sins

As it stands, the series plays out over five seasons and there are two films.  So, there’s a lot of content for those who are interested in what has become one of the most popular anime series on Netflix. The story follows the life of Meliodas. He is the leader of a group of disavowed knights known for being framed for trying to plot a coup.

Known as The Seven Deadly Sins, our band of heroes is on a mission to liberate the kingdom of Liones from The Holy Knights. The knights are adversaries who started a rebellion and framed them in order to seize control of the kingdom of Britannia.

What are The Seven Deadly Sins?

Each one of the Deadly Sins carries a beast marking with a name that is symbolic of the crimes they were convicted of. However, they once dominated the kingdom of Brittania as the most powerful unit of the Holy Knights.

Characters and their sins

The main character Meliodas – bears the sin of wrath and is marked with a dragon.

Diane is marked by a serpent and carries its sin of envy. Then there’s Ban, who is marked by a Fox and carries the sin of greed. King carries the Grizzly’s sin of sloth while Gowther bares the goat’s sin of lust. Merlin, the most powerful mage in the kingdom, carries the Boar’s sin of gluttony. Lastly, Escanor bears Lion’s sin of pride.

Being that The Seven Deadly Sins is a series where the magic takes center stage, it should not be surprising that many of the characters in the series are in fact millennia old. Take Meliodas as an example; though he may not look the part, he has been alive for more than 3000 years.

As for the ages of the other Deadly Sins, Diane is far younger than Meliodas at 750 years. Ban has a more relatable age of 34. Gowther and King have also been alive for very long for over thousands of years. It is expected that a grand mage like Merlin will have many years behind him. That is exactly what we get here as he is also well experienced at 3000+ years old.

Closing

As noted above, The Seven Deadly Sins manga has been around for a while and as a result, has branched out to many films apart from the already numerous episodes. So it might be a good idea for viewers who are new to the series to get acquainted with it in chronological order, picking out a random episode may only result in confusion.

The post Seven Deadly Sins; Here’s Why You Might Want to Watch It appeared first on Bizznerd.

2021 has undoubtedly been the most exciting year for cryptocurrency and blockchain to date. Apart from the generous returns that savvy investors have enjoyed, this is the year that kick-started mass adoption. It is evidenced by numerous legacy financial institutions working to position themselves strategically in the rapidly expanding sector.

NFTs paving the way

Yet, revolutionizing finance was only the beginning. Following the Decentralised Finance (Defi) sector’s blazing run, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) had their own frenzied spike in popularity with a number of these unique tokens selling at prices that rival fine artworks.

Not only did the activity in the segment attract interest from prestigious auction houses like Christie’s, but it also caught the attention of sports teams, musicians, and the film industry. Furthermore, as NTFS started to gain mainstream acceptance, they also quietly paved the way for Metaverses and the rest of the blockchain-based gaming segment.

The rise of the Metaverse Tokens 

As NFT artworks changed hands for tantalizing sums, the prices of virtual properties which exist in Metaverse games like Decentrald, Upland, and Axie Infinity also reflected the spike in demand – shifting ownership from seller to buyer at prices that resembled those of properties in the physical world.

As droves of crypto enthusiasts and gamers flocked to get a taste of both blockchain and gaming’s new kid on the block (thanks in part to the free time created by worldwide lockdowns) in-game items and native tokens also jumped in value.

With government-sanctioned isolation protocols limiting movement and even threatening livelihoods, decentralized gaming became more than just a novel escape from reality – it evolved into a means to financial freedom for many who felt the financial brunt of the global lockdowns.

In doing so, Metaverse Tokens and the entire blockchain gaming segment managed to build up significant momentum that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, it seems that Metaverse Tokens are only just getting started. While the rest of the market has mostly remained a little sluggish to stagnant, November went down as a beaming month for Metaverse Tokens – with the native tokens of Decentrald (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND) each growing their value by more than 600%.

A bright future ahead

According to a report by Accenture, the gaming industry is currently valued at $300 billion – “driven by a surge in mobile gaming and an emphasis on social interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.” as per Accenture’s report and likely played a role in the growth of Metaverses and their native tokens.

It was only natural that this kind of positive activity would attract a lot of interest. However, the nature of Metaverses has made them an attractive space to more than just the powerhouses of the gaming industry and tech and social media giants like Facebook.inc (now rebranded to meta).

The potential of blockchain-powered Virtual worlds has led to major fashion brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Rebecca Minkoff, and even sportswear brand Adidas actively working to grow their presence in these new and intriguing virtual spaces.

Closing thoughts about Metaverse and tokens

If the success of titles like Roblox and PUBG were to be used as indicators of the potential Metaverses, then it might be safe to assume that there is still a lot of room for growth in this segment. With limited supply tokens that are intrinsically tied to the economics of each blockchain-based gaming title, the value of the tokens themselves may be in for a little to a lot more upward movement in the coming months.

The post Metaverse Tokens Take The Lead In The Festive Season appeared first on Bizznerd.

That makes sense as the mobile segment of the gaming market has been booming in recent years and Crash Bandicoot seems the perfect fit for mobile platforms – more especially when in the endless runner format that developer King opted for with Crash Bandicoot: On The Run.

Auto-running and Crash Bandicoot

Thankfully, the idea of auto-running is not a completely novel one when it comes to the Crash Bandicoot franchise. If we exercise our memories a bit, we’ll remember that Crash 4 and even those old classics all had levels that were nothing but auto-running. The main difference between them and Crash Bandicoot: On The Run is that all levels are auto-running levels and that you won’t be running towards the screen as in some of the older games.

This makes Crash “On The Run” an easily playable game while still presenting an enjoyable challenge to a player’s reflexes as they’ll have to dodge enemies and do some manoeuvring in order to collect items like wumpa fruit.

Gameplay of Crash Bandicoot – On the Run

With Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, players have the choice of auto-running through the levels as Crash or his sister Coco on a mission to stop Neo Cortex and his henchman – spinning, jumping, and sliding your way around the obstacles to get to the next level. There are two kinds of levels in On The Run, One where players will face a boss fight in order to progress to the next level, and another where the only objective is to collect as many items as possible.

Item collecting is an important part of this mobile retake of Crash Bandicoot. Not only does the focus on collecting items, but it is also important to progress in the game as players will need to use collected items to craft bombs and serums in the “Nitro Lab” if they plan to win boss fights. This is a welcome addition of a little more depth which is much needed in the world of auto-runners.

The pros

Game developer, King, has done a great job of making a simple auto-running game that is a little bit more enjoyable with its well-thought-out approach to gameplay. Another positive is the nostalgic incorporation of wumpa fruit, Aku Aku masks, and the recognizable bosses that you face up with like, Dingodile and N.Brio.

The cons

On the downside, Crash Bandicoot: On The Run’s regular 300MB to 400MB downloads can be a real pain for players who don’t have ready access to free Wi-Fi or are bound by a limited data plan. Another issue is the lack of variety to the levels, which is not typical of the Crash Bandicoot Franchise.

Last but not least is the all too common complaint about the extortion-like approach of the free-to-play business model. Progress in Crash On The Run is so annoyingly sluggish that it damn near forces you to start making purchases.

The post Crash Bandicoot: On The Run – Mobile version appeared first on Bizznerd.

Augmented Reality in the past

For many years, the idea of Augmented Reality impacting our day-to-day lives was something that would remain bound to our imaginations and the sci-fi-themed media we consume – an artificial luxury from our distant future.

However, looking at where we are today, that future might be upon us. In the past few years, we’ve seen numerous startups and products as the fields of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR have expanded. Many of these companies promise to change many aspects of our lives like gaming, education, how we interact over long distances, and even the medical profession.

Surgery and Augmented reality

In many cases, those promises are being kept. In one of the most groundbreaking surgeries in recent history, AR went beyond helping to train surgeons – as per the usual notion of AR in medicine. Instead, they use of Augmented Reality played a pivotal role in the success of the medical procedure.

“We’re going to a place in medicine that has just never existed before,” Dr. Steven Murphy – an orthopaedic surgeon at the New England Baptist Hospital – said of the results of the breakthrough hip replacement procedure.

Dr. Murphy is also the founder of Surgical Planning Associates and developer of Hipinsight, the intra-operative Augmented Reality guidance system that was used throughout the procedure.

How does it work?

The platform dubbed ‘Hipinsights’ works by loading a set of 3-dimensional images of the patient’s exact anatomy onto a pair/s of suitable headsets – specifically Microsoft’s HoloLense 2 Mixed Reality headset.

A specialized tracking system is then attached to the patient. Once ready, the lenses are synchronized with the tracking system, giving Dr. Murphy and his team a 3D view of the patient’s anatomical details as they operated.

“What this does is it takes all the critical three-dimensional information of that patient and puts it right where you want it, when you want it, in real-time,” Dr. Murphy said.

One could think of it as giving doctors a real-time X-ray view of the patient which gives them a whole new level of exactitude.

“Little differences turn out to be big differences for the patient. Being able to lock in and be sure that everything you’re doing is exactly what you planned and you’re accomplishing exactly what you’re setting out to do, is a difference-maker for surgery,” Murphy added.

Dr Murphy’s system was approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as early as January 28 and it did not take them long to get to work. North Atlantic Surgery Suites in Salem, New Hampshire, used the system to assist with a hip replacement procedure only a month later. Dr. Murphy hopes that the system can be adapted for other procedures like knee replacements in the near future.

The post Augmented Reality Debuts As An Assistant In Live Surgery  appeared first on Bizznerd.

Nobody knows for sure, but the difference between the Attack on Titan anime and manga is likely a result of creativity clashes. So without further ado, here they are.

The main protagonists are portrayed differently in the manga vs the anime series

Firstly, the anime series shows Aramin in a completely different light to the manga. The anime characterizes Armin as a fearful and submissive personality who later learns to use his intelligence as his sharpest tool. However, the manga gives him a different and more well-rounded character who doesn’t fold over too easily.

The same can be said of the anime’s portrayal of Eren. The comic gives a more holistic approach to revealing his character and shows him as someone who is driven by more than anger and the desire to eradicate Titans – a yearning for true freedom that he shares with his friend Armin.

The manga also describes Micasa in a different light. For one, she isn’t so obsessed with Eren in the manga as she is in the anime. Those who take the time to explore the manga will note that she socializes a lot more than what is depicted in the anime series.

Eren does NOT beat Annie in their epic encounter in manga

This was a very climactic moment, however, the exact sequence of events that leads to Annie coating herself in “diamond” to avoid interrogation is where things start to differ quite a bit.

In the anime series, Eren gains the upper hand and defeats Annie as they fight it out in Titan form. However, in the comic, Eren comes out second-best and needs the intervention of the Survey Corps to get her into her crystal cocoon.

There are differences in the censorship

Being such a brutal animated series, one might find it a little hard to believe that the Attack on Titan anime toned down some of the gore found in the manga. For fans of that kind of sheer brutality, it makes for a very satisfying experience.

Kenny and the Ackerman clan are given more depth in the manga

The manga goes into more detail about Kenny’s history and that of the Ackerman clan, even dropping a few hints about Micasa’s history. Kenny is also depicted more as a multifaceted character rather than a person who is simply fueled by destructive desires.

Even his history with Levi and what led to a souring of their relationship gets a more detailed description in the manga series.

Closing

Attack on Titan is not the only anime title that strays slightly from the manga series. To reconcile these differences, one should consider that time is of the essence when it comes to television, animated or not.

The post Attack on Titan: Where The Anime Strays From The Manga appeared first on Bizznerd.

Regulations of Cryptocurrencies in South Korea

Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts spoke of the days that digital assets would go mainstream, with regulations being the common subject of many of those discussions. Well, after all the waiting and debating, crypto’s time to shine has finally arrived – with regulations in tow.

In the South Korean context, legislators have come to the conclusion that all entities that provide digital assets management services, including cryptocurrency exchange and providers of other related services, must register to gain the approval of the country monetary watchdog, KFUI (Korean Financial Intelligence Unit), in order to operate legally within South Korean borders.

This process requires all entities that wish to or already operate in the digital assets arena to register with the ISMS (Information Security Management System). The aim is to ensure that all accounts have real names attached to them and that cryptocurrency transactions are not used to circumvent the system’s safeguards against financial crimes like money laundering.

Korean banks adapt to suit the changing environment

Following the regulator’s announcement, a number of big banks in South Korea went in search of alternatives that would help them continue to provide their customers with access to digital assets-related services like exchanges.

The solution is forming partnerships with fintech companies in order to provide crypto custody services to their clients. More specifically, four banks in South Korea have gone the route. They are Kookmin Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, and Shinhan Financial Group, and Woori Financial Group.

Kookmin Bank chose to team up with blockchain developer Haechi labs in bringing to life their DACS (Digital Assets Custody Service) named KODA, which currently offers support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and KLAY tokens.

Shinhan Bank, on the other hand, opted to strategically invest in the already established KDAC (Korean Digital Assets Custody), which was developed by cry exchange Korbit. Meanwhile, Woori Financial Group joined forces with Coinplug, among the first cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea and majority shareholder of the joint venture, to bring their clients a DAC service named D-Custody.

Lastly, we have NH Bank who struck an agreement with the second-largest digital assets exchange in South Korea, Bithumb, to provide their customers with accounts that allow them to directly trade top tier cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum with the Korean won.

Only a matter of time

Through their willingness to adapt to change, S. Korean legacy financial institutions have helped to keep the doors open for innovation, even in the face of what some might refer to as a government crackdown, particularly after the mention of a 20% capital gains tax that is set to go into effect next year.

However, the coming of regulation had been foretold, especially in the wake of both astronomical value gains and the staggering losses to cyber and financial crimes. It really was only a matter of time.

The post South Korean Banks Embrace Crypto Custody appeared first on Bizznerd.

The past of Playstation and Xbox

For many years Sony pretty much held the title of the “best” console following the launch of the first Playstation consoles and the subsequent update. However, when Microsoft introduced the first iteration of the Xbox a year after Sony launched the PlayStation 2, the world of console gaming would never be the same again.

Since then, it has been an endless game of one-upmanship between the two contenders. This is the case even though Sony seems to win consistently when looking solely at the market share. That said, the debate is always heated and consumers will always pit the two against each other. Because people are competitive by nature and we always want to be sure that we are getting the best for our money.

So when it comes to comparing consoles or any other competing products for that matter, it invariably leads to a comparison of their inner workings. The same goes for the Sony PS5 and the Xbox Series X.

PS5 v Xbox Series X, the titans go head to head

Looking at the technology that runs the PS5 and Xbox X, both competitors came ready to bruise and are quite evenly matched. Both companies chose to stay with chipmaker AMD on their latest offerings.

The PS5

The PS5 uses a third-generation variant of AMD’s Ryzen CPU, an 8 core chip that has been tailored to Sony’s exact desires.

The story is very much the same when it comes to the GPU. It is a tailored version of the Radeon Navi which supports ray-tracing and 3D audio simulation. When coupled with the PS5’s 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, players have up to 10.28 teraFLOPs at their disposal.

As for storage space, the PS5 ships with an 825 GB SSD (Solid State Drive) that runs at 5.5GB per second, which makes for some ultra-fast loading times.

Xbox Series X

Much like the competition, Microsoft’s work with partnership with AMD was an endeavor to customize components to suit the latest version of Xbox.

The Xbox also features an 8 core CPU, however, this version clocks higher at 3.8GHz – a tad higher than the Sony PS5’s 3.5GHz.

The GPU that Microsoft runs in the latest Xbox also leaves the PS5 wanting. More specifically Xbox Series X buyers have up to 12 teraFLOPs hidden “under the hood” that are paired with an exact match of 16GB GDDR6 RAM.

To top it off, the Xbox SX comes standard with an impressive 1TB SSD That runs at 2.4GB per second. If that is not enough for you, all you need to do is get your hands on an Xbox Series X Storage Expansion Card to get yourself another 1TB of storage.

Tallying up the score of PS5 vs Xbox X

When looking at the figures, the Xbox Series X has a clear hardware advantage over the Playstation 5. However, a closer inspection might reveal a few more important facts.

For one, the Xbox SX’s CPU figures only reach that high when the simultaneous multithreading feature is active, the gap between the two is otherwise a marginal one.

The GPU differences are another point worth paying a little extra attention to. Though Xbox Series X owners can boast about the higher teraFLOP figures, they might not really matter all that much beyond the platform’s exclusive titles like Gears of War.

That said, the asking price for the two competitors is similar – both with an MSRP of $500. So the question of which of the two is “better” is a very personal one, most probably determined by brand loyalty and which exclusive games one cannot go without playing.

The post Playstation 5 vs Xbox Series X; Who Wears The Crown appeared first on Bizznerd.

For those who choose this route, the road to success is a learning curve that requires a lot of time and discipline from the aspiring trader. To make things more manageable for both aspiring and professional traders, automated trading solutions like 3Commas Bot are here to help.

3Commas Bot promises to solve many of the immutable limitations that come with being human, chief among them being the inability to trade 24/7 and that alone could be convincing enough to go the automated route.

3Commas Bot

3Commas Bot is a highly regarded autonomous trading bot service that has been active in the cryptocurrency market since 2017. Based in Toronto, Canada, accessibility, and ease of use are at the core of 3Commas’ services and currently boast a user base of more than 30 000 who collectively make up over $10 million in daily trading volume.

That said, 3Commas offers novice and professional traders a comprehensive set of tools to help them realize profits and avert potential losses at different prices. These include an intuitive dashboard, a variety of educational resources, and a cache of algorithms and strategies used by other traders.

Key Features of the bot

Usability

This is one point where 3Commas shines. The service is web-based and can be managed via desktop or a mobile app. Through the intuitive interface, even novice traders should have a relatively easy time navigating and customizing their bots to suit their preferred trading styles.

Variety of Easy to Use Trading Bots

Bots are the main attraction when it comes to platforms like 3Commas, so it comes as a relief to know that the service offers a range of them with a user-friendly customization process.

The bots available for users mainly run dollar-cost averaging-based strategies as a default. Being relatively simple to use, they can be set up and be operational in only a few minutes. Furthermore, users can customize how aggressively or conservatively their chosen bot trades. One should note that the more advanced bots offer users more options when it comes to customization.

3Commas Educational Tools

This is another point where 3Commas tries hard to make the automated trading experience better for novice traders, even those with little to no cryptocurrency trades in their history.

3Commas’ integrated trading school offers a four-stage course that will take traders from the bare basics of digital assets to strategies and finally customizing your very own 3Commas bot. To add to this, 3Commas also offers paper trading to test the efficiency of users’ strategies.

3Commas further expands its potential as a go-to crypto trading platform by adding a social element where traders can comment on lessons and share ideas and strategies.

3Commas Mobile App

Access to the internet has exploded since the proliferation of the smartphone and in the wake of the mobile movement. Retail trading has also seen massive growth. In fact, most crypto traders probably do it via mobile.

3Commas also has a mobile app that gives users full access, regardless of which payment plan they have. Furthermore, the mobile app has all the features of the desktop client, making it convenient for checking up on your bots while on the move. However, one may experience a bit of lag when using the mobile app.

3Commas Subscription

Traders who are interested in automated trading with 3Commas have four subscription plans to choose from – these are the Free Plan, the Starter Plan, the Advanced Plan, and the Pro Plan.

The most basic plan costs the user nothing to use, while the Starter plan requires a monthly fee of $14.50. Going up one tier to the Advanced plan will cost the user $24.50 per month, while the Pro plan will go up to $49.50 per month.

The Conclusion

By being cloud-based, relatively easy to use, and offering a free junior plan, they make a very bold attempt at solving a number of the problems that cryptocurrency traders have had to face when trying to use an automated trading bot.

Simply put, 3Commas, with all its features, is a top contender to become almost anyone’s go-to digital assets trading service.

The post 3Commas Trading Bot – Review appeared first on Bizznerd.

Though the effects of the supply deficit seemed to hit in a sudden instant, the build-up to where we are now began a little while before 2020 exposed all the gaps.

The Timeline Of Events that lead to GPU shortage

The first signs of trouble came in February of 2020. The world leader in GPU production, Nvidia, reduces its projected revenue for the first quarter by approximately $ 100 million as the company grew concerned about the possible impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.

About a month later, the situation is only worsening. Following the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic, the whole world begins to go into a state of “lockdown”, which devastated supply chains as borders are closed.

As the world economy rapidly slowed, many of the people fortunate enough to remain employed now need to work from home. As a result, the internet economy was booming, driving up demand for computers and other related products at the worst possible time for manufactures and distributors.

GPU Scalpers

As if getting products to their end consumers wasn’t already tricky enough for Nvidia and AMD, the entry of the so-called “scalpers” only intensified the pressure that chip makers were already being subjected to. By making use of bots, the scalpers were able to rapidly get ahold of new release GPUs. Then sell them on the secondary market for two to three times their original market price.

The scalpers didn’t stop there, a successful run at disrupting the supply of GPUs to gamers was just the beginning. From there, scalpers set their sights on Sony and Microsoft’s highly anticipated launches of their latest consols, the PS5 and Xbox One – scooping up all available stock to sell it at inflated prices on sites like eBay and Amazon.

Crypto and its effect

Last but definitely not least, the global lockdowns came as a boon for the cryptocurrency market. Just like in 2017, the growth in retail demand for digital assets led to a spike in demand for GPUs, which are used to “mine” some of these coins/tokens.

It is probably worth noting that the global chip shortage is not limited to GPUs. Part of the reason that the PS5’s and Xbox Ones we’re so quickly and easily bought out has to do with a worldwide silicon chip supply deficit. One that’s been there for quite some time, but only recently reaching a climax.

What Might The Future Hold?

This is not the first time the world experiences a chip shortage, a similar situation played out during the mid-eighties to the early nineties. During that time, Nintendo was unable to fully meet the demand for the highly anticipated release of Super Mario Bros 3. Even going as far as cutting the production of other releases to try to make more room for it.

However, the shortage was filled as the cost of manufacturing chips steadily decreased. As the world starts to get the pandemic under control, we can expect the availability of chips to increase. For now, though, we have to make do with what we have.

The post Nvidia GPU Shortage: Here’s Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Bizznerd.

With the cryptocurrency market in a hot frenzy of bullish action, it’s only natural that a good number of people would be interested in BTT Token. Especially when considering BitTorrent’s impressive user base and extensive history of favoring the decentralized approach to the internet.

It leaves a number of pressing questions like: did BitTorrent ever actually need an in-house cryptocurrency? Does BTT Token have any real use or is it purely speculative? Does Token economics make it a worthwhile buy from an investor’s perspective? To answer these questions, let’s take it back to the beginning.

BitTorrent’s history

BitTorrent’s life began when developer Bram Cohen, the founder of Torrent inc, started designing the protocol in April 2001 before the launch of version 1.0.0 a few months later on the 2nd of June.

In its earliest iterations, BitTorrent was free software that was released with no licensing whatsoever and remained this way until the release of version 6. From then onwards, BitTorrent evolved into a rebranding of torrent and is no longer open source.

It was designed to let users take advantage of a peer-to-peer network in order to share pretty much any content for free, which is probably why it grew so large. However, BitTorrent was not without its own flaws.

Using BitTorrent was risky business, one of those being the risk of your device catching a virus. Another one was the lack of anonymity involved. Because people were required to share their IP addresses for it to work, only those who were tech-savvy enough to mask their IP addresses were truly safe.

However, this did deter users. In fact, BitTorrent continued to grow and It was this growth that would bring about the first major problems for the company. The popularity of BitTorrent coupled with the fact that content was distributed for free caught the attention of the entertainment industry, leading to threats of legal action for reasons related to piracy.

BitTorrent and the BTT Token

And then came the cryptocurrency era, and BitTorrent was not about to get left behind. So, they launched their very own BitTorrent Token. The token has a market cap of over $2 billion and saw a massive spike in the earlier part of the year,  going as high as $0.01269 before crashing to $0.004238.

As for practical use cases, “BitTorrent’s original goal was to disrupt the legacy entertainment industry and how consumers obtain content.” as per CoinMarket cap.

However, there is a long way to go before achieving this. Furthermore, to get a better reading of whether or not BTT is a good buy, one has to properly consider the fundamentals. Yes, BitTorrent has a major user base. However, the token’s total supply sits at 990 billion – with more than 600 billion of that already in circulation.

Though it may have a valid use case, the true value of BTT is subject to the cycle of supply vs demand. Furthermore, to truly gain ground BitTorrent has to work more actively in pushing forward their own idea of disrupting the entertainment industry. Only then that we might see the true potential of BTT.

The post BitTorrent & BTT Token; The History & The Way Forward  appeared first on Bizznerd.

How did the Championship start?

The League of Legends World Championship is hosted by the game’s creator, Riot Games, and has grown into a pioneer in the esports arena. More specifically, the popularity of the Worlds tournament managed to catch the eyes of the organizers of the 2022 Asia games, who have chosen to have it included as a medal event to be played at the sporting showcase.

The inaugural LoL World tournament, dubbed the Season 1 Championship, was held in Jönköping, Sweden, at the DreamHack Summer 2011 and got off to a blazing start. In total, a respectable total of 1,6 million viewers had tuned in to watch the streaming of the spectacle – with the final hitting a 210,069 ceiling of simultaneous views.

The tournament attracted 8 esports teams from North America, Europe, and South East Asia who competed for a prize pool of $100,000. In the end, it was the European team – Fnatic – who came out victorious. The position of runner-up went to Against all Authority – another EU-based exports collective.

Early growth spurts

Following a very successful launch of the Words tournament, the Season 2 World Championships, held in Los Angeles, California, pushed the bar even higher. This time, twelve qualifying teams would go against each other for what was the biggest prize pool in the history of sports – a whopping $2 million, $1 million of which would go to the winning team.

The second season of the World Championships began in October of 2012 and had by the time it had been watched by more than 8 million viewers by the time it had concluded. The final that saw the Taipei Assassins taking home the $1 million grand prize was held on the 13th of October 2012 and topped out at $1,1 million coincident views. It is also worth noting that the tournament was broadcast in 13 languages, this was a grand showing of things to come.

From there, the League of Legend World Championships let go of the seasonal numbers and stuck with years instead – a decision taken in 2014. The tournament continued on its growth trajectory, with ever-larger prize pools and viewership numbers that climbed tirelessly.

By 2020, the tournament’s popularity in exports had ballooned to the point that it saw a peak of 45.95 million simultaneous views, with Korean LoL Champion team Dam winning Gaming claiming the title.

League of Legends World Championship Right Now

The League of Legends World Championships 2021 is currently underway in Reykjavik, Iceland, where 22 of the world’s best LoL players have been duking it out over the $2,225,000 prize pool – which has remained stable at that amount since 2019.

This year’s get-together will see the winners walking away with 22% of the total, while the last two positions will have to make do with their share of 1% of the total prize pool.

The games began on the 5th of October and are slated to finalize on the 6th of November and can be streamed on Riot’s Twitch and Youtube channels. At the time of writing, there were 8 teams still left in the running.

The post League of Legends World Championship appeared first on Bizznerd.

Sony’s beta program was launched in June and comes in as the company’s equivalent to the Xbox Insider program, which has been available for a number of years and gives PS5 owners early access to firmware updates for the purpose of testing and feedback.

For those selected few, this means that they will be “among the first to put new features to the test and provide essential feedback that will help guide [Sony’s] development.” As per Sony PlayStation blog post.

How to get started with the PS5 Beta Testing program

The exclusivity of it all is probably one of the biggest draws right? Whatever the case, there are a number of prerequisite standards that your PlayStation Network account needs to meet before you can even dream to start your journey to PS5 beta testing.

Besides actually owning the relevant console, interested parties need to be over 18 years. The second potential problem is that that program is limited to a select few countries. These are Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States – being anywhere else in the world means you’re out of luck.

Once you have all these in order, the first thing you need to do is navigate to the PS5 beta program’s official website, sign in and click register now. From there you’ll go through the usual of reading the terms of service before clicking on the “I Agree” option and submitting your application to the PS5 beta program.

Sign-up is fairly simple. However, one should always keep in mind that participants in the beta program are selected and a submitted application does not guarantee that you’ll get the email with further details on how to get started. This is a roll of the dice so to speak.

What happens if you get selected?

Should you get the lucky call, you’ll have the opportunity to try out new software features that Sony intends to implement – like the possibility of testing out SSD expansion, which saw a lot of hype in recent months.

After testing out the differences you might feel when you arrange your list of trophies vertically, your most important task would be giving Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) the feedback they need in the exact format as specified by them.

Theoretically, these untested features shouldn’t tamper with your gaming experience in any way and if they do, your job will be to report it to SIE. Beyond the bragging rights that come with exclusivity, the bigger benefit of beta testing is a very personal one. The feeling of knowing that you in some way helped to steer the direction of something like the PS5 is priceless to some.

The post PS5 Beta Testing Program; Here’s What You Get appeared first on Bizznerd.

After the April announcement and a trailer released by Behaviour Interactive, the creator of the Dead by Daylight franchise, for their fifth anniversary, the much-anticipated collaboration finally went live on the 15th of June.

What is Dead by Daylight – Resident Evil like?

First of all, the Dead by Daylight franchise built a solid reputation for delivering a splendid horror experience with different titles and characters that have been featured in the past. That is partly why this particular mix was so highly anticipated.

This time, it’s Jill Valentine, Leon S, Kennedy, and Nemesis who’ve come to join the Dead by Daylight horror fest as playable characters. Nemesis is the killer, with Jill and Leon taking on the roles of survivors. Another cool addition was the passing nod to the Resident Evil 2 remake, a Raccoon City Police Station map that is built in a very similar manner.

Nemesis – new Dead by Daylight killer

Playing the game as Nemesis may take a bit of getting used to. Timing when to use the available abilities is key to Nemesis coming out on top. Nemesis is a killer that was designed to suit a more calculated approach, leading to a later victory as opposed to a swift, which could make this a challenging killer for a beginner player to master.

As for those aforementioned skills, one of Nemesis’ abilities brings non-playable characters (NPC) to the Dead by Daylight franchise. These NPC’s come into play when Nemesis summons a horde of zombies. Though slow-moving, they can create a few problems for survivors when they start lingering around in tight spaces.

Another one of Nemesis’ abilities is to infect survivors with T-Virus using a tentacle attack. This particular skill starts out rather weak but grows to become more effective over the course of a game, giving the killer the ability to nail long-range attacks and surprise strikes over obstacles.

Jill and Leon

As for Jill and Leon, they too were given a few tricks to help them survive this encounter. Jill has blast mines, which are planted on generators to disorientate the killer. On the other hand, Leon has the ability to throw flashbang, which also serves to stun Nemesis. Both these abilities represent the only means through which the survivors can directly engage a killer, however, both are potential game-changers when deployed skillfully.

That said, the structure of the game is asymmetric, a specialty of sorts with the Dead by Daylight franchise, and teamwork is and good coordination is key for survivors.

Closing thoughts

Overall, the development team behind Dead by Daylight has done a more than decent job of integrating the Resident Evil franchise with this chapter. From a player’s perspective, the addition of Nemesis brings a fresh new challenge for players who prefer to play the role of the killer. The same can be said for the survivors, they bring with them an interesting new flavor that just fits perfectly with this title.

The post Resident Evil Meets Dead By Daylight, Here’s What It’s Like appeared first on Bizznerd.