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ilyasorokinn · 3 years

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people i make wallpapers for !

this is a list of people (both hockey and not hockey) i will make lockscreens for. if they are not on this list, i will most likely not make lockscrens for them. you can request for them, and i might accept, but i might not. just try to stick to the people on this list.

this list of subject to change.

hockey !

ANAHEIM DUCKS

jamie drysale

sam steel

ARIZONA COYOTES

clayton keller

ty emberson

BOSTON BRUINS

jake debrusk

trent frederic

matt grzelcyk

charlie mcavoy

jack studnicka

BUFFALO SABRES

dylan cozens

rasmus dahlin

peyton krebs

jeff skinner

jack quinn

CALGARY FLAMES

jacob markstrom

elias lindholm

jakob pelletier

matthew tkachuk

CAROLINA HURRICANES

practically the whole roster, including rookies (except tony deangelo)

COLORADO AVALANCHE

practically the whole roster, including rookies

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

jake bean

adam boqvist

sean kurlay

cole sillinger

DALLAS STARS

practically the entire roster, including rookies (expect jamie benn)

DETROIT RED WINGS

moritz seider

joe veleno

jakob vrana

EDMONTON OILERS

tyson barrie

philip broberg

leon draisaitl

dylan holloway

zach hyman

oscar klefbom

jesse puljujarvi

FLORIDA PANTHERS

spencer knight

LOS ANGELES KINGS

quinton byfield

alex turcotte

MINNESOTA WILD

practically the entire roster, including rookies

MONTREAL CANADIENS

practically the entire roster, including rookies (except brendan gallagher)

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

cody glass

phil myers

juuse sarros

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

practically the entire roster, including rookies (except mackenzie blackwood)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

practically the entire roster, including rookies (except semyon varlamov)

NEW YORK RANGERS

sammy blais

alex georgiev

kaapo kakko

vitali kravstov

alexis lafreniere

ryan lindergren

nils lundkvist

k'andre miller

OTTAWA SENATORS

drake batherson

tyler ennis

josh norris

dylan gambrell

shane pinto

tim stützle

brady tkachuk

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

practically the entire roster, including rookies

PITTSBURGH PENGINS

zach aston-reese

sidney crosby

kasperi kapenan

kris letang

pierre-oliver joseph

evgeni malkin

john marino

brock mcginn

SAN JOSE SHARKS

william eklund

mario ferrero

adin hill

nikolai knyzhov

SEATTLE KRAKEN

practically the entire roster (except vince dunn)

ST. LOUIS BLUES

pavel buchnevich

jordan kyrou

james neal

colton parayko

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

hugo alnefelt

anthony cirelli

ross colton

mathieu joseph

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

practically the entire roster, including rookies (except auston matthews)

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

practically the entire roster, including rookies

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

laurent brossoit

WINNIPEG JETS

pierre-luc dubois

nikolaj ehlers

evgeny svechnikov

OTHERS (unsigned, college, etc.)

NOTRE DAME

landon slaggart

PROVIDENCE

patrick moynihan

UMICH

practically the entire roster (except certain players i can't name)

WISCO

owen lindmark

NON-HOCKEY

BASEBALL

max fried (atlanta braves)

tyler glasnow (tampa bay rays)

mike soroka (atlanta braves)

OTHER SPORTS

penny oleksiak (olympic swimmer)

OTHER FANDOMS (including the actors and actresses that portray these characters)

criminal minds

marvel (including spider-man’s, marvel tv shows, etc.)

outer banks

shadow and bone

the vampire diaires universe (tvd, to, legacies)

MUSICAL ARTISTS

olivia rodrigo

harry styles

taylor swift

#nhl #hockey #criminal minds #marvel #outer banks #shadow and bone #the vampire diaries #the originals #legacies

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the-dm-experience · 4 years

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Hi! I'm Megan, 23y/o, & I guess my question is: I'd love to have a go at playing d&d but it's hard to find campaigns, especially with lockdown in London! I've asked friends who play to let me know when any new campaigns start, but I was wondering if you know of any campaigns or like groups online I could ask? I'm mainly in it for the fun of roleplaying rather than for the tactics side of things, if that makes a difference. Anyway, hope you're having a good day!

1. This is the most wholesome ask I've ever gotten omg <3

2. Finding people to play a ttrpg can be difficult as hell, luckily there are tons of people that look for players online because of this exact reason!

Here is a link to our discord server with a bunch of people who love to talk about d&d and are looking for campaigns! https://discord.gg/BSemZnc

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If you find out it's not entirely your cup of tea to play with some random people, you can always lure some other friends of yours to try to figure out the game together (that was my strategy and oh boi did it work out successfully). I do recommend you use a module (aka premade campaign) to start off. You have the official WotC Starter Module and a lot of free stuff on the site D&DSpeak for short adventures.

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Now, idk what your financial options are and I have no business knowing that. But here are some things I recommend for optimal online play and I use myself!

DnDBeyond: A website where you can easily make character sheets and buy all the online books. It has a encountertracker and even a dice roller atm. It is mostly free and a great way to start of with a first character. Books, dice roller, unlimited character sheets aren't free.

ObsidianPortal: A site to create your wiki for the campaign, I highly recommend this for any DM. It is free but with payed expansion. I have the expansion, it's amazing.

Tabletop Simulator: A game on steam where you can download the Kraken Table in the Workshop and have a d&d 5e table ready to go including miniatures etc! I bought it on sale a few years back, with the lockdown I officially reached 250 hours today.

Discord: To voicechat with players, and since you're into the rp area I recommend using a webcam. Without works fine, but if you talk non-verbally it's a pain in the ass without a webcam sometimes.

Watch2Gether: Listen to d&d background music together for setting purposes (free).

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Hope this helps you and maybe some others out during the lockdown if you want to start playing d&d. If anyone else has anything to ask pls hmu <3

#dnd #d&d #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #dnd stuff #dungeonsanddragons #dungeon master #d&d 5e #dnd 5e #dnd character #ask #just send me an ask

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voicesofchaos · 4 years

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VOC’s Review of the art of Magic The Gathering Core 2021

I an no art expert. Never studied art professionally. But I do consider myself a Vorthros (someone who appreciates the art, story, and flavor of Magic The Gathering). So I have been wanting to this for a while so let’s try it. If this is liked then maybe I will do it again for Zendikar Raising. I’m not going through every card in the set. Just a handful that really stood out to me and I just want to talk about.

Indulging Patrician by Miranda Meeks

Normally I like to save the best for last but this one is so obviously the best art in the set that I need to lead with it. When I first saw this card revealed my jaw dropped. It is purely captivating! It embodies what vampire artwork wants to be. From the powerful dominant vampire woman in the center, to her poor powerless victim, to the beautiful blood moon behind her, to the swarm of ominous bats, all highlighted with blood. Of course the traditional gender role reversal feels so perfect and not forced here. It is a beautiful artwork and you should want to play Magic just to look at this card.

Liliana's Scorn by Josh Hass

We are not moving away from the gothic horror yet though. This is sadly a card that most players will never see as it isn’t in the Core 2021 booster packs but is in the Liliana planeswalker deck. Making this art very easy to overlook but quite impressive when examined. You really feel the struggle of the victim as he fights a losing battle against a horde of zombies. Being in the center you might think he is the protagonist that we cheer on to escape but Liliana even in the backgrounds steals the scene and you know she wins this fight. This is just a great group piece where each individual zombie displays a surprisingly amount of depth which truly makes this piece feel even more hopeless for the poor victim and even more empowering for Liliana.

Basri's Solidarity by Paul Scott Canavan

Basri Ket is a new planeswalker in the set but instead of looking at him directly let’s check out his magic instead. This is a piece that perfectly embodies cooperation and teamwork, Each figure looks quite a bit different, has a different background, and a different specialization. Yet they are all subtlety bonded together through the sand that basri controls. The way it wraps around and protects them all it a cool and powerful effect.

Obsessive Stitcher by Joe Slucher

And we are back to dark and creepy. But I can’t ignore in crazy details in this artwork. On Innistrad, the doctor Frankenstein-like scientists that create ‘zombies’ though alchemy and science rather than straight-up necromancy are called “Stichers”. And this one piece explains all that without any words (except for the 1000 words a picture is worth). The corpses all have different faces showing that this is not simply a construct made from a generic stock but instead were actual living human beings at one point. The ominous green vat behind her is hooked up to them pumping them full of something that can’t be good. Plus we also have ominous test tubes in the background to really hammer in the point of “evil mad scientist”.But then her actual clothes has lots of handy tools to show a devoted craftsman. As she literally stitches thread through not only her diabolic experiment but also her passionate artwork. And finally I did not even notice until seeing the enlarged art but she is missing her right hand! I assume this counts as positive disabled representation right?

Village Rites by Bud Cook

I promise this is the last dark and creepy card (maybe) on the list but I have to give this one a shout-out. It is a throwback and homage to the card Village Cannibals from Innistrad. Even the same artist. Definitely one of my all-time favorite MTG arts so I am very happy to see a remake of that art! It is nice when Magic throws in the little nostalgia winks randomly.

Tolarian Kraken by Svetlin Velinov

Magic will often use what they call “Scale Birds” to show how big something is. These are tiny birds near a creature to show how much bigger the creature is than the birds and give a size comparison. Sometimes birds are too small and they use something like “”Scale Deer” or other mammals. Well then those are still too small we now have a “Scale Castle”! What is more terrifying than a Kraken this big! As if that isn’t bad enough it’s brain is actually visible and has like lightning coming from it or something. This feels like a very epic piece where you can feel the motion and terror from it.

Daybreak Charger by Forrest Imel

The next several arts are going to be under the category of “Things MTG does all the time but needs to make it new each time.” I feel it is most appropriate to start with this unicorn. You see unicorns take occupy a very unique position in both general fantasy genre and pop culture itself. Unicorns are very recognizable so they are very much a great fantasy trope to include. But they also have a reputation of being aimed at “young girls” and in the process made to seem very soft and non-threatening. MTG is a game about combat! You don’t want to summon a gentle non-threatening creature to fight for you but it wants to have unicorn cards. Meaning it wants “badass unicorns!”. Well they absolutely succeed here! But the beautiful thing is they need to over-correct. It wasn’t necessary to paint it all black and cover it in blood. We don’t need to put it on a heavy metal album cover to show its fierce side. Instead bright light is used in a way that makes it seem comforting but also powerful and not to be messed with. This is a unicorn that you are relieved to be on your side and terrified of seeing on your opponent’s side. That takes serious talent to bring it all together!

Chandra's Incinerator by Craig J Spearing

First I apologize that this art is a little cropped from the original. What is another thing that shows up all the time in fantasy art? FIRE! It gets hard to draw fire so often and make it feel different. This is a fire elemental so that is a bit different but still something we have seen a lot. The card Fire Elemental was in the very first Magic set. That card has had 4 different artworks and 3 other cards have some for of Fire Elemental in their name (Deepfire Elemental, Firefiend Elemental, and Wildfire Elemental). This one is clearly meant to be a nostalgic nod to the original art and it works so well! The fire is so detailed and intimidating but the creature is very expressive. It is very refreshing to see yet another Fire Elemental in such a new fashion and perspective.

Terror of the Peaks by Andrey Kuzinskiy

How many times have we seen a dragon in MTG? Over 200 times!! This set alone has 3 dragons! We have seen zombie dragons, skeleton dragons, dragons who breath lightning, dragons that breath frost, dragons covered in metal, and all kinds of other dragons. But sometimes you just need to go back to basics. But basics do not need to be boring. As we see here this is an awesome basic dragon that embodies everything you think of when you think of dragons yet still blows you away with how awesome it is! This is quality dragon art

Shacklegeist by Igor Kieryluk

Ghosts and spirits are again a common trope that gets redone a lot. I really like how this piece can just take a mundane object with some symbolism behind it and just make an entirely new creature from it. This is basically a giant lock with ominous chains attached being held by a specter and it all works so well together! This art style being more watercolors is a nice final touch to give this piece a spooky feeling but also a really cool feeling too.

Rousing Read by Campbell White

I am going to end this with a bit of a weird piece but I didn’t want to leave it out. This is apparently a follow-up to the card Hard Cover from the core set before. This guy has magical wings made from the pages of a book! Like I don’t have anything else to add. That is cool enough by itself.

Special Mentions

Alchemist's Gift, Chandra Heart Of Fire, Garruk’s Uprising, Peer Into The Abyss, and Sanguine Indulgence. All cards with awesome art but I don’t want this post to go on forever (and some of them I couldn’t find good clean versions of just the art). Please tell me what art from Core 2021 I missed that you really liked!

#MagicTheGathering #MTG #Core Set 2021 #Art Review #Vorthros

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mishas-workshop · 5 years

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A FUN build of Jhoira

There are many commanders that make players sigh and shake their heads at the very sight of them occupying a command zone. Cards that will make your opponents second guess why they even decided to sit down and play a game with you, despite not even having drawn an opening hand. Some commanders carry such a stigma that players shy away from using them on the basis of feeling like they will get targeted. One such commander, who happens to also be near and dear to my heart is Jhoira of the Ghitu.

Just looking at Jhoira, you might get an idea of what people do, if not, here’s a quick explanation. Play Jhoira, suspend a mass board wipe (lands, pws, artifacts, EVERYTHING), suspend a big thing behind it, like an Eldrazi or Blightsteel, and then maybe an extra turn card or two for good measure. Busted, annoying, degenerate, so many words to describe doing this. That is why, for this decklist, I am going to show you how to make a Jhoira of the Ghitu deck that your opponents will actually enjoy playing against.

First of all, two big rules: 1, no mass land destruction and 2, no annihilator/infect. With that out of the way, lets look at what this deck will be working with. Jhoira lets you cheat in big things so this deck is going to have a lot of those. Etali, Primal Storm is a dinosaur that allows you to play cards from the top of other player’s libraries. Coming in off of suspend, the dino also gains haste, and so we can take advantage of that ability right away. Another dino, Nezahal is a pain to remove and also gives us cards when our opponents cast spells, so this thing is a no brainer. Molten and Diluvian Primordial also allow us to interact with our opponents. Playing spells from the graveyard and stealing creatures for a one turn alpha strike can be devastating under the right circumstances. Just going through Scryfall and looking a creatures with cmc greater than six, you can find a plethora of silly ideas.

Moving on to non creature spells, there are quite a few things to talk about, but for now, let’s focus on instants and sorceries. The first thing I thought of when I saw Jhoira was extra turns. In my build, I am only using one extra turn card, Time Stretch. It costs 10 and gives us two extra turns, so it is a heavy investment, but Jhoira helps with that. The extra turns allow us to suspend more things and have time counters leave our already suspended things. The only reason I just included one in this deck is because of how un-fun it can be for everyone else if you string together a bunch of extra turns. Devastation Tide, Star of Extinction and Aetherize are our boardwipes. Notice how none of them destroy land. Among the other big spells, I have also included Game Plan, as asking everyone if they would like a new hand is always fun.

Perhaps my favorite package of the entire deck is that of the enchantments. Cast Through Time and Swarm Intelligence allow us to do zany things with our already goofy spells. Dismiss into dream turns a variety of light removal options into hard removal. Meanwhile, Stolen Strategy and Mind’s Dilation allow us to play with even more of our opponents’ cards. The enchantments in this deck are all fairly outlandish and would normally not be seen in most decks, let alone in a single deck.

Jhoira’s suspend ability relies on Time Counters, a feature which I have neglected until now. Removing these counters is key to our strategy, so cards like Timecrafting, Jhoira’s Timebug, Fury Charm, Clockspinning and Rift Elemental will allow us to get those big spells out even earlier and more often. Since we are already suspending spells, we may as well include some cards that naturally have that ability. Both Reality Strobe and Arc Blade are cards that once cast, resuspend themselves. This can get extra goofy with rebound and copy abilities as well. Deep-Sea Kraken can act as a threat, coming in faster with each spell your opponents cast, while Pardic Dragon does the opposite. Aeon Chronicler is another fun thing to suspend, netting us more cards with each passing turn.

With all of these big spells, I gotta talk about ramp. If Jhoira is neutralized enough times, we need to have a backup plan. That plan is simple, ramp with artifacts and try to hard-cast the big spells. Izzet Locket, Keyrune, Cluestone, Signet and Talisman of Creativity are all included as ways of producing Red and Blue mana. Thran Dynamo, Sol Ring and Worn Powerstone are also in the deck for good measure. If we are doing well on ramp, then that just means that Jhoira can put even more stuff into exile.

I wanna talk about a few more things before I wrap this up. This next section is all of the stuff that doesn’t neatly fit into any of the other categories. While the deck is full of a lot of big spells, we have to consider other aspects of the game as well. Counterflux and Out of Bounds are two of the counters in the deck. One hits everything on the stack and the other can be a political play to stop some crazy shenanigans your opponent is doing. As Foretold is amazing, as the counters on it are Time Counters, so some of the cards that deal with those can also allow us to boost As Foretold into a pseudo Omniscience card. Lightning Bolt is here because it should be in just about every deck that runs Red. Ponder, Preordain and Telling Time are also included as we need more ways to fill our hand with stuff to suspend.

There are many ways to build a Jhoira deck and I hope that more people begin to stray away from the typical mass LD and Eldrazi game plan. When opponents see Jhoira in the command zone, they may complain at first, but after playing against this kind of build, their perspective on what the commander can do might change. If you are considering building her, might I suggest you take the road less traveled and build something that adheres more to the spirit of EDH than most of the other builds. Full Decklist available here: https://manastack.com/deck/an-actually-fun-jhoira-deck

#mtg #mtgcommander #mtgcommunity #edh #jhoira #magic the card game #magic the gathering #izzet league #izzet

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Game 324: The Keys of Acheron (1981)

As an expansion of Hellfire Warrior, the game has no main title screen.

The Keys of Acheron

United States

Automated Simulations, Inc. (developer and publisher)

Released in 1981 for Apple II and TRS-80, 1982 for Atari 800

Date Started: 5 April 2019

Date Ended: 5 April 2019

Total Hours: 5

Difficulty: Easy-Medium (2.5/5), but heavily adjustable by player

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at Time of Posting: (to come later)

Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to remember that the Dunjonquest series existed. Its first edition, The Temple of Apshai, released in 1979, gets my vote for the first true commercial RPG. Sure, Beneath Apple Manor, Dungeon Campaign, and Space technically preceded it in 1978, but none of them are what we would consider fully-featured RPGs. Temple of Apshai and is paragraph book, full of evocative descriptions of rooms and treasures, was the first earnest attempt to bring the essence of a tabletop RPG module to the computer. Co-creators Jeffrey A. Johnson and Jon Freeman should be names that we invoke as frequently as Richard Garriott or Brian Fargo.

A typical Acheron screen has me fighting a fungusman in a twisty cavern. A treasure can be seen beyond him.

The Temple of Apshai was a huge success, ported to nearly every platform that existed at the time, and it naturally generated a slew of sequels. Oddly, Epyx released several different sets of sequels for the original game. The first set began with Hellfire Warrior (1980; link to my review), which added Levels 5-8 to Temple’s Level 1-3. This series continued with The Keys of Acheron (1981) and Danger in Drindisti (1982). At the same time, Temple continued onto a different set of dungeon levels with Upper Reaches of Apshai (1981) and Curse of Ra (1982). In between these titles, Epyx published a few “microquests” using the Dunjonquest engine but with a fixed character: Morloc’s Tower (1979), The Datestones of Ryn (1979), and Sorcerer of Siva (1981). The engine also spun off two horrid action games with no RPG elements: StarQuest: Rescue at Rigel (1980) and Star Warrior (1980). The whole series wrapped up with the terrible Gateway to Apshai (1983), which couldn’t even spell its own name right on the title screen. Dunjonquest also inspired a series of simplified diskmag and shareware titles, including Quest 1 (1981), Super Quest (1983), Dungeons, Dragons, and Other Perils (1984), and Cavequest (1985).

I bypassed Acheron in 2014, claiming that I couldn’t find it, but I must not have tried very hard because the Azimov archive says that it’s been uploaded there for at least a decade. (And thanks to commenters J.D. and metallik for helping me get it running.) I probably just thought of it as an expansion to Hellfire Warrior, which I’d already covered. But I figure it’s worth taking a second look now, partly to remember the Dunjonquest series, but mostly because it was the first CRPG scenario designed by Paul Reiche III, co-founder of Toys for Bob, and co-creator of, yes, Star Control and Star Control II.

This was Reiche’s first computer game credit after a couple of years designing tabletop Dungeons & Dragons modules for TSR, and his experience can be seen in the quality of the backstory and in-game descriptions. The setup is that the character has been asked by the wizard Abosandrus to recover four magical gems–emerald, amethyst, ruby, and sapphire–from the dungeon. The gems, known as the “Keys of Acheron,” have the power to open or close rifts between worlds, and Abosandrus wants to use them to prevent the immortal demon lord Kronus from invading. The dungeon takes up four levels, labeled “Abode of the Dragon,” “The Temple in the Jungle,” “The Crystal Caves,” and “The Shadowland of Kronus.” The game does the same weird thing that Hellfire Warrior did where the first and third levels have room numbers (and associated descriptions in the book) but the second and fourth don’t.

Kronus himself appears randomly throughout the game’s levels and cannot be killed.

The game is a bit tricky to get going because it requires the original Hellfire Warrior disk for booting, character creation, and shopping. The Acheron manual tells you bluntly that you’ll screw everything up if you don’t follow its instructions to the letter, and for a while I couldn’t find the instructions. Fortunately, as usual, a helpful commenter came through.

My character at the beginning of this session. I created him as a veteran of Hellfire Warrior.

Character creation thus precedes exactly as Hellfire Warrior, where you can randomly roll a Level 1 amateur or manually enter your own statistics and create an indomitable titan right away. After you buy your melee weapon, armor, bow, and arrows, you can choose to spend excess money on various draughts and elixirs. These modify your statistics and abilities for the next dungeon session only. You can also stop by Malaclypse the Mage and get your weapon or armor enchanted (up to +9) and buy a few magic items that only last the duration of the adventure.

Available magic items.

In one last screen before you enter, you can donate money to Benedic the Cleric’s mission, which seems to increase the chance that Benedic is the one that finds and resurrects you when you die. Otherwise, you may be found by Lowenthal the Wizard, who takes all magic items that you own before returning you to the town for resurrection; or Olias the Dwarf, who takes all your items; or a random monster, who just eats you.

I confess I reloaded save states in such circumstances.

Once inside the dungeon, the game behaves just like the earlier incarnations. You use “R,” “L,” and “V” to turn and rotate the character and then type a number from 1 to 9 indicating how many steps to move in your facing direction. “S” searches for traps, “E” searches for secret doors (you have to be pretty close to the door), and “O” opens them.

Finding a secret door.

When monsters appear, you can try to shoot them at a distance with a regular arrow (“F”) or a magic arrow (“M”), or wait until they get close and use “A,” “T,” and “P” for attack, thrust, and parry. When the monsters get your hit points down, you can heal with a salve (“H”), nectar (“N”), or elixir (“Y”) if you’ve purchased them. If the room has a treasure, you grab it with “G.” The controls are all quite intuitive except for movement, which never stops being clunky.

Melee combat with a grifffin. There are, alas, no spells in the game.

You have to be careful about stamina. The game tracks encumbrance (including weapons, armor, and found treasures), and the faster you move with more weight, the faster your stamina depletes. Standing still causes it to (slowly) recharge, and you don’t want to be caught in combat in such situations. I had fewer problems with it here than in the original Hellfire Warrior.

The rooms and corridors are all uniformly dull–the top-down equivalent of Wizardry‘s wireframes from the same year. (There are mild icon animations but nothing to get excited about.) This is where the Dunjonquest series is greatly enhanced by the monster, trap, room, and treasure descriptions in the accompanying manual. On the screen, you may enter Room 16, but with the manual, you know you’ve entered a cave where:

The air is intolerably hot. To the west you can see roaring flames. As you make your way through the passage, you stumble over something. Looking down, you see the fragments of a huge egg. It would seem that the Dragon has borne young ones.

If you meet one of the baby dragons, you consult the manual to see that:

Although this creature resembles its parent closely in its scaled, wormlike form, it is fortunately much smaller, typically 6-8 feet in length. Even though the immature beast cannot breathe flame (and luckily so!), it will attack anything it meets with ferocity.

You defeat him and head down the corridor, only to accidentally stumble in a dragonfire trap! The manual has you covered there, too:

With a titanic roar, the corridor fills with the burning flame of the Dragon’s breath. You should have been quieter, more careful. Now it knows you are here.

But eventually you defeat your foes and pick up the treasure in the room. The screen tells you that you’ve acquired Treasure #8:

A quaint piece of giantish artwork, a skull carved from a huge agate. Surely some collector of such things would buy it, but for how much?

As noted, levels 2 and 4 don’t have any room descriptions–some limitation imposed by the game basically faking the Hellfire Warrior application into thinking it’s playing Hellfire Warrior levels. But to compensate, Reiche used treasure descriptions more as encounter flags rather than literal treasures. Sometimes, you find healing items that can be repeatedly taken. Other times, you find a clue, as in “a severed hand . . . clutching spasmodically” that eventually “points north, up the corridor.” And still other times, it’s just flavor text, as in “the floating remains of one of the kraken’s more recent meals.”

The overall dungeon designs are superior to the earlier games in the series. You start in the “Abode of the Dragon,” a classic dungeon of rooms and passages featuring trolls, ogres, giants, grues, and the titular dragon. These are not Level 1 monsters, so you’re expected to bring an experienced character. The room descriptions have you begin in a field and (depending on the way you go) either enter a tunnel immediately or follow a shoreline around to a cave entrance. They both converge on the dragon’s lair, one via a straight path through monsters and treasures and the other taking a shortcut through a secret door. A side area leads to a unicorn’s grove, where a non-hostile unicorn lets you take an opal necklace. Other treasures found throughout the area include a magic sword and a healing potion; I think this is the first Dunjonquest game where any of the found treasures can remain a permanent part of your character.

The game’s take on a “grue.”

The demon Kronus occasionally pops up in all of the levels, and there’s nothing to do but run away. The manual says that he cannot be killed, and my experience bears that out.

The first Key of Acheron, a “spherical ruby gem as large as your fist,” is found beyond the slain dragon. Overall, the level has more valuable treasures than the others, and if you thoroughly explore, by the time you return to the surface, you’ll have enough money to enchant your sword and armor and drink every elixir in the apothecary’s shop before your next trip.

The first key lies beyond the dragon.

“The Temple in the Jungle” offers no room descriptions and simply has you navigating a fairly open level with different types of dinosaurs, giant dragonflies, and Sserpa (snake god) shamans. For the first time in the series, this level has an adventure game-like quality where the “rooms” don’t lie in consistent directions, and the map warps on itself. You have to create a little node map to find your way through. You eventually find the “amethyst key” in a room occupied by a giant tarantula.

Fighting a giant dragonfly in what we have to imagine is a trackless jungle.

“The Crystal Caves” puts you in an extinct volcano. There are some interesting “trap” areas that the game suggests are deep pools full of piranhas from which you have to climb your way out. Mechanically, you do this by searching for secret doors, but a player with an imagination will appreciate the game’s attempts to do something clever with limited mechanics.

Battling lava beasts, lizards, fungus men, salt slimes and dodging earthquakes and cave-ins (again, all described in detail in the manual), you eventually find your way through secret doors and recover the “emerald key” in a cavern.

I collect the third gem.

The last level is called “The Shadowland of Kronus.” Like the jungle, it lacks room descriptions, but here almost none of the treasures are actually treasures. Instead, they generally contain clues or taunts from Kronus.

Some of the treasure descriptions from the final level.

The level takes the longest to explore. Eventually, you find your way through a secret door to a large, open water area, where the game uses a treasure encounter to suggest you’re paddling around on a boat. Waves and “black rain” do damage to the character while you’re attacked by shadow bats, fiends, and krakens. Another node map is necessary to chart a path through the area.

Release the kraken!

You arrive ultimately on the shores of a citadel (this is all related via treasure paragraphs) and a walkway where numerous gaps suggest a “broken railing”; going through these gaps leads to instant death. Eventually, you come to Kronus’s chambers with side-rooms for a torture chamber, library, and bedroom. Each room has appropriate monsters, like wraiths, astral skulls, and automatons. I particularly enjoyed the treasure encounter in the library, with its Lovecraftian allusions:

You stand in a library filled with books, scrolls, and tablets of arcane and eldritch knowledge. Looking around, you find such titles as De Mysteriis Vermis, The King in Yellow, and a complete edition of the Pnatonik Manuscripts. Resting on a nearby table you find a particularly interesting volume entitled The Necronomicon. When you open the book you find it filled with incomprehensible writings, and you feel an unholy chill pass through your body. Perhaps some wizard will buy this strange librum.

A secret door leads from Kronus’s chambers to the final area. You pass through a room of fake sapphire keys (and lots of monsters) before arriving in a room with Kronus himself guarding the real final key. As before, there’s no point in fighting Kronus. You have to dart up, grab the key, find a secret door in the north wall, and escape the dungeon before he kills you.

The final encounter.

Alas, just like its predecessor, the game is disappointing in its lack of acknowledgement that you’ve completed the main quest. Treasures are ephemeral things; they disappear, converted to gold, the moment the game transitions from the dungeon disk to the program disk. Thus, there isn’t even any way for it to record the fact that you’ve found each of the four keys on their appropriate levels. Even if there was, it wouldn’t matter, because the moment you leave the Acheron dungeon disk, you’re back in the Hellfire Warrior program, which doesn’t even know that Acheron exists. As with so many other places in the Dunjonquest series, you have to use your imagination to return the gems to the wizard Abosandrus and seal Kronus in his own dimension.

The appearance of Treasure #1 four times in a row (this is the last) is the only “proof” that I’ve won.

The Dunjonquest entries have always evoked tabletop modules, but this is perhaps the most sophisticated of the lot–a testament to Reiche’s prowess as a dungeon master. In a GIMLET, I rated it 24, two points higher than Hellfire Warrior, apparently feeling better about both encounters and the economy.

I’ll try to check out Danger in Drindisti in the future. After that, the Dunjonquest series falls apart, perhaps more from the breakup of Automated Simulations (and its rebranding as Epyx) than from anything to do with the quality of the series. If the Dunjonquest series had continued and grown, we might have enjoyed Gold Box-quality games before the Gold Box.

****

I’d like to ask a favor of my U.S. readers. I’m looking for places across the United States that sell Diet Coke with Ginger Lime in 20-ounce bottles. Exactly that–no other flavors, please, and no cans. Just Diet Coke with Ginger Lime in 20-ounce bottles. If you happen to see them at a local convenience store, drug store, or whatever, I would appreciate an e-mail to [email protected]. Thank you!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-324-the-keys-of-acheron-1981/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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poisonflamegames · 6 years

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Sea of Thieves: Yarr or Naw?

It's been a few months since the awaited pirate game came out. Back when it wasn't released, a couple of my friends got access to the beta and told me the game was "mind-blowing", so my hype for it was off the charts. Hell, I almost bought it at full price on release, but Microsoft was giving out two-week trials for their Xbox Game Pass service, which in itself included Sea of Thieves, so I decided to "test the waters" before buying it; pun intended. I feel like my thoughts on the game have marinated long enough for me to make a proper analysis, so here we go:

Sea of Thieves, in its essence, is a simulator, though it wasn't designed to be one. The game tries very hard to be an exploration open-world adventure, with combat and puzzles and all of these super cool things; but they don't quite connect well or are delivered in the most coherent way possible.

And no, I'm not biased for the fact that I'm terrified of swimming in video games; I’m looking at you, Jolly Roger Bay.

Let’s start by talking about what you actually do during the game. You start off in a tavern in one of the various outposts scattered throughout the open-world’s map, with a moored ship in the coast. From the outpost, you can pick up missions that will require you to sail to nearby islands and find hidden treasure, at least most of the time. Aside from that, the rest are just things that mildly add to that basic experience, which comes off as extremely lackluster, and trust me, it is.

One thing I really did enjoy though was the sailing. At its core, sailing is very simple: You just got to lift the anchor, lower the sails and control the ship via the rudder. Wind plays an important factor, though it is very simple to understand and react to it as it has very distinct visual queues for both its direction and for when you place your sails correctly against it. It feels amazing.

On top of that, if you’ve got yourself a crew of friends to play with, things just get better. Sailing becomes this huge collaborative effort, with little tasks to take care of that can be easily divided and taken care of as a group; it really gives you off the feeling that you’re a crew, specially once things start going south. It also gives you plenty of room to goof around, because of course, it wouldn’t be a multiplayer game about the pirate life without that.

While sailing is quite a delight (also given that it’s probably what you do for 60% of the game), the rest is a little...boring. For the missions, you get maps with X’s on them, marking treasure waiting to be unearthed. Once given said map, you have to both match the shape of the island with the same one in the ship’s actual map, and then find the treasure once you get to the island. Unless you haven’t been playing the game for more than 20 minutes, these two factors cannot even be considered mechanics because they don’t present a challenge in the slightest.

To add to it, once you do unearth a treasure, you don’t actually get to keep the contents of the treasure, which feels very odd thematically. Instead of keeping what you find, you got to bring these chests of treasure back to the outposts and sell them. I’ll give them the credit that while this is obviously very lame from a pirate-themed game, it makes things a lot more straight-forward when battling other ships, as if you board an enemy’s ships, you can just take their chests.

Speaking of combat...it really isn’t the best. You get a sword with two basic attacks and one of three different guns: a pistol, a shotgun and a sniper rifle. Your ships are also armed with cannons, but that’s really about it. It reminds me a lot of Minecraft’s combat system, and that says a lot from a game that tries to be so immersive. You just slash and shoot at things, hoping that they die and/or sink; there’s really not much else to it in all honesty.

This brings us to another topic in which the game really fails at: progression. As you do missions, you gain coins, but your pirate or your ship don’t really level up. With these coins, you can only buy cosmetic items such as apparel, skins for your weapons or ship parts, but those never make your character or ship “better”, and that, of course, gives you a feeling of no progress. You feel like you never improve or get new things, and that is the exact opposite of what you want in an open world such as this one; because as soon as you’re done discovering most of the map (which isn’t that large), you’re gonna start getting tired of the game very fast.

youtube

We can’t forget are the elements that spice up the game every now and then, most notably riddles and the appearance of the Kraken. A few times during the game, you’ll have these random effects trigger to make things a little bit more interesting. You can find bottled messages in beaches which will contain riddles for you to find incredible treasure; but when you realize how tedious and unfun they actually are to get through while also providing the same kind of loot that you got to sell in the outposts, you’ll just start ignoring them as they aren’t worth the extra time and effort.

Lastly, the Kraken. This random event triggers every so often when you cruise around certain areas in the sea with a lot of loot on your ship, and it is...a little boring, honestly. You see the water turn black and tentacles come out of the water, but the fight is easy as cake. You just got to shoot the tentacles and repair the ship whenever it gets damaged, and before you know it, you’ll get through. That’s kind of it. My friends and I were screaming in shock when it first started showing up, but once we defeated, we were solely disappointed.

I’m pretty sure you can picture the experience of playing this game after reading what I had to say about it. While the overworld looks very nice (and has great water), the game doesn’t really have that much to offer. My friends and I played it for about five hours, then realizing that we had done most of what the game had to offer. That wouldn’t be so bad if the game was fairly cheap, but having in mind that this game came out with prices higher than standard retail price, it really makes one scratch their head.

You can really tell that most of the game’s budget went into making that sea water look crispy as hecc, but outside from that, I’m not entirely positive if Sea of Thieves is even a full-fledged game, it seriously needs a lot more to really consider itself one.

Now, one thing I was taught in game dev school is that a designer shall never criticize something without offering ideas of their own to improve upon whatever they’re happening to be criticizing, so I have crafted a few suggest that would perhaps make the game more appealing to others.

For starters, Sea of Thieves doesn’t really have an end game, meaning that ultimately, you don’t have a major goal to complete. It would be nice if the game had some kind of massive trasure scattered throughout the game, much in the fashion of the Treasure of Cortés from Pirates of the Caribbean. It would give experienced players a big objective to achieve while keeping the ground leveled for everyone to contribute to fair and balanced encounters between ships.

Another thing that would be great would be NPC ships! To any person that is starting to play the game, assaulting other ships is really daunting given that you can’t really estimate your chances of victory since you’re on even ground. Players that just pass on assaulting other players’ ships are missing out on a great part of what the game is about, so how about having non-hostile NPC vessels? Crafts that you can invade in an easier manner and pillage them ruthlessly would certainly not only give players more to do, but would also give them the thirst of assaulting actual player-driven hips, haha! 🏴‍☠️

Lastly, and something very important about open-ended games, is giving the feeling that the world the players are in is living and breathing. This could be achieved through the use of events that could happen periodically and players would come to know of through outposts. Things like treasure rushes, races or actual working Wanted! posters that could lead to notoriously violent players.

Given that the game currently has none of those things, you’re safe to assume that the game is empty. To a player, it feels more of a sandbox simulator than an actual objective-driven, fun experience, and I feel like the platform that the game currently is has a ton of potential for great things, but I don’t really know if I can trust Rare to elevate Sea of Thieves to something in which I’d actually want to play again.

#pirate #gamedesign #sea of thieves #analysis

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sycriptouk · 2 years

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The METAVERSE Is Coming and It Will Be HUGE https://bitcoinist.com/the-metaverse-is-coming-and-it-will-be-huge/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-metaverse-is-coming-and-it-will-be-huge

Imagine a world where you can exist as a digital representation of yourself or an ‘Avatar’? Imagine being able to see, and do things within this world, that you cannot do in the real world?

And, imagine doing all of these things from the comfort of your living room?

Welcome to the METAVERSE – alternative digital realities where people can work, play, trade, and socialize.

It’s coming and the possibilities are in a word, ENDLESS.

Wikipedia defines ‘the Metaverse’ as “a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet.”

Although a challenge to describe, there is no shortage of interest in the METAVERSE.

In the news this week, Facebook also rebranded the entire company to META, giving us an idea of just how big the METAVERSE will become. With all of these developments taking place, let’s take a closer look into 3 of the GameFi and META games coming along as the METAVERSE begins to grow.

THE SANDBOX

The Sandbox is a virtual gaming world, where players are able to create, build, trade, own, and monetise their gaming within the Ethereum Blockchain. The aim is to provide gamers with actual ownership of in-game items as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and reward them for their playtime and participation within the games ecosystem – contrary to existing game makers like Minecraft and Roblox.

$SAND is the currency of THE SANDBOX and is used for all transactions. It allows users access to the platform, enables them to play games, stake (if desired), and earn rewards. $SAND token is currently listed on over 20 exchanges, with the most well-known being; Crypto.com, Bittrex, and Kraken amongst others.

The Sandbox is currently one of the top 5 Metaverse projects representing approximately 7% of the sector.

https://www.sandbox.game/en/

AXIE INFINITY

In short, Axie Infinity is a Pokemon-inspired game based on the blockchain, where players can battle other players and earn money.

Axies are unique digital assets stored on Axie’s’ own blockchain and owned in the form of an NFT. The most expensive Axie sold to date was for 300 ETH (Ethereum). To create a new Axie, existing Axie owners must “breed” them by spending in-game currency earned within the game or purchased from an exchange. By winning battles, or selling their Axies to another player, owners can earn the in-game currency. Any earnings can then be sold or traded on the open market for money, generating income for players.

Released in March 2018, Axie was one of the first to combine Crypto, Play To Earn, NFT’s, and METAVERSE and it continues to grow with a total trading volume that exceeds $2.4 billion.

https://axieinfinity.com

JEDSTAR

JEDSTAR is a fairly new project, launching in August 2021. It’s a 3 token, decentralized ecosystem; which consists of $JED, a DeFi token, $KRED, a GameFi token, and $ZED, a Governance token. They will also launch AGORA – an NFT marketplace where players can buy, sell and trade their in-game NFTs.

The first token launched was the DeFi token $JED in August 2021 and the second token $KRED will be the in-game currency and the currency for the AGORA NFT Marketplace which will be launching in November 2021. $ZED, the governance token, will be launching sometime after that, possibly early 2022.

Also in development at JEDSTAR is a DCCG (Digital Collectible Card Game) which is under construction at Frag Games and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) both games will use $KRED as the in-game currency. They also have a partnership with SkillGaming for the upcoming STARDOME which will also use $KRED as its in-game currency but this partnership will also enable players to easily convert their fiat currency into $KRED facilitating an easier way for people to access cryptocurrency, therefore, helping mass adoption of cryptocurrency in general.

https://jedstar.app/

Image: Pixabay

#IFTTT #Bitcoinist.com

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newsfact · 3 years

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NHL COVID-19 case tracker 2021-22: Updated list of players to miss games this season

The 2021-22 NHL season is underway, and while the majority of players are fully vaccinated — only Tyler Bertuzzi remains the most notable name remaining unvaccinated — COVID-19 is still impacting rosters on a nightly basis.

A number of the league’s stars, including Patrick Kane, Erik Karlsson and, as of Nov. 3, Sidney Crosby, have tested positive.

MORE: Why was Evander Kane suspended? Explaining Sharks forward’s 21-game ban for violating COVID-19 protocol

Players who test positive are placed on the non-roster COVID-protocols list. It should be noted that other players could end up on this list too. Like last season, “COVID Protocol Related Absences” can be the result of a number of factors, including an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is done; mandated isolation for symptomatic players; required quarantine as a high-risk close contact; isolation based on a confirmed positive test result; quarantine for travel or other reasons.

What is the NHL’s COVID protocol in 2021-22?

With a vaccine now available, the rules are a little different than last season. A vaccinated player is described as anyone who is two weeks post-second dose.

Unvaccinated players are not allowed to travel to Canada due to quarantine restrictions in the country. Therefore, clubs can suspend the players for inability to participate and require them to forfeit one day’s pay for each day they miss. Players who are unvaccinated are also required to follow the majority of rules that were in effect last year, including but not limited to wearing masks at all times while not on the ice; exercising or eating; maintaining 6 feet of distance; not sharing rooms or spaces — such as cars — with other players.

Vaccinated players are only subject to testing every 72 hours or if symptomatic, while unvaccinated players must get tested every day. Players who test positive (a confirmed positive) and are symptomatic must isolate. They must stay in isolation until at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared, symptoms have improved and are cleared by medical personnel to return. Depending on symptoms (e.g., cough, fever, chest pain), a cardiac screening must also be done and cleared.

If they test positive and have to miss games, vaccinated players are listed as having a hockey-related injury and are paid. Unvaccinated players are not paid.

MORE: Twitter shows support for Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme after positive COVID test

NHL players out of games because of COVID-19 in 2021-22

Updated as of Nov. 3, 2021

Anaheim Ducks

DATE PLAYER Oct. 31 vs. Canadiens Jakob Silfverberg

Arizona Coyotes

None.

Boston Bruins

None.

Buffalo Sabres

None.

Calgary Flames

None.

Carolina Hurricanes

None.

MORE: NHL COVID-19 case tracker: Updated list of players to miss games during 2021 season

Chicago Blackhawks

DATE PLAYER Oct. 24 vs. Red Wings Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman Oct. 27 vs. Maple Leafs Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgstrom Oct. 29 at Hurricanes Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgstrom Oct. 30 at Blues Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgstrom Nov. 1 vs. Senators Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgstrom Nov. 3 vs. Hurricanes Tyler Johnson, Isaak Phillips

Colorado Avalanche

DATE PLAYER Oct. 13 vs. Blackhawks Nathan MacKinnon Oct. 16 vs. Blues Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Johnson

Columbus Blue Jackets

DATE PLAYER Nov. 3 at Avalanche Max Domi

Dallas Stars

None.

*Detroit Red Wings

None.

*Because Bertuzzi is unvaccinated he has missed the following games: Oct. 23 in Montreal; Oct. 30 in Toronto; Nov. 2 in Montreal.

Edmonton Oilers

None.

Florida Panthers

None.

Los Angeles Kings

DATE PLAYER Oct. 16 vs. Wild Brendan Lemieux Oct. 19 at Predators Brendan Lemieux Oct. 22 at Stars Brendan Lemieux Oct. 23 at Blues Brendan Lemieux Oct. 23 at Blues Brendan Lemieux Oct. 31 vs. Sabres Viktor Arvidsson, Gabe Vilardi

Minnesota Wild

DATE PLAYER Oct. 28 at Kraken Mats Zuccarello, Rem Pitlick Oct. 30 at Kraken Mats Zuccarello, Rem Pitlick Nov. 2 vs. Senators Mats Zuccarello, Rem Pitlick

Montreal Canadiens

None.

Nashville Predators

DATE PLAYER Oct. 16 vs. Hurricanes David Rittich Oct. 19 vs. Kings David Rittich Oct. 21 vs. Rangers David Rittich Oct. 23 at Jets David Rittich Oct. 24 at Wild David Rittich Oct. 26 vs. Sharks David Rittich Oct. 30 vs. Islanders David Rittich Nov. 2 at Flames David Rittich

New Jersey Devils

None.

New York Islanders

None.

New York Rangers

DATE PLAYER Oct. 16 at Canadiens Ryan Strome Oct. 18 at Maple Leafs Ryan Strome Oct. 21 at Predators Ryan Strome Oct. 23 at Senators Ryan Strome

Ottawa Senators

None.

Philadelphia Flyers

DATE PLAYER Oct. 15 vs. Canucks Patrick Brown Oct. 17 vs. Kraken Patrick Brown Oct. 20 vs. Bruins Patrick Brown

Pittsburgh Penguins

DATE PLAYER Oct. 12 at Lightning Zach Aston-Reese Oct. 14 at Panthers Zach Aston-Reese Oct. 23 vs. Maple Leafs Jeff Carter, Kris Letang Oct. 26 vs. Lightning Jeff Carter, Kris Letang Oct. 28 vs. Flames Jeff Carter, Kris Letang Oct. 30 vs. Devils Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel Nov. 4 vs. Flyers Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Sidney Crosby, Brian Dumoulin (and head coach Mike Sullivan)

San Jose Sharks

DATE PLAYER Oct. 30 vs. Jets Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Dahlen, Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic (and head coach Bob Boughner) Nov. 2 vs. Sabres Kevin Labanc, Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Timo Meier (and head coach Bob Boughner) Nov. 4 vs. Blues Kevin Labanc, Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Timo Meier (and head coach Bob Boughner)

Seattle Kraken

DATE PLAYER Oct. 12 at Golden Knights Calle Jarnkrok Oct. 14 at Predators Calle Jarnkrok Oct. 16 at Blue Jackets Calle Jarnkrok Oct. 18 at Flyers Calle Jarnkrok Oct. 19 at Devils Calle Jarnkrok Oct. 31 vs. Rangers Jared McCann

St. Louis Blues

DATE PLAYER Oct. 23 vs. Kings Brandon Saad Oct. 25 vs. Kings Brandon Saad Oct. 28 vs. Avalanche Brandon Saad, Ryan O’Reilly Oct. 30 vs. Blackhawks Brandon Saad, Ryan O’Reilly Nov. 3 at Kings Kyle Clifford, Ryan O’Reilly, Ville Husso

Tampa Bay Lightning

None.

Toronto Maple Leafs

None.

Vancouver Canucks

None.

Vegas Golden Knights

DATE PLAYER Oct. 12 vs. Kraken Mattias Janmark Oct. 14 at Kings Mattias Janmark Oct. 20 vs. Blues Mattias Janmark

Washington Capitals

None.

Winnipeg Jets

DATE PLAYER Oct. 19 at Wild Blake Wheeler Oct. 21 vs. Ducks Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele Oct. 23 vs. Predators Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele Oct. 26 at Ducks Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele Oct. 28 at Kings Mark Scheifele Oct. 30 at Sharks Mark Scheifele

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keyoutfit · 3 years

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RGB Light Weight Best Gaming Headset 2021 Online in USA

PS5 Best Gaming Headset Under $100 Online USA

Video Gaming is Trending Topic in the World. We all specially youth Gen is linked with Gaming in our everyday schedule. For High ending Gaming we needed High Quality Gaming Essentials. There an Best Gaming Headset is a most essential Gaming Component in our Gaming Desk. So there We Sharing our Experience about Best Gaming Headsets 2021. There We Shortlisted Top 5 Best Gaming Headset. These Gaming Headset is Non Wireless Headset. We Suggest to use Wired Gaming Headset for Long Time Use. Wireless Gaming Headset we not suggest for gaming due to unwanted power backup and Connectivity problem During curtail time in a gameplay. These Best Gaming Headphones are shortlisted by there Quality, Customer Review and Best Price Also.

1. BENGOO G9000 Stereo Gaming Headset for PS4 PC Xbox One PS5 Controller

- Multi-Platform Compatible - Support PlayStation 4, New Xbox One, PC, Nintendo 3DS, Laptop, PSP, Tablet, iPad, Computer, Mobile Phone. - Surrounding Stereo Subwoofer - Clear sound operating strong brass, splendid ambient noise isolation bringing you vivid sound field, sound clarity, shock feeling sound. - Noise Isolating Microphone - Headset integrated onmi-directional microphone can transmits high quality communication with its premium noise-concellng feature. Long flexible mic design very convenient to adjust angle of the microphone. - Great Humanized Design - Superior comfortable and good air permeability protein over-ear pads, muti-points headbeam, acord with human body engineering specification can reduce hearing impairment and heat sweat.Skin friendly leather material for a longer period of wearing. Glaring LED lights desigend on the earcups to highlight game atmosphere. - Effortlessly Volume Control - High tensile strength, anti-winding braided USB cable with rotary volume controller and key microphone mute effectively prevents the 49-inches long cable from twining and allows you to control the volume easily and mute the mic as effortless volume control one key mute.

 4.4/5 Get More Info Buy Now From Amazon

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- SURROUND SOUND - With a 50mm driver, RUNMUS PS4 headset offers an incredibly surround sound for both games and music. - ERGONOMIC DESIGN & PREMIUM MATERIAL - Gamers usually play games for many hours, so the comfort is also a key factor when choosing a Xbox one headset. The retractable band and breathable ear pad make sure every player could enjoy the optimal wearing comfort. - MULTIPLE PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY - This gaming headset with a 3.5mm audio jack is compatible with PC, PS4 controller, Xbox One controller. - NOISE CANCELING MICROPHONE - This PS5 headset provides high-end noise cancellation to enable you to chat to your fellow players with crystal clarity.

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3. Razer Kraken X Ultralight Gaming Headset with 7.1 Surround Sound

- Immersive, 7.1 Surround Sound for Positional Audio: Outfitted with custom-tuned 40 millimeter drivers, capable of software-enabled surround sound when used for PC gaming only (download code slip inside the box) - Designed for All-Day Comfort: The lightest Kraken headset ever at 250 grams, around 40% lighter than the competition - Bendable Noise Cancelling Microphone: A cardioid mic reduces background and ambient noises for crystal-clear communication - In-Headset Audio Controls: Includes an analog volume control wheel and mic mute switch on the headset for quick and convenient adjustments - Durable Construction: The Kraken X frame is flexible and built to last, able to withstand daily, care-free use. Frequency Response-12 Hz – 28 kHz

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4. Jeecoo Xiberia USB Pro Gaming Headset for PC- 7.1 Surround Sound

- 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound : 50mm speaker unit neodymium magnets, built-in Usb audio sound card with 7.1 surround sound; all game sound effects & details will come to your ears to provide immersive gaming experience - Noise Cancelling Mic : The customized unidirectional microphone reduces ambient noise for enhanced voice quality, to pick up your voice clearly and loudly. Retractable; easily to switch on/off, adjustable microphone volume. - Multifunctional & Convenient Controller : Gaming headphones with in-line controller: volume adjuster, mic volume adjuster, microphone on/off; There is a clip so that you can attach it onto your T-shirt for convenient controls. - High Quality Building : This pc gaming headset has sturdy construction, adjustable metal headband, flexible microphone, thick memory foam cushion pads, big & soft earmuff, tangle-free cord & decent package. Exclusively made for pro gamers, you can enjoy a long & comfortable gaming session. - Compatibility : Headset with USB plug, compatible with personal computers, laptop computers. Software is easy to download and install for 7.1 surround sound effect.

 4.4/5 Get More Info Buy Now From Amazon

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bigdiz1976 · 6 years

Link

Mr Green have been on the online casino scene for quite a while now, having been established in 2008. Despite the ‘green’ motif this is not an Irish-themed casino – in fact Mr Green comes from Sweden, although the company is now based in Malta. The award-winning Mr Green online casino was awarded a UK operations licence in July 2015, and has been offering its wagering goodness to UK-based players ever since.

WELCOME BONUS

Mr Green is very eager to attain your custom, of course, and in a rare move for an online casino is prepared to offer you the choice of two succulent welcome bonus. Just pick the one that appeals the most to the way you get your wagering kicks.

First up there is a traditional welcome bonus which is a one hundred percent welcome deal up to a maximum of £100. All you need to do to get your bonus cash is sign up with the guys there then make a minimum deposit of £20. That nice Mr Green will then hand you exactly the same amount but in bonus cash.

In addition to your bonus moolah you will also receive one hundred free spins on everyone’s favourite online slots game, Starburst. To trigger the award of your freebies you just need to play a minimum of £20 at the casino. As an added bonus, you’ll receive an extra five free spins on various games on a daily basis for the first twenty days of your membership. That in total adds up to another one hundred spinsfreebie bonanza.

If you prefer the cutting-edge thrill of playing live casino games, then you can instead take a live casino bonus. Again, if you want to take advantage of this deal you simply need to make a deposit of at least £20. The next stage in your playing quest is to wager the entirety of your deposit on the LIVE casino games that are available at the Mr Green online casino. Once you’ve done that, if you win a tidy sum, then congratulations! However, if you lose out then you will trigger the exclusive ‘Mr Green LIVE Casino Second Chance‘ clause which will see you receive back half of all your losses, up to a maximum of £50. As a double bubble bonus you’ll also receive twenty days of free spins at a rate of five free spins per day.

Your deposit bonus must be wagered a minimum of thirty-five times before you can cash out any part of it or any winnings you may have attained. Any winnings from your free spins are paid out as bonus cash, which means they are subject to the same wagering expectations.

With the live casino bonus, note that the second chance feature will only be triggered once the balance from your initial deposit has reached zero. The refunded amount is paid in real cash with zero wagering requirements – you can continue to play at any part of the Mr Green online casino using this cash, or you can withdraw it, the choice is yours.

Wagering requirements can only be met by playing on slots. You cannot reduce your wagering expectations by playing table games, or by playing live casino games.

In addition, the following slots are exempt from contributing towards wagering – all slots with progressive jackpots, Forsaken Kingdom, Pearls of India, The Wishmaster, Castle Builder, Castle Builder II, Devil’s Delight, Mega Joker, Scrooge, Lucky Angler, Kings of Chicago, Jackpot 6000, Tower Quest, Zombies, Robin Hood: Shifting Riches, Aliens, Big Bang, Bloodsuckers, EggoMatic, Eye of the Kraken and Treasure Island.

Be aware that first deposits for bonuses are not eligible if you use an eWallet to make them.

RANGE OF GAMES

Mr Green really is your friend if you like online slots games. There are over two hundred of them, and it’s a number that continues to rise virtually on a daily basis. All the best software suppliers are available here – NetEnt, Microgaming, Playtech, NYX/NextGen Gaming and Yggdrasil Gaming, to name but five. If there’s a slot you love that you’ve played elsewhere, then you’ll find it here – that’s almost a guarantee.

If you can tear yourself way from the slots you’ll find many different versions of blackjack, roulette, baccarat and casino hold’em. There are a handful of versions of video poker, too.

The live casino that’s available here is truly excellent – it’s one of the best we’ve seen anywhere. There are well over twenty different gaming tables in play at all times, and all the casino classics are well covered.

PROS & CONS

Pros

Fully-modern realisation of everything an online casino should be

You can protect yourself against losing too much

Plenty of games, both software-based and live

Choice of two welcome bonuses

Cons

Only slots count towards wagering requirements

LAYOUT AND USABILITY

The Mr Green online casino was one of the first to shy away from the traditional look of online casinos. In a bold move, they did away with all the black backgrounds and typical pictures of hot guys and gals in swanky evening wear. Instead, they gave us Mr Green himself, resplendent in a green suit, complete with green bowler hat.

Everything become bigger and bolder at Mr Green, but not in a way that could be seen as overpowering. You’ll still be able to find all your favorite games, and if you get bored with flicking through all the game selection thumbnails, you can use the search box instead.

The mobile version of this top-rated online casino is just as good and you’ll have no difficulty in using it, be it on your smart phone or tablet.

PROMOTIONS FOR EXISTING PLAYERS

There are plenty of on-going bonus deals for existing customers at this place, but at the time of this review Mr Green seemed to be more interested in pushing its sports book offerings. There were a few special deals for non-sports book lovers, though. These included a £10,000 prize draw for players wagering on NetEnt’s Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild slot, and other promos where you could win VIPfestival tickets or cash prize alternatives.

There’s also a number of ‘Reel Thrill’ slots tournament-style promotions. These are super-tight promos where you have only fifteen minutes to win as much dosh on a specified online slots game as you can. The person atop the leaderboard when the final whistle blows nets themselves 190 free spins! Reel Thrills kick off every fifteen minutes or so.

VIP/LOYALTY SCHEME

The VIP scheme at Mr Green was not open the last time we checked. There were plenty of promises about bespoke promos, unique adventures and top VIP-only events, but the best thing site can say about the Mr Green VIP membership-only club is ‘watch this space’ !

SPECIAL FEATURES

We probably already covered what makes the Mr Green Online Casino so special – that superb live casino, the ‘Reel Thrill’ slot races that take place at the rate of four an hour, and the ‘soon to be announced’ VIP club.

One thing we also need to mention is that you have to ability to set your own limits at Mr Green – the amount you can deposit, the amount of time you spend at the site, and the amount of money that you lose before you call it quits. All these are excellent ideas for people who find they enjoy online gambling just a little bit too much.

OTHER BETTING OPTIONS

As we might have mentioned in passing, Mr Green also runs as innovative sports book, especially for people who enjoy mixing their casino play with a little bit of sports betting. The sports book is provided by the innovative Kambi software, and all major (and most minor) sporting markets are covered.

You can also bet on in-play games here, so you can wager on specific outcomes of events that are already up and running. The sports-betting side of things is endorsed by former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, and there’s a special deal for sports bettors who like accas. If you bet at least £25 on accumulators (wagers with a minimum of three selections) during the week you’ll receive a £5 free bet on Monday.

CONCLUSION

There’s not a lot to be mean about when it comes to Mr Green. The site has been designed with excellence in mind, and you’re never going to be short of a game or two to enjoy here. We also like those innovative ‘Reel Thrill’ races, and the bonus offers that keep on a-comin’ and a-comin’.

We’re going to have to knock a star off though. We think wagering requirements should at least cover table games too, even at a reduced rate. We also would like to see that VIP scheme nailed down as it’s been a case of ‘watch this space’ for some time now!

We’ve definitely though made a new online friend with Mr Green, and we hope he becomes an online buddy of yours too!

Money options

Payment methods available: Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, PayPal, Neteller, Paysafecard, ClickAndBuy, Entropay, Trustly, bank transfer.

Currencies available: EUR, NOK, GBP, SEK.

Deposit limits: min: £10, max: no limits.

Withdrawal limits: min: £30, max: ten withdrawals per day.

Withdrawal times: eWallets: 0-24 hours. Credit/Debit cards: 2-5 days. Bank transfers: 1-3 days. Cheques: not offered.

Pending time: 12-48 hours.

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bog-o-bones · 6 years

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Kaiju Forecast - 2018

The new year is quickly approaching us and kaiju fans certainly will have their plates full next year. Here’s a list of some of the major movies, events, merchandise and more to look forward to in the coming year!

Movies

Obviously the main tent-pole film of the year will be Legendary’s Pacific Rim: Uprising due out on March 23rd. The sequel to arguably the forefather of the New Kaiju Boom has seen plenty of ups and downs during it’s development, including a terrifying “indefinite hiatus” stamp placed upon the film in late 2015. Thankfully, the film has marched on through production and features the return of fan favorite characters from the first film as well as a new team of Jaeger pilots, led by Star Wars and Attack The Block’s John Boyega. Although a few trailers and promotional ads have been released, kaiju groupies can probably expect a surge in marketing around February.

Second banana (no pun intended) to Uprising is New Line’s Rampage loosely based on the popular city-crushing game franchise. Another film that’s spent time in Development Hell, Rampage stars perennial popcorn flick favorite Dwayne Johnson and will be unleashed April 20th to theaters everywhere.

One can’t forget about the King of the Monsters either. The second installment in the anime trilogy will make landfall in Japan on May 5th, titled Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle (whew). Initial details remain scarce bar the inclusion of Mechagodzilla (who can be seen in the poster above). International fans may also get the chance to view the first installment in the series on Netflix, although no details for that are available either, aside from a continuously fluctuating date on the film’s Netflix Instant listing.

Tsuburaya’s latest entry in the Ultraman franchise will be seeing it’s traditional theatrical film in the form of Ultraman Geed: The Movie. Abroad fans of the show will most likely have to wait for a fansub service to translate the film in order to see it, but it may also be subject to a small theatrical screening like it’s predecessors Ultraman Ginga S: The Movie and Ultraman X: The Movie, although those were released to coincide with the Ultra series’ 50th anniversary. Never give up hope, though!

Of course, one can’t also forget about the ever-so-secretive Cloverfield franchise, which supposedly launches it’s third film in the semi-anthology series on February 2nd. Tentatively titled God Particle, the film has been pushed back three times from its initial October 2017 release date, leaving some to speculate if it is even going to come out at all. The Cloverfield franchise is noted for its heavy use of alternate-reality games for its marketing, but God Particle has seen effectively nothing so far, even when we’re less than three months away from release. Only time will tell, however.

Not necessarily a kaiju film, but it does feature the 8th Wonder of the World and may or may not feature Ultraman and the third incarnation of Mechagodzilla, Based on a thoroughly bland and tasteless early teen novel, Ready Player One is basically this generation’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit only for “geek culture” (hard gag) and...you know, bad. Kaiju fans will most likely want to wait for the YouTube compilation of all the references instead of wasting $9.00+ on a movie ticket to see some giant monster action.

Also supposedly on the docket is a film adaption of the above novel, Steve Alten’s Meg which features a surviving prehistoric Megalodon terrorizing some form of human society (you can tell I’ve read the book, can’t you?). Yet another film stuck in development hell, although the production for this film is at least two decades old. Supposedly principal photography has been completed on this film, but who the hell knows.

Television

While Tsuburaya is most definitely working on the next main installment of the Ultra series, a short series in the style of Ultraman Retsuden or Ultraman Zero: The Chronicle will be aired starting January 6th. Ultraman Orb: The Chronicle follows the history of the titular Ultra’s alter ego Gai Kurenai. Unlikely to be picked up by Crunchyroll like it’s original show, Ultra Fans will most likely want to stalk fansub sites to view this series.

Another of Tsuburaya’s toku heroes will see an animated revival next year with Studio Trigger’s Gridman anime based on a short shown at the Japan Animator Expo in 2015. Titled SSSS Gridman, named after the original show’s Americanization Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, the show will be released in the Autumn of 2018. Also related to Gridman, the original show is being broadcasted to nearly-impossible-to-document-channel Toku starting this December.

Aside from Ultraman and Gridman, I don’t know of any other kaiju-related television shows happening next year, so to not leave this section sparse, I should probably mention Kamen Rider Build, which while technically not kaiju based or a 2018 release, is tokusatsu-related and will be continuing into the new year. I know nothing aside from the basics of Kamen Rider, but according to the wiki it will be the last Rider show to be fully broadcasted during the Heisei era, as the next series will run into 2019 when Emperor Akihito will abdicate the throne to his son Prince Naruhito, thus beginning a new era of Japan.

Events

It would be heresy to discuss kaiju-related events and not bring up the quintessential annual kaiju con G-FEST! Next year’s convention looks to be an absolute banger and the entire guest list and schedule hasn’t even been announced yet! In attendance next year are Akira Takarada, best known for his role as Ogata in the original 1954 Godzilla film as well as his other roles throughout Toho’s library. Joining him will be Megumi Odaka, known as Miki Saegusa in the Heisei Godzilla series. This is her first G-FEST in over fifteen years, having attended back in 2000. Fans will most definitely not want to miss this event! G-FEST 2018 will be held July 13th - July 16th at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, IL.

San Diego Comic Con has always been the number one hotspot for pop culture news every year, and 2018′s convention is definitely one kaiju fans want to keep their eyes peeled to. The highly anticipated sequel to Legendary’s Godzilla reboot has wrapped filming and it’s extremely likely that the film will have some sort of presence at next year’s SDCC. Whether this means a panel with the cast and crew or a trailer is anyone’s guess, but considering it’s the last major convention before the film’s release (with the possible exception of New York Comic Con in October), it’d be insane of Legendary not to promote the film here. San Diego Comic Con will take place July 19th - July 22nd at the San Diego Convention Center.

On a slightly smaller note, Monsterama is a convention in the Atlanta, GA area that seems like your average horror/monster fan convention. Of special note on the guest list to kaiju fans is Matt Greenfield, former president of ADV Films and current president of Kraken Releasing. Both companies are notable for releasing many kaiju films to DVD & Blu-Ray in the west. Kraken’s latest tokusatsu releases include The Return of Godzilla on Region 1 disc for the first time, and Garo, the creation of character and monster designer Keita Amemiya. Fans will want to keep their ears open for this convention as new information regarding possible new releases from the company could be revealed.

Merchandise

The S.H. MonsterArts line continues releasing highly-articulated and accurate representations of characters from the Godzilla franchise, including the first non-Godzilla Showa character in the form of Mechagodzilla. Reissues of the infamous Shin Godzilla figure and the sought-after SpaceGodzilla and Little Godzilla are also in the pipeline. And of course, the highly anticipated release of the 2002/2003 KiryuGoji design as well. Mechagodzilla has been licensed by BlueFin to see a stateside release, but the others will remain Japanese exclusives.

Continuing the theme of super-articulated figures, the S.H. Figuarts line will be seeing a surge of Ultra-related figures next year. On the docket are too many figures to list (see the Ultraman Wiki article) but of special note are the kaiju Antlar, Pandon, Twin Tail and Gudon (seen above). No release dates for any of the kaiju have been revealed, but it’s very likely these monsters will see release in the coming year.

In the world of vinyl figures, chances are Bandai will produce figures for the Godzilla anime sequel, but of special note are new releases in the Movie Monster Series line for 2003 Kiryu and Biollante! This marks the first vinyl figure of Biollante since the original 1990′s deluxe-sized figure. Despite the lack of pictures, the low price of only 1500 yen means collectors will not want to miss out on this one.

Pacific Rim Uprising continues to dominate off the screen with a highly anticipated line of figures from Bandai’s Robot Spirits line. All six of the film’s main Jaegers will be released for less than $40 each (and imported to America via BlueFin) and are easily available for pre-order from mainstream sites like Amazon and BigBadToyStore. Tamashii also plans to release an expensive yet extraordinarily accurate Gipsy Danger figure through its Soul of Chogokin line as well as vinyl representations of the kaiju enemies in the newly revitalized Sofubi Spirits line.

Alternatively, Diamond Select Toys is putting out their own line of Pacific Rim Uprising figures of the Jaegers and the kaiju. These figures appear to be more in-tune with what NECA released for the first film, so those who want similarly scaled figures have that option. DST is also releasing articulated kaiju, for those who aren’t satisfied with Bandai’s vinyl offerings.

Continuing with American companies, NECA has been hard at work sculpting new figures for their Classic Godzilla line. Nothing new has been revealed yet and information is reportedly coming at ToyFair in February, although NECA is notorious for not keeping their word on reveals for their non-80′s properties. Part of this has to do with Toho’s infamously strict licensing policies which resulted in NECA being only allowed to do Godzilla suits in their line as opposed to supporting monsters as well. NECA also revealed that they do not have the rights to create figures based on the 2019 designs of Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah leaving the likely scenario being similar to Pacific Rim Uprising’s toys, with Bandai doing S.H. MonsterArts figures of the three kaiju to be distributed in America via BlueFin.

In late 2017, Criterion secured the streaming rights to fourteen Showa Godzilla films, comprised of the films Classic Media released in their Toho Master Collection, Media Blasters’ two-film library of Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon, and the out-of-print Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). The films are currently available for streaming on the FilmStruck service, but Criterion has implied that they are interested in a physical release sometime in the future. Nothing concrete has been revealed yet, so fans will want to keep an eye on Criterion’s monthly Future Releases updates to see if any of these films make the cut.

Finally, kaiju artist and fan extraordinare Matt Frank is drawing an officially licensed Redman manga! From the previews shown, it appears to be taking on more of a dark tone than the original show. No word on a US release yet (although it’s likely copies will be offered at his G-FEST Artist Alley table).

With each passing year, the kaiju fandom grows bigger and bigger and more and more kaiju-related media is being released every month. It’s truly a new age for the genre and definitely the best time to be a fan. Here’s to a happy 2018!

#kaiju #2018 #daikaiju #kaiju fandom #daikaiju fandom #godzilla #redman #ultraman #criterion godzilla #criterion collection #bandai #robot spirits #tamashii nations #pacific rim #pacific rim uprising

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jackcliu · 3 years

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On tokens, markets, and a path to a real-time economy

Two years ago on March 1, 2019, I posted a Letter to my future self to the Bitcoin blockchain. This is the story of that letter, one where I didn’t write a word, and how two years later, the dream is still alive. There is an actual path with tokens and markets to make utopia a reality, and my case for what that might look like.   

About a month prior to March 1, 2019, I had privately begun telling my close friends, colleagues, and family that I was going to be making a significant career and life change and dedicate the next chapter of my career towards building exclusively for the Bitcoin SV blockchain. You can guess the confused looks and concerns people had about what it was I was doing. Did I lose my mind? To be fair, I still get those messages today. I knew what I had envisioned when I first read the white paper back in 2013 and somewhere along that journey, the crypto industry had taken a path that veered dramatically from the one I had imagined. With Bitcoin having course corrected twice already via hard forks, I wanted and needed a guiding compass - a North Star. That’s when I had the idea to write a letter to my future self.

I confided in one of my best friends, Jackie to help me write it. It was a busy month for me, my mind was all over the place and I needed help. Over two afternoons, I shared with Jackie what I wanted to say, what was the possible world that I imagined. To her I must have been repeating myself since she and many of my friends had heard this for a decade. The future would bring Proof of Work from a term to describe a computer science thing to one that would describe the workings of the entire global economy and drive a seismic shift in how value was created and how we humans would interact and cooperate with one another. I wanted her to include a thank you to some people who helped me along the way - titans of the industry whom I was fortunate to cross paths and work with. Jesse Powell, gave me my first job at Kraken. CZ hired me to OKCoin in 2014. Star believed in me and gave me so many growth opportunities. At Circle, I worked with my long time friend Dan, who would go on to create CMS. A few days later, Jackie sent me a draft. I was pretty shocked at first, thinking hey this doesn’t even say Bitcoin in it. Where are all the names I wanted to include. Then I read it another time and when she asked if I wanted any changes or if the approach was right, I said, “Let’s not change a single word”. It was different, it was exceptional, to me it was perfect. I sent the letter internally as part of my Circle resignation email, flew off to San Antonio with my parents to watch the retirement ceremony of my favourite basketball player Manu Ginobili, and then a month later on April Fools Day, RelayX was launched.

Having this Letter out there has served me well. Nobody could have expected the course of events of the past two years both within BitCoin, and the world at large. Politics, COVID-19, money-printing, delistings, court cases, you name it. Without it as an anchor, I might have lost sight of the bigger picture. If you would have asked me then what BitCoin would look like today, I would have predicted a 100x rosier picture than the current situation. Despite most of the boom in the cryptocurrency industry having not occurred on the Bitcoin SV blockchain, the rapid adoption of blockchain and digital currencies from NFTs to DeFi, to institutions putting BTC on the balance sheet shows the underlying movement is in full force. Just this week, I watched sharpshooter JJ Redick utter the words “non fungible token, and blockchain technology” on his podcast talking about NBA Topshot. That’s incredible.

In the letter are the words - “Your world will be frictionless and marked by truth, freedom and fairness. Your world will truly be one that is defined by human imagination and honest work.”

I am making the case for tokens as the critical solution to a real-time economy. I want to break the spell of the narrow definition of tokens that has bounded the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. For much of the past two years, there appears to be two camps in BSV when it comes to tokens. The dominant one being we want only regulated tokens, security tokens, tokens backed by real assets, with real utility, that real businesses and enterprises can use to make their businesses more efficient. The other, perhaps out of jealousy for what’s going on in other blockchains being let’s just port those Ethereum ERC20’s over and let it run wild for it might pump the BSV price! Funny thing is neither has happened as developers are busy debating whether tokens should be on layer 0 or layer 1 or layer 100 but that’s a topic for another day. Both views are myopic.   

Tokens are going to be a much bigger deal on BitCoin than anyone might imagine.   How many websites are there on the internet? I looked it up recently and the answer is 1.7Bn. How many token contracts are there on the Ethereum chain? The answer is 350,000.   

Websites are kind of hard to set up - you have to purchase a domain name, at least use a website template creator, and there isn’t that much use for getting one for the average person. Not when you can have an Instagram page, a Facebook account, a Twitter handle, a Medium blog without having your own site. Yet there are 1.7Bn of them! Ethereum tokens are prohibitively expensive mining fee wise to generate. Out of interest, I asked one of the devs who minted the original USDC contract during my days at Circle to find the transaction. It cost 0.44 ETH. At today’s prices that’s well over $500 to create a token. Yet there are 350,000 contracts!  

I would wager there will be over 100Bn unique tokens on BitCoin and I’d guess higher but I don’t want to be outside the bounds of the very Overton window I’m creating.

It takes a few seconds to issue a token on BitCoin and at current mining fees, less than a tenth of a cent to issue. If I’m a store owner, I might issue a different gift card a week for the various deals I have going on. If I’m an artist, a different NFT for each piece of artwork. Neither the store owner nor the artist needs more than one website and you start to see the math.

If reading this, you still think tokens are going to be contained to some narrow definition of ‘security’ tokens, or NASDAQ like tokens, or fiat currency tokens, realise it’s like saying the internet will only have The New York Times or CNN or some licensed officially approved site. It’s ok if not every account on Instagram is world class photography. Not every Twitter account is going to be insightful (that’s clear) and that’s ok. In a world of 100Bn unique tokens, You bet there’s going to be a great deal of useless ones and a pretty large number of scams. Just like there are websites that are phishing for your passwords, websites with illegal content, and websites with viruses in them. Over time, services emerged to protect you by blocking, or warning you about potentially dangerous websites.

What’s the bigger picture and what do tokens have to do with a real-time economy? I’ve made the case for there being a ton of tokens. Does that mean it’s just going to be a Coinmarketcap with a lot more pages? An exchange with a lot more trading pairs? No, a lot more exciting than that.

A world with 100Bn tokens means every single asset, service, good, company, project, video, post and many more abstract things than one can imagine is going to have a dynamic, live price. It’s not about the tokens, it’s about the markets. Today, you visit a restaurant and you check Yelp to see if has a good review. BSV entrepreneurs are making some new review site but with reviews posted on the blockchain thinking this is the problem that needs solving. “Immutable reviews”. Much more valuable than a review or immutable review however is if this particular restaurant’s loyalty token is trading at a premium to the other one next door. There’s actually money on the line. Then after eating, instead of being a foodie with a blog and an Instagram to hype up such restaurant, if you’ve got that talent for knowing what’s going to be the next hot restaurant, you can just buy on the open market more of the restaurant’s tokens. Yes, a local foodie just became an crypto trader. Now you profit when you promote the restaurant on your blog. The chef who started that restaurant instead of using Groupon to attract an initial set of customers who have no loyalty to you, can instead issue 10,000 tokens, where each dish costs 100 tokens. Pretty soon if your food is delicious, those token prices are going to jump. Think Global, Live Local is not just going to do good, it’s going to now make you rich.  

 I grew up in a lower middle class first generation immigrant family. I remember being a teenager in those years where oil prices were very volatile as the world approached the idea of “Peak Oil”. We would sometimes drive by a gas station one day where prices were a few cents cheaper than the day before, and even though the tank was half full, we filled up. Other days, the warning light would be on, but we held off for another day to fill up the tank in hopes prices would come down. Is this speculation on oil prices bad? Another fun memory I had was going grocery shopping with my folks and my favourite cookies were the Chip Ahoy Crunchy chocolate. Eating those with milk is probably half the reason for my height. Once in a while they would be on sale but next to them were the No-Name brand versions of the same cookies. Chip Ahoys were definitely better but were they $2/100grams better? No. We would calculate every time to decide which we would buy. Is this speculation on cookie price bad? How come other goods and services in the economy didn’t fluctuate in price? That’s what’s always fascinated me. I knew they would if they could. With Bitcoin, it was possible.

Tokens on Bitcoin with the perpetual scaling design of Bitcoin where it isn’t the holder that’s rewarded (Proof of Stake) but rather those contributing to scaling the network (Proof of Work) will lead to the formation of markets where markets were too inefficient to exist - unlocking trillions of value in the process.   

A fully tokenised economy makes everything efficient, fair, honest, and real-time. I don’t mean efficient like fast transactions or cheap mining fees. It’s the economy that will be efficient. You won’t need to be a big grocery chain or a big oil company or big tech company with financial analysts, and big data and machine learning folks in order to know what to set the price of a Chips Ahoy or a Gallon of oil or surge pricing on a taxi ride. It’ll be orders of magnitudes better than that and for every person on earth because it’s all going to be open, issuable, transferable, tradeable. You won’t be checking page 978,950 of Coinmarketcap. You won’t be scrolling to AHOY/USDT on an exchange. I predict all of this will happen without you realising that it did and all our lives will improve as a result.

For those who immediately think of the regulatory ramifications of this, I’ve thought the same. In 2015, while leading OKCoin, I led our initiative to become the first international benefactors of Coin Center - the industry body working with regulators and governments. I am a minority seed round investor in Chainalysis which looks for criminal activity onchain. I look forward to working with all those who would like to embrace innovation while having an eye on ensuring an orderly, legal transition to this future.

I could not be more excited to support the emerging token projects on BitCoin, through building products, investment, advice, or even in spirit.   Bitcoin is plumbing - just plumbing where billions of trades and speculation down to the satoshi will be happening every second.

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