Blockchain Business Profitability

Is blockchain profitable as a business? This question is probably asked quite frequently by aspiring entrepreneurs and the general audience as well. No wonder, because no matter how young this industry is, it has captured quite a significant capital in just a few years, despite its market rushes in an upward and downward motion. If you look at the cryptocurrency market cap as of the end of October 2021, you’ll see that it broke the record again and reached its new all-time high – almost $2.6 trillion. That’s only the market cap of cryptocurrencies traded at exchanges like CEX.IO, not to mention all the profit that’s being made on blockchains that serve various business purposes. Let’s look at blockchain as a business more closely and see what are the main points of its profitability. Advantages of blockchain Blockchain is an emerging technology that proved its efficiency in a variety of industries. Why it suits many businesses from various areas? It’s simple. Because every other blockchain has some specific advantages that are inherent to this technology and that eventually end up being an answer to many burning issues of modern businesses. Here are the most common advantages associated with blockchains: Decentralization Blockchain is a distributed ledger. That is, like an infinitely scalable and resilient database that doesn’t have to be maintained by a central authority. It’s also a trustless chain, meaning that you don’t have to trust your sensitive data to a third-party provider. Not only this approach is regarded as secure and smartly managed but also it is usually much cheaper than using big-name companies’ services like AWS or likewise. Immutability What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Also, what happens on a blockchain, stays there forever and there’s absolutely no other way around. Many businesses find this immutability an advantage because it allows maintaining the ultimate transparency of every transaction and the whole history. Initially, this feature was designed to avoid the double-spending problem, but right now it has gained its reputation for keeping things honest and clear. Security Quite a few features inspired blockchain believers to talk about the latter as more secure than conventional databases. First of all, it’s the anonymity of transactions. During the processing of transactions and even in the event of maintaining a non-custodial digital wallet, nobody on the blockchain will ask your name, country of residence, or a credit rating. On such a network, all you will see will be the alpha-numeric hash addresses that transmit values from one to another. Apart from anonymity, another point of security is the verification of transactions by multiple anonymous unrelated parties called nodes. Even if one or a few malicious nodes approve the fraudulent transaction, the rest of the chain will disprove it and the malicious nodes will be fined and eliminated from the decision-making process. Now when we found the main advantages (or should we say selling points) of blockchains, let’s find out how they can affect the profitability of the blockchain as a business. Discovering profitability in blockchain A few decades ago when international financial transactions like SWIFT were introduced, there used to be a single technology standard that everyone used. On one hand, it was good that the whole procedure was standardized and there were almost no “bugs” in the system. However, on the other hand, there was effectively no choice when it came to performing international payments. SWIFT used to be the only option, and all of the participants of the network had to cope with its inefficiencies, lack of privacy, and the extended waiting time until the payment clears. With modern blockchains, things have become different. Any customer, whether it’s a business entity or an individual investor, is free to choose out of multiple blockchains and pick which one suits them best. It’s also worth mentioning that every other blockchain has a unique architecture. They might also be targeted at various pain points and efficiently solve various issues. Also, there is freedom in terms of the development of custom solutions because most blockchains have open-source code that is free to use. So, blockchain can be profitable as a business of its own, and blockchain can also be profitable as a specially crafted solution for any other business. By the way, creating a blockchain isn’t as hard as it might seem from the start. Some companies offer out-of-the-box solutions like ready-made frameworks which can be used by developers for easy assembling of new blockchains. As a result, one of the ways to profit from blockchain as a business is to reduce costs which is achievable with framework solutions. A business use case One successful example of blockchain implementation is IBM Food Trust. Handling supply chains of fast-moving consumer goods are especially challenging because many of the products that are being sold in grocery stores have a very minimal shelf life. For example, this applies to leafy green vegetables. A special task, in this case, was to examine these products and continue with delivering only the ones that are surely not infected with foodborne illness. The IBM blockchain platform now manages to track these items in a matter of seconds, which previously could take up to weeks of time. Due to the fact that the foodborne illness increases during certain seasons, retailers have to make sure that they don’t supply the infected products or that they quickly take those products off the shelves. This opportunity allows to quickly spot the problematic places and tackle the issue which also brings cost savings of up to millions of dollars.

Review: WWE 2K22

Developer – Visual Concepts Publisher – 2K Sports Platforms – PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5 The lack of an easy to recommend wrestling title this generation has been a bit frustrating. 2K took a wise step, and brought the developers of the NBA 2K series to develop. Their talent and skill, along with a higher budget and an a year break have come together to deliver the best new WWE 2K entry in years. Now right off the bat, I’m not going to fool anybody with my wrestling knowledge, real, virtual, or otherwise. I usually approach these games from a casual point of view and tend to like arcade style games just as much as any sim title. Now when executed well, sim wrestling games can combine the nuances of the squared circle, but keep it accessible for skill levels like mine. The older WWE games nailed that mix perfectly. I did try some wrestling indie games recently, but despite their deep customization, the actual wrestling was a bit too hardcore for me. I could never truly get comfortable with the genre’s mechanics, so I respected most wrestling games from a distance. With WWE 2K22, they make huge strides in bringing in casual players such as myself, without sacrificing the depth hardcore fans would want. WWE 2K22 features extensive tutorials and a new simplified control scheme, which can really help especially with it’s complicated gameplay. Outside of the core gameplay and good visuals, the customization is easily the star of the show. WWE 2K features a pretty fun character creator, that allows you the room to make some good looking, or absurd looking wrestlers in their Monday Night Raw best. Even better, is the absolutely intense suite of options for making venues, belts and move sets. The tools available are built off the back of the previous titles, and even in the games early life cycle you can find hundreds of great fan created content online to download from the community. The career mode is solid, if a bit bare bone. Building up a wrestler is silly fun, and despite missing some of wrestling more iconic figures, the career mode will take you on a satisfying climb. Online fairs well, with several options to tweak and customize how long and short a session is, and I never had problems hopping online and competing. The only real knocks I have is the content offering. Now some returning modes are already available from previous games, they have returned with a more limited offering. I’m hoping to see them officially implemented, so the career mode can properly take advantage. The learning curve is also pretty steep despite the new casual friendly controls. It is a fair bit easier to get into than the prior entries in the franchise, but it’s not quite at that casual entry level that some of the genre’s classic titles were able to pull off. WWE 2K22 is a well-rounded and fun wrestling experience. The lack of content is felt, but excellent community tools help alleviate some of those growing pains.

Hogwarts Legacy Gets Holiday 2022 Release Window From New Gameplay Trailer, Adds Nintendo Switch Version

Although the Harry Potter franchise lives on within the Fantastic Beasts film series currently, fans await more content to come to the series penned by author J.K. Rowling. While there is still talks on what is to come in entertainment, video games is expecting a new release later this year. Originally revealed in September 2020, the game was shared to release in 2021. However, that was a spell short of being properly executed. In a later statement from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment & Avalanche Software, the firms disclosed that Hogwarts Legacy will receive a 2022 release instead. Thankfully, a separate State of Play will be held featuring the plans for the upcoming game including unique footage. Now with the livestream airing, we learned more about Hogwarts Legacy including how gameplay is structured, where to progress as a wizard in training, and that this holiday will be the time frame for the release. You can watch the gameplay footage in the video below: One eye-opening discovery from information that released following the new gameplay reveal is that Hogwarts Legacy will also be releasing on Nintendo Switch. Initially, the title was featured at a PlayStation 5 Showcase which explains the recent State of Play setting. But, it is expected to be a more demanding title for even base Xbox One/PlayStation 4 – let alone Nintendo Switch. What is more baffling is it will be a native release for the Nintendo handheld hybrid console. Rather than an understandable decision to ship a cloud version, this is not the case for Hogwarts Legacy. Whilst it is unnecessary for some Kingdom Hearts titles and the three received the change. You can read the full report by heading here. Are you planning to get Hogwarts Legacy this fall? Hogwarts Legacy is said to ship in holiday 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Source: Warner Bros. Games

For Honor Adds Cross-Play Matchmaking Support Kicking Off Year 6 This Week, Promises Cross-Platform Lobbies

While a few years back it might seem farlandish to believe the current cross-platform state the industry is in currently, many before would not listen to the chances of multiple platforms considering in bridging multiplayer lobbies into one respective pool. However, franchises like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Minecraft pioneered this new norm for the industry. In the past, Ubisoft did speak briefly on what its plans were for its titles. At the time, the firm emphasized on games such as Rainbow Six Siege alongside For Honor to feature this support. While the statement was made nearly two years ago, Ubisoft did deliver partially on its promised with a previous update for Rainbow Six Siege back in summer 2021. Now this week, Year 6 kicks off over at For Honor and cross-play matchmaking is officially added ot the game. You can watch the Year 6 launch trailer in the video below: “Crossplay has been an ambition of our team for a very long time. There have been many technical challenges to bring Crossplay to For Honor because the core technical game components were not originally designed to support it,” the team writes. “Thanks to the hard work of the team, we are now proud to bring Crossplay to our Warriors. We believe Crossplay will benefit For Honor and its long-term vision.” However, cross-play will be broken into two phases: the first is matchmaking which released this week enabling Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players to play in the same lobbies. However, inviting friends and forming groups from other platforms will be added at a later, unspecified time the team added. In terms of other improvements to other Ubisoft-published titles, Ivory Tower recently shared The Crew 2 will be adding next-generation enhancements to Xbox Series X|S & PlayStation 5 later this summer. You can read the full report by heading here. Are you excited for cross-play finally available on For Honor? For Honor is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Source: Ubisoft

Booster Pass – Wave 1 Arrives To Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Today

For avid followers of Nintendo’s quarterly financial results that release periodically, there should be a great understanding that Mario Kart 8 is probably Nintendo’s most successful IP in the last decade. The game is the most sold entry on both Nintendo Switch alongside the previous Nintendo Wii U as well. The game is even ranked to be the most successful racing title in the United States as per NPD Group. Of course, it is expected another installment is to follow the game with its release inching close to a decade. One industry analyst even encourages expectations to be met for a reveal this year. However, that might be incorrect. Nintendo went on to make a Mario Kart reveal this year, but in the form of the Booster Pass for the latest title. The DLC expansion can be purchased separately or included in Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is to be distributed in fractions over time. This Friday Nintendo has went to release Wave 1 for the Booster Pack. You can watch the launch trailer in the video below: “Racers at the ready! Eight remastered courses have been added to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game. Starting today, you’ll be able to challenge the Golden Dash Cup and Lucky Cat Cup,” the overview shares. The first set includes Paris Promenade (Mario Kart Tour), Toad Circuit  (Mario Kart 3DS), Choco Mountain  (Mario Kart 64), and Coconut Mall (Mario Kart Wii). The latter collection of races welcomes maps Tokyo Blur (Mario Kart Tour), Shroom Ridge (Mario Kart DS), Sky Garden (Mario Kart: Super Circuit), and Ninja Hideaway (Mario Kart Tour). This is the first of what is promised to be six waves from Nintendo for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass. Additionally this week, Nintendo also included three new games to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. This includes Alien Soldier, Light Crusader, and Super Fantasy Zone which were added to the Sega Genesis virtual library. You can read the full report by heading here. Which track are you most interested to try first from Wave 1 of the Booster Pass? Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now for Nintendo Switch. Source: Nintendo

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Subscribers Can Redeem 30-Day Free Trial Of Paramount+ Just In Time For Halo Television Series Coming Next Week

While the initial promise of a Halo television show was guaranteed to be a shoe-in during its announcement – before Halo 4 and the fate that later came to Xbox One – no one who have guessed that the TV series would air almost a decade after. However, the wait period following season 1 is likely to be shorter. In that, Paramount has confirmed the television show has been renewed for a second season already. Additionally, new information on the show was revealed since we learned of its March airing. In a previous interview with 343 Industries, the game studio shared that the ‘Silver Timeline’ was specially crafted for the show where it mends its own storyline for the medium. According to a separate story, that also includes the unmasking of Spartan-117 himself somewhere in season 1. In a recent announcement on Xbox Wire, 343 Industries head Kiki Wolfkill reveals that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can redeem a full month trial of Paramount+ at no additional cost just in time for episode 1 next week. “For our biggest fans on Xbox, we are also thrilled to announce that they can watch the series starting day one – Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members will be able to stream “Halo” through an exclusive offer of Paramount+ for 30 days free via Perks, available to claim starting on March 23.” This is yet another promotion from Microsoft linked to its Netflix-like subscription service. Previously, the Xbox firm features more than two months of Crunchyroll Premium to its subscribers which offered ad-free streaming for users new to the service. You can read the full report by heading here. Are you excited to catch the Halo Television Series next week? Halo Television Series airs on March 24, 2022. Source: Xbox Wire

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong Shows Off Bloody New Gameplay

Vampire: The Masquerade  – Swansong got a brand new gameplay trailer today. Developed by Big Bad Wolf, the narrative RPG shows off some incredible footage in its newest video. Mysterious assassins have attacked the Boston Camarilla – a secret society comprising most of the vampires in the city. Galeb Bazory, Emem Louis and Leysha are tasked by Hazel Iversen with learning the identity of the attackers as well as the motives underlying the large-scale attack. The orders are simple: infiltrate, investigate and get answers, using supernatural powers if necessary. As in a game involving investigation, the player visits various locations in search of precious clues, solves puzzles and interacts with a wide range of characters in order to advance within the game. But just like in a Narrative RPG, a genre pioneered by Big Bad Wolf in The Council, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong introduces a variety of gameplay mechanics. Each of the three heroes has a character sheet that the player can fully customise. You can be an expert in speech and persuasion and dominate others, or you can develop your technology skills so you can hack computers and locks. Intensively using vampire powers carries a high price: hunger for blood. If one of your heroes is short of blood, their inner beast takes control, directly affecting your possible actions. To prevent this from happening, you can prey upon one of the humans, feeding upon their blood. But make sure you do this out of sight, to maintain the Masquerade, the vampire law that hides the existence of the creatures of the night from humans. In some situations, scripted action phases are triggered during which you have to keep your head and make the right choices despite the time pressure. Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong releases May 19 on PC, Xbox S/X and PS4/5.

Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles Gets Updated Release Date

Luminawesome Games announced today that their newest title, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles, will now release on April 21, 2022. Originally scheduled to release today, the game was pushed back to allow more time for optimization.  It will still launch on Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC. Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles sees players squish, bop and bounce through the Great Depths – an underwater world filled with Motes; bioluminescent creatures who spend their lives deep in the Bioverse, living on the rhythms of an electronica soundscape. The game expands upon the early access PC game, Lumote – delivering a complete version of the critically acclaimed release, featuring additional story, a whole new game world and a new level of challenges, puzzles, and collectibles. The world of Lumote is a single massive environment with numerous puzzles separated into towers. Each tower marks your mastery of a specific Mote and unlocks a new set of puzzles to explore. We’ll need to solve intricate puzzles set in a 3D puzzle adventure. Clever and logical level design ease players in whilst increasing the complexity with each Mote you meet.

Review: Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?

Developer: Wales Interactive Release Date: March 18, 2022 Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC Steam, Switch, Mobile (Ios and Android) Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is the latest title by Wales Interactive. It’s a live-action, FMV murder mystery, and you are tasked to find out what happened. We play as Abby, (Abigail Hardingham) the niece of Uncle Marcus’ (played by Andy Buckley, who starred as the CFO in The Office) and have just been given a bombshell piece of information: There’s a killer in our family. Every year, the family gets together for a fun, online trivia quiz for your mom’s birthday. Just before we are about to log on, Abby gets a video call from Uncle Marcus who gives her the bad news. Abby wasn’t able to make the most recent family meeting, but Uncle Marcus tells her that someone in the family poisoned him at some point in the night. Uncle Marcus doesn’t have much time left and says it’s up to us to figure out who did it. Abby will need to balance navigating her way through mom’s birthday quiz and interrogating her family member teammates while doing so. Hopefully, for Marcus’ sake, we’ll be able to find the poison, antidote and the killer in time. Wales Interactive is no stranger to interactive movies. Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is set up similar to Five Dates with everyone involved in a separate, remote location. If you’re unfamiliar with the setup, picture playing a video game crossover between Tim Curry’s Clue and Rian Johnson’s Netflix mystery hit Knives Out. Everyone in the family has some crazy secret, and the game is set up in a way to let us experience all of them. The trivia quiz is played in teams, and there are seven people involved. One person asks the questions and the other six pair off. You’ll have to carefully blend asking about the meeting and answering the questions. Answers given are determined by what on screen choices we pick during the prompts. There is a time limit of only several seconds per question, but luckily Wales Interactive has included a streamer mode. If you plan on streaming, or simply want to take your time, streamer mode allows you unlimited time to make your choices. Each round consists of three or four questions from each family member. We are given the opportunity to review our progress at the end of each round and see how much of the evidence we were able to uncover. Each family member has a different amount of “evidence” toward another person. The game lasts a total of four rounds, at which point we are forced to make a decision. We can accuse someone if we uncovered enough evidence. We’ll either find the killer or learn some quirky, hysterical secret for the wrongly accused family member. Each secret is based upon the family members’ persona, and they are all over the top hysterical. Robbie Kay (Peter Pan – Once Upon a Time, Heroes Reborn) plays our emo recluse cousin Bradley who’s obsessed with death. Georgia Small (Five Dates) is our shallow, stuck-up, promiscuous sister Lottie. Susannah Doyle (Black Mirror) is our lush, drunk Auntie June while Al Weaver (The Complex) plays our other cousin Toby, who is an arrogant, self-posturing narcissist. A standout of Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is the seamlessness in which the variety of these personalities blend together. During each round of the game, we’ll get a chance to pick one of three family members we want to play with. Now, while mom asks the questions, we may have a choice between Bradley, Toby or Lottie. On the other hand, we may have to choose between mom, Auntie June or our nana when Lottie asks the questions. Not only will we get different evidence for different people depending on who our teammate is, but we’re also treated to a hysterical interaction between the other family members. Nana may intercede to stop the bickering between mom and her sister, or Auntie June may drunkenly carry on about what a burden your two cousins are. At one point, mom even carries on about how “dried up down there” your aunt is. In fact, the insults in the game along with the witty dialogue were my favorite parts. It’s reminiscent of the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer. Uncle Marcus has a video game boss style health bar that slowly ticks down in the top of the screen as we play. Once we get to round 4, he’ll tell us time is almost up and that we’ll have to make a decision on who we think the killer is. It takes about 45 minutes to play through the first time. You can replay whether you choose the correct person or not, and the game lets us hold onto the evidence we’ve uncovered and build it up as we play on. The game does a good job of accentuating its interesting parts while minimizing the tedious ones that are inherent with live action games and multiple playthroughs: repeated scenes. Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus allows us to skip any scenes we’ve previously watched. This is a god send as it allows us to knock the time down to around 10 or 15 minutes a playthrough. The tricky part is that some pieces of evidence can only be obtained by selecting one specific set of answers. With each round allowing for a possibility of over 8 combinations, it can get difficult to manage which choices you’ve already made. The humorous banter along with back and forth insults allow the time to flow steadily, but frustration of picking different choices yet not getting the needed evidence tended to creep into the gameplay at certain points. I’ve played a lot of FMV video games, and Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? does an efficient job of blending everything together in a way that allows you to feel that