In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: Back to Buildoooring (by PhoenixxDown)

• BigTime Preseason (by TanyoG)

• The Journey to Fully On-Chain Games (by Koko)

Now that the dust has settled on our 2-year celebration, it's back to doing what NT does best: buildooring. Outside of our city walls, Web3 Land is looking a bit choppy.

SBF is getting the old double-cross from his ex-girlfriend and is likely going to jail. Apple deleted MetaMask from its app store (although, it's now restored), which has inexplicably led some to proclaim "it's over" for the umpteenth time, and Yuga's idea to venture into a game studio is looking highly questionable. Meanwhile, we're here just chilling, having a nice quiet week.

Thrasher’s Latest NT Contract Updates

One person who hasn't had a quiet week is our old friend Thrasher, who's been working on some contract updates. Jack the Vault Ripper will have to find a new profession, as a fix has been deployed to ensure that Citizens can only upload when in possession of a vault. 

Additionally, BYTES which have never been extracted from vaults can now be, but as always, only from S1 IDs who have never claimed from a vault.

News from The Citadel

On another note, applications for the four Council spots has now closed, and we are now in the voting phase. Good luck to those who stepped forward.

Earlier today, Firestorm announced that the merch store in its current incarnation is now no more. However, this is only temporary, and a new, redesigned store will be launching soon and will be managed by Crasher, who will be taking over from Tipsy, whom we thank for their service over the past year or so.

Drop Crasher a message if you have any creative ideas for what you'd like to see in the merch store going forward.

A quick one for the OGs among us: If you invested in Auki all the way back in the start of 2022, thanks to vVv’s Exoroxit, they recently put out an update you'll want to keep a close eye on.

Neo Tokyo on the Airwaves

In case you missed it, Neo Tokyo recently hosted a Space AMA with Big Time, which you can catch up on here, and more recently, with Symbiogenesis by gaming legends, Square Enix, yesterday evening! Have a listen back on that one here.

As always, NFT Market Monday took place as well yesterday, where we chatted about the madness surrounding the fake BTC ETF announcement, what the recent layoffs in Web3 mean for the space, and the tokenization of Pokemon cards. Here's the link if you didn't manage to catch it live.

Keep it all in Perspective, Citizens

To round off, a shoutout to Ryan, who's been sharing his photography of space in Purgatory Club. It's a reminder of the breathtaking beauty of the universe, and here we are, a mere speck of dust in the vast tapestry of existence.

While we immerse ourselves with frivolous trivial pursuits like gambling on freshly made shitcoins, discuss which cartoon PFP will perform a miracle and not go to zero, or entertaining ourselves by watching The Artist Formerly Known as Bitboy descend further into insanity, it's a sobering thought.

No regrets. Until next week.

Big Time’s Preseason (and coin) is here.

Big Time is a multiplayer action RPG in which you can play with up to 6 players in your party to conquer dungeons.

This week, the game did two major things:

• Started the preseason.

• Launched its in-game currency, $BIGTIME.

To celebrate the start of the preseason, Big Time has launched its own airdrop program.

Here’s how it works:

• $97,500,000 $BIGTIME tokens will be distributed at the end of the first three months during the preseason.

• There’s a live leaderboard that will reset at the end of each month.

• To qualify for the airdrop, you need to earn at least one point.

• You get points by inviting friends (get 50% of their points as a bonus), hitting different in-game ranks, crafting in-game collectibles, or running a prestige portal.

Here, you can read a detailed guide to the program. The token launched on Wednesday and is already up by over 300%.

Why did it go parabolic so quickly?

One of the reasons is that Coinbase announced that it will list the token on its exchange. 

Will you participate in the airdrop?

I know I will.

Tanyo writes Mind-Blown, a free weekly newsletter that helps you become a better entrepreneur.

Last month, during this so-called “boring” part of the bear market, something remarkable happened.

Proof Of Play, the brains behind Pirate Nation, secured a whopping $33m investment from Andreessen Horowitz. This wasn't just a testament to their potential but a clear signal: the appetite for investment in web3 gaming is alive and kicking.

I've had my eye on Pirate Nation for a while, and it led me to a fascinating discovery: the burgeoning world of fully on-chain games.

The TL;DR: Every in-game action, every move, every decision, is recorded on the blockchain. It's a stark departure from the current web3 gaming norm, which often melds on-chain and off-chain elements. Why? Because while we all crave decentralization and genuine digital ownership, the reality is that games demand rapid computation. And, let's face it, blockchain tech isn't quite up to the task yet.

A fully on-chain game would either clog the blockchain or cost a fortune, not to mention super player unfriendly.

But, as always, the web3 community isn't one to back down from a challenge. We innovate; it's what we do. Fully on-chain games present a plethora of challenges, but put the technical challenges aside for a second and just think of the possibilities! They stretch beyond the limits of our imagination!

Imagine a world where every aspect of a game is decentralized and on-chain open for anyone to build upon. Take this month’s talk of the town: BigTime, for instance. If it were entirely on-chain, anyone could craft entirely new games based on its in-game events. Not to mention the level of transparency! Or envision betting platforms that can track and wager on any in-game actions by anyone. The sky's the limit.

However, this brave new world isn't without its pitfalls. Bots, for one, pose a significant threat. The crypto space already grapples with them, and a fully on-chain environment would be a playground for these automated front-running nuisances.

Gameplay could be manipulated, with bots replacing human players, sapping the joy and thrill out of gaming. After all, who wants to compete against a bot? It's a hollow victory and a frustrating defeat.

This article only scratches the surface of what fully-on-chain games are exploring and I encourage citizens to explore the realm further.

If you haven’t checked out Pirate Nation, it’s definitely a project to watch. But remember, each project has its own mission.

Whether it's chasing mass adoption or pushing blockchain's boundaries, every project plays a critical role in shaping the future of web3 gaming.

NGMI Lab members can get detailed reports on a wide range of crypto and crypto gaming projects at: https://ngmilab.com/

All content from Neo Tokyo News is for entertainment purposes only, and not financial advice.

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