In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: Heathens Bend the Knee (by PhoenixxDown)

• 5 Biggest Scalability Challenges Facing Web3 Games (by mhl.eth)

• The Negative Effects of Yuga's Diluted Focus (by Flower83_)

• Meet Your Neo Tokyo Community Leads: LeBoomington (by Block Editor)

The headline story of the week centers on the triumphant collaboration of two immovable forces: Magic Eden and Neo Tokyo, forming a partnership in anticipation of M.E’s upcoming Ethereum marketplace. Those who once took The Citadel’s name in vain now bend the knee, whether they be the long-departed bottom-selling fud merchants, or the serpents of greed who tried (and failed) to blockade the gates into The Citadel last year. Let this be yet another harsh, but much-needed, lesson to those heathens.

And as luck would have it, later that day we welcomed Johnny from Magic Eden as our special guest on NFT Market Monday. Listen back to the recording here.

A huge congrats to Citizen ‘Stache on the news he is the latest addition to the Neo Tokyo Stream Team. The OG of the crypto gaming space will be making his debut later today for the first ever live stream of SIPHER, and you can watch it on the NT Twitch channel.

Degen Digest Episode #7 dropped yet another banger, featuring special guests Ryan of Virtue Poker and Founder of TTOO and Nexus Labs, Hustlepedia. Shamsi delves into “WTF is DePIn?”; the panel shares their thoughts on GambleFi, plus much more.

This week's edition of Health is Wealth focuses on love, friendship, and the importance of maintaining healthy relationships – crucial for those of us navigating the sometimes exhausting environment of crypto every day.

The protagonist of this week's Meet Your Citizens was none other than Citizen Lead, Chr0nicle, who’s been with us since Day 1. He shares insights into all aspects of his background, including his IRL and Web3 lives, and offers a glimpse into the early days of NT’s community formation.

The AMA Division was on fire as per, delivering three AMAs and another episode of Interlinked. First up was an AMA with Sipher, discussing how they're leading the web3 mobile gaming movement with their looter shooter ARPR. TIN Nguyen was so pumped for his appearance on the show, he even made a teaser video of what’s to come!

Next up was Galileo, who are reinventing luxury e-commerce through their AI-driven blockchain. Check it out here. Persona, the standout avatar collection with heavy retro anime inspiration, was up next to sit down with the AMA duo—and you can recap on the discussion here.

Interlinked Episode #17 featured special guests Rob Greig and Josh Jones of Cornucopias Game, the open-world MMO with a powerful community behind them!

A big shout-out to MintDefense, receiving a glowing report from @beausecurity, the Safety Program Manager at Pudgy Penguins. Us citizens know this already, but MintDefense is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to keeping your assets safe, and it’s great to see the word spreading. Show some love for them on Beau’s post here.

Firestorm dropped a bullish set of updates that you can view in full here, including news on the Job Board, the NT Agency, and more.

To round off, our mole (no, not that one, he’s dead last we heard) has given us a heads-up on a very intriguing citizen project within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

We don't have much information for now on what exactly needs to be done to qualify, or who will be able to enter, but we tracked @LimitlessSauce as the citizen behind the project: an OG minter who has been a part of Neo Tokyo since Day 1. We should be getting more clarity soon, our mole tells us, and he’s never failed us yet.

Until next week, citizens.

If you've ever played a Web3 game, and as an NT Citizen, you likely have, you might have noticed some glitches, slow performance, or high fees. Rest assured, you're not alone – these are some of the major scalability challenges that Web3 games are facing today, perhaps among the first that come to mind. Let’s dive in:

1. Limited Capacity of Blockchain Networks: As the platform attracts more players, the network may become congested, resulting in slower transaction times and increased fees. This can be particularly frustrating for players seeking real-time gameplay or high-speed gaming experiences. Congestion tends to occur more frequently when there is a high volume of on-chain transactions. Therefore, identifying which features and implementations should remain on-chain and what can be moved off-chain is a game changer.
   

2. High Transaction Volumes: Current blockchain solutions are facing challenges with high transaction volumes, leading to a slowdown in game performance and impacting user experience, especially for popular games with a large player base. So, what's the solution? Several chains are better suited for games, including Avalanche, Solana, and Polygon. Selecting the appropriate chain for your game is crucial.
   

3. Slow Performance: The performance of Web3 games is often slow and expensive, which negatively impacts the player experience. This can be due to a variety of factors, including network congestion and the high cost of executing smart contracts. Improving the gaming experience is not easy at all, but developers must seek new solutions to remain competitive with Web2 games.
   

4. Lack of Compatible Infrastructure: There is a lack of compatible infrastructure with major game engines such as Unity. This can make it difficult for game developers to create Web3 games that are compatible with existing gaming platforms. We are at the earliest stage of Web3 gaming, lacking the necessary tools for development at this moment. However, I am optimistic as the Web3 space and blockchain technology are evolving very fast. Perhaps AI could play a crucial role in advancing this field (helping developers facilitate tools compatibility).
   

5. Long Wait Times for Transactions: Web3 games often have long wait times for transactions to be processed. This can be frustrating for players who want to make quick in-game purchases or transactions. I guess this can go with the first point, as some in-game transactions can be hosted off-chain. EX: Instead of paying in tokens for each in-game item, why not deposit the token into the game and utilize an off-chain currency to purchase in-game assets?

These challenges are not insurmountable, they demand creative solutions and a collective effort from Web3 gaming developers. As the industry expands and transforms, addressing these scalability issues becomes crucial to offer players the ultimate gaming experience.

While this article may not introduce new concepts to you, it serves as a reminder that to solve problems, we must remember what they are.

A lot has happened these past few weeks in the YugaLabs’ ecosystem:

• Pudgy Penguins flipped Bored Apes briefly, then they managed to immediately re-flip them.
  

• Yuga acquired Moonbirds (and Proof) for $250 million (yes). Since the price was pumping a day or two before, this also spurred up some insider trading allegations.
  

• Garga.eth has stepped back in as the CEO of YugaLabs, explaining that he is thankful to Daniel Alegre, but that now they will be going back to more crypto-native events and also communicating with the community more frequently. Some, including Becker, think this will be a bullish outcome.
  

• And then there was also a fourth announcement. It has to do with the future of their metaverse. In it, they basically told everyone that they decided that the development of the Otherside is now in the hands of the community, explaining how much of a burden it is and how they do not want to spend “dozens of millions of dollars” for developing such a big project in an already very “competitive space.”

This came as quite a shock to many, since, you know, they did just spend $250 million on acquiring Moonbirds. Surely those funds would be better spent for Otherside’s development?

In any case, the general consensus on social media seems to be something along the lines of:

“Yuga should've just stayed on top of the market by being the cool kids, firmly establishing themselves as the Soho house and a luxury brand and keep hosting live events; bringing the community together instead of diluting their ecosystem with endless airdrop collections. Also they should not be running around like headless chickens trying to be the best at every flavor of the month, releasing tokens, minting ordinals, hiring web2 gaming CEOs, etc… Also they should've never pivot to gaming in the first place. Also, the entire Otherside was a mistake and the collection is too large.”

I also think along these lines. They had it all. But somewhere in the process they lost their vision and forgot what made them so big in the first place. But at the same time, I can't say I am surprised. We in Neo Tokyo predicted this scenario more than 10 months ago.

To some of us, it was obvious Yuga would fumble, since they were spread too thin. Speaking of this dilution of focus, it is perhaps worth mentioning that their TwelveFold collection on BTC, which back then was the most costly mint on the protocol, is not doing too well and is now seemingly abandoned by Yuga entirely. Perhaps they will put it in the hands of the community, like the development of their Otherside metaverse?

All of this only reveals more issues in Yuga’s collapsing empire. As you dilute your focus, and try to do everything at once, you inevitably get outrun by smaller projects perfecting just one thing and showing they are best at their specific niche. Like Memeland, like Pudgies, and perhaps Azuki, if they pull off this anime.

• Discord ID: leboomington

• Background: Film and Video Production

• Entered Crypto: 2021

• Joined NT: S1 Mint

• Expertise: Video Production

• Dislikes Working On: Working on Projects He Doesn’t Like

• Most Known For: Neo Tokyo videos

• Reason for Joining Council: Help NT Become a World Leader in Web3 Gaming

• One Word: Visual

• Outside Interests: EBike Construction

As the creatives division lead, LeBoomington’s work is well known. He has a master’s in film philosophy and video production and has worked on documentaries, a few short films, motorsports, and also did some time in the esports arena. Like many, it was the Pandemic that helped spur on his transition to crypto in 2021.

LeBoomington quickly discovered Ellio Trades, who brought some clarity to the chaotic space. When buzz around Neo Tokyo started, it became his mission to join and start to network with like minded individuals.

After months of analyzing every tweet, freeze framing videos, and just trying to figure out if anything meant anything in the days of the radical riddles, LeBoomington made his way into The Citadel. Since joining, LeBoomington said, “it's amazing how many businesses I've been involved with people who I only know through their PFP, yet I trust them more than I trust other people who I've actually met.”

Currently, LeBoomington’s main focus is still video production, and he has helped several citizen projects level up their content. His efforts have been focused on building NTV and the Neo Tokyo Media Network. “I think this media network has the potential to become the greatest thing since sliced bread. And we're now releasing content every day of the week,” said LeBoomington.

As well as producing the show for this interview, LeBoomington works with his creatives team on the AMA podcast, NT News, shorts content and a couple more upcoming shows, all with the goal of informing and entertaining the community. He’s been working with 3D models now as well thanks to AI advances and Style Protocol. “I think one of the biggest things I want to achieve is a media network that serves as a beacon for onboarding web two people into the space,” LeBoomington said.

While his video production skills speak for themselves, LeBoomington is a visualizer of sorts. If he can see it in his head, then it can happen. This helps when advising projects with their content needs. Sometimes he can see the hurdles in advance and may need to suggest they head back to the drawing board. This is where a seasoned advisor pays for itself. Art is not an area to skimp on when it comes to development. LeBoomington refers to it as the “skin of your product.”

LeBoomington was the driving force behind the Creative Division inside Neo Tokyo. After taking a hit by the Luna Crash, he started focusing on the value he could provide. He noticed the level of skill in video editing on YouTube and Netflix was just not good enough and he could do better. So he started the conversation with Firestorm and the Creatives Division was born around June of 2022.

With a decent position to bring in partnerships and proposals, his goal for joining as a Counsellor is to help The Citadel grow. He believes Neo Tokyo will become a world leader in web3 gaming and investments and he wants to be a part of that mission.

Outside of Neo Tokyo, as if there was time for such a thing, LeBoomington enjoys building ebikes from scratch. He’s built a handful of them, ordering parts, and building the batteries and placing them on downhill competition frames. The laws and pricing surrounding ebikes don’t align with his thinking, so he builds what he wants and adds his own special LeBoomington touch to them.

When asked how fast his bikes can go, he declined to answer for legal reasons, but he does wear a full face downhill helmet so our Counsellor is safe for now.

Make sure you give LeBoomington a Follow on X @LeBoomington

Watch the Interview on NTV https://youtu.be/acg3LrXlAfE

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

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