VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GLOBAL BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES CORP. (CSE: BLOC.U) (FSE: BWSP) (OTC Pink: BLKCF) (“BLOC“, or the “Company“) provides a snapshot of X2 Games Corp.’s (“X2 Games”), a wholly owned subsidiary, keynote speech at the Global Alexa Conference 2019.
At the Global Alexa Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Nolan Bushnell, CEO of X2 Games and founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s delivered a keynote speech before 500+ attendees highlighting the role that immersive technology will play in future game development and explained the processes behind the creation of X2 Games’ first product, St. Noire. At the end of the conference, X2 Games was honored with the Best-In-Show Gold Award.
Together with Zai Ortiz, the President, Co-Founder, and Chief Creative Officer of X2 Games, Bushnell made a presentation titled “Alexa and Entertainment: Alexa’s Ground-Breaking Opportunity”.
Bushnell and Ortiz used the conference to explain the background behind X2 Games’ latest production, St. Noire; an interactive board game in which the player takes part in a murder mystery. Alexa describes St. Noire as a “voice-activated murder mystery game that challenges you to solve a murder by interviewing a full cast of characters, using Me”.
“You can look at games like Pong as being clear to the left, and movies being clear to the right,” Bushnell explained. “There’s a whole page in between that’s part game, part narrative, part movie. We think there’s a very vacant area that we can fill with some of the weirdest stuff you’ve ever seen.”
Moving forward, Ortiz hopes to create experiences that are even more immersive. He points to Bandersnatch, the interactive episode of the Netflix series Black Mirror, as evidence that people are excited about the potential for these kinds of experiences and says that using your voice makes for controls that are more natural than holding a remote. “Right now, the Amazon Echo is a powerful device that has what I call the bones to create on top of,” he said. “And that’s what I really like.”
Speech given by Bushnell and Ortiz is already being recognized in the press; the prominent CNET Magazine has already featured X2 Games, which can be accessed here. The website boasted 169.5 million visits in December 2018, making it the 277th-most-visited website in the world in that month. Within the technology news sector, it was the most visited in the world for that same period. 1
In his speech, Bushnell extolled creativity and innovation in game design. “I’ve always liked to do things a little weird,” he said. “It seems like trying to do new things is really hard.” Bushnell, a veteran of the video games industry, sees the future of gaming in AI-led developments.
Nolan Bushnell, the CEO of X2 Games, previously founded Atari Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre chain, sold for $1.3 billion USD in 2014 to Apollo Global Management. The British Academy of Film and Television awarded Bushnell their Academy Fellowship. He was named one of Newsweek’s “50 People Who Changed America” and was one of the first inductees into the Video Game Hall of Fame. Zai Ortiz is a visual effects expert who has worked on films such as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Tron: Legacy, and Iron Man.
The Alexa Conference
The Alexa Conference took place 15-17 January 2019, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The worldwide gathering of the Alexa development community brought together executives, developers, entrepreneurs, strategists, and marketers – all the roles involved in conceiving and creating the voice experiences. Amazon was the 2019 Platinum Sponsor (as well as a presenter) of The Alexa Conference. Some of the companies sponsoring or presenting included: LEGO, Magic & Company, EPB Fiber Optics, Applause, Novel Effect, and Audioburst.
The Conference featured The Alexa World Fair, the first exhibit hall dedicated to Alexa-oriented products, and The Alexa Awards, the largest awards program for Alexa development and businesses, which honors some of the innovators and pioneers within the community.
Bradley Metrock, Executive Producer of The Alexa Conference, said “The Alexa Conference is driving voice innovation forward, along with associated areas like AI, machine learning, smart speakers and more.”
St. Noire
X2 Games has announced plans to release six new voice-controlled, Alexa-centric games in 2019. The first of these will be St. Noire, and will arrive exclusively on Amazon by March. Along with St. Noire, X2 has five other games slated for release in 2019 – some for children, some for families, and some for adults.
As the first immersive Alexa board game, St. Noire features voice acting and immersive sound design. Users will use a board and cards to play, in addition to Alexa.
An unlimited number of players can take part, and participants use Alexa to interview suspects and witnesses (who have the ability to lie to players) to explore six main storylines, all searching for the murderer in the mysterious town of St. Noire. The game is randomized each run-through, and a built-in timer limits the time that players have to discover the murderer’s identity. A full play through is estimated to take between fifteen and thirty minutes.
St. Noire was developed in collaboration with the Alexa Games team, who provided access to engineering and game testing resources.
The game is expected to be released in early 2019, and is projected to retail at between $30 and $40.
The Gaming Market
In 2018, the global gaming market was estimated to be worth $137.9 billion USD. By 2021 that is expected to increase to $180.1 billion USD. 2
It is estimated that by 2019, almost half of American households, approximately 60 million, will own a smart speaker.3 In a survey of users of AI speakers, 25% said that they use AI-powered speakers to play games, and 65% said that they would not go back to life without a smart speaker. 81% said that they were open to new skills and features being introduced to their speakers.4
About X2 Games
X2 Games is a developer and publisher of games integrating AI, smart speakers, and interactive TV into its gameplay. X2 Games was acquired by BLOC on December 17, 2018.
Website: https://x2.games/
For more information, contact:
Email: contact@x2.games
Phone: +1.323.618.0157
Address:
TORONTO HQ
99 Scollard Street,
Toronto, ON,
M5R 1G4, Canada
LOS ANGELES GAMES STUDIO
3900 W Alameda Ave,
Burbank, CA 91505, USA
About Global Blockchain Technologies Corp.
The Company provides investors access to a basket of direct and indirect holdings within the blockchain space.
The Company is focused on streamlining the currently arduous, lengthy, and complicated process that interested investors must undergo to gain exposure to the blockchain space, with a view to becoming the first vertically-integrated originator and manager of top tier blockchains.
BLOC is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) and its common shares trade under the ticker symbol “BLOC.” Additional information relating to BLOC is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, the CSE at www.theCSE.com, as well as on the Company’s website at www.globalblockchain.io.
On behalf of the Company:
Shidan Gouran, President and CEO
info@globalblockchain.io
For more information, please contact:
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ir@globalblockchain.io
1-888-983-4771
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This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, any statements that are not historical facts may contain forward-looking information, and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be” taken, “occur” or “be achieved”. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to the Company’s goal of streamlining the current arduous, lengthy and complicated process that interested investors need to undergo in order to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency space with a view to becoming the first vertically integrated originator and manager of top-tier blockchains and digital currencies. The Company has no assets and its business plan is purely conceptual in nature and there is no assurance that it will be implemented as set out herein, or at all. Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to: statements and expectations regarding the ability of the Company to (i) successfully engage senior management with appropriate industry experience and expertise, (ii) gain access to and acquire a basket of cryptocurrency assets and pre-ICO and ICO financings on favourable terms or at all, (iii) successfully create its own tokens and ICO’s, and (iv) execute on future M&A opportunities in the cryptocurrency space; receipt of required regulatory approvals; the availability of necessary financing; permitting and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: risks related to changes in cryptocurrency prices; the estimation of personnel and operating costs; general global markets and economic conditions; risks associated with uninsurable risks; risks associated with currency fluctuations; competition faced in securing experienced personnel with appropriate industry experience and expertise; risks associated with changes in the financial auditing and corporate governance standards applicable to cryptocurrencies and ICO’s; risks related to potential conflicts of interest; the reliance on key personnel; financing, capitalization and liquidity risks including the risk that the financing necessary to fund continued development of the Company’s business plan may not be available on satisfactory terms, or at all; the risk of potential dilution through the issuance of additional common shares of the Company; the risk of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information set out in this presentation, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
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1https://www.similarweb.com/website/cnet.com
3http://fortune.com/2018/09/10/smart-speaker-ownership-amazon-echo-apple-homepod/
4https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/15/16892254/smart-speaker-ownership-google-amazon