The challenge is on: After CryptoKitties has congested the Ethereum blockchain, NEO is taking the challenge to prove it's worth as a 'better Ethereum' by creating a better/faster CryptoKitties called HashPuppies.
CryptoKitties is the most popular dApp of all time on the Ethereum blockchain and it is wildly succesful. However it also sparked a lot of controversy as the Ethereum blockchain has been severely hampered and slowed down due to network congestion caused by CryptoKitties. Whereas Ethereum transactions cost less than $0.01 per transaction before CryptoKitties, the price is now higher by a magnitude of a few dozen times higher.
Soon after the release of CryptoKitties and the problems that came with it, talks began on the NEO subreddit about creating CryptoKitties on the NEO blockchain to show once and for all the improvements that NEO has over Ethereum. Whereas Ethereum can handle 10-15 transactions per second, NEO boasts a theoretical maximum of 10.000 transactions per second - which should be more than enough to handle any CryptoKitties-type game much better than the slower Ethereum blockchain.
Now the initiative seems to have taken hold and development has started on HashPuppies (https://hashpuppi.es/ ). HashPuppies looks to be pretty much the same as CryptoKitties, with the main difference being the fact it has Puppies instead of Kittens. The graphics look a bit different too.
According to the website development is now underway and deployment on the testnet should follow in March 2018.Late December 2017 and early January 2018 there will be pre-sale possibilities. The final release is scheduled to happen in July 2018.
I think it's a great idea from the NEO community to show how NEO can handle a game like CryptoKitties, whereas Ethereum is obviously struggling. I can't say the roadmap and timeline appeal to me much though: I wonder if by the time HashPuppies is released, if it is still relevant at that time. Perhaps by then we will have long forgotten about CryptoKitties.
On the flipside, since Gen 0 Cryptokitties sell for a pretty penny... who knows what kind of madness we will see when HashPuppies is released and people try to get their hands on the respective generation 0 puppies?
Additionally, I found this quote by one of the devs:
Perhaps this will drive the price of GAS up?
Click here to visit the HashPuppies website
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