Category Archives: Gaming

Outside the box we see

That occurred to me, the Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2614596/saudi-arabia) is giving me ‘Artist showcases Qur’anic verses with intricate paper cutting creations’ It caught me unaware, I never considered this and the image (source: Arab News) is showing us the amazing creations 

With the subtext “Australia-based Pakistani artist Tusif Ahmad visited Jeddah this week to showcase his intricate and colorful papercutting representations of Qur’anic verses.” In that same setting I am a little amazed that this is an Australian based artist. It is the first I ever heard of it (and here I am blaming the media yet again). And it is not impossible that I overlooked that setting, so I am willing to take part of the blame. Yet the setting should have been a lot more visible in Australia. Weirdly enough three thoughts penetrated my feeble brain.

  1. Does this technique work in English too?
  2. Is it possible to do this technique in braille, so that the blind could enjoy this?
  3. How can non-Arabic people enjoy the art for what it is?

I am not saying that this is a prerequisite, but there is a larger stage (there always is) and to propagate the setting to a larger audience is what we tend to focus on, especially as I am an absolute Arabic noob (a non Arabic literate person).

So when we see “Over the past 12 years, he has produced more than 500 pieces, exhibited globally, and won recognition for an art form he describes as “an invitation to reflect on the Qur’an.”” Making the ‘unheard’ of scene a lot more visible. I reckon that Australian Universities should invite his art form a larger audience (the young tend to be more accepting of new forms of art) and that is seemingly a starting point. I am of course considering that this was already done, there his no way that I am the starting point of anything that isn’t my concoction.

So as we are given ““Each artwork aims to create a bridge between tradition and modern expression, inspiring both Muslims and non-Muslims to connect with the spiritual essence of Islamic art,” he said.” That I might as a non-Muslim not see the whole picture (or image) and I get that, but I know of this art form for less than a day and that needs to be revisited.

Of course my brain goes into all kinds of side-roads, like “What happens when you take this idea and add lasers to this and project that form of art” that and a few other ideas I get from “During his Jeddah talk, Ahmad showcased works from a series inspired by the surahs Ar-Rahman, Yaseen, and Yusuf. He explained that small pieces may take weeks while larger ones require months of patience and spiritual focus.

A setting is that Ubisoft take this idea and add it as an achievement to AC Mirage (as they are creating a new addition to this game later this year) and create an entirely new following, giving this IP (owned by Tusif Ahmad) a interesting large following, giving himself a character in Bagdad at 862CE and letting this art form creating a wave of additional fabs and showing it to a larger audience. It is a way to get art the attention it needs and this merely happened as I combined two ideas in the same time. Timing is almost everything. You still need to cajoles to combine ideas and do this against the folly of time where people laugh at your ideas.

As such Yves Guillemot, I just gave you another setting that might have gone unnoticed in the larger grand scheme of things. And I reckon that Tusif Ahmad might never have considered showing his work to a population that is interested in video games. As such as his audience he would gain, I would wish him good fortune (artists tend to be a hungry lot at times)

Its all in a days work and as I just passed the mark of midweek (Wednesday 12:01pm) it is time to bid thee all a good day and have a great time wondering what comes next. I don’t know because New Zealand is ahead by three hours and they cannot tell me what happens at 15:00 (as they aren’t answering the phone). Time travel through telecom. Who would have thought it.

Write to you all later (in about 20 hours)

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One thought of many

That is at times all of the settings we see. We see an idea and we focus on it. I for one am ‘smitten’ with that affliction. It came to pass as I have been playing AC Shadows and the story gives us the Portuguese. I remember that setting from the James Clavell setting given to us by Richard Chamberlain in 1978, with the work Shogun he, Toshiro Mifune and Yoko Shimada put Japan on our eyesights forever. This is not an attack on the 2024 Shogun, as I haven’t seen it yet (not out on Blu-ray in Australia) but I have heard many good things about it and I look forward to seeing Hiroyuki Sanada replaying the role that (as I see it) made Toshiro Mifune a great actor in the  western world. That is the setting, but it is not what this is about. The setting is set around the Jesuit order, one that had influence in Japan (I am not judging whether it is good or bad) and there is no reasonable way that any jesuit makes for a good assassin. But the setting of AC Shadows could propagate the Jesuit settings, or as they call it ‘Societas Iesu’ founded in 1540, as such it has a rich history, and history being the capital setting as this society is founded on “evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 countries. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. They also conduct retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social and humanitarian works, and promote ecumenical dialogue” for me the idea of prolongating education has another setting. You see, as classes go into disarray in the near future, we need to set new boundaries, not more investments. I see it that the backdrop of Assassins Creed could be used to a setting to learn languages AC Shadows Japanese and Portuguese, Just as the setting of AC Brotherhood could be the starting stage of Italian and Latin. Two programs that give rise to 4 languages. We don’t always get that lucky. There are settings where we merely could learn English (AC Syndicate and Watchdogs legion) so we have an old and new setting for the language. Students could learn a lot by what Ubisoft set in motion. There are settings for Greek, America (they don’t speak English, LOL) and from that we go on. And the fact is that these students can learn all the time (at home or at School) a setting to propagate knowledge and it goes far beyond the borders of that nation. See how these languages give rise to people in India have a much larger setting for languages. As some might ridicule the idea, the setting has been given and some (preferably in Ubisoft) will give rise to that idea and equip something like the Meta Quest 3 and walk around in these conditions, all whilst practicing your language skills. We get all the news on ‘sue strategy’ whilst no one is pushing that envelope to get something going. I gave visibility to this setting almost 6 months ago, so my quote for “Google and Amazon left billions on the floor” is hereby set to true. It is not the only setting there are more, so when you start realising that education is under the hammer and you are shown that education has to be cut, see where we could have given a larger rise to a new pedestal of learning. In that same setting AC Shadows give rise to culture (As does AC Brotherhood) we can argue that Paris in not a setting for culture (look at me, making another funny). 

We need to consider that the art of culture might soon be lost as America squanders whatever it has to keep its billionaires afloat and here Ubisoft has a larger setting to push education to a larger stage in Europe and India, because 1 billion hungry Indians (hungry for knowledge) is a large population to push an idea to. There might be issues over time, but the Ubisoft solution is about 80% finished at present. So do what you want with this idea, but at least I was thinking outside of the box, no AI required and it is close to release (the voice interaction requires actual programming), so when you see another BS media piece on what to sue from who, consider that they never looked at the opportunities given, a simple setting I employed, with no real issue on getting profit (this will be in the hands of Meta and Ubisoft), a donation will of course be graciously accepted. Are you listening Yves Guillemot? 🙂

Have a great day and try to learn something today, even if it is in a direction you never expected. I today did my bit for education, technology, arts and culture. What will you do today?

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Revenue ignored

That is the setting I see. It is likely that others do not see it that way and that is fine. I and referring to Ubisoft. I got their product AC Shadow last week. At present I can only afford it as a preowned game, that is life. But as it is one of the first preowned games I am getting in that way, I am now ‘devoid’ of the initial codes for cosmetic extras. That is fine, I get that these codes are not transferable. That is the benefit of the full game purchasers. However considering that this game was as such 50% cheaper, Ubisoft is also out of revenue. So, I am guessing that Ubisoft has the option to ‘reclaim’ additional revenue.

As such I now do not have:

  • Thrown to the dogs bonus quest
  • Claws of Awaji expansion
  • Yasuke Sekiryu Character pack

I am not complaining on this, codes are not transferable and I think that is fair, but then I thought that these codes might be optionally bought for $3-$5 after a while. So lets say that there is a delay to buy these codes by months up to 12 months. So those who bought the full codes get these ‘extras’ for up to a year and after that Ubisoft can get sales from these codes. It could bank them millions. Optionally you could earn them through the Ubisoft store for exchanging these Ubi-coins. That is up to them, but I reckon that this solution is something that could bank them millions. This is set to the dozen of so games they released and for the millions of people who bought a preowned game. I am actually surprised that no one bought this to the attention of that youthful young scoundrel called Yves Guillemot (apparently the CEO of that place). It is not that CEO’s walk away from revenue, as such I wonder why this was decided. I get that there should be an advantage to the buying population, but after 6 month or a year? I reckon that there is a case t be made for that revenue.

And that is after the setting where Ubisoft is walking away from millions. Ah well, some people can afford to walk away from that amount of money. What a luxury.

As I see it, there is now an additional reason to add a Japanese language model to the idea’s that I already spouted and Ubisoft has another reason to reconsider some of the ideas that re out in the open. And as I see it, Apple is dragging its feet as well. But then they decided to call themselves innovative people (lacking innovation that is).

Anyway, from my point of view AC Shadows is a magnificent product. I was a little upset by the 140GB is had to download and it took hours to do this. But then no one is perfect (almost no one).

So whilst you consider the impact of all that material that could now be downloaded to enhance your playing ability, consider the impact of all these games getting a second stage and what additions could now spice up their wallets in addition to issues they forgotten they had. 

Have a great day, Vancouver will join us in this Thursday in a little under 4 hours.

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About the fish

Yes, it is a little weird, but that is the setting I faced today. In the dream I saw several metal masks of Sam Fisher. At first they looked like cheap pewter toys. But when I tried one, it didn’t fit, it was a mask for a child no more. I was a mask in two parts. The face and the mask and when you place it in an aquarium, the face and mask combination makes it partially float. It was the setting you do not see that makes it eerie. You see, you place the blood worms in the face and when the head gets submerged the bloodwork’s are gradually released into the aquarium. The fish start attacking the face of Sam fire, but after a minute you see what is going on and that is the setting of the mask. This made me think. What if that is the next marketing setting? Not about Sam Fisher, but the setting that marketing needs to embrace that marketing toys need to have a larger release setting. One that is kept in the house. Like the deadman chest in Pirates of the Caribbean? In Japan fish are big (not just on the diner table). You see According to Vastu principles, an aquarium is considered to be a powerful tool for enhancing positive energy and promoting harmony and prosperity in the home. The Vastu principles are about blanching the elements (air, water, fire and earth) as such the aquarium is in principle an item that gets the focal point in a home. And some marketeers are seeing that as a place to market their goods. It doesn’t get into the house, but if it get there it is almost guarantee to hold that focal point for some time and that reverberates in gaming too. Consider that this place will get a nice ticket and then is placed in the homestead for months at a time. That is what marketing should be embracing, not the idea to get to EVERY homestead, but where you get to go, hold that attention point for a lot longer than anyone else.

That same principle could be applied to the aforementioned head as a feeding point for fish.

Now, that does not make this the best idea, but considering that more people have something a lot smaller, the idea puts a smelling on the face of any marketeer that wants to see long term visibility. It could be anything, from a simple marble looking Oracle logo, to a submerged GTAVI car, completely broken. Marketing has plenty of options, what I wonder was that so many ignore the millions of aquariums in the homestead. A place where you place something one and then just accept the view it gives. Seems like a lost opportunity for the right marketeer. 

I want to write more about what Google got handed to them, but I wanted to explore a few more avenues on that setting. It is not as cost and dry as it is and for Justice to play this hand is a little about what comes next and I am curious as to how Justice will thwart the equations of Google data by Tencent and Huawei, because there is a story there. Especially as China is flogging of excess data centre computing power. I reckon that this will have some correlations over time. Jut like the aquarium space that was ignored by most. I am certain that China never overlooked that part of the equation. Did the Justice department make a boo-boo?

Have a great day

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The enemy of my enemy is my ally

That is the setting America is coming to know as the great downfall. The BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mlen3grx7o) ‘Reeling from Trump’s tariffs, India and China seek a business reboot’ We can say it is a storm in a cup of water or take this seriously. I made mention of it yesterday, but I gave it a mere passover. It is not the most exciting of settings, that is if you merely adjust it for triviality. This namely has two settings, the first (the one America hungers for) is “The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3bn.” The other was gives us that India exported (until near future) “India Exports to United States was US$79.44 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations” As such China now sits in the seat where China could replace America for up to $60B (they won’t get 100% in the first three years) and China gets access to up to $50B on route from India to China. There is a lot to be made and that will give Walmart pause to consider where to get the cheap stuff they love to flog to their customers, and as I see it Walmart has no real replacements there, when China starts to throttle the revenue of Walmart, America can kiss goodbye to 90% of their employment population, merely 90% of 2.1 million employees. A setting on top of the defense losses, tourism losses and the other losses that America now faces. A rare event of handing a larger win to China. And that opens other doors too. Huawei will be given access to Indias markets and as Indias data centers will adjust to Huawei, America markets will have dried up to close to 15% of the global population and there the other losses come to bear. 

So as we are given “Experts say the levies threaten to leave lasting bruises on India’s vibrant export sector, and its ambitious growth targets. China’s President Xi Jinping, too, is trying to revive a sluggish economy at a time when sky-high US tariffs threaten to derail his plans. Against this backdrop, the leaders of the world’s two most populous countries may both be looking for a reset in their relationship, which has previously been marked by mistrust, in large part due to border disputes.” Even as India has ‘mistrusts’ as the BBC phrases it, The setting is a much larger stage than anyone realizes it, so you better believe that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) will be playing exceedingly nice. Not just because of what they will gain, but because of what America will lose in addition to this. As I see it, the Indian intelligence settings will get an immediate infusion of Chinese hardware, as such the CIA will be close to blind in the next month or so, they are kept in place whilst they will scramble for additional resources and people to thwart what India and China are starting. Their (CIA) blame game will come to new operations and we get to watch from the safety of distance as America is shooting arrow after arrow, optionally missing whatever target they are aiming for.

So whilst we were given “India was never going to be the bulwark against China that the West (and the United States in particular) thought it was… Modi’s China visit marks a potential turning point.” They are forgetting two elements in that setting. It was never a bulwark, it is a population of revenue, options for the Chinese markets to enhance and the import of Indian goods will also bless the Chinese population. On the other hand, Chinese hardware will grace the Data Centers they now have and will get over the next two years, that is a significant drain to American revenue. In addition to this, India will get to consider Chinese defense contracts and that will bolster their revenue too. In addition there is a larger setting now for Saudi Arabia to get into the field with the Defense hardware they can sell and that is another blow for America. 

And as The CIA gets replaced by the Ministry of State Security, they will get a much larger stage and when the Chinese counterparts shows that there is a lot more information they can get access to, the CIA options will dwindle down to next to nothing. As such this game was misplayed by America to a larger extent. You might think I am holding on to a 7-2 hand and I grant you it is the worst hand to have, but when the game comes to Canasta, it is out in the open what a bad hand is, because if I get either a 7 or a 2 and the pile graces one of the other cards, I could get a massive influx and China can sweeten the pot there. It is all just a video game (a reference to yesterday) and it only required people to think what was going on in a dome setting, because the other two domes could have represented the EU and the Commonwealth. Now India as a Commonwealth partner could get a more impressive seat and that was the ballgame. The Commonwealth needed an alternative as President Trump was no alternative at all, not with its 51st state bickering. Now America is dealing with additional fears, because Canada with its 8,891 km wall bordering America, oh wait, it isn’t there yet, it is on the other side and now with the dangers of a Chinese base just north of it, the Trump Administration will be playing duck and cover (ask Bethesda). And that is after they learned a hard lesson with Cuba, they get to swirl and pay for the protection they need, oh wait, they have no money left. Sucks to be America at this point. 

So whilst America is figuring out what dreadful hand they gave themselves. The larger setting is that with China the Commonwealth now has options, it is not nearly as dark as the America play presented it to be. I merely need to go back to the Huawei setting. We (most of us) thought they were the bad guys, we need to realise that the ones giving us the data was America and the greed driven population who were depending on American hardware nodded yes. Still I have never seen publicly voiced evidence of what Huawei was guilty of. Mere ‘could become’ and ‘we think’ not evidence of a credible nature and now China will get a first setting of handing America its walking papers to the larger stage that we are privy to.

Have a great day.

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The wave of brains

This is a setting that might be, in gaming. You see I promised you something new and I found it. A game unlike any game we have seen and in part one we get to see life on mars, life as Elon Musk envisions it. The story starts (with a wink towards Bethesda) with you as an astronaut, you are in a prison, or a detainment centre to be more precise. You found your way here and it is the start of another RPG. Yes, but one with a difference (that’s what we all say). In this setting we have a completely self reliant system and that is what saved you. You don’t know to much about this as you have a serious blunt on your head, as such you remember nothing. The systems are self reliant, the systems provide nourishment, oxygen and water. But nothing more. So the first thing you need to do is to get out of here. As you become more reliant on the systems you see where things go and how they work. As such the first two hours you are learning the systems and looking more and more apt in getting things to work. Then you get to the first setting, the droid reactivating system. That gives you a few options and one works the janitor droids and one maintenance droid (a wink to the game Paradroid). As this continues you will see that one path needs to be cleared of junk (the janitor droids). As they progress you can review other systems and get them to up and running. But you will learn that there isn’t enough power to do this. And as the monitor systems has thousands of records, you get to see the settings when things were working. And as you get around, you find bodies with identity tags and as you have a universal tag, you get to become all of these people. This will give you access to their mail and conferences. As you become more agile you get to access other places and when the maintenance droid gets to the first tower, we get power to this dome and as it gets power, oxygen, sustenance and water becomes available. As well as a much larger place to explore. Now that we have access to the first dome we get to explore and we see the first settings of the damage caused. The place is deserted, thousands of corpses and no explanation. Then we get to a security station and we see the larger setting. A space ship crashed into one of the domes, that made the air escape and cause the brownout of the fusion reactor. As such we need to create a larger energy dump and the solar panels will take its time to do so. 

As we create the energy to do so, we need to inspect the oxygen and water supply points. As such we get a larger setting, because there is a few days of water left, this also hinders the sustenance creation. But it we get the water back online, it will all be ok. It is an idea that I am having and this will relate to the larger setting of the space ship, which apparently came from earth. As such there is more to this story and for now it is about creating the challenge of getting this into the Science part of sci-fi (we tend to forget about that) and as this is set it becomes about the sanity of 3 domes supporting up to 10,000 people. As I was shown the first dome, we need to set the next stage and in this where did I get to?

Anyway this game goes into a larger setting when the spaceship (which comes from earth) has a much larger issue and that is the lore that needs to be created. A setting that comes with bad news (isn’t there always) but this will be about after the bad news and that is part of the storyline. The ship is an ark of sorts (they are all dead) and that becomes the next stage if this all and what happens when the droids are the hazard? So security and battle droids are next but that is on the next installment. Anyway so for my mind created three domes with a optional population of 5,000. And the requires a little more consideration. We might be in the detainment centre, but that is linked to the retail and civilian dome. As such we have a start. I reckon that I can build from that. It is much more entertaining whilst America is losing India as an ally and trade partner. I reckon that President Modi has had enough of their 50% tariff. So when Wall mart loses all these Chinese and Indian articles that they can flog of cheap they are bound to American articles that no one can afford and China? They gain over a billion customers to Chinese goods. Yes, this was a good idea, wasn’t it? So whilst we fight over who is whose customer China gains a billion of them and now (as I see it) America need Bangladesh to avoid Walmart with its 2.1 million employees from going flat (that will one hell of a unemployment bash coming) So whilst the US government will rely on the Microsoft cloud accounts to spike up their IP engines. The larger issue will be the it will also end Microsoft and their 280,000 employees soon enough. Thank god I kept my cloud setting encrypted and out of the hands of Microsoft. So whilst America will be facing more and more hardship, we will see the larger setting that America sunk their own fleet (which makes for an awesome video game). And that was before BRICS became a world power. Now we get a new stage, as I personally see it America is beyond broke. And I know that a nation cannot be broke, but what do you call it when a nation cannot fulfill its debts? And the interest on $37.31 trillion is nothing to be sneered at, that implies that America will need to hand over 1.67 trillion in interest every year. I warned for that years ago, this was going to happen and now that the moment is there. Others go “It is more complex than that” Really? Interest is due, so where will you get the money from? Why do you think that some funds are setting their momentum now in Bitcoin? They know this is about to happen. As such we see President Trump making complements that Canada would be great as a 51st state. All he wants are the resources and Prime Minister Carney sees through him in an instant. And that is keeping Canada safe for now. Who when we look at this in a gaming setting, we see that earth is heading for a massive war between America and the nation who are not broke. As such there will be a fight over Canada and Greenland. But America misjudged their opponents and Canada has the Commonwealth and Greenland has the EU (as Denmark is in the EU). So this will be far from over and whilst people might be looking at the trivial news. I see this as good a place as any to inform the people, through a video game. 10,000 corpses holding onto information that is todays news. And as we adjust the focal point to what the news is telling the people we get a new iteration of what is real and what is lullaby news. 

I actually never considered this before but gaming could inform millions of people on what actually is. Did anyone else figure this out?

Have a great day. For me the next step is catering the news and setting it up as a lore creator. Whilst everyone is focusing on AI (which does not exist) I use the NIP (near Intelligent Parsing) systems to flake over the news, the public available news (no one wants the news according to Rupert Murdoch). And that is the second tier in this story. All brought to you by that old geezer no one cares about (mainly me). 

Have a great day.

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A present for some

Yup, there you have it. This is a present and particularly for Avalanche software, the makers of Hogwarts Legacy. I’ve been mulling a few things over and I reckon that at times we have to give back to the people who kept us entertained. As such I am giving this idea to Avalanche and they can use it, ignore it. Whatever they want. It also assumes that Hogwarts legacy 2 is as open as its predecessor was. 

First
In the first you need to be able to own houses. These houses can be decorated and they all have a ‘secret’ setting, but in addition to this The game will have its collection of castles, derelict places and others. These are the foundation of my focus. As it goes each of these places have the ability to have a secret level (rooms is more apt). And these houses need specific updates and some of them need to be found.

Portal elements. In the game you will be able to find unique portal items, as well as stress lanterns, and interior spells (an advanced version of Reparo) These houses will then be ‘decorated’ in the style of your graduation house, As such if you play the game 4 times, that place will look similar but different. As the game progresses you will find more unique spells and items (these will have a different icon, item card) the stress lamps are placed around the house or in the house and will give muggles the creeps when they get near one (but they do not know why). Portal items are specific for a type of dwelling and will show this, these portal keys are specific and limited to one location (your secret level) and these levels are consistent to the area they are set and the rooms are not unlike the Room of requirements, but they have limits. You now have places for wardrobes, spell crafts, potion crafts and so on. 

Second
I mentioned before jobs (in a previous blog) I set the ideal gave to a maximum job and two minimum jobs. So the 4 houses have a maximum job and 2 minimum jobs. As such we get 12 jobs. I wanted to add a segment to this, but I don’t want to steamroll everything. For Slytherin the idea of having a potioneer. As a Potioneer you get benefits, like an additional potion for every potion you make and you need one less ingredient for any potion made. For Auror you get more resources for every enemy you slain (like 7 troll bogeys instead of 5) As we get to the setting of minister, or civil servant, you get additional goodwill when you are walking around. 

Third
As you have graduated, you no longer need a field guide, but the idea can be transferred to the next game, it will have a different name, lore pages as you get the lore of specific things you find. This might also give you additional talents and spells. It might be nice that some of these are house related, like the original lore page writer gives the house wizard an additional page, a ‘golden’ page and that is house dependent and will give the person a skill, a spell or a conjurations linked to the thing you are revealing.

These settings are to instill the replay-ability of the game and the need for people to keep on exploring. As I wrote before in the jobs story, this will give you an income and that matters as you progress in the game, more money means more options (just like real life) and here we see that the smaller jobs are easier to get, but pay less, as such you can create the skills you need to get the ‘big’ job. The job will also give ‘renown’ as well as privileges. These privileges are limited to some degree, but they can make life easier in certain settings. For example a minister gets discounts, a auror gets stronger outfits. It can be applied to the same cloak. It gives an auror 20% better defense and that same cloak is 20% cheaper but does not have the 20% better defense.

You can still find and upgrade stuff, but the stronger clothes must be bought and they aren’t cheap. The aforementioned cloak could be found (acquired in a fight) with a defense of 60, that same cloak could be bought with a defense of 96. There is the idea that a loom could be conjured (or found), but the animal furs need to be bought from a pet shop. 

As I learn more about the second game I might get more ideas, but Avalanche here is your boon. You payed for it by entertaining me with an excellent first game.
Have a nice day all and the people at Avalanche happy programming. 

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The story script of lore

Yup, nice and confusing, isn’t it? But that is the setting. As I was playing Skyrim (yet again) the thoughts of lore went through my head. And RPG players might remember this. You escape the large lizard (aka Dragon), you go to Riverwood and then to Whiterun where you join the companions. Linear in extremity. Now, this is not critique. This is how RPG were played in 2011 and the hardware pretty much set you up for that. So, remember Richard Garriott who gave us the ultimate RPG in Ultima. I got introduced to his master skills in 1983 with Ultima 3, Exodus. But his idea were not used to the largest extent. Now I don’t want to copy his sewing, but the idea that every person has the ability to evolve their choice. Perhaps through an intro story where you have to make choices. So, to connect this to Skyrim, the choices will set you to a setting that will push you to Riften (thieves guild), Whiterun (fighters guild), Winterhold (Mage Guild) or Falkreath (Dark Brotherhood) there are a few other options (but I don’t want to give away the plot for others) There you get the option to get into the Stormcloaks or the Empire forces. Now we have to allow for a few other things, but the setting that you end up going to Whiterun to get to Bleak Falls Barrow, so that need not change, but the setting to give variety to this introduction is an option, and it could happen AFTER to evade that initial sneaky lizard. This could also be the first companion you get. IT doesn’t seem much, but the setting to avoid linearity tends to be massive in RPG’s. In addition to this, finding books, not just for skills but also for quests is a second. I wrote about this and it requires a more dynamic version of books. Skyrim is already doing this, but not with a dynamic pre skilled setting. 

In addition, there is the setting to adjust the game by alternative skills. Skills that are given to you by your parent (an intro choice really), so as that story evolves, you get skills in art, smithing, archery and magic. So as you start of with two of them. You get more pronounced maps, you get the option to see more in your surroundings. You might get a better view on ores and smithing, you get options to see more in shopping, which normally comes from personality. And over time you get the others too, but it shapes you more in the way you get through the first 20 levels and it is important to have balance there, so that people will try other things, not try the same thing at the start and then adjust the choices for the game.

This allows for the setting to own a shop and a trainee that tends to the shop. This opens up a new cog in managing the game and nowadays it is doable and has been for a while. I set that up for the game IP I created last year (might have been 2-3 years ago). The issue is not on Bethesda, they did a good job, but it is now in our hands to push this envelope higher. You cannot relay on one game maker to see it all through. That is where we are required to push new levels.

One of these things is the need to create your OWN journal and shape it through playing. Not just the expected quest things, the setting that you get to a cave and you cannot see how to continue, or a door that is locked. It makes sense that you make notice of this and optionally a tab to remember that you have to go back to this. The idea I had (for streaming games) that this journal could be exported as a pdf. A novel idea for RPG gamers (the novel part was the pun). An additional setting was the art setting, if you did not get this skill in the beginning, the art in your journal might be ‘lacking’ until you do get it, the same could be said for mapmaking. 

As I see it, the current approach is not wrong, but a little ‘vanilla’ (I actually hate that term). So as we see the additional cogs in the game we make the RGP more of an adventure. And whilst some titles in books are a given (also magical skill books) but some could have similar or a dozen settings for the title, so you can stop looking for a certain title. It is just an idea, but it could give the larger setting to non-linearity (and I am all for that).

So this was what I came up with yesterday and then I forgot it. My mind is flaky and weird, I know.

But these are things that could invigorate the desire for RPG games and I took Skyrim as an example, but this could equally done to the Fallout series. Anyway, that was the setting I was confronted with and even as I typed parts of this in the past, I saw this setting to see to the larger evolving stage of RPG’s.

Have a great day and don’t be a silly hero, when you see a dragon in your path, be like a mouse and let the police take care of that sucker.

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Inspiring the young

That is the setting we need to move towards and that moment will be now. It started with a simple setting, the map of Europe and the alleged accusation is seen below.

I cannot vouch for the setting, but as you see, in most languages it makes little sense. So when any AI fumbles (and that WILL happen) the ball the damage will be a lot bigger. We hear all these ‘delusional denials’ like ‘We will prepare for that’ and ‘it can’t happen to us’ you merely need to look at the Builder.ai setting and how they used 700 engineers to allegedly ‘fool’ Microsoft who backed it to the extent of a billion dollar plus. So when the ‘bigger’ players also get caught with their pants on their ankles we will have a totally new setting. As such I thought of going back to the roots of technology. Optionally as an educational setting, an optional simulator to inspire the youn to think and become creative for themselves without any AI system fumble their thinking patterns. It might not be the most eloquent setting, but creativity cannot be set in AI, as AI doesn’t exist (yet) and before it is too late, we need to create other outlets for creativity to emerge. I still like the setting that Ubisoft gave us with Assassins Creed Origins. In one of the expansions you are taken to the Tours: Beer & Bread. It shows that Egyptians ‘perfected’ the fermentation process. In my youth (a very long time ago) I went to the Open-air Museum in Arnhem (Netherlands) and this one building still reverberates in my mind over half a century later. It was a paper mill. 

On the outside it doesn’t seem like much, a lot like a really old building, but that is the hidden part. Inside there is a completely operational paper mill and it is fueled by waterpower. Now you might think that this is too old. 

But consider that Nobel invents Dynamite for the simple need of mining, Apparently Viagra had a completely different stage. It takes one mind to think “What if we did this?” and that is the ball game. That is the setting that creates new technologies. We need to get back to the old ways. And I use the paper mill as an example. Consider the Amish (all over America) who have been doing it there way for centuries. Consider how they have no fridges, or non electrical ones. We need to reconsider what we know and what is possible without some idiot telling us how to do it, because these people will come out of the woodworks pretending to voice the deities they pretend to follow (for their personal good). 

Consider that paper mill and what to do when water stops flowing. A wind vane? Giving people the idea to take the next step. And at some point power will become an issue. We see now new ways to tarmac roads making them safer, the Netherlands are exploring illuminating forms of tarmac, making electricity less of a essential need. We see all kinds of innovations and as you think it is all covered, consider that in Australia ‘relied’ on ChatGPT (as one source stated) to phrase the law and it used non-existing cases. So how do you like your chestnuts boiled in that gravy? 

The one option is to revert to earlier settings and consider what is possible without others telling us what to do. A lot will not work, but some will be true innovative steps. And that is the ballgame. As what some call AI is telling us where to go and especially where not to go we lose the creativity we have, or merely fashion it in the way other want it to be fashioned. 

That is not innovation, that is pack mentality. 

So what stages in other fields were short cut, because it never supported the then innovative choosers? We need to protect ourselves and the evidence is all over the historical buildings. The romans had two tiered bathhouses making hot water. So even as we now think that we do better, consider what happens when electricity falls away because 500,000 systems took it away fueling their AI systems taking over 250,000 times more energy than one simple brain does. 

We need to protect what is and what was, before others remove that way of thinking from us and we can go about it in different ways, I ikon that none of them are incorrect. Another example can be seen in the old pyramids. We were given (in YouTube) “Ancient Egyptian “pyramid basalt roads” refer to a network of paved roads, including the world’s oldest known paved road, that connected basalt quarries in the Fayum region to the pyramid fields like Giza. These roads, often paved with sandstone, limestone, and even petrified wood, were used to transport massive basalt blocks, likely for paving the pyramid complexes and temples. One significant road, leading from the Widan el-Faras quarry to the shores of a now-vanished lake, represents a major engineering feat from the Old Kingdom period.” I don’t believe the hype behind it, but these roads and pavements are massive undertakings that even today are unlikely to be this perfect, apart from the settings that they seemingly lacked the tools to create these slabs and make them fit this perfectly. I am not all onboard of this, but like the Game of thrones ‘Wildfire’ we see that this reflects on what was Greek Fire and it came from Byzantine. “With the decline of the Byzantine Empire, their recipe for the production of liquid fire was lost, the last documented use of Byzantine fire was in 1187. After Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, several attempts to imitate the Greek Fire were made, but none replicated the original.” So something created 1000 years ago can no longer be reproduced? I reckon that this is one of the most direct forms of creativity lost. And the fact that it has military applications implies that plenty of governments tried to get it on their side.

As such I think we need to create genuine systems to invoke creativity in the next generation before it is all lost and we all go ‘Duh!’ At the next innovation blaming it on magic and as Vernon Dursley once said “there is no such thing as magic” as I see it, magic is blamed when we no longer comprehend the technology (like the White House and 5G technology, which comes with a small giggle from me).

So the short setting is Protect the next generation now as there is no longer any later.

Have a great day.

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The Nintendo Charge

Nintendo makes another blitz record, it is not the first one, but this one is one for the record books. The story (at https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-has-sold-6-million-switch-2-consoles-and-almost-the-same-number-of-mario-kart-world/) gives us ‘Nintendo has sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and almost the same number of Mario Kart World’ as for my excuse not being part of that cluster is simple. I just don’t have the money at present. Nintendo played a near perfect awareness game. They went global with the teaser, they followed up with YouTube video’s and gave online presence. When Zero-hour was here. The streets were aligned around shops who sold it with people. We all wanted one, even the ones that couldn’t afford one. And there was a lot of interest. The expanded memory, larger screen, higher resolution, snap click controllers with magnets and the controller was also used as a mouse. 256GB against the 32GB of the original Switch. Basically everything was stronger. One exception, the battery life seemingly is not. I run my Switch on the TV, so I won’t ever see this one issue. And on the TV, you now get 4K. Cheaper than either Xbox or PS5 (not by that much) Nintendo made the record books yet again. In the first 7 weeks the Nintendo sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and the real screamer is that nearly all of them got Mario Kart World, it sold 5.63 million copies. That is huge. I saw the videos and I would get that as my first game too. 

So when we se all this we tend to think, what is next? But that is it, this setting will hurt Sony as well as Microsoft to some degree. People can no longer afford it all and when they get a Switch 2, their coffers are nearly empty as such, no direct sales for either Sony or Microsoft. Microsoft with its Game Pass will have an advantage over Sony (for the first time) and it will not be as hindered by Nintendo as Sony is, but they too will feel the pain. I reckon that this will continue straight through Christmas 2025. Because those who can not afford it at present, will work harder to get one before or at this Christmas (hopefully me too). 

So whilst we get the quote “Despite being a launch title and being constrained by its user base, Mario Kart World is the series’ second biggest launch behind Mario Kart Wii.” And that makes sense. I see the improvements and the plusses that Mario Kart World is bringing and I reckon that this game alone is the largest push to get the Nintendo Camera as well. It goes further, As of June 30, 2025, the Nintendo Switch has sold a total of 153.10 million units worldwide. This makes it the third best-selling video game console of all time and now add the 6 million Switch 2 systems and we see that Nintendo is overtaking Microsoft by storm. Consider that at present Xbox Series X/S (2020): Estimated over 28 million units as of June 2024. This implies that Switch 2 is already at 21% of Xbox Series X/S lifetime sales. And the Switch already surpassed that. This sets the  Microsoft systems in third position and should Amazon agree to my terms Microsoft becomes the 4th player. Not bad after spending Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That was money well spend wasn’t it? And should Amazon agree to surpass Microsoft too, that 68 billion dollar anchor will weigh harshly on their actions. The funny part is that neither Sony or Nintendo had to pay that much for anything they bought (as far as I know). And there is more (there always is) Nintendo is should of breaking its own record of the Nintendo DS which sold 154 million consoles. The Switch is now less then a million away from that record. It is anyones guess how far the Switch 2 will make it, but as I see it the numbers are in favor of Switch replacing a lot of systems within the next year. Nintendo said there were no changes to its financial forecast for this fiscal year, which is to sell 15 million consoles by March 2026. I tend to think that this number will be broken in several ways by Christmas 2024. That is before we consider the pleasing notions of all the Harry Potter fans who will be driven to this game on the Switch 2 as well. Yes, Nintendo is about to break record and this is the first time that I am saying this, but Nintendo is now approaching the pole position that Sony holds, as such they will have to up their game considerably if they do not want to be taken over by Nintendo, because that is no longer impossible. I don’t think Sony was ready to see the Switch family as a threat to their number one position, but that is the setting that they face in 2026, as such I wonder what Sony will come up with next. 

The armistice race on consoles tends to be a fulfilling one and there is the second step. When Nintendo get that done, it will find more gamers switching to their side. Although I have always stated that the Nintendo is the system you get next to your usual console, I still believe that and as such Nintendo tends to have great options. I merely wonder when Hogwarts Legacy 2 is released will it be released on day one for Switch 2 too? You might think that this doesn’t matter, but it does. It will be the first moment when Nintendo will have surpassed Sony and that is the kind of news that is massive in its own right. Sony released its PlayStation on December 3, 1994, it went straight to the top from the start and it will have taken Nintendo 32 years to overtake Sony and that is not something to think lightly of. I certainly am not. 

So, I merely have this to say “Well done Nintendo”

Have a great day today 

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