Category Archives: Gaming

January 20, 2022 · 07:18

Supporting Sony and Amazon

There is a time when it is not about the dough (aka money), there is a time when it is about the principle of protecting the game and the gamer. And when it is supported by a civic duty to kick Microsoft in the mouth (for civic duty and personal pleasure) the money issue does not add up to much. You see, we can toss and turn over. Few coins now, but when gaming is slaughtered by Microsoft, what does that add up to in the end? 

So in support of what I wrote yesterday in ‘At it again’ I have decided that all gaming idea’s on my site are now free to use for both Sony and Amazon. I do hope that they will give me a bonus if the 50,000,000 consoles for Amazon becomes a reality, but that is not out of bounds is it? So I already created the foundation of an entirely new RPG (as I wrote earlier), so now I need to come up with an idea for something to counter Blizzard. I reckon that the Activision problem will solve itself soon enough.

This is seen in a few articles like ‘CoD Vanguard players expose ‘pay to win’ Double Barrel Blueprint after nerfs’, as well as ‘Call of Duty Acknowledges Problems With Warzone and Vanguard’, a setting that shows that with “The publisher released a statement on the official Call of Duty Twitter account, acknowledging the struggles these games have had, and its intention to move things in the right direction. Activision plans to fix as many of these issues as quickly as it can”, this indicates that the troubles brewing are not resolved, more important, they have been going on for some time and that tends to be disastrous. Even as game makers ‘hide’ behind ‘best selling in the US’ we see another flavour of “most powerful console”, which was done away easily enough by Nintendo and its “weakest of all consoles” to bash it, surpass it in sales in almost half the time. Now with Microsoft buying software houses for a total of $37,000,000,000 (most of it for Blizzard and Activision), we are introduced to “The bigger worry is that Sony is no match against its far-larger rival as gamers look beyond consoles” (source: Reuters), yet but the statement is not correctly given, is it? With “as gamers look beyond consoles”, we see the article catering to Microsoft and its advertisement budget, but the truth is that gamers always look beyond consoles, they look for the best gaming experience and so far Microsoft has disappointed too much and too often, as did Ubisoft, as did a few others. Looking beyond consoles makes sense, there is a case for both the Google Stadia and Amazon Luna, but Google does not develop games. As such the Amazon Luna has the better advantage and handing them (as well as Sony) free access to my IP works for me as a gamer and works for gamers in total. And I have always been protective of gamers. Not to mention that there is a surprisingly satisfying feeling if my RPG idea gains traction, when Microsoft Paid $7,500,000,000 for Bethesda, only to see that Sony and Amazon can bring a new competitive RPG at a fraction of the cost, not to mention the undisclosed option for Amazon to sell an additional 50,000,000 (or more) consoles on an idea Microsoft never saw coming in the first place. The idea to surpass Microsoft left, right and centre on their shortsightedness is massively satisfying and as I am considering now a Diablo like game where the stage is a combined Gauntlet like game, as well as a first person action slice and dice game, we see (in the earliest stage) that they got an additional lemon at $27,000,000,000. A stage that makes me laugh. Microsoft has the ‘lets throw money against the shortcomings we have’ and I countered it by handing over IP to Sony and Amazon that is new, fresh and optionally grows to be the equal of what they paid for at top dollar. It might not make me rich (never a priority to me), but I can fall asleep with the biggest grin knowing I pulled the carpet from under the feet of one of the biggest software companies on the planet. 

So when we look at “Microsoft will be looking to gradually lure PlayStation gamers to its own console with new content down the line.” We see subterfuge. And I feel 98.3245% certain (roughly) that my creativity can trump their subterfuge. So when we see the two parts namely “the huge bet on Activision signals the company is serious about building a virtual world beyond a console or device”, as well as “Sony is doubling down on games exclusive to PlayStation. It may have the air of a David and Goliath match-up, but Microsoft looks to be on a whole other level.” We see the courtesan move towards advertisement. Consoles have for the longest time aimed for exclusives, the Sony exclusives have proven to be exquisite masterpieces again and again. You see, THEY might tell you that gamers want “a virtual world beyond a console or device”, yet it is not gaming, it is a world of cheats, cheating and hacks and in that world there is a larger benefit for the maker to set the ‘pay to win’ environment by selling weapons and other micro transactions to fill the war-chest of its board of directors. At some point (sooner than anyone expects) the gamer will have had enough and dump these games. With the Sony games, with gaming on a console, the only cheat you get is on yourself.  But that part will not make the media, will it? Gamers will too often feel the need to chill and play the story, enjoy the world they are in, a setting that the Microsoft games will not offer. They will make lofty promises like “Activision has announced the worst punishment yet. In short, if you’re caught cheating in Call of Duty: Vanguard, you can be banned from every CoD game in the franchise.” A statement made in
November 2021. This in response to “Numerous players reported running into blatant cheaters on Vanguard on the very first day of the release.” And no one is asking the question why cheating was made so easy, so easy that it was ready on the first day of release. But I cannot find any media asking that part, and then the response ‘you can be banned’, not ‘you will be banned’, a subtle but unmistakingly difference that they are considering action, not promising that action will be taken and when the gamers get a few more of those issues, they will walk away. A good spending of 27 billion. So whilst we cannot deny that there will be a desire for virtual world combat, until you deal with the cheaters that world will be as appealing as a tax form. In this with the cheater active from day one, it seems to me that a lot more fixing is required. Darn and I was having so much fun surpassing Microsoft with creativity, all whilst common sense might defeat them before that. Because in the end it will be common sense. The common sense that gamers want to have fun, they want to exchange blows on an honest field so that s gamers they feel enabled and the last time I checked in a game filed with cheaters no one feels enabled, merely insulted and attacked on a false premise. 

So I do not disagree with Reuters on “Microsoft looks to be on a whole other level”, especially when that is set to the stage that the Microsoft level is an inferior one. Now, you are free to disagree, but consider if you go into a virtual world and there are a dozen cheaters waiting for you, how much fun will you have as a gamer? Not that much I reckon.

Enjoy the day! I am going to mull the new Diablo station a little more, the idea is taking form, but I do know it will not be easy to offer a Diablo alternative, that franchise is a really solid one. 

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January 19, 2022 · 07:16

At it again

Yes, Microsoft is at it again. This time it is costing them $68,000,000,000 for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Associated Press released that information an hour ago (at https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-call-of-duty-7a9e2bcc8f0b7b9049e4f93fe3e0a4dd). There we see “The all-cash $68.7 billion deal will turn Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, into one of the world’s largest video game companies. It will also help it compete with tech rivals such as Meta, formerly Facebook, in creating immersive virtual worlds for both work and play.” Yet what we do not see is the one Blizzard element missing, Diablo. We get “strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth.” Yet I feel that there is a large need to upset fan bases and move them from the Sony path into the Microsoft path. It is a clever tactic, but not at 68 billion, there is more and I get the stage, there will be more even though the ‘META’ references do fit to some degree. 

The danger is seen in the smallest quote. I believe that ‘the world’s largest video game company’ is part of the stage and it is part of the need for Microsoft. We forget that the revenue of Candy Crush is huge and it is not merely the value of that revenue, it is the number of people generating that revenue that matters. You see these numbers are also a marketing drive and therefor a stage of doubling revenue. We think that advertisement are the key and for some they are to a degree, but what happens when the pay system becomes a marketing tool for verifiable information? We think it is assumption and presumption and for most it is, but when that data is verified with pay-cycles that game changes. And when we consider “the latest acquisitions will help beef up its Xbox Game Pass game subscription service while also accelerating its ambitions for the metaverse, a collection of virtual worlds designed as a next generation of the internet” we see a few things between the lines. In the first there is the subscription (Game Pass), so when all these games fall under subscription the game changes, the system will set a larger approval for THEIR streaming solution. It foes not impact my 50,000,000, but it does change the balance of the gaming community. When the larger battle stations involve ONLY Game Pass, but passes over Sony’s head there is added revenue. It is a brilliant tactic and it is specific. Microsoft alls it the move toward Meta. I do not doubt that, but this time it is not enough, for 68 billion it cannot just be for Meta, Meta is the side effect as I saw it in at least one other setting. Yet to united gamers all under YOUR banner whilst leaving Nintendo and Sony out in the cold is about something more, it will be to set up virtual machines on those two so that we see a Nintendo logo, but we are still connected to a Microsoft virtual machine. I believe it is a dangerous move because gaming was kept at an all time high as vendors had to be clever to get the attention of gamers, Microsoft is taking away choice, as such taking way vetting of the best gaming solution and as such limiting the choice to one and from there our choices will become ever so limited again and again until all choice is removed, then it is what Microsoft says what it is and that is what it would be. 

In gaming diversity of game makers gives us the goods, the Microsoft method does not fit in, and with Diablo optionally removed from at least one system, I will have to come up with new IP to counter the move of Microsoft. It is a hard call but I am willing to set that to Public Domain, just to piss of Microsoft (as good a reason as any). 

I truly believe there is more to it all, yet I am not certain if we will hear it in time, no matter what there is more to this and Nintendo with 26,000,000 subscribers and over 93,000,000 Nintendo Switch systems sold, 104,000,000 active Sony users (PS4/PS5/vita) Microsoft is setting up a system to entice close to 200,000,000 people to come over. And when you consider the $14,95 a month, we see setting where they stand to gain $36,000,000,000 annually, if that goes well and that is 52% of the investment right there. They will not get all, but a chunk makes it all worth it and Microsoft had the money. They are vying to become the only remaining system with choices on the market, that tactic makes sense. How will gamers react? I reckon there will be anger, because the system that sets diversity to null is not a system we can ever trust, that has been proven more than once. 

And yes there is a meta fragment in there too and when Microsoft comes to the table with such a user group they do become the most formidable gaming community, there is no denying that, but at what cost? That will the larger game that is kept hidden from us all, because a player like Microsoft will not tolerate the negative side to gain traction, it would be working against them to the largest degree. I wonder who will keep us truly informed, I truly do.

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January 18, 2022 · 22:31

Evolution

We all see it, we all face it and it is programs, games and many other settings. Evolution is where it is at (at times). Take management survival. One of the best games ever made is Fallout Shelter. I even came up with some ‘improvements’ (read: additions) that could bank Bethesda (now: Microsoft) a few more coins, not that it was needed, as the game was free and I think they made more money on the microtransactions than any of there other games. There is no envy, there is no anger. The game can be played without ever spending a dime, so whatever they made, they earned it, no exception.

And now as we see all these fallout copies (to some effect) in many cases they are Zombie apocalypse games, we see another setting. A setting where Bethesda has the option to evolve their game into a larger game. I entered in my blog somewhere in the past a few additions (or improvements), but now I see that there is more to be done. 

It can show in a few ways. In the first there are additional support rooms, rooms that give added returns on rooms. There is the setting where localisation becomes an issue. For example a fallout shelter in Canada, Norway, Sweden, or Siberia has a much better return on water via snow. Yet food will be better in temperate settings and the tropics and loads of sun has power benefit. So what happens when you get no choice in the location, but it is handed to you. You need to seek more information and then we get a new location, a library. A library can offer a new book, common, rare or legendary. Each book has the ability to create a support room, or upgrade a support room. It now becomes a much more rewarding and harder game, especially long term. Especially when rooms have to be redone to accommodate for support rooms, with the larger station where we see that some rooms would need to be at the upper level the game changes. It changes a decent amount. Some support rooms are more delicate when it comes to attacks, so more repairs are needed over time. For example a wind support room for a power station. A snow capture room for water and a trap room for animal attacks giving more food. 

All kinds of additions that are possible and that was before the other additions I suggested (somewhere in the past). So why do it? I believe that some of the rip offs are nice, but they are nowhere as close to perfect as Fallout Shelter was. Even with all the critique of ‘lack of depth’, which is not untrue. The game offered more play than many games that are not free. And play is where it is at and this game delivered. There are fun parts, less fun parts, but overall a good game to play and even when you drop the game, you can pick it up a year later reliving the fun you had. It is one of the few games that I have had on nearly every platform available. That shows the game has appeal on many platforms. Bethesda showed colours and the colours were vibrants and appealing. They earned what they got and if a new idea helps them to maintain the game into new generations then I will happily oblige, because if the game offers true gameplay we all win.

There could be another room, a pet-store keeper, allowing the upgrade of animals, a weapon support room, giving in the first level a weapon for less resources, or return a weapon for more resources in the second level an upgrade to add to the weapon in the third level. It changes a few items and it has an impact, the same could be done for armour, with the a different setting, making some armour gender neutral. We can come up with all kinds of changes, but when we consider the stage where we are in a northern nation, warm armour becomes a lot more important. All stage that can be added to a game and it changes us from chasing a goal to enjoy and emerge in a game. You see when the game is too vanilla, we all see the same path, when we are in different locations the same path cannot apply and it gets people talking. It is merely one path of evolution that we see and optionally one we face, but what happens when we try to conquer what we did so easily before? We add to the challenge and create a new generation of fans, that is what I personally believe and I have seen similar paths in Eye of the Beholder and Ultima (4-7) to name just two franchises, there are scores and we all have the one we treasure the most, so what happens when you consider how to upgrade THAT game to be more challenging? I reckon that is one mistake Ubisoft made and in AC2-Brotherhood it was accepted, yet by the time we got to AC3 it was all about the ship, it was all about the hardware, yet the story and dance were too similar. So what happens when you add a wildcard that is handed to you and is the one you are stuck with? Can you then too rise to the occasion? That becomes a much larger question.  And that is before you realise that to some extent random factors will decide whether you find a library and even more what you find there. Perhaps some chests in locations will offer a common book, but the rare and legendary can only be found in bookshops or libraries you encounter. 

Call out any game and for the mot the dedicated player can come up with an addition, or additional challenge and that is when real evolution starts. And it matter, because in gaming evolution can at times lead to innovation and that is such a rare stage that it entices scores of gamers to your game. That is what matters, because innovation is rare in franchise games, so when we see it we jump to attention fast. So are my ideas here innovation? No, they are merely iteration, but at times in iteration can lead to an innovation, and we all want that, especially in games we love playing. We all do, no exception.

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January 16, 2022 · 22:25

The images came

Yes, they came, the images. My mind played out the beginning of a new movie, one with Owen Wilson in the lead. I am not ready to tell that story yet. During that escape I also saw a few other things, it is there that we find ourselves. In the middle of a story not to be told, but with images that make sense in gaming. You see, in the early years (1993) Origin made a game that had potential, the game did not really exploit it, but it had created an optional new wave and even as the finale implied things in the end, they never came. Yet it is only one side. Games are always about options, but nothing ever comes from the tail side of that coin. What if choices are set upon us? More important what if the other side has equally strong negative sides? We can select the internet to do our work for us, or we can go forwards embracing the choices we have made. Too many games forget about that. I believe it was the wrong take to make on gaming. We grow and we get clever through adversarial settings. That as been proven for the longest time, yet we overlook it because it is not what the gaming community wants. By whose standards? Players like Ubisoft and Microsoft have no idea what gamers actually want and they have shown that lack over and over agains for at least 10 years. So let’s take this up a notch. You are at a shrine, there is a camera, a book and a potion. You can only select one, what do you take? When the clue is unfolded it makes sense to take one of them, yet each give a formidable advantage, yet you lose the other two. In the age of Gauntlet and Diablo based games we might take that part later, but what happens when the choice if final and the others are removed from choice? As I see it it enables replayability, it grows a much larger value in any game. You see a game that does everything will basically please no one. We forgot that the founders of gaming like Infocom with Zork enabled us to think things through, a side in gaming we tend to forget. And I did too, for the longest time I merely went from achievement to achievement. I forgot to have fun, I forgot what replayability enables, not the same track again, but another path towards the same destination. More to see, more to experience and more the encounter. Most game makers are about story experience and one story fits all, but that is seldom if ever the case. For the same reason two role playing gamers might select different races (orc, dwarf, human, elf). All part of the package, all part of 4 learning experiences. Yet most people stick with the one choice and work from there, yet I believe that they take the one path because no one explained that they can get more by taking another path the next time around. It does not fill the revenue bill and that is a shame, yet in the new stages, in streaming stages that option will become increasingly important. Streamers have a monthly fee, so if one game can be played 4 times the revenue meter fill up larger. More importantly the games would have to become a lot better, a lot more immersive and the stories would need to become a whole lot better. I do not believe this to be a bad thing, this is how evolution of gaming starts and it does need to start, you see fully deployed 5G is no more than 3 years away and at that point the console wars will go into a new dimension with the streamers (Google Stadia, Amazon Luna) will become fierce and a lot more decisive. I do not believe that they will replace the Nintendo Switch or the Sony PlayStation 5. Yet they will be next to a lot of these systems and that is where the $200,000,000,000 revenue ticket for 2022 is at, and with the Amazon Luna with an optional 50,000,000 more consoles that war takes a hard turn into better gaming and the ones not ready for upgrading gaming will lose out to a lot of revenue clambakes. It will not start drastically, it will be all nice, but it sets the stage for 2024 and there the numbers do add up to failure or success and none of the players are embracing failure, or so they seem to think, but which of these systems have truly embraced upgraded gaming?
Not many, I can tell you that much and that is merely the first wave, the second wave will add the previous revenue success to the next one and those who missed out on pile one, have little to no option for an increased pile two. That is where they all are, in denial. Phrases like ‘We are working on it’ or ‘this will sort itself out’ but behind the curtains they sweat, they have no idea where to take it next and I wrote about at least half a dozen options, and they all laughed, but in November 2023 they will stop laughing. They will face the shortcomings of choice and the lack of options they left their gaming community with, so these people will dump that system and cancel that prescription. So these people will face 2024 with limited revenue and no plan of implementation. That will be the losing streamer. The other one will take a bow and head for revenue piles two and three, at that point Sony will face a true contender for the first position in console wars, the field is wide open, but I believe that Microsoft has already lost, they did this to themselves. To be honest, as the information goes at present the Amazon Luna is the most likely winner in that direction, but I have no idea where Netflix is going, so there are options in a race where some horses cannot compete and some horses are unknown. In that race I see Nintendo in third position, with their gaming attitude they could go higher and they have what it takes, but they work on a formula that is almost guaranteed to keep them in the race, yet like any formula, it has limits and that is not a bad thing, it is what they chose and so far they kept 93,000,000 gamers happy with the Switch overtaking Microsoft by a lot, the weakest system defeated the strongest console in the world. Why is that? Technology? No, Nintendo listened to their gamers, gave their gamers what they needed. That was the simple truth since before the Switch arrived and when it did in 2017 the world saw a winner and Microsoft became the number one loser. This is about to happen again yet in 2023/2024 it will be the streamers who fight over the initial number three position, but some will have it within them to get to second place. And good games is where they get the winning positions, the better the games, the more the gamer wins and that is my stage,
I want gamers to win, because if they win, I win. I am after all a gamer.

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January 12, 2022 · 08:20

The next challenge

Gaming IP is always a challenge. There is the iterative challenge of getting a sequel or a remaster into play. Even as the innovative charge does not hold up for too long, a great game remastered can fill the coffers of a software house rather fast and nicely. We have seen it in the past, we could optionally see it when someone decides to take SEGA Dreamcast IP to a new setting. I personally think that both Fur Fighters and Wacky Races are undervalued and cast aside. Fur Fighters has its own challenge and graphically on the Dreamcast it would be able to hold itself up against most of the IP we see today. It had the quirks that made us wonder what else would be possible, and that is a good thing.

There there was the Hanna Barbera classic Wacky Races. It was a race game that held up against Mario Kart and it was unique, a setting where the racers all had special abilities and overall each racer was gifted with all kinds of options, it was when the game was done against one another when it truly started to shine. There are of course more, but a lot of them were done in new ways and with new options. Yet these two were forgotten and in the age of play that is a shame.

When we look at the innovation station, the setting becomes oblique, there is a lack of clarity, in almost everyone and I am no exception. You see, we look at the games that exist and how we might do better or how we might change the way we play and that is hard, it really is, I do not deny it. I created several pieces of IP, yet I am also gifted with the weakness of looking to those who did make amazing games. I believe that is a problem, not a big one, but one none the less. I tend to look at the age that stands between the CBM-64 and the CBM Amiga (Including Atari ST). That era gave us so many games and so many could be upgraded and improved upon. Not  because the makers failed, they did not. But what is possible in 2022 was not an option in 1986, moreover there is every chance that the makers never considered it in those days. In this David Braben might have been one of the few to move Elite (1985) into Elite Dangerous (2014), it was great then and it became overwhelmingly amazing in 2014. It is one of the few games that made a multi generation leap and the best part is that there are dozens of games that could have that ability. I wrote about it in the past. The 1983 EA game ‘Murder on the Zinderneuf’ could be the next thing. In this that it could be revamped, set to a larger stage and it gave me the idea to set the streamers (Google Stadia and Amazon Luna) to a new set of achievements one that could transfer into other games. Setting a new premise towards gaming and optionally trying new games. Yet that does not make it innovative. I believe my generation RPG, see previous story ‘Recap to the intro’ on September 25th 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/) for details. The question becomes how many original new parts are required to move from iterative to innovative? I actually do not know. An RPG is not like other RPG’s and I avoided to copy the settings that Bethesda had, and I added options that Ubisoft ignored in the Assassins Creed. Sucks to be them! I ended up with more than 1 IP and a setting where Amazon could grow its population by 50,000,000 (not a typo). All settings that Microsoft just overlooked and ignored. The strongest console in the world? My ass! A ship is only as good as its captain and their board of directors are pushing ideas for self preservation whilst they do not understand what gamers want and need, as such they tend to lose battle after battle and it was Nintendo (the weakest console) that overtook them in less than half the time Microsoft had to grow its population. 

Yet the station remains valid. If we need more gamers, the need for innovation is adamant. Yes, we ca add iterative new games and that keeps the interest going for a little whilst, but it is long term games that a console need to gain real traction with consumers and that is why innovation remains key. Innovation is the next thing that drives hardware sales and that is what Ubisoft forgot about long before their 11th hour was up. And now that we see partnerships and all kinds of marketing messages (all whilst they lost another creative director), we can see that players like Ubisoft is trying to make their life last a little longer, all whilst the gamers know and see that their game is done. My prediction given last year was a lot more on the nose than most expected it to be and it matters. There is every chance that the headlines of Ubisoft that left become the new indie designers we hoped for and in this both Google and Amazon have a need to set that directive to their systems as fast as they can.

Time is running out and when gamers look around for a good game, it would be really nice if they are ready to support those gamers. Sony is ready, yet as a gamer I feel that a good gaming environment requires more than one platform and Microsoft is no longer a contender, so who will be the number two? Nintendo? Will the the people at Google and Amazon take this console war serious? We will let them decide.

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January 10, 2022 · 15:46

Expanding story time

Yes, this happens. Sometimes we get more to a story, but when was that when it was expanded on the main system and not a DLC or expansion? When was the last time that you were confronted with an additional story in the main game? I reckon that most of us cannot clearly give an example. And when someone pushed a demo of the Unreal Engine v5 to YouTube showing us a broken down version of Riverwood, my mind went 145% on the body and thoughts came to mind. Now in this case it will not apply, because Riverwood is decently fresh in the mind of all gamers, but when they see the new (older looking) Riverwood they should catch on.

What happens when we add a few villages, not unlike Riverwood, off the beaten track, off the caught setting and all storylines by themselves. A setting that some might recognise in Spinalonga Island on Crete. It had its own story, but remains a ghost town even now. So what happens when we find the story, evolve the story in the now, solve the story, the riddles and the curse (or other reason for abandonment) and when we find refugees, traders and other people we could direct them to the empty village. Riverwood had a trader, a smith and an inn. There is no stopping us from adding shops, and it would fit the equation towards building the local economy as well. As I wrote earlier. Too many RPG’s are depending on US to build the economy. Yet what happens when the NPC’s are in a secondary stage that they too become drivers of an economy? What happens when traders build economies, adventurers do, mercenaries do and as such, some places will grow even larger, grow more and grow distinctive. In this we can set markers like you need to have certain ranks in the main quest, and side quests as well as levels of fame before your word is accepted, but at that stage your influence grows too. We need to realise that in RPG games we are NOT the machine, we are a mere cog that fuels the machine, but we are one in many cogs and that has never taken a larger stand in RPG games and that has been overlooked for too long. I do understand that some might state that this was not possible until the PS4pro. I believe that this is not merely that case. Game makers are too often in an iterative mode, we get more of the same (Far Cry, Assassins Creed), there are leaps forward (Fallout and Elder Scrolls), yet I believe that more could be done and I also believe that the PS5 now shows that more is possible. And it will not take long for the streamers to show that they are capable of more. And until these players consider that the main quest is nothing more than an outspoken side quest we will not see the leaps forward that RPG’s are capable of. The fact that I came up with TESVII: Restoration and the fact that I am still finding new ways to grease the system into other directions, directions that TESVI:unknown place might not even touch on is speculative, but not entirely impossible. A stage where we see that RPG makers are for a lot about more of the same (not their fault) is a little troublesome and When I wrote about a new RPG, a generation one that I summarised in ‘Recap to the intro’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/) which I wrote last September and even now I am still gaining more ideas that could grow that IP to larger stations is interesting to say the least. The side quests are merely one setting. Growing a virtual economy is another one, but it all sets the station where we have an RPG game where there are two stations. The station of you the player and you the influencer, both important, yet influencer we can become through skills, through power and through achievement and they all interact to some degree, and it is those influencer sides that give a much larger unknown to the game and how it shapes. We need to do it in that way, so that the system is free to evolve, if we merely have two settings with a clean and a deprived location (A Fable II event) we lose the plot, we will not see the impact of flourishing villages.

I believe that this is the expansive side of gaming, it fuels replayability and optionally dampens grinding. The last part is not a given or a real event, but could be the impact of influencers, it is merely a thought. So when did you see your last creativity on the sliding scale of something you haven’t figured out yet? A station that keeps me busy, why? I can tell you that I can, but for some reason I feel more comfortable with the thought “Because I have to”, and I am not sure why at present.

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January 8, 2022 · 03:28

When the plot thickens

This happens, it happens all the time. We notice it in movies and books, we sometimes face it in real life. There are moments when the plot thickens, but it tends not to happen in games and in RPG games fit rarely happens. There the NPC threat in singular directional, it always awaits your command, your action and your dialogue. So why is that?

It cannot be the technology, the technology was on par 1-2 generations ago. Is it gaming technology versus scripting? It could be, I am not the best source of information on this. 

We tend to see the Louis 14 approach in gaming, the world revolves around the gamer, it is like the missions. As the missions are lacking time needs, as the missions can be completed at YOUR convenience, we get to do it all. I think it is wrong and I think we need to alter our perceptions here. We cannot do everything, we can not please everyone and we cannot be everywhere. Just like good RPG games need an economy, it needs a transitional stage, it also needs  servicing stage. Mercenaries and guards that do take charge. Games like Shadow of Mordor invented and realised a nemesis system, I reckon that was a real step forward in gaming. So why did we not adjust RPG gaming to be more challenging? Was it that much of a leap? 

There is nothing like a stage that has no opposition, it becomes docile, it becomes a stage of non-stress. So what happens when you are there but so is the stage of mercenaries that can finish your jobs, making you lose fame and more important making you lose credibility. A stage we have never faced before. There is always the more seasoned adventurer, this happens. Yet in gaming we do not see that part. We are denied the challenge. Why is that?

When you create a career and you grind the same levels, we think we are being clever. Yet what happens when you lose out to a lot more? What happens when another adventurer becomes the famous one? Not in a multi player environment, but a single player environment that has its own nemesis system, not merely opposition, but a setting of peers and antagonists that become more that a mere hassle. It sets your career mode in a mode of bland anticipation. A station where you are not the best thing since sliced bread, you are merely the last resort and starting the game out like that is not the worst idea either. It shows the player that they need to be on their A-game all the time. And so far the RPG games have not been facilitating in that degree. Why is that?

It cannot be that I am the only one thinking in this direction, it cannot be that technology stayed behind. I believe that Bethesda pushed RPG into mainstream gaming and left a few things out. It is not their fault because their Elder Scrolls and Fallout series are pretty amazing. Yet by pushing that into mainstream they left something out and we all lost a little, it is a shame and at present there is no one replacing or contesting them. I pushed a few ideas to the surface in earlier articles, yet I also overlooked that part in RPG games. I apologise and I am trying to alter what I have at present to add that setting to future games, or at least inspire others to reconsider what they have and there is a lot that could be done. Will it? I hope so, but at present there is no way to tell, so we will have to see who picks this gaming direction up first.

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January 6, 2022 · 17:48

The Community Nexus

This is not the first time I get here, but it is not a repetition either. Some things struck me and I reckon it is time for Sony, Google (Stadia) and Amazon (Luna) to wake up. To be honest, when I saw the earliest presentations by Sony I reckoned that they would be the first to take social networking to a new level, but no. I do not know whether they wanted Facebook to chip in, but after all the settings we saw pass by our screens, the setting is changing that either they start thinking things through, or they will be surpassed by others and it will cost them. Not unlike the Cocoon Network, it needs to have limitations, it needs to be advertisement free and it needs to service the gamers. Anything different might be seen as treason by these gamers and that would be disastrous. In this the idea that mimics Google Plus the most is the most appealing, yet it is not set in stone.

They need to consider a few things. Copy/Paste should be disabled, so that something stated on that cluster stays on that cluster (there will always be workarounds), but that is not the goal. You see the A-social network (Facebook) is full of flamers, trolls and shit stirrers and these networks can do without those. It needs to be clusters where gamers INVITE other gamers, and until the invitation is accepted no one has access. A person can only see other conversations in that cluster, they can copy what THEY added to other clusters, but it is cluster based. Then there are ‘commercial’ clusters. People who keep track of the game-makers like Microsoft, Ubisoft (if it still exists by them), Bethesda and so on. People want to keep track of their favourite games and game makers. People can add achievements and so on, but there needs to be a filter where we only see the achievements by a person that we also have. There should be more, but it needs to be a push station, if we include other means of social networking. It is the one flaw that is still not dealt with and no one has decent option. I reckon that Amazon has the greatest need, so that they can grow faster, but Google should not be sitting on their hands, not on this one. The visibility and growth of a console is versatility and Google dropped the ball twice already. In the first they decided not to produce games, it is not a real failing, but it is a weakness and therefor a threat. Then they let Amazon get close, in a field where they should have had a superior setting they ended up merely on par with Amazon, it still strikes me as odd. And in all this I do not care what Microsoft does, I simply do not trust them. 

And when we think about it, a console with community clusters leading to a nexus or a collection of nexuses was simply the next step and when Facebook screwed themselves over with Cambridge Analytica the others should have made a larger effort, as such Sony dropped the ball with the PS4Pro and the others are till not there, they need to because then Facebook launches Meta all over the place it will be too late for the other players to start and sitting on ones hands in a $200,000,000,000 market is folly even in the most conservative setting. In this Amazon clearly has advantages, but we should not rule out Sony. They need to do something and so far there is no indication that they are getting ready, making their advantage shrink, not by too much, yet any lagging lead is a win for the number 2 through number 5 consoles. That has always been the case and now will be no different.

That station is on the roll, and I reckon that the lack of that choice will hurt the players not ready in 2024. And when we see the carefully phrased denials, as well as the cautiously stated ‘We are working on it’ will be seen by gamers as a negative side in all this, do not take my word, merely watch how the gamers will ask in flammable ways why they were ignored (yet again). I cannot stress this enough. It is time for the consoles and streaming systems to consider what gamers need and where gamers would like to be. In this Twitter and Facebook might be nice, but the people are more and more weary of both of them and that is not a good place to set your console.

We all want to talk about our games and our achievements, but so far the people trying to flame what we do is running into the thousands, and that is causing a larger stage of doubt with gamers. Giving them a safe space is becoming increasingly essential. I see all over Facebook pages where a 17 year old proudly brags what he got done in FIFA and I see dozen hammer that person seconds later. Wouldn’t it be great if that person had a cluster with school and gaming friends and that person could share it just to them? That is the station for an invitation clusters only, and that need is fast and vastly growing, so why Sony never picked up that ball is a little beyond me. The streamers will not have that luxury, that much is clear to me.

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January 4, 2022 · 03:28

When it rains it pours

It is a weird expression. You see I grew up in the Netherlands, there we have over 50 words for rain, there are all kinds of rain, so when it rains it doesn’t always pour. But I understand the expression and that is the stage that Ubisoft is in at this point. The amount of negative video’s on YouTube is staggering. I watched one but ignored the rest. The one I watched had a few good points. Nothing I hadn’t mentioned before, yet the larger stage is not merely the mediocre games and the below mediocre approach to fixing stuff. It is the cold hard fact that the last two good games (for me) were AC Origins and Watchdogs Legion. I am not a Rainbow six fan, I (for the most) am not into multiplayer games and there are a few more that do not tickle me, so these games have never been part of any assessment. Yet the bugs in Far Cry 6, Breakpoint, Valhalla and the Division are just too pathetic for words. And that is not the end of it, several sources report on the great exodus. People leaving Ubisoft in droves. A few sources tell us that 5 out of the top 25 from the Far Cry franchise have left, 12 out of the top 50 from the AC Valhalla franchise are gone. In the Ubisoft Toronto and Montreal offices (according to LinkedIn) are now 60 people lighter. So it is not merely the setting at Ubisoft, it is also the larger stage of creativity has left. And recruiters are plucking Ubisoft as an easy target. This is what I call the final nails in a coffin that was once a software great. And I created the concept of new versions of some of the games in a day, and the current franchises are bleeding them dry. Yet I warned of this danger 3 years ago. A year before Valhalla launched, I saw this coming a mile away. OK, the large exodus was a little unseen, but the recruiters picking them clean fits the process, the gaming industry are all vying for a slice of the $200,000,000,000 revenue pile and the best programmers will empower software houses to get a larger share. And all the game makers are greedy, in this Ubisoft fumbled the ball thrice over. With mediocre games, with a toxic work environment and the lack of support and overworking staff. There is no doubt that the end of Ubisoft is coming and when it does Google (relying solely on Ubisoft titles) will be in the wrong place, so There is a larger stage where Amazon will take the race to the checkered flag. 

And all this is before someone realises that I still have a setting where Amazon could sell 50,000,000 Luna’s. Ubisoft was not needed to get that done, so the pile of revenue might actually increase a little more than I expected, but it is speculative, so let’s not blow my own trumpet. This is about Ubisoft. And when you search “Ubisoft + bugs” you get a list that goes on and on, when you filter to only in the last month we still end up with a list that is way to large, especially for a game that has been out for well over a year, those are the nails that seal the coffin of Ubisoft. A stage that was once grande, millions went nuts over AC2 and devoted following was created, but the bugs from AC3 onwards took a little away with every game and a lot with AC Unity. They regained a little trust with AC Origins but wasted that away with AC Odyssey. So even as we now see stories about the next AC not being out until 2023, we need to consider that it is already too late for that. You see people will look at the financials, the stock but that is only the smallest part of the story. The value of Ubisoft is creativity and a boatload of that walked out. Some even mentioned the low pay, so when was that ever a good idea? In one quote we see the mention that Ubisoft has hired 2600 employees since April. That sounds nice in theory, but you need unity (like the title they bungled), that means that each franchise needs its supportive and inspiring heads and 17 out of the 75 top of two franchise walked out, there is every chance that they will also entice the quality programers to follow them, at which point they have two close to empty franchises. So how will they fix that? They can’t, they will be in denial, they will oppose any negativity but this cannot get the marketing spin and in a stage with that much people walking out the slices that would have sealed their share of $200,000,000,000 this year alone will fall away for too large an amount, that implies that Ubisoft stock will take massive hits this year. And when that happens the larger stage becomes a small platform and Ubisoft will need to secure what it can, but in a firm with 18045 employees (2020) will take a few hard hits and with the cream of the crop leaving the larger stage of people, or good people vanishing will go faster and faster. As such Ubisoft has massive problems. Unrelated we see covid, something no one could see coming and even as some thrived under these conditions, it seems that Ubisoft is not doing that well. If it did the exodus would not be there. 

And as I see it Ubisoft does not get to blame covid for these hardships. There was a larger failing visible from AC3 onwards and Far Cry had a few issues from version 4 onwards, with too many in the latest version. Too many issues in only two of the franchises and too little was done. In all this Ubisoft kept on buying software houses and people and left that structure like an empty egg shell and now the softest taps is collapsing that once great software house. And all that is before you add to the hardship with Breakpoint released in July 2019 and still getting massive updates to deal with bugs were announced less than 3 months ago and there are still issues. A repetitive cycle in a stage of games that no one is willing to pay to play. And when the hilarious bugs are seen in AC Valhalla, we see a larger stage of failure. So how will Ubisoft deal with it? Most no longer care and neither do I, Ubisoft was great once, but the errors, the bad judgement and the failures makes me happy that there are good software houses that deliver real treasures. Sony being one, then there is Insomniac Games, we have Guerrilla games and a few more. So why mention these three? These three wanted to be as good as Ubisoft, now or better stated from 2019 onwards these three all surpassed Ubisoft in quality gaming and quality games. The stage at Ubisoft is that bad at present. 

It merely makes me think of that old movie (1969) ‘They shoot horses don’t they?’, I wonder why? (LOL)

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January 1, 2022 · 10:16

That lucky blow

Yes, these things happen, the point where luck is a factor and in some games they do happen, but the factor is not as profound as a Ravenclaw boy hoping he gets noticed by Emma Granger, or was that Hermione Watson? No here we apply the Skyrim principle. Instead of grinding, later in the game, I enter the embershard mine wearing dragon plate and before the bridge there are two miners, I walk up to them and let them have a go at me, with Dragon plate my armour rating is well above 550, so they can pound on me whilst I have dinner, read a magazine and at the end I am up 1-3 levels and my heavy armour is now legendary 100. A simple solution.

Yet what happens when we change the premise? What happens when the bad guys get a lucky blow as well? Consider:

  • Bandit
  • Bandit Marauder / Plunderer
  • Bandit Chief

There lucky blow rating starts at 1%-3%-5%, yet as levels go they can go up to 5% – 15% and 25%. Now that game changes a lot, but we can introduce negative influx. A 25%-50% and 75% protection through blocking and defence parameters. A stage that alters the game somewhat. So my approach of walking into their midst would no longer work (well likely a very limited version). It is the old battle setting that all attack without defence is pointless and all defence without attack is useless. A setting we all forgot about, or at least too many of us forgot about it. Oh, and their lucky blow is a blow that does 300% of the normal damage.

That same principle applies to sneak as well, we tend to see ‘a failed sneak’ as a side effect, whilst a failed sneak giving the opponent a free first hit is much more intense and optionally realistic? Many RPG games see a failed attempt at the stage of a loss of positive elements, whilst introducing no negative ones. That failing stopped the gamer from becoming clever at what they to, a setting that is a failing in the game because the game needs to contribute, always contribute. 

I believe that having a lucky blow element is nice for us, but it needs to contribute by being nice for them too (to coin a phrase).

We can never rely on more of the same, we can never rely on the easy path because it will undo gaming in the long run. And in this Skyrim is a perfect example as it has shown itself to be close to perfect for over a decade now. And the only way we get better games it to push that envelope. Did you think I was kidding when I stated that Amazon with its Luna has an option to sell 50,000,000 consoles? It isn’t that Google is not worthy, they decided not to develop games. And any clear and massive bodyblow to Microsoft is a winning punch for gamers everywhere. We gamers must stick together because Microsoft only stands for itself, it has shown that for well over a decade as well.

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