Category Archives: Gaming

June 5, 2025 · 17:07

The snag we don’t see

That happens, we don’t always see the settings that open up to us. It is one of the stages of what some call the ‘Aha!’ erlebnis. It is actual intelligence and that is why artificial intelligence will fall short for a long time. Yesterday I had some time to relax and I used it to watch the final two episodes of the October Faction (Netflix). Apart from being totally awesome, I also found the dastardly news that it is a one season only setting. Too bad as it was really awesome. Yet, I digress. During one of these episodes I suddenly had a little brain strain and a few things came into full view. It brought me back to a story I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) called ‘It was this simple’ where I had the idea for a new game that was also (in part) educational. Yet last night I had an idea that I was going about it the wrong way. You see, the start isn’t one of the three gods (Hades, Poseidon or Zeus), it is a destination. The idea is to invert that stage and start with pone of the ‘smaller’ gods like Hecate. You see, as I see it Hecate gets its setting from the mortals and animals. So do the other ‘smaller’ gods. As do Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Dionysus. And as we unlock their abilities, we will then get access to one of the three. Or I might am considering that Zeus is only unlocked when all others are unlocked. 

As I see it some gods connect to merely one of the three, some to two gods and some to all three. As I see it this game would need to be replayed three times to unlock it all, but in this game the second game already gives you the areas you unlocked in the first game and the second is not the same, merely a continuation of the first (makes for a challenging lore). And beyond that as I see it, the game will incorporate several gaming styles giving you a larger game and a more fulfilling gaming time. But I wanted more than a hack, slash and pretty picture.

You see, it is merely a setting to a game, but there we also see that we unlock educational parts. What is more enticing than gaining knowledge of classical works whilst gaming? Not the ‘essence’ of a classical work but the full text of people like Hesiod, Homer, Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar and many many more. I still think that the Amazon Luna, with a link to the Kindle, or even now the Tencent console with a link to the the MatePad Pro or MatePad Air might be an alternative. A setting to see a more inclusive form of gaming and as such un-enabling those with the ‘turbo’ style of gaming trying to getting people in line to more advertising. Short term enabling and set gaming back on the track of a more enabling setting of gaming like Bethesda enabled for almost 2 decades. 

We are all do taken back by the turbo setting of games (especially the young) whilst the more complete setting of gaming is largely ignored and as I see it, there is more to gaming. You see we cannot (in good mind) waste the entire day gaming. I get that, but we can rotate that interest to give people a larger backstory. You see, according to classicist William Hansen: “the Greeks and Romans had all the genres of oral narrative known to us, even ghost stories and urban legends, but they also told all kinds that in most of the Western world no longer circulate orally, such as myths and fairytales.” I want to resettle that lost art. Some gamers have tried to do so in the lore they give us, but they fell short as they didn’t consider the larger stage. It was not their fault, until recently and the promise of the IoT (Internet of things) and the larger stage of Bluetooth we never considered where we could go and that is merely another setting the Microsoft failed to see (they are racking up a setting of missed opportunity) and Google cannot be given this failure as they basically dropped the Google Stadia, which was their right to do so and as I see it, Amazon and Tencent now have a larger stage to become the new heralded kings in gaming. It is not a smooth or even an easy ride, but as I see it they both missed out on gaining at least 50 million gamers. 

So could I be wrong?
Yes, of course that is possible, but what the ‘advertisement’ courtesans fail to see is that the people have had enough of advertisements and that is something they are in denial of as the money is too good. But as I see it, the one who does see it will get a larger setting of gaining the field advantage to this and that is basically Nintendo and Sony. It is the third place that becomes interesting when we see in January ‘Microsoft’s AI revenues up 175%, while Xbox’s results remain disappointing’ (before the builder.ai exposure) and ‘Microsoft’s Xbox Handheld Plans Reportedly Shelved; Company to Optimise Windows 11 Gaming Performance’ (last week) and I reckon that the spin will continue as Microsoft is scrambling to bury bad news as Nintendo is making larger strides into gaming. As such there is space for either Amazon or Tencent to gain the number three spot. This is not a given but massively likely, especially as other news sees my other solution grace the limelight in sight of some Hajj numbers I see roll be and an optional solution that roughly 900,000,000 million users are up for grabs (yet another space Microsoft missed). So as some will see “Asus’ Xbox branded handheld, codenamed Project Kennan, is reportedly on track to launch later this year”, I merely wonder when that changes from later this year to next year and after that it being silently cancelled (my personal speculation). You see Asus also sees the market and the knee-jerk actions from an tariff driven administration won’t last long, especially when Huawei is showing its MateBook Fold and that is making the filtered news. I personally don’t know how good it is, but the larger setting is that the world is watching and now that it is less than 1.2Kg and uses Harmony OS. The first and it is a banger. So when that system as well as Tencent takes the world by storm (which it is very likely to do) we see yet another loss for Microsoft and not merely that, Apple, Sony, Google, Samsung and even Nintendo will see its impact (Sony and Nintendo less so). This was the setting I expected to come about 6 years ago and it is here a little faster then expected. 

This is all important because the advertisers will start losing out and that will stop gamers in their track as their games are less fulfilling. You see ad break gaming is nice in a turbo setting, but when the gamer considers where they ended up being they will want (read: demand) a more compelling form of gaming. This is good for people like Bethesda, Ubisoft, Guerrilla Games (and several others), but (for example in the UK) the 1,801 independent and publisher-owned studios. These studios employ around 75,000 people. The number of studios has grown significantly, with 251 new studios founded between December 2021 and April 2023 it is not good news, because what we don’t see is that these developers are relying on advertisement to make some of their money and when that falls away, these developers will fish behind the net of revenue.

And as I see it, Ubisoft has options in these glasses devices and they could also launch on Sony and Nintendo, but others will have to streamline whatever they thought was an option and others will merely collapse. As I see it, we haven’t see the power of Harmony OS yet but it will come and as America shuns away from that (for the most obvious stupid reasons) Europe and others are very willing to give their economy a boost from what HarmonyOS brings and now that the hardware is out some people will finally get the thought “How can this benefit us?” And that will be the start of a lot more and as I see it, Amazon has the inside track to grow more business (outside of the US) and there lies the setting for them. As some might ‘speculate’ that Amazon would not be profitable without its cloud business. We also see that the shape of the cloud is about to change and that is where the larger money is, because cloud gaming is only gaming in name. It can be a lot more and as I see it, the solutions I gave will become massively and not merely this game (I put it online for a reason) it could start a much larger wave and that is where I see my surf time (perhaps literally so). I reckon that the ‘older’ quote “HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, is designed to work with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. While it’s not directly tied to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the same way as Android or iOS, you can still use it to access AWS services and resources.” I reckon that Amazon sees that this lack is about to end, because they have a clear goal to increase their visibility and whilst others are taken back, Amazon is seemingly embracing the options it opens up to. As I see it, people will prefer that setting then feeling blue (read: Azure). Yet another field where Microsoft is falling short of soon enough. Their failures do seemingly seem to stack up, don’t they?

We can see the snags we think we fail to see, we can ignore them or we can find away to make it work for us. So have a great day and consider where you could be in 2026 or 2027, because thinking you get there in 2025 is nice, but largely set to economic turmoils of the days we expect them to be according to some media. Consider where some people will END the stage of their products and see where HarmonyOS is merely beginning at present. It makes for an interesting read. Consider that WPS Office (by Kingsoft) its here for HarmonyOS and also on Amazon Fire tablets. Merely two places and as I see it, as this is free software there is a larger stage where Microsoft will end up surrendering market share. So as I said, have a great day. 

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May 29, 2025 · 05:01

The secondary drive

That is what some have and it is not always in the field you expect. I was contemplating a few things whilst playing the remastered version of Oblivion. I am playing me second character as I am stuck (due to a bug) in the first one. It gave me pause to consider a few settings. These settings I can convert to the game I already had in mind, but I can spice things up now (now is a word as the default setting is not entirely accurate). You see, I created the game to counter Bethesda. The operative word might take a little tweaking. It actually started yesterday when I saw a list of upcoming Playstation games, 15 of them this year and I kept on hearing ‘soul type gaming’ (way too often). You see making more of the same is not more gaming, as I see it, it is the introduction of blanded (just more of the same taking away gaming hunger). As such my mind kept on revisiting settings (and movies) in all directions. It also brought to mind a game named Fable (Microsoft title) and it had great ideas, especially the first and second game with the second being a vastly improved IP over the first. It also made me realise that I had created a dislike for the word ‘Chicken-chaser’ (a word EVERY Fable enthusiast remembers). So what happens when we ‘cross-pollinate’ ideas? And moreover, what if we set this per guild, house or location? 

That is merely the first step. You see, most people have ‘accepted’ the use of nick names and when capture this in combination with the SNPC (smart non playable characters) concept I put in here last year a RPG game could really be spiced up. I see it as a setting to create passive achievements, achievements you will have to work for, but they don’t have any real controllable action and as such you could get a real setting that controls you and you do not control it to that degree. You see when you play an RPG over and over again, you get to be blanded, a blanding like setting that takes the joy out of the game, it will take it out of any game, but when you can divert that feeling by adding ‘soft-achievements’ I predict that this feeling diverts somewhat (it will never take it all away). Added to the changeable setting of dialogues and missions, the game gets to be a lot more rewarding for a lot longer. And today’s consoles can handle that challenge. 

I already set some parts in ‘motion’ in my mind as early as 2022 and up to now, no one considered the ideas I had (or never enacted them) and in my mind, the reengineered idea that originally came from Vint Cerf might be a game changer in RPG gaming. Such directionality will up the game for wannabe ‘fighters’ and ‘assassins’ quite a lot. I get that in the past these ideas were not really possible and now we can do them all, perhaps Bethesda is enabling these ideas in the new Elder Scrolls game, but that will not be known until 2027. What is clear that there is a risk that we will see too many things that we saw before. In the YouTube video that game me the list of 15 that I saw in under an hour I had at least half a dozen time things that I had seen before. To be honest, the only real cracker I saw was Code Violet, not ragingly new, the style of gaming is known to stealth game preferred players, but in the setting that we see, is a new fresh paint of a horror classic and that is at least something. Go see the trailer if you are curious. Anyway, that gave me pause to another setting. You see some will remember ‘Knight Games’ (CBM64), and Bethesda has a ‘sort of’ version in that called Arena, but Arena is a joke to stealth players. Most of the rounds I have no opposition. With a bow and stealth I go right through the opponents in seconds. So what happens if all contestants have Candlelight (Skyrim) cast over them? It takes away the stealth advantage, come to think of it, what if the security of a location ‘auto casts’ Candle light over the trespasser of a location? You need to get close to the cast location and perhaps there is a workaround on that too, another thing you have to elude, now breaking and entering comes with a little snag. 

You might (not entirely incorrectly) think that this brainstorm setting only sounds nice. But tell me, when was the last time that you witnessed true gaming innovation? I reckon that for me it was Horizon Forbidden West (2022) and as such I am trying to blend new ideas (at times re engineered old ideas) to add to gaming and to offer a solution that looks in more directions than Bethesda (not that Bethesda is bad, far from it) but a choice of one, is not a choice.

Well, I need to rethink a few more settings (which I already am), but I think better during breakfast and that is roughly 183 minutes away. So back I go, back in my design shell and watch what others are missing. Have a great day.

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May 25, 2025 · 18:06

Curveballs

Sometimes life throws you a curveball, that is the simplicity of effects. It is a curveball as people cannot foresee them and in times it is because it comes from an unexpected side. There is basically nothing on this. You just have to accept it. Whether it was fate, karma if luck. These things happen. 

The subject of the ‘guilty’ party is Google (or Alphabet, whatever you want to call it) and the guilty person in this is Sergey Brin (now without a beard apparently. So yesterday I was handed two articles, they came basically out nowhere and appeared in my search finds. I am not even sure what I was looking for, but there you have it. 

First comes ZDNet with ‘I tried Google’s XR headset, and it already beats the Apple Vision Pro in 3 ways’, I don’t know about that as I never tried either, but as Apple seems to be sleeping at the wheel, lets see if Google can make something of this. You see, as Apple was asleep I created 2+ IP solutions for them, but will you know it, they are still seemingly asleep. 

The first one is seemingly the latest, but it was the first my mind created using the idea of partnering Guerrilla Games with Apple and it could just as easy be Google. I mentioned this in 

‘Are there two coins?’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/05/18/are-there-two-coins/) and optional setting that would give uniqueness and drive to the Apple Vision Pro, not that I really care as my nog tends to solve issues, like melting down Iranian/Russian nuclear reactors (a story for another time) I also created a stealth solution to make Iranian harbours useless for extended times. I cannot control my mind at times. But in this case I wondered what Apple could have done and I came up with several solutions that seemingly slipped their minds. The second set of IP was linked to Ubisoft and now we get to the second article. It was TechCrunch who gave me the second part with ‘Google launches AI tools for practicing languages through personalized lessons’ this seems fine, but in ‘One step left for a new world’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/16/one-step-left-for-a-new-world/), which I wrote on November 16th 2024 I gave the setting that Ubisoft with its Assassin’s Creed franchise had the ability to create language skills as they had already created over 80% and that was the hard part, now I see that the missing part has been created by Google and we get to see (at https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-launches-ai-tools-for-practicing-languages-through-personalized-lessons/) “Google on Tuesday is releasing three new AI experiments aimed at helping people learn to speak a new language in a more personalized way. While the experiments are still in the early stages, it’s possible that the company is looking to take on Duolingo with the help of Gemini, Google’s multimodal large language model.” So consider that AC Brotherhood could give you lessons in Italian and Latin, AC Unity could cover French and AC Syndicate could cover English. English could also be taught using Watchdogs 2 and 3 (Legion) there is of course Egyptian (AC Origin) and Arabic or Persian from AC Mirage. These games are ready and could be transferred to the XR headset making it even more personal and the kicker is that Apple had these options for over a year. Sucks being granny smith, doesn’t it? Oh, and if Google hadn’t done away with their Stadia they could have had at least 6 billion a year extra (phase one) and a lot more after that. Seems that they weren’t all awake either.

And all this was already on my blog site. As such there is a question where Apple gets its ideas, but in light of the failures I saw in 2024 I am not going to go there. Still if Google can do something more, they are happy to give it a go (a donation to yours truly would be perfectly acceptable).

Not the worst setting for today, but in a Few hours I am going to hand some dodo its liver, I feel a little frisky today. It’s not the weather, it wasn’t raining so I am decently fine. Have a great day.

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May 18, 2025 · 15:01

Are there two coins?

That is the question I put before you. Are there two coins, or is merely spinning with different currencies? That is the setting that the Wall Street Journal gives us. With ‘They Paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts.’ (at https://www.wsj.com/tech/they-paid-3-500-for-apples-vision-pro-a-year-later-it-still-hurts-496de341) we see the (almost) crybaby style of “I never actually needed it”, we see the setting of “It was Apple’s first major product release in years! It’s the first device you look through and not at! Typing can be done in the air! But buyers who wore them in the wild say they got nothing but dirty looks and sore necks. Now, the devices are daily reminders of their misplaced bravado.” As I personally see it, they wore this in the wold, so they would look ‘innovative’ almost like the influencer who wanted to appeal to everyone, but they never knew how. It seems like a variant on the West Wing setting taken from Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin with “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.” As I see it, a pointless exercise that costs money and leads to nothing. I, on the other hand could never afford it and I came up with several IP variants where their customers could have enjoyed the setting. In November 2024 I wrote ‘One step left for a new world’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/16/one-step-left-for-a-new-world/) where I combined education and gaming with languages for the masses. And Apple has his translation software, and that could bestow education and fin for the masses (who could afford it) and beyond that (after a year) it could be transferred to whatever MetaQuest offers. I did that in under two days and even set the premise in this blog to give them the setting to a unique ‘game’ with Guerrilla Games. Did they catch on? No, they are all on a non-existent AI horse (not the one used for Troy), but just as fatal for the people without imagination. So when I see “No player in the virtual reality space has yet to figure out how to drive widespread adoption of the technology. Apple hasn’t disclosed how many of the devices it has sold. The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro, putting its success at risk, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Apple declined to comment.” I merely laugh. It took me two days to set the premise of close to a dozen ‘games’ (OK, several have an educational nature) and as such it is on Apple. Especially when you see “The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro” on two days I have the setting for a dozen games (close to 10 all with the same setting) and there is as I personally see it, a need for it. They just needed to get Ubisoft (desperate for more revenue) and Guerrilla Games on board (who might wanna do it, for the unique venture it allows for) and basically this would be close to no funds required, merely expertise and hardware. And as both developers have 80% of the software done. The setting should need little time and from the moment on the visibility rises as gamers all over the world are seeking such a solution and that is merely the start. So is Apple or Timmy the Cook interested in that setting, or are they hiding from the idle bomb called AI to implode in their faces. It could be that the WSJ doesn’t see what could happen, but as I came up with the idea nearly a year ago, I am willing to push the blame to Apple. This is basically what you get when you have mere yay sayers and none of them an innovative bone in their body. 

Could I be wrong?
That is a fair assumption, but I published those articles in 2024 and what have they produced? Nothing, not even an article that my ideas were just not that realistic, which would have been folly as the first setting was seen on a Playstation 3 with a mere 256MB memory on 20GB storage, as such it was produced 18 years ago. And I found a novel use of IP that was over a decade old. The second idea is a bit more dodgy as it was made on a PlayStation 4 with 8GB and 500Gb storage. It should be possible, and that would have been the real people drawer. As such I feel confident that I could set the winning solution. It just needed a conversation between Timmy the Cook and Arjan Brussee. The impact on the world would be amazing. All these so called innovators and they  simply missed that setting. The consequence of no creativity connected to imagination.

So when we see “Fox says he’s worn his Apple Vision Pro headset about four times in the past year.” Did he even consider the setting with real estate? He is a realtor after all. Did he consider that he could show something in 3D in ones view? Just a thought.

The settings are there and Apple needs to consider that idea’s this new needs a tiger team for setting the brand to the developers. As such they need to come with idea’s (perhaps different ideas from me) and see what developers could set the premise? I found two developers, one who desperately needs revenue and they have almost completed (as I reckon it to be) close to 80%. So when did you see a developer who cannot complete the idea for the last 20%. It is a simple question. 

So from there when that first setting is shown these programs can evolve into ‘newer’ settings where people can learn start Arabic, Latin, Italian, French and English. Just on the setting of the same premise and as you evolve the game where clothing was once cosmetic, the larger setting becomes that better clothing and a better location allows for more evolved language skills. Something that could entertain and educate people for weeks at a time. So how was that difficult?

And if Timmy isn’t up for it, perhaps Mark Zuckerberg can see a whole new dimension of options with the Meta Quest. The hungry want to at and more revenue allows for that. The most simple of settings that we can now see and where does that leave Apple? That is the question. Well, of all else fails, Timmy could become the Cook people needs to make them muffins. In the mean time the innovators in the world will take whatever they can to propagate themselves, because that is also a consequence of the innovator gene. You get to go places.

So have a great day, still Sunday here with a mere 225 minutes until dinner.

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May 16, 2025 · 10:00

Insectum

It is time to talk bugs. As I see it there are three kinds, there are the actual bugs, these are settings that crash a game, or make it non-working. The other two are glitches and systemic glitches. Glitches are merely a hindrance they are flaws in a game of program, but they do not dissuade from the joy that the game brings. I saw all of these settings in Oblivion remastered. Let’s be clear. I am not a doom speaker and heralding the ‘Messy setting of Oblivion’, I am (for the most) a game and before I start this article I will say right now, up front, that Oblivion brought the sense of joy I had when I played the game 20 years ago. That is as I see it a massive achievement, 

Virtuos brought their A game and it shows in everything you see and play. This game is 20 years old, as such plenty of laurels for Bethesda as well. It was the reason I bought me Xbox360 and I never for one moment regretted doing that. Yes, I have had the red rings of death and in the end I have had 3 Xbox360’s. But never was there any doubt that it was a great machine and a worthy contender to the crown that the Playstation 2 won.

Still, we were talking about the game. As such, we have glitches, persistent (or systemic) glitches and bugs, there is also the fatal bug, but I haven’t seen that one in Oblivion.

A glitch can be systemic, but does not mess with gaming fun. An example is that when you go from the rain into a ruin, or a cave and you still hear the rain. It doesn’t stop you from having fun, but it is a glitch. Then there is the systemic glitch. When you’re cupboards are too full, because you (me) is a hoarder, the system gets a little confused and will not show everything in your inventory. As such I could not move my sigil stones from the inventory. The solution is to sell off a lot of junk you were holding and that fixed it. There there is the setting that you can not control. A setting where things go a little haywire (because of a dozen reasons), which can mess with the storyline, but the simple solution is to reload the last autosave and often it is fixed. When dealing with these knights of the thorn idiots, I had to reload half a dozen times before I got the mission done (in different places). There is nearly no saving an idiot who thinks he os gods greatest knife fighter whilst surrounded by two Xivilains, loudly engaging them calling in two more. There is no stopping stupidity, it tends to get you killed in the battle field. Then there was the first time I went into the Rockmilk cave. After the first reception area, there is a path down where three spiked traps are. The stage to the left could not be entered, whilst it had enemies. I think it was a glitch, and it was ONLY the first time I entered it, subsequent entries were good. It is my place to collect free arrows and in earlier levels that matters, later too (I had over 400,000 gold), but it is a assured way to get ebony arrows and glass arrows, which are not sold. Apart from the bounty in there, it is a clear way to make headway. Then there are several persists glitches, but the one in Sancre Tor was fixed by waiting at the opportune time (where there are 4 people) and that worked. These settings happen. Anyone who thinks that bugs/glitches on a game this big doesn’t happen is beyond stupid. And for the most part it never bothered the game. Perhaps one setting which was beneficial to me was that the Rumare Slaughterfish were bouncing on the waterline, so in clear view to kill them. For the most, this game is utterly awesome and I never regretted spending the money of the 125GB download time on this. I will be playing this a few times over as I never played a high elf mage, but that was on me. 

The fact that even after 20 years and after Skyrim, this game shows just haw amazing gaming can be and that is never a bad thing.

So don’t call everything a bug, because some games are just too big and a bug tends to have fatal issues on a game and yes, I did crash a few times, but I just reloaded the game and I merely lost a few minutes in its worst scenario. Yet it is not all bad. It made me realise the settings I redesigned for an RPG and as I saw the stage also saw why my mind set a few things the way it did and it makes sense to do so if replay-ability is your goal. I think this should be the mindset of any RPG developer. As such did you consider the soft architectural stage that Diablo (the first one) offered against the planes of oblivion? When you connect the ideas that certain games had and incorporate them into a plane of oblivion? When you aren’t set to a mere version of a game, but when the towers can be radically different, how much more fun can you have exploring? 

So have a great day and when you hear the screaming in the night, that would be the sound of Daedric Princes as I have entered their realm and they fear for their life now. 

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May 6, 2025 · 21:35

Creating a plus plus game

Yes, there it is, but not in the way you think. First off, I have always loved RPG games, even before I got into Oblivion and Skyrim. These games are the best and as I am replaying Oblivion (now on the PS5), a thought got into my mind. And I created a new RPG IP. I summarized some of it in ‘Recap to the intro’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/) so the ideas have been brewing for 5 years. And today I had another idea. You see, we have a plus game where we continue or replay with the achieved gameplay. This is nothing new, but then I thought that some of the replay gets dreary (to some degree) and I just had the idea. You see, in my game there are 4 classes of magic based on the elements and these magic casters have a massive difference among themselves and it suddenly hit me to set certain missions in a different setting, as such, dependent of the magic class you play you get a mission, this is not new. Yet when you replay the game, when you select another magic class certain missions will have a new premise. Optionally with an altered intro to the mission. This has as far as I know never been done in any game.

So in the first mission you get to assist a smith to set the new forge with required cokes (or coals) and when that mission is done, the second time around another part of the mission comes clear. There is no setting that it all repeats, though some missions are an optional replay but with other sides. As such we get the option for other classes to add to that mission. So we get more than one plus game, giving the games additional sides to a mission. I wonder why the current RPG makers never considered that to amp their gaming experience. A setting that has the ability to create new lore, new experiences and now challenges. It got to me as I was going an Oblivion mission, so what is stopping us to push the envelope? I got a few ideas and that is a setting a simple setting, I reckon that in a much more complex setting it could create a new form of RPG game (I am not brave enough to give it a name). 

So as we set the game to a new frontier, we can create games with at least 4 new game playthroughs. A setting that has never been contemplated before in gaming. I wonder why not. Games nowadays need to entertain longer, so we can create more games or more gaming time (preferably without making the game lose gaming quality). 

As such the setting is changed. Consider the game Hogwarts Legacy getting an overhaul and the game needs to be played 4 times (not optionally played), which unlocks other parts of the game. It does not matter which house you play, and as different houses unlock missions for the first house, but what if the house is the second or the third house? The lore needs to be set to have one cosplayers (like Poppy for Hufflepuff, Sallow for Slytherin, Onai for Gryffindor and Thakkar for Ravenclaw) be the other contributor, so if you are one house, the other comes into play (via a message) that gives you the option when playing the second or third play through, I doubt that it is needed for a 4th play through but for completion it might be added. 

A new setting I an old concept, the RPG gaming experience (of a lifetime) that could add a lot more to the same game. I used the Hogwarts setting to illuminate the perception, but it could be added and part of this can be seen in Jackdaws rest, where each house gets a different alert to the same mission. So what happens when a mission gives us the 4 different missions to complete the mission overall? As such, I have been contemplating the same setting but in a slightly different way. Its just fun that the big boys (Bethesdas and Ubisoft) never got that far. Especially as Ubisoft has 18,666 dedicated game designers (big smile from me).

As such I can go after Bethesda too, but they created some of the greatest RPG settings, so they get a pass on this. It’s just fun that after I did the Melvin to DARPA and created three weapon systems (they dob’t have these) and I created IP that Google missed (Amazon too) I still found time to surpass Ubisoft and Bethesda. I am feeling good today. Still, I have an idea that could get me $3,000,000 from Matt Damon (he gets a script for that amount of money). Not sure if Matt is up to it, but as I see it, I have been plenty creative today and I am not done yet for today. 

It is a lovely day to get creative, so have a great day and get ready to dream big.

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April 29, 2025 · 23:22

News and self reflection

That happens, we all have to reflect on ones self. And I was given, by Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2598647/business-economy) ‘Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports surge 113% since Vision 2030 launch’ here we see “Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports reached an unprecedented SR515 billion ($137 billion) in 2024, marking the highest value in the Kingdom’s history.” It comes with the added “The robust growth spanned all export sectors. Merchandise exports climbed to SR217 billion (+4 percent), fueled by respective increases of 2 percent and 9 percent in petrochemical and non-petrochemical exports.” As such it seems that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is doing well. For me the quote “In 2024, the Kingdom exported goods, re-exports, and services to over 180 countries, with 37 countries registering record import values, including the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Spain, France, Poland, Libya, and Syria. Other countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Pakistan, Nigeria, Germany, Greece, and Bulgaria, also achieved record import volumes” was important. You see, one of my IP ideas would add Egypt, Bahrain and Bangladesh to that list. Indonesia, Pakistan and Oman were already on that list.

As I see it, the first phase might be a simple $6 billion (﷼22,500,000,000), but after that, I personally believe that the annual revenue could grow to $20 billion (75,000,000,000﷼) I might have gotten the placement of the Saudi riyal symbol wrong. The nice side effect of mixing left to right and right to left issues, but that is what it amounts to, as such a nice 6 to 20 billion annual added to the frame, but neither the Saudi Consulate (or Amazon for that matter) was taking the bait and it was such a nice bait. Still the setting of creating IP with a phase one setting of 6 billion is nothing to laugh at. I wrote about it before and that was merely one of a few IP settings (the rest is not that valuable). Still, I feel strongly about this idea and it fits the Muslim stage for a few reasons and that is beside the idea that it might unite the Muslim nations. 

Still I wonder in light of this news, is my idea really worth that much and will it work? I believe so, the one factor I cannot predict is how Epic Games (the maker of the Unreal Engine 5) will react, because I am not certain if they ever considered other venues beside gaming, as such Tencent becomes a factor as they too could carry the IP and in light of TGP Box (Tencent Games Platform) could it support the stage? With the initial 50 million consoles and in a non gaming condition could they consider the new venture it goes along? With the data centre in Saudi Arabia they might. The setting is diverse and it gives them access to a whole new cluster of users. Then there is the secondary stage of gaming, with a strategy that gives this solution over 1000 games pushing them on par with Sony and Nintendo, are they ready for what comes? In this, on par is pretty much the stage as they will not replace these systems, but ride alongside with them. I don’t know enough of the strategists that Tencent has, I know that I cannot trust Microsoft, but Amazon was a first thought when Google dropped their Google Stadia. The internet of things and Cloud gaming had their pay offs as I saw it, especially as no one was looking in that direction and as two streams were taken from the Google ship it made sense to go to Google first (but they dropped their stadia), so the Luna was the only solution for me. Now that Tencent is up and running there is another option, but it is still a little dependent on what Saudi Arabia will do, they are the corner stone of this solution. 

So as I see this article, I wonder if I am right. Self reflection is important, especially when you are talking about billions, and I do not want to be wrong, which is why I try to be as conservative with the numbers I have. On the other hand, the thought that I have the jackpot idea and I cannot sell it is pretty much killing me and I don’t want Microsoft near this, they have screwed up too much IP as I see it as such I don’t want them near the ideas I have and there are a few more. Still the doubt  grips me, how could I have come up with the idea of billions whilst all the others cannot see what I see. Am I missing something?

The doubt can be debilitating. In other news of the good kind. Mark Carney won the elections, so that is at least something. Now if we could only make Donald Trump shut up about the 51st state, that would be really nice. So have a great day and if you are in Canada, raise your coffee in cheers for Mark Carney (it is 6:00 in Vancouver, way too early for alcohol). 

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April 27, 2025 · 14:51

Dynamic lore

Perhaps Dynamic interactive NPC’s is a better if not a little incomplete at this time. I have been loving every moment that I have been in Cyrodil, yet some of the missions are bland, redone over and over again and at this time (as there are more options), the setting seems a little absent of electricity. This is not the fault of Virtuos of Bethesda. I have over 1000 hours (perhaps even 2000 hours) in the game, so for the most I have already seen it. Still roaming the sights of the province is a delight. All the sights I forgot about over the 14 years that Skyrim graced my computers (PS3, Xbox360, PS4 and PS5) and there is more, but at some point I started to set out the idea of Dynamic Dialogue.

You see the first game you play remains always the same, but the subsequent versions, there could be a setting that some of the dialogues will be somewhere else. As such my mind set out the stage that at this point has never been done in any RPG.



Could be set to 
Pers001ArdantNadia
Location01BravilBravil
KindofPersonMerchantBeggar
ActionRumorRumor

And this is merely a sample. So we get a key part of information from a merchant, but this information could be from a beggar as well (not always an option), but the system of Dynamic Dialog will have within itself what the definition is. As such you can run to Bruma and ask the same person again and again, but what if the mage changes? Optionally you are given the name, but that is not a given. 

It changes the game, as the subsequent play is more of a setting that sets a new premise. A game  altered to the gamer who loves the challenge, not merely running the distance. In this there comes a second setting that loot in houses could alter, books might be in different locations (after the first play), It gives shine to a game that was good to be great over several play throughs. With the optional setting when you start the game of activate Dynamic Dialogue. As the database is set correctly the game could be reset to original when a new game is started. 

A setting we have never seen in RPG, but this is now possible, as such, I though of including this setting. Loot can always be randomized, but the people usually aren’t. Then there is the setting that a mission could get another parameter as well. Like the weapon shipment could give the added premise of saving miners and that is set to a clock within the moment you give the weapons to the three mercenaries. So there could be the option that you get a 10 minute timeframe to save a number of miners in that level (like 6 miners) and that gives the player a new chase. To get to the people in time. I am not saying that it should have been done, but when you get the second play through, some missions get to be a bit of a milk run, as such I devised the setting to add Dynamic Dialogue and optionally added achievements. 

There are places when that is not possible, but given the option, we have a good stage to improve RPG gaming, and in this case merely the additional times you play the game. I reckon that my mind will concoct a few more iterations of this in the near future as such I will keep you informed of the hair brain schemes I think of. Perhaps in the near future I will add to what I wrote yesterday, there was a lot more to be had.

Have a great day, time for me to close another Oblivion gate.

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April 26, 2025 · 16:51

Rejuvenating Love

Yup, we’ve all been there and it is not the love for a partner or spouse (I have no experience in that regard). It is the rejuvenating the love you have for a hobby or interest. For me it has been Photography and gaming. In this case it is about gaming.

You see, last week Oblivion was launched. The 4th game in the elder scrolls and in the mean time I downloaded the 116 GB and got to play it for real. The initial setting was of course ‘old stuff’ the prison, the escape and the inability to protect the emperor from getting his throat slot (poor Sir Patrick Steward). As such we get to the outside world and my first achievement. From there I went straight to the Rockmilk Cave. I have played the game before, so to ‘hone’ my archery skills I go there as it is home to the black bow bandits and a warring party, as such plenty of things to pick up. And there I got my first glitch and first bug. Darn! No biggie, I merely got around it. The bug was that when you enter the cave, you go right down the cave where you also get the glitch, The bandits (all 4) go back and forth (a few steps) cry “Why won’t you die” and so it goes on. The archers on the right were easy, the ones on the left were the problem. There was an invisible wall preventing me to get to them and slaying them. I didn’t go any deeper at this time a little afraid the bug would become worse, but I got 50 arrows and a few black bows, so not a trip in trouble. Then I wandered around to see some spaces and two caves I never saw before (at least that is what I think). Then off to Chorrol and from there to Anvil where I joined the fighters guild. So I am now a journeyman in the fighters guild. And now I am about to meet the fighter guild master with the next mission. It is also an idea to try and get into the mages guild. I still need to kill an innocent to get into the Dark Brotherhood, but that is for tonight. All in all this all sparked a renewed crush on the game. And after 14 years in Skyrim, it is time to renew the settings I have loved for so long and this devotion needs to be recognised. You see, some will cry like a little wiener and shout bug. But it is merely one in a setting of over a hundred of hours and so far no bugs seen. A few glitches but they cannot spoil the fun I am having. Still I have now enough money to buy the waterfront dwelling, which is nice so I can offload the stuff I do not want to sell. 

The house in Anvil requires silver weapons because of the nasty ghosts and a stronger marksman skill to deal with the thing in the basement. And as we get further into the game, there are more missions and a larger need to get items from these Daedric princes. Not to mention the luscious Nocturnal and her Skeleton key (very nice for opening chests). 

I learned that the Peryte glitch still works, so that will get my fighting skills up in a quick jiffy, but I haven’t been there yet. Still the vibes going through me are unmatched. To play this game in a new coat is amazing and well worth the effort of spending coins to get them and downloading the game as well. I feel a little lost as Skyrim upgraded marksmanship in the game so I need to get higher in bow skills. But that doesn’t take the grin away from the massive boost to my ego as I largely still know where to mustard is. In that setting this game is not to be underestimated. And no matter that Skyrim is ‘better’ in some ways, this version revives the love I had for this game, I reckon that the bugs will be fixed at some time and that is cool, that first feeling of this game came raging in and settled in my soul (like a soul gem) pretty fast and very comfortably. 

It opened a new door as well. As I was looking at the RPG setting that I got for Eder Scrolls: Restoration and as such for a few other games (as Bethesda is now Microsoft) this setting in the last 24 hours gave me a few new considerations for RPG gaming. I still need to reflect on some, but I reckon that it will be in my big soon enough.

Have a great (gaming) day.

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April 23, 2025 · 21:08

Curse you to Oblivion

Yup, I went there. Well not really. I still have to buy the game and I was able to get half of it. Hopefully the other half in 3-4 days. You see, we are talking about The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion remastered. It was the reason I bought the Xbox360 in 2006 and I never regretted it. 

To be honest I spend over 1000 hours in that game (it might have been 2000), Together with Fallout 3, I have banked the better part of 5000 hours and they were wonderful. So when I got wind of a remastered version of Oblivion, I just leaped at the optional chance to get back into that game. So I got up this morning at 01:00 to see the YouTube video and it was marvelous. This version was made by Virtuos, a massive undertaking and a well made one (as far as I can tell). Like all RPG’s, I saw a far amount of glitches in this game. I am talking about glitches, not bugs. The glitches do not matter, the game is a wonderful result. I already saw that there were new looks and parts in the game that are actually new. The environment comes from Unreal engine 5, the voices are mostly the same, but it might have imagined this, but it seems that Sir Patrick Steward added a few dialogues to this and it is well received. 

The artwork has been preserved and is seen in a few places, giving it additional tone to the game. As I see it, you need to retrain yourself as this is not a Skyrim version, so there are differences. I think I saw the PC version, as such I will need to wait for the PS5 version (4 days and counting). There are two ‘issues’ at present. They aren’t really issues, but I need to call them something. The special edition in $99 (normal edition $85), with the hours I spend on the 2006 edition it will be well worth the money and the second one is that the download is 120GB, a little big, but with all the Unreal engine 5 stuff, understandably large. In addition is that this game has been upgraded for the PS5 pro, as such I reckon that this machine will give you additional sides I currently cannot see (I have the normal PS5). And as I see more of the game, I wonder where my memory went, as I do not recall a few issues I see now. 

There are several issues (not bad ones) that I get and it also shows that Virtuos didn’t blatantly copy stuff, they added massively making this more than a worry remaster. This is a clear labor of love, a statement I hadn’t expected to give after Hogwarts Legacy. S I watch the play through of MKIceAndFire I see so much familiarity, but so much new as well. I won’t give you the rundown on that as You need to see it for yourself, it is well worth the view and MKIceAndFire did a good job, although it views like he never played the game (which I sincerely doubt). 

And as I see at least three locations I haven’t seen in over a decade, my memory might be a little glitchy on the subject. No matter how that plays out, I feel my blood rise to the chance of the occasion and that sets the need to play this game again and get lost in the Cyrodiil. It was there that I initially designed the premise (of my) Elder Scrolls VI Restoration. It was set in part before Skyrim and the latter part was redesigned to play at a setting after Skyrim. I had set the story to not one by two provinces, namely Elsweyr and Valenwood. In the story that I designed I added Cyrodil and Skyrim where the area of Cyrodil was 900% the original size, so as the original game was 5 by 5 miles, the new setting was 15 by 15 miles and Skyrim was grown to fit exactly and that was the new stage, on this I added Elsweyr and Valenwood. The premise to allow added places (as some designers were truly amazing and that was a new setting in RPG gaming. A world like game that was a new setting in gaming. One we had never seen before, and that was the beginning. The game was set on a different stage. You see, I envisioned an impeding war between the magical and muggles (sorry JK). This isn’t a copy of the Skyrim setting. I set the premise that there is a massive distrust between the two all over the game. No one is ‘safe’, and that sets the start, but as I really like the replaying of RPG games, there is the setting that one side is revering the Nine as well as the magical settings (Valenwood) where most of the Elves, High Elves and other magical people are (they are still in other places all over Tamriel as well) and that is setting the larger setting we get to embrace. The other side are the tradies and commerce people that are muggles (sorry JK) and they do not care for the magical people. As you get to encase the game, you need to keep the distrust balanced (no spoiler), and lower the distrust between the two. So you get to set another path and at some point you will need to make a choice and that evolves the game. I made the call to exclude the shimmering isles (for other reasons). But in one way we get to set free the princes of Oblivion, we also need to ‘reconnect’ to the nine and as we get the distrust lower, we can give the tradies their own guilds as well and that is all possible no matter which side we chose. As the princes of Oblivion are set to their thrones again, magic in the land starts to reflourish again, which also lowers the distrust with the council of elves. The setting also sets limitations. As you reset the guilds (except the mages guild which is in the imperial city in Cyrodil) you get to chose. You can have one guild per province. So you need to chose between Skyrim, Valenwood and Elsweyr (Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood). You can only create one in each province. And each choice has an impact. The fighters guild reduces the mount of bandits in that province, the Thieves guild reduces the wealth of merchants in that province and the dark brotherhood reduces the nobleman and high ranking soldiers in that province. As I saw it there are more impacts. Where you place them will also matter, but only in certain ways, the second setting is that if you find certain books, the places will be stronger and have certain improvements. There are 4 books, one for entry, one for sustenance, one for accommodations and one for defense. The books are a mere extra and are not essential, if you find the books later you can upgrade the guild later (but a lot more expensive). And you lower the distrust of the merchants you get to build New Kvatch. Here the books become adamant, there are 4 books of the gates. The wooden book, the book of Dwarves Metal, the book of Moonstone and the book of Ebony. They decide the gate of New Kvatch and also the general look of the city. And as the city is completed you will get your statue in the town square. The statue will be Stone, Bronze, Marble or Ebony, depending on the gate was. And as I see it, there is a real need for a photo mode at this point (which unlocks now). 

As I see this remastered game, the ideas that I initially had in 2009 and 2013 erupts in my mind. 

I also gad a few winks to the older games. The merchant guild is now lead by Savonarola  Frasoric (Savonarola after a Christian false prophet) and Frasoric after the former guild master of Bruma. And in this he is not evil, merely (largely) useless. 

The setting as I saw it in less than 48 hours was largely reconnected to as I come to the end of the movie one YouTube. I also saw initially the creation of the mages guild and restoration of the Necromancers, which will lower the view of Meridia has on you, but it will increase the view Namira has on you and as such there are additional missions in the game.

Another setting are the merchants missions, they usually give you resources for New Kvatch and workers, the more workers you have, the bigger and faster the city grows. The first comes from the books for the gates. They will mention quarries for the stones and after you ‘liberate’ these quarries you have unlocked that is where the workers will get the stones. The workers are set to Quarry, transport and masonry. As there are more people, more stones and quicker results in the building. You CANNOT upgrade the city, the book you enact (a specific action in the book) will decide the look of the city and as you decide the city is created. From then onwards you merely get to ‘guide’ by completing merchant missions and get the town build faster, but there is the rub, guiding the merchants non-stop will lower the trust level with the Center of Elves and the Mages guild. The game is about Balance, as most things, balance is everything. And as I set the necromancer side, additional missions were introduced also gives an other setting for the pirate cave under Anvil and that might still be an option, but you need to finish the necromancer missions. In that no undead will initially attack you, unless you attack them (and then, they all turn hostile). As I saw it, more ideas came to mind and as Bethesda became Microsoft, I used the ideas to fuel other RPG games. Well, the ideas came to mind again as I see the remastered version of Oblivion.

Skyrim gave me additional ideas and I reckon that whilst Bethesda is trying to figure out how to connect to High Rock, restoration could add that to the premise, but that is all up to Bethesda. At present I merely use whatever I had to emboss the other RPG games and let that not stop you (or me) from enjoying a remastered Oblivion, because at present that setting is partially overwhelming and I saw almost 2 hours of a game that will be hundreds of hours long. A job well done (as far as I can tell at present)

So get ready to lose a lot of free time and don’t forget to have a great day.

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