Tag Archives: Amazon

July 28, 2022 · 19:41

I asked Andy Jassy for $50M

It seems odd but it is just like ‘Biden adviser: Saudi Arabia and UAE have “more to give” on oil production’ and the answer on both settings is ‘Why?’ You see I have the answer for Andy Jassy, but the response could be ‘And?’ and in this the Biden Adviser should be prepared. For the longest time the media and others they ALL avoided the number one question.

If the US has such a shortage, why export 78% crude oil? And no one looks at that. They all go with the setting that the Middle East should export oil cheap. But why would they do this? In my case I have IP bundles, one could sell well over 50M subscriptions, one bundle has the ability to set an income of $2B-$3B (some risks are involved), and all that for $50M and 10% of the IP and sales value, a good deal, but the US is not offering anything like that to either Saudi Arabia or the UAE, are they?

So when I read “McGurk said oil prices have already gone down after Saudi Arabia, as the leader of OPEC+, took initial steps to increase production several weeks ago, the sources said. McGurk added that the Saudis and the Emiratis “have more to give” when it comes to oil production.” In this my question to White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk would be “What have you done for them?” Why would they sacrifice $324 million a day for empty gestures? You need to come across in this case, if not, they can just wait and even reduce their production by 1 million barrels a day and wait for prices to go nuts. We see all these empty articles (at https://www.axios.com/2022/07/27/saudi-uae-oil-production-biden-gas-prices) with think-tanks and Ukraine references, but Russia has its own oil production, so the setting is a little empty. And until the US really makes an impression on Saudi Arabia showing that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is regarded as a real ally, the August 3rd talks might not have any results. And in this Saudi Arabia and the UAE still have the trump card question: “What are you doing about the US export of crude oil?” It is the question no one in the White House wants to face in public and the media have been circumventing that question for a little too long. Because the US has every right to demand reduced export for local considerations, but that is not likely to happen is it? So why not import additional oil at $109 per barrel? Too expensive? Why is that? That is the Brent Crude price, so what is stopping them? I reckon you know the answer to that and both the UAE and the KSA have handed over billions in oil for a mere empty hand, with gestures and no actions, doubt that? Consider Yemen and rethink that position. The USA has had the light touch for too long and now that the gloves come off we see the cry stories and the media is every bit as guilty here.

 So whilst we think it is all the fault of the middle east, consider who gave us this stage and consider that the US has had every bit of benefit for far too long and the actual owners of the oil are now setting the stage and the White House is not ready for that game, not in the slightest.

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July 24, 2022 · 23:08

The reality teaser

That is my name for them, it was today that I was recollecting something I thought would make a good game. Yet it is not a mainstream game, it is a niche, but it will appeal to some and from there I would hope that it would catch on. I wrote about it on July 12th 2021, the article ‘New and reinforced’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/07/12/new-and-reinforced/) was the start of the idea. A game that was for the streamers, not that the consoles could not get there, but the sheer size of the game and the intricacies that would need several patches over time made it not feasible on consoles, but streamers are a different matter. There it was possible. The Zombie survival game came from that setting. And here the issue starts. You see, several games on Android and Apple have ads, they show something that is not in the game, but adding it would be a good idea. There has been some complaints on that and Apple and Google seemingly do not care, the advertisement money is coming in. Yet the idea that the Last Fortress uses as a teaser is actually a good idea. It is not implicated in the Zombie survival game I had in mind, but the addition of a room creator is not a bad idea. Especially in a safe zone. You see, I have mentally added a whole range of artisans that add to the game and to the gameplay, but in today’s world they are often forgotten. 

  1. The Seamstress

The seamstress adds to the creation of armour, now her speciality is not better armour, but more comfortable armour. I remain a devoted follower of checks and balances. So metal armour would be +5 protection, but they have a comfort level of -2, as such weapons and movement are degraded by 2 points. So it is not the greatest solution. But here comes the seamstress. Her ability starts by adding comfort levels to EVERY piece of armour, and as she does more alteration her plus one will become plus 2. As such metal armour has no longer any setbacks. A stage games forget about, the checks and balances.

2. The watchmaker
Yes that is someone you would ignore, but the watchmaker would add the setting of clockwork traps. Together with a tinkerer they could create traps that have a longer usefulness, and also they would use less power or none at all, a corridor with traps that can reset themselves. 

These are but two of a whole range of people that are optionally in the game to be saved and added to the community. But what happens when it is not in a place you know like Los Angeles or New York? What if you had to create a safe space in a place like Palermo, or perhaps Messina? 

An island where you need to eradicate well over 93% of 5 million people? Now the idea of a watchmaker and a tinkerer does not sound so weird does it? There is no way that you will find the 5 million bullets and not everyone is turned yet, so you will need weapons, you will need to find food and you need a safe space to optionally grow food and create drinks. So even as the reality teasers give you something you cannot play, that does not mean it cannot be made and next to the survival game on the Citadel and that might still be an option later down the track, but you need to start somewhere and a zombie survival game is as good a place as any. And be honest, who considered Sicily as a starting place? 

It is merely a thought but it opens up all kinds of venues for the game, you see when the mechanics are in place, the same game could be launched in a place like Malta (525,000), Gotland (57,000) but here we can now add a dimension, Gotland will allow us to add Hyperthermia as an element, as such the seamstress suddenly becomes close to essential. Each with their own challenges and as we become more and more adept we will see places where the population is increasingly hostile (Cuba), we could add Nassau, Crete, Falklands and so on. A game that evolves and has an increasing amount of places where you need to find your way around and learn to survive and no cheating these special people will not be in the same place every time, perhaps in some games they are not even there. As such I had decided to Create 15 special people. Each with a special skill that by itself is merely useful, but combined with another special person becomes a real game changer for the game. It is my way to have checks and balances and still keep the game interesting down the track. 

And credit where credit is due, it was the reality teasers that put me on this track and if you wonder where I get my ideas from and why game makers are not on this track you would be right. Some game makers are on the right track and give us new places to dream of (Guerrilla software) and the older ones like Insomniac are also on the right track, but the larger players like Ubisoft are losing the plot. We see news like ‘Ubisoft’s Bad Luck Streak Continues With Delays, Cancelations, Cost-Cutting’ where we get to see “Guillemot reiterated that despite these issues, the company is still aiming for over $US400 ($555) million in operating profits this year”, yes because gamers are really interested in how much profit you are making, even though a game like Valhalla was released on November 10th 2020 it still shows crashing bugs almost two years later. And when we see that the game is now in shops at 1/3rd of the original price. You think gamers are interested in their profits? They want a good game and there the plot falls for too many game makers and that is a shame because good games are worth their weight in gold. Still good games are coming, but from other directions and soon that changes too, because more and more are seeing the benefit and the larger profit margins of streamers. If I can find the hidden cache of 50 million people all willing to pay $10 a month, how long until others are figuring out that small thinking only gets you so far. It is the larger dream cut in manageable pieces could bring the game everyone has been waiting for. And it is not that far ahead, some of my ideas are already possible and could be ready early 2024. And when you consider that people are gawking at games that will not appear until late 2023, I think I have set the proper foundation of larger games and where they could go. Too bad some others are not ready for that yet, but I reckon that Tencent will give them a cruel wake up call, if they get where I expect them to go. The people at Google, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft will be either adjusting their faulty vision or they will all become inferior to Tencent, a setting we would never have believed less than a year ago. Sony is still safe for now, but they too will see the realisation that there is a much larger player in town than they bargained for. 

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July 24, 2022 · 13:03

Choices and power

It is something that has been bugging me all day and part of last night. It was set in motion by a story I am working on and it reflected on my IP. You see I had hoped that Amazon or Google had bought my IP, it benefits them the most (amazon more than Google). But in this day and age there are two new players in town Netflix and Tencent. They are not on anyones radar before 2023 (second half) but that does not mean I need to ignore two potential players for my IP. Consider that my IP will allow a minimum of 50 million consoles (or subscriptions). Consider the following list

Playstation 4 – 117 million
Nintendo Switch – 107 million
Playstation 5 – 20 million
Google Stadia – 3 million
Amazon Luna – Unknown

I have no real reliable information on how the Amazon Luna is doing and Microsoft is not a consideration. Now we get Tencent and Netflix and one of them gets an option to surpass the others and end up behind Nintendo and Sony in the number three spot, the setting is a sale that is the starting setting and will get them well above 50 million subscriptions, optionally around 75 million, and that mind you is merely the beginning. They could temporarily be the number one but Sony is hardcore focussed on this market and they do have the goods. So am I empowered to set one in a fighting position and become one of the top 3 game solutions? Or is the power derived from the additional choices that entered the field? 

More important Tencent and China get the option to run and rule one more field, it would be empowering to Tencent. Yet Netflix has reasons too and they have the setting to optionally alter their subscription approach two new players added to the ones I was willing to sell to (Amazon and Google). There is the option of Elon Musk and he is considered by me as a wild card. He is not in these fields but he has the Midas touch and when he sees options he seemingly grabs them. The odd satisfaction of all the Elon Musk haters entering a new market and becoming a top three player is oddly satisfying. So I went from two consideration now to 6 considerations and I feel decently well, because that is merely one side to the first IP bundle and the other two are still available, the second is ruled by the 5G solution and that will take off in 2-3 years when 5G is fully deployed, all ahead of the largest boom I am ever to likely see in my lifetime. 

To be honest I had some sights on Netflix, but Tencent is new, until recently and until some patents came past my desk I was in the dark on the setting of Tencent, but here they are a contender for streaming information and with 50 million plus, they are looking at up to half a billion a month, not something anyone can afford to sneer at, not in these times. But the larger settings are still out of the equation, the Augmented reality solutions I came up with (see previous articles), there we have a stage where marketing could rule a new part of well over 100,000 malls on a global scale and from there I can only speculate where this goes. A stage that could benefit places like Monaco, Riyadh and Dubai in all kinds of ways. But I get ahead of myself. Is all this power through choices, or choices that come from power? You see they are not the same coin, they aren’t even the same currency. The implied word ‘choice’ has several sides and they aren’t restricted to coins, they are also part of technology and enablement. All different settings for the same word and only the shallow will see them as one and the same. Power is more restrictive but also more out there and eagerly seen by everyone for all the wrong reasons, it is an enabler but only to some degree and it reflects on the chosen partner in this on how they want to continue with the offered choice and they pretty much see power as a monetary enabler, which is their choice, but it is the second tier and the third tier that will enable them to a much larger degree. That is the long game and that is where I have been focussing on, the long game, only the greedy reflect on the next quarter and their bonus.

But that is merely my (limited) point of view.

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July 17, 2022 · 12:40

IP of opposition

My mind has been wandering. I have been confronted with the images of oppositions. Vampires versus Lycans (Underworld), good versus evil (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings), humans versus Aliens (Predator), and the list goes on. It seems that the worlds of Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris) is all but forgotten. The story is still everything, but there is too much special effects. Too many fight scenes. I do not oppose them, but they seemingly take over the story and that is wrong. Or perhaps better stated, it is not good. There is a difference and I acknowledge it. But how can we evolve this? It is a question I had in my mind for a while. In Keno Diastima it was not them against us and the finale of series 3 opens doors, but I was unwilling to set a path beyond it, the open ending seems so… (perfect is the wrong word), it seemed so Terry Gilliam to consider it as such. In ‘Exhaurire vitam’, it was not opposition for an entirely different reason. And there was opposition in ‘How to assassinate a politician’ yet that was opposition of the mind. I am not against opposition, but I feel that in too many ways it is framed wrongly, or perhaps incorrectly. So, how to go about it? That is the question I have been asking myself. My education gives me that there are two forms of antagonism, the competitive and the non-competitive So we have reversible, surmountable versus irreversible, insurmountable. Two shapes of two dimensions I do not like in the first place. I know they need to exist, but they are shallow, to shallow. It remind me of the old setting I once created in my mind. Any relationship is set to the three legs of the pyramid. A physical, a mental and a spiritual one. The more they align between the two partners, the more aligned their relationship is. 

The longer the legs, the more meaningful the side is. In the example the three green ones are the same, I merely connected them to another side of the pyramid. They are a good match, not a perfect one, but a good one. It does not matter which colour is which gender. In the three sides (physical, mental and spiritual) they are a good match. It could be worse, a one sided or two sided match. A one sided match it is friendship, sexual or perhaps spiritual, yet one side will always result in divorce. Two sided matches are harder, there is enough to keep them together, especially as the side they desire the most (often the largest leg of the three legs). It does not matter what side it is, but the one favoured side when both have the same side will keep them together, and that starts the long term relationship/marriage. I have never seen that expressed in any movie, or at least not a movie I have ever seen. You see this is not opposition, or antagonism, it is another way of seeing multiple sides. And it should not be the focus of anything, but it should be there and we seldom see it. There is too much antagonism. I know it makes for better cinema, but does it? Does it really? I remember Ordinary People, the debut by Robert Redford, it got 4 oscars. It seldom comes up, I reckon because there was a harsh light on psychological sides. A 1980 movie that seems to shy away from the limelight. It also reminds me of Timothy Hutton and his part in Taps (an early Tom Cruise movie). They have something in common, our assessment of values and how the people around us see those values. It is a form of inner antagonism. We versus what we believe and what we perceive. It matters because I have been playing that card in two settings whilst not really being openly aware I was. 

I may have surprised myself and that is part of the equation. How to give that inner battle to the people we present to? I am honestly at a loss. I am so driven by the story so that I cannot say what the story could be. That matters, you see I am about the story and I want it to be everything it could be. This is how I see the evolution of any story. I do not start from scratch, I evolve the story (especially Kenos Diastima and Exhaurire Vitam) and I see where I can evolve the story to be more including of other sides. It is not always that easy (especially Exhaurire Vitam) but sides could be considered, or perhaps better stated should be considered, they might be rejected and that question comes for every person playing a role in it. 

It reflects on both the 5G and the Augmented reality IP as well. As I stopped to reconsider the first step in both, I suddenly remembered that certain data technologies were in its infancy in those days. They still are (my assessment) and I believe that when some players stop their petty bickering we might actually get somewhere. It is no longer about their system against ours, it will be what can we unite to get the best systems in play. Some will go and research a new setting (which is not wrong) but as I see it time works against some players and in all this Amazon has the  upper hand, Amazon has most elements ready in at least three of my IP stages and it includes one IP bundle. So is Amazon the best solution? I think it is, Google is messing around and only partially taking notice of their own weaknesses. It does not mean Amazon does not have any weaknesses, it merely implies they have a better handle on it and here we see some of the elements connect. It is not antagonism, it is a three sided alignment with the realisation that a bookstore surpassed a technology titan, in its physical (hardware), mental (software) and spiritual (mentality) foundations. Like Taps and Ordinary People it is not about antagonism it is about the inner struggle towards what we believe and what is perceived. If someone told me that Amazon would surpass Google and that Elon Musk Mobile would close to equal Google 10-15 years ago, I would tell them to get better drugs and please could I have some of them, but today, or basically 2021-2024 will prove these people correct and that I underestimated an online bookstore named Amazon, and many with me. A stage where Amazon surpasses Google was before the Covid era unimaginable and the Elon Musk mobile (Pi. Phone) is not far behind. By giving the people, or perceptionally offering the people what they needed they got ahead in the game. I wonder if Mint Mobile (Canada) has a similar track ahead of them. All captains of industry and the one that started furthest ahead is now in danger of being placed last. Most forgot about the people, the consumers Microsoft made that mistake some time ago and there is some concern that Google is on the same track, leaving the work to the third parties who have no concern of people. An inner struggle, an IP of opposing sides and oppositions. But here is the last question, what makes the IP and what creates the opposition? Are these part interchangeable?

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July 14, 2022 · 19:28

Realisation

This happens, at times we realise something AFTER the fact and for some reason not before. The BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62158936) ‘Netflix and Microsoft team up for cheaper plan with adverts’, apart from the setting that they decided to trust Microsoft on this, the setting of movies or TV series with advertisements is called TV, The Dutch have channels one, two and three. The Brits have the same but they call it BBC One, Two and oh, four is ITV. And so every nation has its own version of TV, so why would we want Netflix when we can get the others for free? It comes with “It lost 200,000 subscribers between January and March, compared to the 2.5 million analysts had been expecting the firm to add in the period. Netflix also now expects to lose a further two million subscribers between April and June.” And this is a surprise? How? The covid era ended, people are expected to be back in the offices and do actual work. And those who decided to quit their jobs to be at home for whatever reason will soon be in a space where they CANNOT afford Netflix. Instead of offering an 8 hour segment (when they aren’t working) for less, and as such create 3-6 timezones to capture the bandwidth pressures, they decided to compete with local TV stations at a price, whilst local TV is free. I reckon (and that I merely my view) that the people will stop subscription TV, especially as some favourite series are spread over several providers. And these people will return to Channel 7, Channel 9, ITV, RTL+, Sjuan, TMC, TFX and the list goes on for a while. I reckon that they will not be too happy with Netflix and they will demand local based sanctions against Netflix. In addition, some will demand that the bandwidth usage of Netflix users will be capped or even surcharged to avoid congestion on several levels. It is not whether it happens, it will soon be on WHEN it happens. Especially when the Amazon and Google group could stick it to Microsoft, they will be enthusiastically motivated to do just that. 

Do I care?
Not really, I sometimes get a month subscription to load up on missed things and I have to as we all have budgets. I reckon that the UK is facing a much harder time. When they get to decide on two of the items (Food, Rent and heating) Netflix will be the first to go, and after that cheaper internet deals. The cost of living bites everywhere and Netflix should have seen this coming. I think they did not, because in all my dealings with Americans, they always avoided any discussion on market saturation, it was always the fault of the bad salesperson. This time around there is no escaping it, and I saw this setting in 2020 when I was clear about saturation, and they were all in the stage of ‘We never heard that’ but the stage was clear and Covid ended as such the good times were gone and now Netflix with their desperate act decided to rely on Microsoft. Whether these two are in bed because of the Netflix game streaming is unknown to me, but it would not surprise me. And that too will backfire on them when Tencent comes out to play. Tencent could muscle in on both Amazon Luna and Google Stadia as well if these two did not adjust their way of thinking. 

These players are all realising that there is one population and they can no longer afford EVERYTHING. These people have to make choices, some of them hard and depending on what TV brings instead of Netflix comes with $10 a month savings, for a lot of people it will be a simple choice. It is this realisation that governs the global population. If EU inflation is up by 8.6% (last month), how long until people have to select what food they can afford? This is not out of consideration at present, the UK seems to be going back to the daily fish and chips. In the Netherlands some vegetables went up between 29% and 34%, that is HUGE! It is in this setting that Netflix makes a move the way they did and at some point people will realise that they get the same by watching TV, which does not cost them $10 a month, and that was the only reason keeping them on Netflix. Realisation is a dangerous and ugly thing. Yes, we can continue to watch Netflix, but how long until those prices go up? Which will drive a lot of people towards their normal local TV stations again, some already did. 

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July 10, 2022 · 20:38

The joke on any corporation

Yes, there are corporations that are comfy and good and there are corporations that due to hiring practices and whether they rely on hiring teams or recruiters are soon to be seen as a joke. It all started with ‘The over-qualified workers struggling to find a job’ (at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220705-the-over-qualified-workers-struggling-to-find-a-job). There we see several connecting issues, but what caught my eye was “In some instances, recruiters can see workers applying for positions apparently ‘below’ their current career level as a red flag”, you see there are two problems with that. The first is their subjective view, one that is often given to them by superiors who have lost all connection to a working force that is now beyond their comprehension. The second one is that I had been looking for something for almost 8 years. The fact is that this boss is a lot better than the previous two. I had actually forgotten what it was to be treated like a person. That last part is on me, but it is still unnerving how the workaholic setting took over my life and made me less than human. So there are issues all over the field and as this work force is experiencing a new breath of life. Bosses that treat their staff good (like mine now) will suddenly find an abundance of interest, because everyone wants to work for such a boss. 

So it is a new sight to work for, in an age of shortage a lot of people will have learned that more pay is second best to nice treatment. The second issue is seen in ““In hiring, you have to act paranoid,” he says. “If someone is coming down a level or two, and they’ve likely already achieved what the role offers, then you have to ask questions about their motivation.”” The recruiter is again in short supply of brain matter. It is old way thinking, the idea that a good boss with prospects in 1-3 years is preferable than a new challenge with no future in sight is beyond their scope of vision. Knowing you can do the job matters, it always did, but the Deloitte idea of a bigger future is still on their brains, even though beyond Deloitte and half a dozen firms that idea will never be delivered on, merely speculated on. I reckon that a player like Deloitte is one of the few that actually delivered on their mission statement. The rest will hide behind “It is a complex situation and we are feeling the market right now” is an excuse that was acceptable 10 years ago but it is obsolete now. And it is worse when you see the impossible way where Amazon is burning through  the global workforce. There is every chance that they will become the first undesirable employer for the working class (packaging and shipping). Fortune reported less than a month ago ‘Amazon’s warehouse problems? It’s running out of workers to hire, and has too much space’, it had become a place where proper robotics and automation would have made all the difference, but there is a chance that they could buckle before that point is reached. So in all this as we see temp agencies and recruiters seeking people, they had ventured on the wrong highway and when we see “In turning down such workers, employers may say they’re too experienced for the position. Sometimes, they inform them that they’re simply not the best fit for the company.” We suddenly see the failure that Apple stores engaged in, to seek the average person, not the inspiring one that is handled by a senior to get that person on board for the Apple frame of mind. Look in any Apple store, all young, dynamic and in some cases clueless past the Apple articles they promote. Some will try to adjust their way of thinking and that is good, but those who wrongly assessed a person will not just lose that person, it will lose that persons friends as well. You see in this atmosphere of hiring shortage the recruiters relying on capturing resume’s with fake jobs will not survive for long, the ones who did a fair job and adjust to a new working atmosphere will be around a lot longer. You can watch it happen in the short term at a recruiter agency near you. As I personally see it they all had the same flaw, instead of collecting resume’s they should have engaged with the candidate and whether it was their boss who told them, or their own insight that 500 resume’s will get them their bonus faster than engaging with 50 candidates is a numbers game, but I reckon that any recruiter that engaged with 50 candidates will have a much better 2022 than the other one. Mark my words.

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July 8, 2022 · 18:06

A gamer darkly

That is what we are at times, a dark player in a field of poppies trying to remember where we were in the first place. It is not some riddle, at times most of us (including me) are clueless on where we go, yet we know we need to get there. It drove Ubisoft to fame, and even now as Ubisoft becomes less and less relevant to the gamers of today players like Guerrilla take over with their Horizon games. What was the world of Mass Effect and Assassins Creed became the world of Elden ring, Horizon and the heroin Eloy. Tomorrow it seems to be a stage of the last Horizon part, Hogwarts Legacy and Gotham Knights. And it is important that we address ‘seems to be’. You see, I have heralded moves to the streamers and there is every indication That they did not listen and Tencent did. You see, even as some state “Chinese tech giant Tencent is apparently planning to launch its own handheld gaming console, going by a patent spotted recently. (2021)” I do not think that people have any idea what gamers are about to get. You see this looks like a handheld Switch lookalike, but it isn’t. 

Jumping to the past
In 1989 Astral Software launched Archipelago. The game was decent enough, the graphics were not the greatest but with 1000 levels there was enough fun for everyone and in the end there was. Some called it ““one of the most original games I’ve seen, both in gameplay and in original concept”, with an “odd and eerie setting that works despite an eminently forgettable scenario”” Now consider that this was a game that was less than 1MB. Now reset that game with todays graphics, make it an offline game and when you consider that this was originally a 92% game, consider that this game (and well over a dozen others) could end up being 88%+ games. Now all the other streamers have a problem. They relied on ‘has-been’ Ubisoft to cater to their needs. A player that could not keep its eyes on the price and with what we were given this week

We now have two streamers that need to adjust image, adjust course on their streamers, or they will be surpassed by Tencent. Another field here China ends up getting the mustard (my 50 million console idea is still safe, I checked). And now that the facts are slowly seeping, I wonder what Netflix will do. Microsoft is not a player in this (merely a marketing idea), and if Tencent makes at least two steps in the direction I expect, before the end of this year Google Stadia will be a forgone lost solution to a direction gamers are not interested in, that leaves the Amazon Luna, it has options, but Tencent is seemingly directed into a field to capture the heart of gamers, something the others needed to have done long ago.

Even as Google is seemingly using the media to give us quotes like “After debuting to middling reviews, it had to suffer through a slowly growing library, a limited user base and the shuttering of its first-party studios. But Stadia is still alive and kicking, and Google intends to prove it next week.” They are in more trouble than they think, they relied on Ubisoft to solve their issue, but Ubisoft only tries to solve its own issues and now the earlier article makes more sense. Techspot gives us “In a nutshell: Ubisoft will decommission the servers of 15 games in the next two months, including some of the most popular entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Most of these titles are about a decade old, so there are likely not that many people still playing the multiplayer components. However, users also won’t be able to download DLCs they previously bought for these games.” Gamers hate to loose parts, including DLC’s, and for the “so there are likely not that many people still playing the multiplayer components” could be translated into a stage where the 2-3 games per server idea was cast aside. Now, in many cases I do not care about the online parts, but Ubisoft made it part of the game (to embrace people), and now when revenue is king players are pushed out. Gamers will see this as a betrayal. In a time when Tencent is looking for gamers to push its IP forward, Ubisoft plays right into their hands and if they considered what I put online, gamers will get dozens of golden oldies. They will feel catered to and that seals the fate of Ubisoft and optionally Google too. They decided not to develop games and now that decision will bite them. 

We now get a new pool and the streamers (seemingly) are Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Tencent. They will vie for a slice of the entire pie that includes Sony and Nintendo. These two will see the impact, but will not lose players, if anything these players will have a streamer on the side and that is where Tencent becomes really visible, over time they could get a much bigger slice of the $200,000,000,000 that is stated to be the pie of next year. Yes, we know that a lot of it will go to mobile games and that is exactly where Tencent will see the profit, catering to gamers, catering to online players, mobile gamers and their console can store it all, they played a beautiful hand. I personally hope that Amazon gets the push it needs, I do not care either way whether Tencent gets it, as long as Microsoft does not. There should not be any award for stupidity, should there be?

A stage I emphasised over two years ago and it is coming to fruition in the next 12 months. Although to be honest, I merely saw Microsoft as the loser and I did not see Tencent coming two years ago, now they are a much larger concern to the other players. But perhaps the Tencent console will be seen as spy equipment by the CIA, they still haven’t presented any real evidence on Huawei, so why should we expect to see any on Tencent?

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July 1, 2022 · 20:41

Foundations

We seem to forget about foundations. You see we all have the essential need to play. And some like replaying the same games. We see what the Amazon Luna offers and we have seen these games before on EVERY other console. Not all mind you, but the Ubisoft games, Resident Evil and several others. Now there are plenty of people who want to play them again and there is nothing wrong with that, but these are all games that are driven to achievements. It is like every gamer is getting ready for Gaming Olympics. Now for some this is fine, I reckon that not all are like that. I am not a Chess player, but the streamers are uniquely qualified for games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammon and many more. Streaming offers the ability for those at home to engage in play with either the NPC system, or another player. Both Stadia and Luna have the ability to set that right. I am still in the mindset that either would do well with games like Millennium 2.2 and Paradroid. Games that allows for a single person just to have fun. Even now, as I am contemplating these games, whilst watching the very first Rambo movie. I hadn’t seen it for close to 2 decades. A time when Sylvester Stallone was actually young and innocent. And we can consider he was actually young and innocent once, or he would never have been able to play Corporal Weaver in Antz (LOL). I see the same kind of games, the same kind of challenges, but games that allow for the simple pleasure of play, which games are like that? I think that Skyrim was one of the last games that allowed for that. Oh, and there is Lumines. I am not closed minded, there are too many games with a time ticker, a pressure point and that is fine. Yet sometimes we merely want to play and forget about time. The two games I mentioned fill that bill for me, and I reckon that they would fill the bill for many others. A game that could use an upgrade in graphics and in play style. The asteroid bug would be fixed, the game would be more appealing in todays environment, I would add layers so that you cannot jump SolaGen power options.

The game has a few other sides. Optional need for additional life support settings. In the old version where there was only 256Kb Ram and the game fitted a 700Kb diskette. Now we can do so much more. As such there are plenty of additional sides to the game that allow for a much more interesting stage of playtime, you merely need to stretch your imagination the smallest of amounts.

Another setting is Paradroid, the CBM64 version was too basic, too little resources, the Amiga version was a lot more challenging and a lot more rewarding and could offer even more with todays equipment, the IP is out there and it is open (as far as I know) and that is merely two of a whole truckload of gaming pleasure. Playtime needs to be treated seriously or those stating that they are there for the gamers are merely there for their own ego as I personally see it. A setting that is open to both Amazon Luna and Google Stadia and whomever creates this game could even consider the mobile stage. And all this could escalate to serious settings when you add several of the Microprose titles. A dozen titles optionally ready for anyone to implement a remaster and a reengineered version. 

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June 27, 2022 · 21:47

It was never rocket science

Before we begin, it is time for a small history lesson (of a sort). One of these moments was October 10th 2021 when I wrote ‘Darkness through inaction’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/10/10/darkness-through-inaction/). Before that there was ‘Musings’ on June 18th 2020 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2020/06/18/musings/). As such we have 2 years of clear information and optional evidence. I saw it, I recognised it and I documented it. 

5 hours ago, the BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61947315) gives us ‘Japan urges 37 million people to switch off lights’, it amounts to 25% of the Japanese population, or close to 290% of the population of Tokyo. Japan is that deep in trouble. Energy shortages are now approaching that extreme. A solution has been here for two years, but people (seemingly) hate Elon Musk and that lesson is about to become an expensive one. So whilst we mull over “The government asked people to turn off unnecessary lights for three hours from 15:00 Tokyo time (07:00 BST) while “properly using air conditioning and hydrating during hot hours”.” Most are ignoring the setting of what Elon Musk offered, but it is not merely Japan.

We also got last month ‘Texans asked to limit electricity use after six power plants go down ahead of a hot weekend’ (at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/13/texas-power-conservation-heat/) and this is merely one state, we haven’t even looked at California yet. And the mess is about to get worse, with these shortages fuel prices could rise at least 20%-30%, and I wrote literally on May 3rd 2019 “Elon Musk has that one true new technology and I hope that the US can stage it to an actual large enough market, I truly do.” A year before I polarised it out somewhat, it was out in the open for that long. And an application to reduce energy stresses was available then. I see in the image below 2 dozen options to claim sunshine and power parts of buildings, one at a time, but over two years that would have been 20%-25%, not enough to stop all the hardship we see now, but the pressure would be a hell of a lot lower. 

Austin Texas skyline cityscape aerial view

In the same setting we could see Tokyo and even to some degree Japan. Look at the image and you should see close to 4 dozen options. All there for the implementation. Now this would not have solved it all, that is clear, but to tell 12,000,000 Japanese to cut energy pressures instead of 37 million people that story is one hell of a difference.

To give you another option (keeping Austin in view), we look at one address, 200 Congressional way. The shiny building. Every outside floor/ceiling on concrete, ready to fit panels, only visible from the outside and even then the ‘ugly’ grey is gone. It will not fit every solution, some will use roofs, but one building generating enough power to cool every apartment in the building, optionally supplying power to the outside lights for the entire block. It was out there for two years and no one made the move, no one seemingly approached Elon Musk. Why not? Was ego or pride the problem? Now Austin and many Texan places will sit in the dark several times over the next quarter.

I know, it is not simple,. I know that there are manufacturing issues, but a start should have been made and the US government (both Republicans and Democrats) are at fault here. They all let is waste until it was too late and that is before we look at New York, California and a few other places. Austin was merely an example. It was not rocket science and Elon Mush had the IP. I created different IP, but it seems that the big tech people are looking at the horizon, all whilst the IP was at their feet. So now as the US seems to be collapsing, I will have to offer my IP to those who can afford to pay me the entrance fee. Three bundles of IP, all op for grabs for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and optionally China. The US is so busy destroying itself that the doubt will hit places like Amazon and Google too. And as Microsoft downplays certain events, they will not need to worry, I would not consider them at this point, they wasted enough IP. And it is all about the IP, IP is almost everything and whilst people are ego driven and seemingly fuel the ego of politicians, we see that politicians are limited to talks, especially in the US where they talk a lot and resolve close to absolutely nothing. That is not an American trait as we see the same in places like the UK and EU. The dangers are that talks are the stepping stone of inaction. Even now, when we consider that several EU nations are walking back their green energy plans, the simple truth is that this setting was clear 2 years ago, the UK might have had the clearest warnings of shortages, but inactions dragged it all out and now, it is basically too late. Now we see a nation asking 25% of its population to not use energy (for a while). The stage has become that bad and in this world where getting 5% to adhere to anything is close to a miracle, I am not betting on that cadaver to be found. I will seek another way to get my resolutions cashed and when that IP goes where I expect it to go, I will merely relocate the place where my retirement party would be. It’s only fair that I do that, it is not rocket science. It never was.

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June 24, 2022 · 18:51

The size and shape of a stage

Yes that is at times what we face and it was weirdly enough Yahoo News that got me there. Their article ‘Biden’s Saudi Arabia trip denounced as ‘frightening and enraging’ by dissidents’ (at https://au.news.yahoo.com/bidens-saudi-arabia-trip-denounced-as-frightening-and-enraging-by-dissidents-140526416.html), and yet the small part ignored is that a dissident is a person who opposes official policy. So as the US is trying to make nice with the people they need, they are hindered by the people they do not need. So when we see “the street was in front of the Saudi Embassy, and its new name was Jamal Khashoggi Way.” So in all this, how much hay is being made by a nation (Brazil) where 100% more journalists were murdered in the last week? There is a lack of the 78 million articles, a lack of some CIA report (via the UN) that it is highly likely, there is a need to paint one person white, the other person black and hoping that no one will notice that Al Jolson was not African American. That is a stage we see, that is a stage people play for and we are caught in the middle. You see, the report was dubious in a few ways. It does not make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia innocent, but it clearly shows that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is not guilty. And this all takes a harder sharp turn because the person no one (well almost no one) gives a hoot about was a columnist for the Washington Post. And the setting merely escalates from there.  

So as we see the pressing need for the US to postpone its dollar default for as much as possible, it needs business with the KSA (it is close to the only one who can afford this), they need the oil from them to be cheaper, because the US does not have enough and they all need it yesterday and the people who opposed official policy are trying to make that impossible. 

I have nothing against dissidents, some are validly so, some are to make a quick buck and get out of the mess they were in. That first group needs consideration, yet beyond them getting out they need to realise that if the dollar defaults they could end up back in Riyadh and how will they fare then? So now we get Bethany al-Haidari of the Human Rights Foundation, who gives us “Now she is worried that Biden will be sending to authoritarians around the world the message that political expediency trumps core conviction. And while that may always be the case in the world of realpolitik, the images sure to emanate from Riyadh will starkly contrast the divide between American values and practices.” It is a valid point, yet the validity is under fire from the setting of values and practices where social commitments have lost to the profits of big business. And the US government is not innocent here either. I spoke out about the essential overhaul of tax laws 24 years ago, they all called me crazy, it would sort itself out. And now? The US national debt has surpassed the $30,500,000,000,000 They are now well over $5,000,000,000,000 past the point of no return. At this point they need to reduce debt by $500,000,000,000 per year and it would still take 3 generations for the debt to become manageable. What do you think will go out the window first? Values or practices? A setting where the larger gain for the US will be Elon Musk, they know it and that is why they hate him. Mobile and energy power in the hands of one man, one man who is seemingly a lot more clever than Bill Gates and Larry Ellison combined and one generation later.  The politicians are scared, they opened a door they refused to close and now they are setting down with a mess all over the place, because they could not adhere to values and they are left with the practices that re out there at tax laws that are still unadjusted. 

The USA is about to become a mess for well over two generations and the media is silent, because they want their digital dollars, it is all they have left and it does not adhere to values, merely to the painting of flames and flaming targets. Elon Musk can wait until desperation takes over, Google, Amazon and IBM can wait and over that time Microsoft will merely become more desperate to spin their failures. Big tech in a world that merely adheres to the practices that they can adhere to for their board members and share holders. That is the world that needs to appease  to either Bethany al-Haidari or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. I reckon that the Bethany al-Haidari in this world are figuring out that they will be getting the short end of the stick, one that was handed to big business, not merely big tech. And Biden might be the last president before the Dollar buckles completely and the US becomes a third world nation. 

Are you depressed yet? 

Good, you need to see what is coming and for the longest of times, even as the media is trying to spin that all is well, all is not well and all is getting worse. As I stated, I do not give one hoot. It was clear to me when I saw the UN report that this was a hack job, that this was a well articulated magician’s trick and in the end how much visibility did we see on the 42 murdered journalists in Brazil? Journalists, not some columnist. And that is before we realise that Turkey has it own skeletons in their closet and when that gets out in the open we see the media is not indifferent, it is and has been actively hostile towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as such the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can take its time and wait and watch the US go under one step at a time and at present quicker than several months ago. That is the reality, that is the impact of what some call realpolitik. It sounds nice on paper, but realpolitik is all about the practices, especially those who bring profit, values be damned. But the people who are lulled to sleep will see and face that part soon enough. 

So consider what you read and do your own research, do not take my word as gospel. I try to be as honest as possible, but I too adhere to practice more than value. I accept values and I admire those fighting for values, but in a place with 30 trillion in debt values will not last long, because every politician will see revenue as for the good of all and in that world people like Elon Musk are the options of tomorrow and no one has a better plan, because when that was an option the flaccid politicians saw it was easier to call me (and others) crazy and not in touch with reality, and that was not that long ago, these same people will now hide behind “It is difficult, it is a complex situation”, you tell me how I could see what was coming and I do not have an economy degree. I have three degrees, none in economy.

Enjoy your Friday and try to have a little fun.

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