Tag Archives: Bethesda

April 17, 2025 · 21:32

As markets floats a new idea

I was reading up on how the markets were doing. Not that I really have any interest, but the actions of President Trump make it essential to keep notice. The larger setting is important and that kinda gave me an idea. So as Microsoft and Ubisoft are hunkering down on iterating the IP they have, I saw the beginning of another IP coming. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with the remake of Oblivion. It was great IP, the reason why I bought the Xbox360 and a setting I enjoyed for over 3000 hours of gameplay. Once to do the story, the second time to find everything that was possible to find and I found plenty more and after that I played to get my character at 100% (100 in the properties and skills) I didn’t get there, but I got it to 90%+ it was harder then I thought, but it was fun while it lasted. As such Microsoft will get money from Oblivion and Fallout 3, they bought it, they are entitled to it. Bethesda created two massive blockbusters, so as I heard that we get Oblivion next week the first question I had was “Did they reprise the role by Sir Patrick Stewart?”

So back to the core of it all, I saw “The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 699.57 points, or 1.73%, closing at 39,669.39. The S&P 500 dropped 2.24% to end at 5,275.70, led down by the information technology sector. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back 3.07% to close at 16,307.16. The tech-heavy index ended the day about 19% off its closing high, sliding closer to bear market territory. Shares of Nvidia sank 6.9% after the chip giant said it will post a $5.5 billion quarterly charge related to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations.” The loss is seemingly profound (I am not an economist), but I noticed something in the byline. You see, it is the part of “related to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations”, so as Americans are so ‘elated’ with their AI, Nvidia moves its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations. I reckon that is another slap for this in the foot shooting President. So as the tariffs come to a larger setting, how much more expensive will Nvidia solutions become?

As we continue to get the bad press of the tariffs, as we get more and more bad impacts on the American economies, like tourism, or the USA Today giving us allegations of insider trading (see yesterdays article) people are starting to wonder what the hell they elected in the first place. 

I, one the other hand had a really weird dream and the beginning of a new IP. In this dream I was in a dead town, it seemed to be in the regions of New Mexico. The town was empty,  stripped, and the place looked empty. The people were gone, anything of value was seemingly gone. Seemingly was the right description. I cane to a room filled with people. It was a workout room and it had about 20 people in there. As I came closer they were robots, looking exceedingly yummy in their workout outfits. The men were ribbed and handsome, the women well shaped and some marvel superhero dream of what women looked like, there was even a model looking like Gal Gadot in her wonder woman outfit, and yes, she was complete ;-), or was that ;-)… ? (Yes, that was a sexual reference) When I turned on the lights they started to move like in some exercise routine, the lights went on and then off a few seconds later. A few second later more the light turned on again, but now dimmed. The robots continued their exercise. I looked at them, but they didn’t look at me, they were simply empty glared. I walked on and I got to a desk with an elderly woman. She looked at me and bid me welcome. Was I interested in buying equipment, robots or merchandise. She did not have many merchandise she stared at me and told me “we do have your size” she looked at me awaiting an answer. I merely looked at her for a few seconds, she looked away and looked at her desk with a larger display pad where she wrote things down.

This is the setting I saw and I started to see the setting and I thought that the game Portal (by Rob Swigart) 1986 was a pretty unique setting and worthy of rebooting. I tried to do this in 2011, but three weeks later I got the boot from my boss, and no not because of this, I did this at home and I was planning to reboot the CBM Amiga original to set this to Flash, which would have been more then ample to do this. My plan crashed but the idea never did. So this is a setting where you are an alien who crash-land on the planet and in an attempt to learn where you are, you are the one in New Mexico and the robots might not seem intelligent but their programming is the continuation of the species on this planet. We now get to a Battlestar Galactica setting where the Cylons are the human remains and the game portal is setting up the game premise. Instead of the screen being the stage, the setting are that you open 12 locations (over time) and as you start in New Mexico, you are given more locations over time. The portals you open position you from location to location and as you learn more, you will interface the computers and other ways to a work desk near a portal. As the story evolves, you will interface these computers so that the workstations on any location will have all the information that the original location has. And as you find more and more computers and robots the story evolves. I think that whomever makes this story (and game) should involve Rob Swigart as it is his original IP, even reengineered, I would never steal the original idea. It is his IP that created whatever I had in mind. I merely put it in a 3D single player environment and added locations and as the game gets the 12 locations, you get to explore the location, you get additional requirements and you see a post nuclear era, the stories that are in the computer and the revelations outside of the computer. As such I created a new IP, one that sets the premise of finding explorable locations and investigate places.  

Not a bad day, got myself a new idea and Microsoft seemingly is merely predigesting old ideas. I don’t fault them this, Oblivion is one of the most appealing IP ideas that we have had in 20 years only surpassed by Skyrim which Bethesda launched 5 years later. So it is what I would have done initially as well. Just funny that I create a new idea that could be the next place that gamers seek (when they are not lusting over the Metroid Prime games and their upcoming Switch 2). 

So I feel pretty dandy, have a great day.

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April 12, 2025 · 06:07

The art of evolution

We don’t realise, but we accept certain responses if we play a game, even an RPG. The talk back from the NPC is almost always the same. We tend to ignore that setting as a trigger to start a mission. Why? It is because it is expected. But what happens when that is no longer the case? What if a Chatbot becomes part of that system? We get what some would call a more natural setting to gaming. So we see in these ‘games’ the expected return of parameters. But what if that is no longer the case? I talked in the past about language games. Learn Latin, Greek, Italian, English and perhaps even Japanese in new ways? I talked about the placement in Rome, the setting could become that asking the question of a priest gives you the answer in Latin, so you get a new setting added. But in this case, the NPC setting is his intelligence. As such

I picture it as a setting 0-10, but the interaction could be that the farmer, or the help will a low setting, the range of a tradesman or shopkeeper might be higher and others (wealthy, educated) would be high. The game now has grades of interaction, a more natural setting that we might see naturally. The idea that the farm help gives you “The man with refined eduction is traversing to the Town Square” is ludicrous, but that is where we are and it is no longer a setting we should embrace, especially when you emerge into gaming and with linguistic based games it will matter. As I was mentally designing a Latin based game. I set the interactions around the life of Marcus Aurelius. Apart from the guards that might not allow interaction with the Roman Emperor, we now get a localization issue. You can only have a decent chance to interacts with him if he is at the library, forum or a public place. You still need to be able to get close to him, but that is a different problem. This is specific, but the interactions with NPC will not depend on who you approach and your answer is set to his intelligence. There would be an entire cog of interactions and the usefulness of the answer. I find it a little weird that it took this long for RPG’s to evolve to this degree. We tend to forget that Bethesda set the marker ‘high’ even as some of these games are already over a decade old and even newer games are set to the system that a game like Skyrim introduced. With chatbot based systems we now have a much more natural interaction of the game and the idea of setting this to a chatbot has been overlooked, as the game might seem unyielding, but chatbots can be set and having NPC’s intelligence or even intelligence with a social element.

We might get the response that this is too advanced, which translates into “We can’t be bothered” and that is where the levels of interaction differ. We need to expect more of games, not what is the setting that some like to respond to, but gaming is about sitting just beyond the borders what we can conceive and relying on Skyrim, a game 15 years old has passed now. Don’t get me wrong, Skyrim is still as interacting as anything we see released next month in RPG gaming, but that is massively wrong. And consider that this system when added to an older game like Skyrim, could ignite gaming desires. For now I have considered a more natural interaction when we consider learning languages this way and as the world stands we might have to consider this sooner than later. As we see education cuts all over the world (America and United Kingdom mostly) but it doesn’t stop there and that was why I thought of the Ubisoft interactions in games and as languages could be taught in this way with a whole range of languages (and social skills) we see that people can catch up in their own time (my sneaky setting that a Playstation 5pro could be an excellent mandatory school item) I can dream too. But the setting that there is a larger need justifies the interactions and setting interaction to a much higher level might throw the people in a more justified interaction, especially if we can see how social skills become part of the learning game. In this RPG gaming gets a leg up in many ways. 

To make these game more natural is a solid first and we all interact with NPC’s in numerous ways, so lets make language interaction more natural and more enticing. Mainly because a game with fixed responses loses its appeal after a few times, but natural language skills will keep you emergingly entertained and alert for a much longer time. 

Ain’t it great? So have a great day and rest assured, we all enjoy a more natural interaction in gaming, even those who do (at present) not give it a second thought. That too is the power of innovation. When you get confronted with it, you will wonder why you never thought of it before.

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March 22, 2025 · 11:21

Twinkletoes

Yup, this happens to us all. Even the non-dancers. Twinkletoes means “used to refer to someone who is a good dancer or who moves lightly on their feet”, I accept that, but as I personally see it, it Also stages the person who has the situation that the person “who is a thinker or who moves swiftly in their brain” the same situation applies. I have been iterating new IP through existing games for over two days now (and it is really exhausting). I have been making new iterations to my version of Elder Scrolls 6: Restoration, a new FarCry (based on the legendary FarCry 3), the new RPG I have set on paper here, new iterations of commerce (in the RPG’s) and added a setting to a new stealth RPG (not a new Assassins Creed) and a very new approach to Watchdogs 5: Observations (in its earliest infancy), I had already commenced Watchdogs 4 to paper (somewhere on this blog) and it plays in modern day Japan. I changed the setting to Sapporo, as this is relatively new in gaming and as such there is novelty in new locations and the story requires a harbor setting. And this has been merely the last two days, although the original setting were created up to 5 years ago, with the setting of Restoration (TES6) almost 10 years ago. So as I am driven to near exhaustion as my brain is in twinkletoe mode, I can assure you that it is merely my version of overly active brain syndrome (perhaps there is a medical term for it) and it is leaving me a little tired. As it the case, it did give me the setting of Watchdogs 5, the issue here that it is a networking setting as the game goes in pairs. 

It is also less action driven, but more activity driven, as such you can be the hacker or the Agent in this game, there is a larger setting that you as one or the other can give clues to a fellow on the other side of the isle and the goal is to create a more robust observation and detection system. The frail setting of certain systems allows for actions to be monitored on CCTV, the internet and personal observations. The thought came to me as I was remembering 1985 video game Hacker by Activision. It was designed by Steve Cartwright and he got it done on a system with a mere 64KB, too what happens when we throw some real power to it? What happens when we unite agents and hackers and run the system from both ends? Can this result in a much more robust system? What happened when the game adds zero day faults (Apple has a few, Microsoft has tons as I personally see it). So what happens when we set these stages in motion and it is not merely point and click, so why happens when a Palantir (Gotham) system is thrown into the mix? I am merely postulating now, the reasoning that games could also instruct or teach people on how vulnerable they are in real life. 

As we move from station to station, some might remember the game V (based on the 1983 TV series), you merely run to a point and activate that system to let the red fumes inhabit the space station (I think that was what I was supposed to do), but add a section based on Portal (by Rob Swigart, 1986) you can get a lot more. That is the setting that I see when we set a game like Hacker to a much larger stage and at that point it is new IP, not merely some variation of IP, but a much larger stage and totally new. A game that teaches, informs and trains the next stage. As we now see that programmers are programming bots to keep scammers uselessly busy, we can grow more mundane and more intense in almost any direction. And it is a new endeavor, not some wannabe drip drip copy, but something totally new. Just like the makers of Chipwits (by Epyx, 1984) made a new version a larger and more enticing version on these newer systems, we can grow many games in new jackets and larger premises to new heights. And these systems have the computation powers to net the stage much larger. We can use the setting of the Balance of Power and add a few cogs to make it a much larger machine. And as Chipwits has a new version 42 years later in a much larger setting, we can do this in many ways and I wrote about them around 4 years ago. The new IP set on original ideas and stupidly discarded by this who thought the new horizons require better games, all whilst these games are the timeless golden oldies. We saw and forgot what Millennium 2.2 brought on the Commodore Amiga with 1024 KB on 150ns. Now we have systems (and mobiles) with 32000 times more memory and more than 15000 times more storage whilst the processors are over 250,000 times faster. You can really go to town on those merits and create the larger setting on several stages. I said that this was part of the 50 million Amazon Luna sales that I foresaw and some are in such stages now, but as I saw it Amazon stayed asleep and like Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (1864) they went with that setting in the trend of “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them” and the left billion on the floor all relying on the AI hype. I was thinking on that last week, there is no AI and I see it as NIP, Near Intelligent Parsing (making it NIP avoiding the confusion with IP). A setting that is overlooked, because as there is no AI, they all shout, so what is it then? Well, it is near intelligent, there is no real intelligence at present and it is set to the programmers who are parsing data and ideas into new (flawed) data. You see, a lot of this is intelligence and it almost get you there, but not entirely, the training models are set to more and more likely outcomes but there are percentages that are off and that is where the shoe becomes the wrong fit and I reckon that when these errors hit ADNOC and ARAMCO both will want some legal satisfaction and it might be a few years away, but it will happen, because the distance between real AI and NIP will be the size of the Grand Canyon (which these AI proclaimers will deny) and as they throw more complex legal documents at the customers they will get out to ‘their’ field retired and non-accountable to any legal discourse. It is almost like bad mortgages sold (or swapped) to new owners and they get out. Yet this field is the new wild west and I refuse to become part of it. And what happens, I saw the new stages of income based on old software. The Atari 600/800, Atari ST, CBM64 and CBM Amiga gave us over 10,000 games between 1983 and 1999. So if we only take the highest scoring 10% we get 1000 games. Now 30%-50% have IP protection, but I saw the override in new IP in a few ways and these are valid options as I see it and that implies that that ‘great’ (not really) game brand Microsoft, left thousands of options on the floor whilst they went to spend billions on something that I not panning out. You see, where it all becomes a new kind of hustle, all whilst for over two years I have written on other means to get revenue? And I am not done yet, because as I see it, the more I write here, the more revenue I show and the more IP I give here, the weaker the bog tech firms show themselves to be. A simple setting with simple outcomes and the best gig becomes that should someone copy the IP I set here, the bigger the losers biotech becomes. A simple equation to the question what makes for a good game?

That leaves me with the question, is there a mental setting to Twinkletoes? It is merely a mental thing in me, the question I cannot answer has a larger appeal than most other things in life. Have a great day and if you wonder what bag I left here? I do some things with intent, you can’t give away the game and here is the setting. In November 2018 I wrote ‘It’s about time, slappers only’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2018/11/29/its-about-time-slappers-only/) the premise to Watchdogs 4, and the larger player would be the one with Meta Glasses, before Meta even had glasses, I call them Google Glasses. As such I was ahead from META by years. And as I see it, I have done so a few times with games and when we see Software companies make ‘innovative’ claims (hardware suppliers too) I get to be front and central in their claims showing them what I had created years ago. I reckon that I am mere steps to show what I had months if not years from what Bernard Arnault apparently had created whilst I had the setup in my bog (and more) close to a year before they made their AR (Augmented Reality) claims through LVMH. I was a few steps ahead of them and I made it common goods in my blog before March 21st 2023 in ‘The unplanned story’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/03/21/the-unplanned-story/) and all the wannabe innovators (no referral to Bernard Arnault) can go suck an egg. As I said, have a great day with an optional game or two, because gaming makes the brain go in innovative mode.

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January 5, 2025 · 11:59

What is the difference?

A note to start with. This is pure presumption, there is no evidence that this is happening at present. And the second part is that I will be talking about AI in this article, all whilst I know it doesn’t exist yet. The setting of ‘AI’ is the conclusion of LLM and deeper machine learning at present and the solution in some cases is amazing, yet it is not AI (and that never will be the case), yet players all over the field (like for example Microsoft) they are set to the ‘AI’ field and there lies the danger, too many will snap their teeth into this field and they do not know what they are doing. The ‘et al’ parties in this like the revenue and will to some extent ‘accomodate’ what comes and what will connect to it. 

If this is the first setting of that stage, the second would be the accusation that ‘Meta Opens Floodgates For AI-Generated Accounts On Facebook, Instagram’ (source: Forbes). This sets up a new stage in data collection and data gathering and this connects to a movie called ‘Free Guy’ (with Ryan Reynolds) and that set in motion some thoughts that occurred to me. This part will be speculation to some, presumption as I see it for the simple reason that I have seen decades of lazy programmers and not to clued in data scientists who rumble to appease their data collecting masters. 

The premise
A man is going out on a date with his girlfriend, they are having a lovely meal and at that point he gets arrested for an outstanding warrant in Riverwood NSW, as he is accused of stealing merchandise from a shop and he is sought out to answer questions for the death of a police officer in that location, he is not wanted, but is a party of interest. He goes along with the setting, as only to see what is going on. He is certain that they aren’t looking for him. 

You see, the man is not the person they are looking for, to be honest there is no such warrant but there is the snag. Someone mixed up profiles and his gaming profile where he visited the Riverwood Trader in Riverwood in a place called Skyrim. You think I a kidding? No that is the reality we face when AI’s, who are not AI’s as AI’s do not yet exist. In the bungling mess that data scientists face they will cross the wrong paths and leave a lot of people in a dark setting as they are in line of warrants and black marks by the setting of that stage. And when someone will query the stage and ask if Riverwood NSW and Riverwood Whiterun are the same locations, or virtual ones. The computer will simply answer “What is the difference?”

Settings
The setting of correct staging of locations and perhaps the simpler settings that a game crime is not a real crime the computer throws a NULL, it was never taught the distinction. The data Scientist never thought it would become a reality. And there is the stage when we get fake profiles collecting data. No distinct verification of data required (apparently).

It was a danger I saw years ago, but no one seemingly caught on and now as everyone wants to trow in their ‘AI’ to be more efficient in data collection, real profiles and real people get twist in a setting of what is reality and that setting will become the event of the day for a lot of people.

I am not looking forward to the arrest warrants from Florence and Rome for killing these so called Italian Carabinieri. I killed dozens in Florence and Rome and they will not realise that those done as my Altar Ego (Ezio Auditore) were not real, but leave it to any data scientist to leave that little setting out in the open. Now that some are pushing their ‘AI’ delusional reality to the larger profile and matching stages with all kinds of profiles we face these dangers. Should anyone say “That will never happen, we are to clever for that” I will answer “Why are you selling AI while it doesn’t exist yet?” These are stages that will soon come to fruition and even as it is not exactly that exact, there will be cross linking social media sources a they think it is their great O (ask any girl, she’ll know what I mean) and the simplest setting is decades old. You can not compare a basket of apples and a basket of oranges by calling both baskets ‘fruit’ the simplest setting ignored for simple greed. Because these ‘AI’ systems will accept both as fruit, even as an actual AI system would see the difference and simply state “I cannot compare a multitude of Oranges and Apples in the same comparison. The difference between a real system and an orchestrated system. 

Have a warrant free day today.

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November 15, 2024 · 00:42

Yesterday’s news

Yup, we all have it. We all see it and sometimes we want to alter the prediction. It is not a biggie, or essential. Yet in this day and age where news is debatable and for the mere reason that we are blighted by anti-Trumpism, or anti-Bidenisms. We merely want some kind of a safe space to unwind. I usually do that be playing a game. At this moment I am all about Horizon Zero Dawn. As I see it the best IP we have seen released in the last 10 years. Over the two formats I have played (PS4/PS5) I found one bug in both versions and one additional bug in the PS5 version. It might have existed before, but I never encountered it. The game also have a few glitches, nothing big. Now the big part is that these are two bugs I encountered in a game that open and that big, it is almost uncanny to experience a game this perfect. But whilst I was playing the game my mind took a side step to an old game named Iron Helix. The game was made in 1993, an early example of a CD-based game, with video elements integrated with conventional 2D maps and controls. A simple pleasure. But in this day and age it could be made in something substantial. The video parts are updated, but this could be replaced with Unreal Engine 5. Now do not think it should include the original ship, but as a homage in the introduction it could be. Now add a objective to it like Salvaging, optionally pillaging (aka liberating) or a few other settings. In this we have the drones to find access and when updating these drones (after a mission) we could get into other places. A simple game from the beginning of the multi media game market could evolve into an actual behemoth. There is no fault by Drew Pictures (the developer). They might have moved on to bigger and better things. Yet there are a few elements in this game that are still rarely found in todays games. The publisher Spectrum HoloByte was ‘dissolved’ in 1998, but someone might still have the IP. And here lies the opportunity for the developer who has a clue (so to speak). 

A game that seems like a mere month of development time (mere weeks at this time, as the wheel doesn’t need reinventing).

That is what the ‘big’ boys like Microsoft seemingly forgot about. The IP is there, the IP when tweaked becomes a new product. No people like Phil Spencer give us things like “Microsoft will release more Xbox games on other platforms – “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not’””. We were given this mere hours ago, all whilst we were also given “Microsoft is killing off Windows 11 Store’s no-download Instant Games (Arcade)” contradictions and added we were given “Microsoft open to more studio acquisitions, partnering with Chinese publishers” as I see it, they merely need a foothold for services as their hardware is rejected. In the meantime (in this blog) I added near free IP (for non-Microsoft systems) and The innovative designers can have a go at them, whist Microsoft (a personal view) keeps on fumbling the ball. 

I gave the notion of available IP at least 3 years ago. In the meantime we have not seen anything brilliant from Microsoft. OK, the flight simulator is absolutely brilliant. That must be said, but it is for a niche market and rightly so. Yet the larger Microsoft games are dangerously faltering. In this I am referring to Bethesda (Fallout and Elder Scrolls series). We are given “Hundreds of Bethesda video game workers, who work on titles like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls, are going on strike across the country. Workers in Maryland and Texas are walking off the job, claiming that the company has failed to address their remote work concerns at the bargaining table, and has begun outsourcing quality assurance work without the union’s agreement.” (Source: Inverse). Not a few, the mention of hundreds is a setting that will push back a whole range of projects and That could spell trouble for Microsoft. They bought this software house in 2020 for $7,500,000,000 and I winder what they have to show for it. Trouble is stirring in the houses of Microsoft and I don’t think it ends there. What are seemingly knee jerk actions (might be the impression that the media gives us) and that is never a good thing. So far Microsoft is (as I personally see it) the larger culprit in this. Only yesterday we were given “The “biggest Starfield update yet” is coming next week with over 100 fixes plus graphical improvements for NPCs and space sightseeing”. You see, the game launched over a year ago (September 2023) and we still see these message? Over 100 fixes? And there is Redfall, another Bethesda game where we are given (a year after release) “The story and characters are extremely forgettable, and the environments risk feeling lazy as a consequence of its own gimmick – there’s only so much hazy red skyline I can take. Redfall is technically bland and unimpressive, yes, but that somehow only highlights its unrefined charm.” Two triple A titles and they are both regarded as huge flops. In the meantime I laid out (in that same timeline) half a dozen games here for the innovative (aka non-Microsoft) designers. Half a dozen does not make me better, but I feel certain more creative. And in light of Iron Helix. It is not my design, but I improved a whole range of issues that the makers couldn’t consider in the day they made the game. A 80486 PC with 640KB does not go far, and now we can improve on a good idea a lot, making this an exercise in new IP as it becomes an innovative idea, or altered to the largest degree making it new IP and we could alter a few more parts (including the start narrative) giving us dozen’s of games with a larger prerequisite (optionally on the Amazon Luna, Nintendo Switch or the PS5 or PS5pro) all systems with a track record and that could entice Tencent To seek out the three makers I mention here. So Microsoft can partner with whomever they want, but their presentations might be lacking a few items. Even a few days ago I opted a new niche for Apple (and the Apple Vision Pro) which I made a mere 5 days ago in ‘The easy lesson’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/09/the-easy-lesson/). A mere idea, because that was all it was. Yet I got this in less than an hour. So where are the ‘successful’ ideas by Microsoft? Perhaps they filed it on a Solarwinds server?  No matter, Sony can pick up that slack, if not them then perhaps Nintendo, Amazon or Tencent. If all things fails there is a chance that Apple could fill up the gap that Microsoft left. It’s all competitive, true?

Innovation is for whomever sees it and can bring that idea to the others. A wallet is nice but wallets don’t speak and that is the lesson that some never learned. They all believe that ‘money talks’ is for real, but without an idea it becomes meaningless. That is how I see “Microsoft is killing off Windows 11 Store’s no-download Instant Games (Arcade)” and I am not attacking that issue. You try and you could fail. Nintendo did that with the WiiU, but from those ashes the Nintendo Switch was born and that is at present the second best system they ever had. 

Have a great day, It’s Friday here now.

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October 25, 2024 · 15:20

When future and past are similar

I made a jump today, it was into the past. Somewhere between the release of Battlehorn Castle and November 2011, I had an idea. A set of quests to ‘automate’ defences and infrastructure in magic. It use actual NPC’s but beyond that, nearly everything went. It went nowhere (as it was not my IP). Yet the idea stayed in my mind. And today I ‘remembered’ the idea I had. 

It can be applied in numerous ways. It might be a DLC for Guerrilla (the Horizon IP), it could be added to any number of non-Microsoft IP’s and it could be added as a simple structure to anything. You see, the IP is sound and versatile as is any good given DLC.

So how did this idea come to pass?

As I revered Elder scrolls (for a long time), the setting of adding to Castle Battlehorn became overwhelming. I found myself wondering how any castle could be without guards. So I set out and created a magical oven, with at the heart the device it replicated. There was a blunt oven (maces) a sharp oven (swords), a range oven (bows) and a guardian oven (Halberts). And every oven needs to be create a few times. Then there was the issue of what materials as used. Iron, steel, or more advanced materials. You needed a forge to create the bars of material and the wood blocks to create the handles. As such, nothing is really made out of nothing (initially) but the setting applies. As you create a more advanced weapon more time per weapon is needed and the machine places it in the basket. A simple weapon (iron, or wood) is about an hour with a maximum of 6 per oven. Getting the weapon in Silver, or gold take more two or four hours. I didn’t want rely on Bethesda weapons to not get them on my back. And as such we now had a near automated weapon system. You needed to be able to forge the master weapon like a iron sword, steel sword or silver sword and the rest was made as long as you had the metals. In the upgraded version I upgraded the machine to require less materials whilst the manufacturing remains the same after that the next upgrade required less time, as such you added to the machines and had a abled guarding setting to your castle.

Then came the kitchens and there the stoves could set out food in bulk for the troops. And with every pen you had, you would add to the specials that the troops would like. A chicken coup, a cow pen, a pig pen and as such the foods would enable much stronger and more resilient troops. The option occurred to create a vegetable patch and as the troops grew, so would the need for more food.

I played with the idea on a few levels and in the end Skyrim was released and I buried the idea in the back of my mind. For some reason the thought got back to me on my morning walk. But in this setting I made a crossover between the bank job in Thief and Horizon Zero dawn (as this is released in 5 days), You see e have the foundries in Horizon for one reason, but what happens if there is a DLC that gets Aloy into a secret location where all is automated. There isn’t a kitchen, but all else remains. Sentries, guardians, servants and the place was all forgotten. Aloy would have to rely on stealth to get things done and that changes the game. She would have to find materials to create hidden paths. And that could be a more sinister task at hand. In the end there needs to be  great reward (like advanced stealth armour) and more powerful weapons. Optionally a more rewarding boon so that the DLC could be in any Horizon game.

I like to think that Guerrilla might like the idea of that DLC to hand to their respectful fans. There are a few other thoughts that I am considering, but out of all of the optional issues is the fact that I created a dozen ideas, all whilst Ubisoft is dropping stock (or better stated their stock dropped). And whilst we see “AJ Investments to go private after Star Wars Outlaws” I merely created over half a dozen IP ideas. Sucks to be Ubisoft. In other news Microsoft stock dropped 7%. They blame their cloud revenue. I say that mediocrity never leads to high praise. I reckon that Oracle largely protected a landslide sell off on Microsoft cloud issues. The creative people rule in almost all IT sides and Gaming has been largely responsible for better IT design from the 90’s onwards. BI people need to realise this and not play the blame game. If they need to blame someone they need only look into a mirror. 

And that sets the creative people apart. Not everything is a sure thing. Nintendo showed us that with the WiiU, it also led to the Switch which blew Microsoft out of the water in half the time that Microsoft needed to make minimum revenue (or more clearer stated, it took Microsoft from 2013 to 2017 to create the revenue which was surpassed by Switch within 18 months) That is the true sign of innovation. I believe that Microsoft is trusting its own spin, all whilst the creative will shoot any spin to smithereens in half that time and there is more to come. As Guerrilla will release the third game somewhere in 2026-2028, whatever Ubisoft or Microsoft had will be reduced to nothing in no time flat. Horizon was the latest true innovative IP in gaming and everything else fades next to it. This also holds true to whatever BioWare will bring in the shape of Mass Effect 5. Even there I had some idea (somewhere in my blog). The problem isn’t merely the bugs we faced in Andromeda (mostly PC) the design was shoddy. There were real moments of brilliance, but I feel that the wrong people tried to make a name for themselves and that went wrong. I set the stand for 5 to include 4 (or Andromeda) to give the fans something to bite into. And that would have created a much larger wave (my personal imagination). Now as we are given that it will not (speculated) come before 2028, people like Guerrilla will get a free reign with optionally gaming fans giving up on their Xbox (yay me). In any event, the set stage as I gave it in 2022 is now more robust as Microsoft has given us too little and Ubisoft has seemingly cancelled more than it released. Now the streamers will have their moment in creating the setting of a lifetime with the optional Tencent or the established Amazon Luna to create a new niche of millions of fans. I foresaw a first phase release of 50,000,000 consoles. With Microsoft only having sold 58 million there is a real state of transfer of gaming fans on a global stage. I envisioned a setting where that streaming solution could grace 150-200 million homes. The Microsoft BI group might want to say that this isn’t realistic, but as I didn’t fight the excellence of Sony or Nintendo. The streaming solution could be next to it, not replacing this. The very first mistake Microsoft made. And now as I have been correct a lot more than I was wrong, I feel certain that the ‘larger’ software houses seems to be ‘placed’ with the Microsoft mindset and we are now shown that it was the wrong mindset from the very beginning. Should Guerrilla also grace the streaming niche I reckon that some players might be going the way of investors of 1929 (read: jumping out of a window, not to be mistaken for a Russian suicide streak).

How wrong am I?

The interesting and valid question. The problem is that the media is not to be trusted. It is filled with stakeholders who need Microsoft to do well and they will downplay the drop of Microsoft. But the truth of the matter is that Microsoft and Ubisoft are seemingly run by Business Intelligence. It makes for a solid core, but excellence (in gaming) is never found that way. It is the creative mind that does that and not to forget the story writers as well. These elements are less seen in the games of today and again Guerrilla is the exception that establishes the rule. As such games of today, software houses of today are grasping back to yesterdays games to make up for that failing. There is also the need to replay the old games (a drive that is not to be underestimated). Yet as far as I can see the horizon, I believe to be correct and should Tencent decide to buy my IP, I will be able to prove it.

Have a wonderful Friday (Vancouver gets to see that in around 3 hours).

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September 12, 2024 · 06:18

The attention an idea gets

That was a little bit of a spark that the Middle East Monitor gave me last week. I wasn’t sure if and how to pick this up. The article (at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240905-what-could-saudi-arabias-first-aaa-game-be-like-following-chinas-success/) starts with ‘What could Saudi Arabia’s first AAA game be like, following China’s success?’ The subtext that stopped me was “Within just three days, “Black Myth: Wukong” shattered records, selling over 10 million copies and reaching 18 million within two weeks, with lifetime sales projected to reach up to 30 million. The game also achieved a peak concurrent player count of 2.2 million worldwide and has overtaken “Cyberpunk 2077” as the most-played single-player game on the online distribution platform Steam.” It shows one part that I have been saying for a long time. You see, the people have basically had enough of a repetitive Ubisoft and their umpteenth version of Assassins Creed, FarCry, Watchdogs and so on. 

As such there are hundreds of thousands of gamers who will eagerly pick up an original feeling game and Black Myth: Wukong addressed that feeling. It is yet another side to what I claimed over the last two years when I put original IP on my blog for the eager developer. It was theirs to use. People want original games, a feeling of novel and new and I gave the (eager developing) audience a new system and the storyline to a new approach in gaming. Actually I did a little more than that and again I am seemingly proven correct (yet again). And when some developer takes the ideas I stated here and takes an interest in being original They could go to town on branders like Ubisoft and Bethesda. You see, Microsoft is playing it very careful now. If they push Bethesda too much they lose that brand as well. They first thought they had the bong of happiness with Redfall. At present the game is reviewed as “it faced poor to middling reviews and lost thousands of players in just three days. Currently, it’s one of Steam’s most poorly-rated games due to extremely buggy performance, incredibly stupid AI, lack of matchmaking (in a co-op game!), and a whole other host of issues” and this view was given whilst the game is out now for over a year. Microsoft knows that they banked too much on their arrogance and now they have only have Bethesda left (at present) with some credibility. And Bethesda earned this credibility. Skyrim released on 11.11.11 still holds up as one of the most engaging RPG games in the field. They lost a lot of credibility with Starfield (a 60% game) only for Microsoft systems and even as the people got news that things were coming, the game has been out for a year. We now get ‘While Some Players Are Still Finding Starfield’s Gameplay Frustrating, Others Are Taking Issue With What Fans Are Creating For The Game – And How Bethesda’s Handling It’ (source: ScreenRant) as such Bethesda has basically one arrow left at present. The elder Scrolls and Microsoft knows that this needs to be a hole in one. As we see “The Elder Scrolls 6 is expected to be released sometime during or after 2026”, this might speculatively become their own Swan Song. Not bad for a $7,500,000,000 investment (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk). Activision Blizzard is (as I see it) another decent failure. We get that the annual revenue in 2021 was $12.10B, all whilst Statista reported “In the second quarter of 2023, Activision Blizzard’s net income amounted to 587 million U.S. dollars” (one source gave me US$1.51 billion (2022) of net revenue), you might think this is good, but Microsoft acquired this baby for $69,000,000,000. As such the annual interest of a loan that big is more than the net revenue of that firm (I predicted this well over a year ago as much). This all has impact. At present Microsoft has an immense losing streak in gaming (I truly hope that I am contributing to that). As such I handed original IP to game developers making the hardship worse for Microsoft and now they merely have the one final arrow of Bethesda left, which is expected somewhere in 2026. As such these factors all have impact. You see Black Myth: Wukong is one part (I had absolutely nothing to do with that) for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, referred to in the article has options. There is Scheherazade’s 1001 nights. I put a few issues out in the open. The idea of an RPG all based on the Arabian life and challenges. There was an option I considered to use an RPG game to promote Islam (for all people) with teachings in the game. There could be an option to take another look at Peter Molyneux’s Magic Carpet now that the systems are a lot stronger than the first Playstation, as such you can increase more than graphics. The game play could be taken to a new stage and the intensity of the game could be set to 11 (as the saying goes). Those are merely a few mentions that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could entertain and I made reference to at least two more games in a relaunch/remaster and refitted vibe. All settings I made mention of over the last two years alone. 

But it is not all sunshine for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You see it has an uphill battle as the Middle East Monitor states with “As a non-Western, non-Japanese contribution, the game faced extensive media scrutiny ahead of its launch, including “controversies” over alleged sexism within the development studio, government censorship on politics and feminist propaganda, and some technical issues upon release”, there are a few items. I will state that the accusation of “alleged sexism within the development studio” is pretty much bogus. All the development studios are dealing with these ‘kids on the block’ issues as the saying goes. And government censorship? I need to see this to make it count, but I state this as the Middle East Monitor did. 

I think that the biggest challenge for Saudi Arabia is to bring something unique. They have the area and the landmarks, but the other players (Japan, USA, Canada) have had the singular field of gaming, as such it is important to bring something unique. I believe that this is possible as Black Myth: Wukong made it happen. Still, it will be a challenging field. Making something look Arabian has been done and Ubisoft with AC: Mirage pulled it off. So it is just as important to have a unique Arabian voice, look and gameplay. Still, there is something to be said for a new Magic Carpet (from Bullfrog) now that the hardware is 3,500 times more powerful there is a lot of achievement open to the audience. There is an additional field with Arabian lore (which I explore in my created script ‘How to assassinate a politician’) and there is more to do. You see I still believe that RPG is the most true game environment. I have nothing against other modes. But the RPG field can be utilised or used to create another type of game, optionally based on this new RPG. 

As I see it (and as Black Myth: Wukong proves) it is more about being original. There will always be some gamers that yearns for a certain game style, but the masses want originality. You see, a lack of choice only works for some time. In this an Arabian game could be good, but it is important that all the right characters are dotted and crossed (as in the I and T). That is a first essential need for any game to make it to the release stage. Then there is the music, here Saudi Arabia has an advantage. There is a lot unknown to us and as such there should be plenty of options. Then there is the additional idea. For example Saudi Arabian developers could use existing locations to create another setting. Whether this is a addition to a new Division game, or a Die Hard touch towards a shooting game. And another idea is to use Tahlia Street (aka Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Street) as the backdrop of a variation of ‘Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego’ But now a realtime challenge to find the person that is trying to evade capture. Your only aid is his/her digital trace that you have access to. That could actually be a multiplayer approach where the mouse (aka criminal) and the cats (aka authorities) and the cheese dealers (contenders for the mouse empire) have to capture this so called mouse. With the stage that capture the wrong person makes you a target for arrest and there is the ring race. The mouse is rated on time it took them to evade capture and the others on the this it took them. And with that location completely mapped out it becomes a nice rat race (for the mice involved). I don’t think this has ever been done before to this degree and there is the rub. I just took this thought to a new level as I was writing this. So why can’t some of the existing developers come up with this? Think about that and as you try to figure this out consider that this is an optional new world with over 150 million possible new gamers. You can become a copy of what is, or come with something new, some version of an old game but now in a way never done before. And I have done that before, I considered a new version of Murder on the Zinderneuf and I made it into a 3D version of the game with interactions as well as imbuing it with elements of Iron Helix (1993). So there is a world of new IP out there. Now consider how much new IP Microsoft got for their $70,500,000,000 and what you could use (from what I have written here) without spending a penny. And the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a lot more to offer, Lore, Myths and a few more challenges. All that could create the new generation of games and gaming. The crowds are hungry for original gaming IP and the current player have very little to offer. Feng Ji might have come here first as the new player, but that does not stop Saudi Arabia from heralding their own chapter of gaming to the world of gamers.

Have a great Thursday, The weekend is now one day away (plus an additional 8 hours of work).

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September 9, 2024 · 22:27

The other Palette

This is the setting I switched to. From Microsoft (too much issues) to a nice palette. Not to paint, but if the painting on an easel is the current version of a game. 

There is another version, ‘my’ improved version. You see between 1985 and 2000 Atari (with their Atari 800 and Atari ST) and Commodore (with their Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga) launched 10,000 games. Now if we only look at the top 10% of these games we end up with 1000 games. I am guessing that 50% has some level of IP protection (still an optional path) but 50% have no protection at all. That was what I was trying to tell Kingdom Holding. It is a path to about one third of the path to a 5 billion dollar annual revenue. And I recently completed the thought of a fourth game to relaunch. Consider that Microsoft with their 23 development houses have 2000 games. This path would gain 50% of that marker and Microsoft isn’t doing good (they will be in denial) and in that same setting, I got another idea. The top 10% are all set to a rating or 80% or better. This could be done with a lot less people and when the first two dozen games are out their streaming solution would only pick up more and more. The first stage would be reached with a setting of 50 million consoles. So as we were given “As of August 2024, lifetime unit sales of Xbox One consoles in North America reached nearly 33 million, while in Europe, lifetime unit sales surpassed 12.8 million. In total, nearly 58 million Xbox One units have been sold worldwide as of August 2024.” And my idea would equal that within 2 years. It took Microsoft 11 years to get to this and within 4 years I would have surpassed them. And that is just for starters. I speculatively (it remains speculation, not presumption) see the 100 million surpassed within 4 years. It would set this new console on the level of Sony and Nintendo. I personally (wishful thinking) see the new system equal the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 2 in half the time they needed. This isn’t grandiose posturing. The path was made by them and now I see the option to reap the rewards. Either via Kingdom Holding or via Tencent, hoe doesn’t matter. I still see the vision of handing Phil Spencer the wooden spoon. He’ll end up dead last in a race he never really understood and as Microsoft enters more and more hard times divisions of Microsoft keep on being hollowed out. My work becomes increasingly easier. 

So at this point it is largely a stage where my brain sets the premise of how to set the look of these games, not by ‘rad looking’ graphics, even though they will be a lot better. But these games it was largely about playing and the joy of playing. These ‘game makers’ are all about advertisement money. They all advertise ‘no wifi’ or even more ludicrous ‘no payments’ whilst they merely set the premise to another fitting. Pay to win, disguised as an clever way to pay to grind. How disappointing. I do not blame them. Too many gamers nowadays are delusional falling into a trap and that tend to be demoralising. My idea was handed before in this blog and a few people picked up on this, or they had exactly the same idea (I cannot prove how they got there) but that is fair enough. So I decided to remaster in my mind these games and I got game 5 to a second setting of the master version. I will keep these thoughts offline. I initially had the idea for Google, but 3 days later they dropped the Stadia, so basically Amazon (Luna) and Tencent (handheld) remained. Tencent has a satisfying bonus. These high and mighty captains of industry would have surrendered another industry to China. And they do not have a lot left to work with.

A simple setting that I solved three years ago, and they were all blind to what was staring them in the face. Soon I will have to write more about the solution I had for malls. Another path that a few corporations (like Google and Amazon) overlooked. That is fair, you can only run an industry when you have bright developers falling asleep on the job and when waking up they have that spark with a new idea. A never ending stage of deadlines tend to be debilitating in the end. 

So how does these two link? 

The idea I had came to me three years ago (and I wrote about it here) and in that time I merely revamped these games with more and more improvements, this is not against those games. Some of these games were launched before 1990 and I had 30 years to spin a few webs combine that with the graphic improvements we have now and the versatility of the hardware and we get an estimated 250% better game. And the captains of industry (specifically Microsoft) never looked beyond the spin hype they themselves created. A simple example Richard Garriott created the Ultimate series, ahead of its time and When you recreate Ultimate 4, Ultimate 5, Ultima 6 and Ultimate 7 on an Elder Scrolls Oblivion shoe anvil, there would be millions of gamers reset to this storyline. You see, the storyline of these games were perfect, the location (a whole world) was perfect and the setting we see with the virtues and the stones, mantras and a few setting more was perfect. I got hooked on Ultima 3 (Exodus) in 1984. This game never lost its appeal, not in 40 years. The games 4,5,6, and 7 have a very similar map and the fact that you play with a party of 8 people gives it even more bang. That is what Bethesda could never deliver (they were not trying to). Microsoft overlooked one of the greatest RPG IP’s EVER created and that is merely the tip of the iceberg. 1984 was a marvel in more than one way. The other game was Elite, now called Elite Dangerous by David Braben and he did something amazing. That is the stage Microsoft overlooked as well (or Braben was way ahead of them) and there are dozens more games that could fit the new bill on streaming systems. Another game from those days was Boulder Dash. Upgrade the graphics and you should have an amazing relaunch. That is the simple setting that still hold sway after 40 years. And you wonder why I think that these people were asleep at the wheel? Another stage is that with 2 games the fighting ring could be transitory. And there is space for Kingdom Holding (or Tencent) to enter this field as the current ‘captains of industry’ are seemingly about the “worst decisions of their career” whilst I showed up to three years ago showing that it was already a lot worse. 

So what more can be done? I am not sure, I send the notion to both Andy Jassy and Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, but I had no response. I am not surprised they both probably get hundreds of people saying that they had the golden idea. And now I get to address Tencent Holding. Not sure how that pans out, but the thought of a 5 billion revenue (annual) might appeal to them (if I get paid that is). I have no illusions that I might merely make 1%, but that still amounts to $50,000,000, as such I would not complain. Still the idea of asking for 1% of the revenue for 20 years seems more on point (for me that is) and if so I shall make the mall solution public domain. 

If you look back in my blogs for these three years you will find a lot more, including the stage for a completely new RPG, with original ideas and a few stages I considered during me Oblivion playing days. As well as a completely new IP on RPG that hd not been done before. Including a setting between two worlds which was a little based on the idea Stephen King gave me from the book The Talisman. It was one way of traversing locations. Not a copy of his idea, merely the premise of his approach. All these things I see (in my mind) and game developers never caught on what else they could do. They merely went for ‘looking cool’ whilst wannabe gamers stood in a doorway keeping everyone else out. Oh, what a lovely stage. That is what passes for game developer? Wanting to be cool with multiplayer games all whilst plenty of people (a majority) where happy in single player mode). I still think they did this so that they never had to properly develop clever NPC programming. As such I even surpassed that when I came up with a setting though IP created by Vint Cerf, he merely saw the business need. I saw a whole new approach in gaming and as such his ‘IP’ should be open to me. Another path Microsoft overlooked. They merely bought Bethesda and thought that their problem was solved. I took one look and thought “Oh, perhaps I could do this?” One thought was all it took. So, where is Microsoft now? I reckon by 2026 on a whole new plane of problems (if they still exist by then). For tomorrow I need to write in protection (if protection is the right word) of Google, the BBC forced me to go nuts on my keyboard. Google deserves someone who stands up for them as well, although I feel certain they have that in hand. I merely want to give my support on that cause.

Nearly time for another Jalapeño sandwich with cheese. Have a great day.

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February 20, 2024 · 17:50

Many off ramps, same destination

It has been quiet here for 6 days. These things happen when you suddenly end up in hospital. I will spare you the details, they are not important. The cemetery is filled with people who had my condition, so there. We are about to take to trips before we get to the main event. Thee elements all matter to paint a picture, one of presentation, one of anticipation and one of speculation. In all matters I could be wrong, but I will let you decide for yourself. A small added treasure hint, I will add a new piece of IP tomorrow. The savvy programmer could become a millionaire. I will let you consider that for yourself. I am no programmer and I have other things on my mind. But if you are savvy and create a good program, you could get between 20-50 million downloads over time. At $0.49 per sale that will amount to serious money. So I leave it up to you to consider that tomorrow. Now we take a different gander. 

The dream
When you are locked (lets call it that) to a bed your mind gets to wander and my did (and then some). I was offered a job as a courier for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia based in Sydney. Their personal mailman and they started with one hell of an offer. My startup bonus was BTC300. Of course I accepted and that would be my initial payment for up to 6 months. So when was the last time you were offered a starting bonus of $24M? So, yes my dream was delusional, but it was my dream and I was locked to a bed. In my mind I visited the cities I have visited in the past (a fair amount of them) and my life was turned upside down.  

Now I am certain that you wonder why anyone would do that? And that would be a fair question. Now consider the other side.

  1. The consulate might have been desperate for staff members and they took one that knew several languages and had travel experience all over the world and I fit that bill (fortunately).
  2. The consulate might prefer a courier who did not speak or read Arabic for all kinds of reasons.
  3. An unknown reason, only known to them.

These three reasons are perfectly logical and they will matter soon enough. Anyway, it was a lovely dream and I saw the places I have missed for about a decade.

The next instance of a rewrite
That is something all writers face. In my case the story of Engonos (played by me off course) I end up with a powerful Olympic bident called Psychofagos (meaning soul eater). I never really explored the part on how I got it. So that came to my mind, setting the hospital as a stage (might not be like that in the end).

As I walked through the hospital I noticed a myst, it was different, it was like clouds of soot, but the people didn’t seen to see it. I saw some of them blink like they were dealing with blurry vision and my mind raced. This wasn’t new. It was the Myst of Tartarus. Hades added the myst thousands of years ago. You see in the early days of Tartarus he saw that the strong became stronger, too strong and the end result was that these people started to relax. Hades created the myst of Tartarus. You see that myst attacks all sense of a person. Vision, abilities, skills and the mind. In effect it becomes a free for all, the weaker convicts now have a chance against much stronger opponents and the myst comes sudden, it comes quick and it is relentless. Above all you need to realise that when you slay another in Tartarus, you become stronger, but a share of all kills go to lord Hades (a large share). Tartarus itself nourishes Hades and has done so for thousands of years. The myst gives the strongest a chance to really add to the Hades pool of souls. So there I was seeing that myst in the hospital and I looked around rather frantically. To see myst where none should be is unsettling and it never spells good for anyone. Because of my heritage I am not affected to the degree others are, but I will feel the impact of the myst to some degree, so I was not a happy camper to say the least. I started to move slower and moved towards a wall, no ay to be really surrounded when there was a wall. I saw a glimpse of one creature, then a second one. They were in the attire of Myrmidons. The heralds of Tartarus. They killed with such vigil on earth, they were rewarded with eternal wars in Tartarus. Their souls knew of no better reward and they were almost inhuman. Take the largest gladiator you ever saw, make him twice as strong and five times as fast and thrice as agile and you are close to a myrmidon. They train every moment of their existence that they are not engaged in wars. They are unsettling to say the least. And two just slowly started to appear in my sight. They were clearly looking for someone and suddenly I saw that they turned on a fellow patient. Andreas and his son Kostas, both Greeks. They were looking for something that they didn’t see and I saw them move in for the kill, the movements were clear as day for me. I grabbed someone dinner knife from his plate and stabbed one in the neck, he hadn’t seen me and that as the last mistake he would ever make. He halted for a second to shake off the pain that a knife in the neck makes. I grabbed is sword and cut off his head with one clear slice. The second saw this and attacked. But there he was in a disadvantage. I am a son of Ares, as such my battle skills were born with me and the knowledge of a thousand battles. I stepped aside, blocked in a low stance cutting his meniscus. He sidestepped with the other leg  quickly, he had been wounded before and now he was a lot more dangerous. He would let me do the attacks, giving him an advantage. I made a fake attack, which he parried, I circled his blade counterclockwise and stuck the blade through his breastplate in the chest. His grip on his blade loosened just enough for me to break his pinky and grab the sword and off went his head. The only sure way to get rid of a Myrmidon. The body like the other one was turning to ash and I now had two swords. It seems that they could see some of the opponents, not all but some. I told Kostas to protect his father. He nodded but he felt a little lost. The myst does that to nearly all. Then I noticed something else. I felt some resurge, it appeared that I was getting some of their energy as well. I felt the sickness go away in seconds and I saw a lot more. I saw that there were more opponents one floor down. I rushed down in a cautious way, they were looking. I snuck up on one and as he never expected to face opposition I got him unaware and decapitated him, more energy and more sight, like an illumination from the myst itself. There were three ore, two myrmidons and something else. The last two myrmidons were a little harder, they worked as a team and one cut my leg. But the defeated souls almost instantly repaired me. This has an effect on the myrmidons. They hesitated and the early bird that hesitates becomes worm food, so off with their heads (I’ll spare you the choreography). I reenergised and it repaired whatever scratches I had and also my overall energy levels went up. There was a third part that I had never felt before, I felt more secure and skilled with the sword. Something that was new to me, but then I hd never slain a Myrmidon before and now I had taken care of 5 of them. Then I saw the myst a lot clearer and it became a beacon or me, the last Myrmidon. This one was different, his helmet lit up as polished silver in the moon, as did his bident. A bident? That was unreal. His bident wasn’t silvery, but has a silvery shine. It also had a large gemstone on the edge of the fork, a ruby. It gave me a memory which I buried for now. He was going for a bed in the end of the room. The name on the small whiteboard gave me ‘Leandros’, another Greek name. He was suddenly aware of me and countered before I could strike. He was more cautious and was engaging with fake attacks. This was clearly a highly trained opponent. He cautiously moved from side to side, trying to find an opening and then I noticed that I could touch the Myst. An idea formed and as we moved form side to side, blocking each others attacks, I suddenly noticed what I had hoped for and I threw one of my swords as a spear, which he countered, but that one second when he thought I had made a tactical mistake. I had my hand free and grabbed a dense cloud of soot, closed my fist and blew in my hand, the hand became a blowpipe for myst straight into his face and I saw the effect it had on him. He frantically went into defence mode against people who weren’t there and I thrusted the sword under his jaw, severing the spinal cord. As the head fell, I grabbed the helmet which was no ordinary helmet. In addition to that I grabbed the bident. I suddenly felt a rush. The bident focussed on Leandros, I saw Greece, somewhere on the east of the Peloponnesus. I saw Argos, I seemingly flew south east to Tolo, then still South East to a small island. Then the image faded. Whatever they needed, it must be there. I looked at the bident. It was some kind of brass, but there was more to it. There was an inscription “ενωμένοι είμαστε πιο δυνατοί” Then the memory came back. 5 Myrmidon commanders decided to honour Hades with all the kills Hades had allowed them to do and they would honour Hades as long as they kept the orders of their commander Achilles. A true vow. I could get behind their train of thought. They travelled to Crete where a well known blacksmith resided, they brought gold and asked him to make 5 bident in honour of Hades (something that was rare to say the least). Each commander paid two bard of gold, which was an absolute fortune and the blacksmith went to work. It took several weeks after which he produced 5 bident, each with a stone. Menesthius was given the bident with the ruby, Eudorus got the bident with the sapphire, Peisander the amethyst, Phoenix the emerald and Alcimedon the diamond. They were all happy, their bidents were stronger then anything they had ever held, their weapons a lot lighter and stronger. And they all have the same small text engraved “ενωμένοι είμαστε πιο δυνατοί”. As such I looked at the bident again. It was superior in many ways, it was not an Olympic weapon, but stronger then anything that era had. So I now had the bident of Menesthius. Was it Menesthius I had just slain? It might be, but that was a worry for another day. As Menesthius was slain the myst started to disappear and I hid the weapon and helmet in the usual place. Time to be a patient again. The myst had a nice side effect, the last hour became fuzzy for anyone hid by it, which worked for me. Time to plan on a trip to Argos and then Tolo. 

The main event
You see what you saw was part of Engonos and as it is in my blog, now it is visibly mine. My concoction and my creativity. I need to see where in the script it will fit, but it should be added to seasons one. The main event is all about Microsoft. I saw the article last week but I was somehow indisposed. I had not forgotten it, because no matter how dim the BBC was. I saw something that others might have missed and that is the exercise of today. It is about delusional settings. We have intentional delusions and unintentional delusions. The intentional is often self inflicted like the dream, or the story. The unintentional version tends to come from speculated views or facts and the mulling of these facts. Some set to half truths by your own views and speculations and some are set to other parts (which is not up for discussion today). What matters is that you see these parts ‘as is’ not as truths or as ‘maybe truths’ that is the largest mistake that a speculation can lead these versions to. The media relies on this for flames and so on. I do not, but I am strongly set to presumptions. If a speculation is a guess, then the presumption is an educated guess based on available data. That is the underlying setting you need to see.

This started as I read ‘Xbox, Nintendo or PlayStation: does it still matter?’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68304967). The short answer was ‘Yes, it does’ but that is not what this is about. We see the spin by Microsoft and then there is a jewel. Perhaps unintentional, perhaps a quick slide to avoid what was ALMOST said. The first I saw was “The analysts Ampere estimated that in 2023 there were a total of around 46.5m consoles sold, of which only 7.6m were Microsoft’s Xbox. That leaves nearly 39 million gamers that Xbox exclusives such as the long awaited Starfield from Bethesda, didn’t reach.” Don’t get me wrong, I have been a Bethesda fan for the longest time. Now consider that the game was released on September 6th 2023. And now we see “Updates could play a big part in improving the future of Starfield, but there’s one key issue with the game that seems unlikely to ever be addressed. Although Starfield received some share of acclaim upon its release, it was also met with a lot of disappointment, as it didn’t necessarily live up to the standards set by prior RPGs from Bethesda Game Studios. Although there are a number of areas for improvement that updates could tackle, some underlying choices in the design and story may be frustrating forever.” (Source: Screenrant) As I see it the 39 million gamers are not overly sad on missing out. We see also on other media “Phil Spencer on Helldivers 2 Not Being on Xbox: ‘I’m Not Exactly Sure Who It Helps’”, well the answer is simple. It helps a game being shown at its maximum. Sony has a truckload of those and Microsoft fell behind by a lot. He sounds like the desperate executive who cannot make ends meet. How are developers given a fair shake when they are rewarded pennies when they are entitled to dollars? GamePass only works at the core of less then $10 a month leaving developers with less than $0.25 per gamer. How does that work out for them? The quote that set me off is ‘suddenly’ gone, so I am hoping others still have it and Gamespot still had it: “a future where every screen is an Xbox.” I personally believe that he wanted to say “a future where every screen is an Xbox data collection point.” To see this, I need to take you on a small journey as I have stated this danger in the past before. Consider that Activision Blizzard was acquired for $69,000,000,000. Sixty nine billion. Let that sink in. Now consider that Activision Blizzard made 7.53 billion USD in 2022, less than in 2021. This gives us that the investment will take 10 years to break even, 11 years when we consider the interest and even more time when they become GamePass games and the revenue will become smaller still. So how is that a good investment when gaming technology evolves the way it does and Microsoft is now losing ground awfully fast. But when you consider data where games collect data on every gamer the field changes and they will have sign up deals where you get something cosmetic every month for free, it costs nothing and thousands will sign up, the small print that they collect certain parts will be written in the small print over dozens of pages. Yes, this is ALL speculation but that is what I would do if I paid for an Edsel for a ’mere’ 69 billion. The latest games are disappointing and Microsoft is losing ground. They misjudged the field and the people are sticking to their consoles (mostly Nintendo and Sony). I reckon that Tencent will be outshining Microsoft too with the optional 50 million subscribers (also speculation). That will be the third time that Microsoft misjudged gamers and loses a lot in the process. We can understand the spin by Phil Spencer. I reckon he is now desperate to get a win but as I see it it is not in the cards for him. Not as things look at present. And it goes more arctic for Microsoft soon after that. They are betting on the wrong horse and whilst they shared the field closer to equals with Sony in the era of the Xbox360, they threw it away in under a decade and after that they invested almost 100 billion in a few software houses that could not bring home the bacon and I was eager to assist in their downfall by handing IP to independent developers giving Bethesda even more challenges down the road. In the end you are as good as your next success and Bethesda had it in 2011 with Skyrim. Then Microsoft messed up their mojo. That is how I see it and now Microsoft is (as I personally see it) going down hard and the ‘spin’ we see around Helldivers 2 doesn’t help Microsoft. And it gets to be worse. This is given to us with “Xbox president Sarah Bond even teased the idea of some brand new hardware in a podcast released by Microsoft on Thursday” yes Sarah, deliver or shut up. You either have something new coming up (which might be essential for Microsoft), or basically fudge off. Microsoft lost against Sony, then it lost against Nintendo, the weakest console of all and there is a decent chance that over the next 15 months it will lose against the Tencent Handheld as well. Consoles require (for the most) games, or something unique and GamePass was not enough, not when the pass owners are told that certain games will not be released on GamePass. When mediocrity is the sum of GamePass, the games will go somewhere else and Bethesda new elder scrolls is well over a year away (at least), gamers will go somewhere else and when that happens the 100 billion dollar is the anchor that drowns Microsoft games. So the statement of “Ampere does not expect Microsoft to exit the console platform business in the medium term as that would leave a gaping hole in its games-related revenues” I am not so sure. RedFall and Starfield are huge disappointments and that amounts to abandonment by gamers. They will find another venture and some will hold on to their console, that is fair enough. But with the abandonments also comes GamePass cancelations and that is revenue Microsoft desperately needs to make revenue. 

So how wrong am I?
Not all will pan out, I get that, but I feel that I am closer to the mark than most others and the two elements that will ensure the drop of Microsoft is now more exclusive games on Sony and the numbers that Tencent will get. The second one will cost Microsoft a gaming population, one they desperately need.

When you read between the media emotions you see that I am making a good case. Read up and form your own opinion. Don’t just take my word for it.

Enjoy the week.

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February 8, 2024 · 20:38

The indirect path

I talked about this before. At first to fit the larger station of Elder Scrolls: Restoration, but as they are part of Microsoft. It becomes no way Jose, so I instilled it in a new RPG called Generation. It was not some Bethesda clone, it was totally different and I put a lot on it on this blog (go find it if you care). So here I was pondering a few things. And as I was setting a few thoughts out which flows from the setting of cogs and balances in gaming (a previous story) I gave the indirectness a new side.

Consider that this game is too large to play in one lifetime, so we get a second and even a third generation and that is the start of a new corner of RPG IP. 

So lets take a look at the next generation, the daughter. The offspring gets the mean of the parents. As such it is ((30+20)/2), but with dexterity something else happens. It is still ((15+35)/2) plus 50% of the difference as the woman is stronger in this field. So the daughter gets additional Dexterity, Intelligence and Creativity. The son would have gotten additional numbers in the other field, neither get additional agility as they are both the same for the parents. So there is a balance and over time these traits go up. In other fields like mapmaking it is about creativity, art and leather skills (original maps were created on vellum), this also allows for new settings to use creativity. You can have a McGyver and that allows for weapons (basic weapons) to be created in the field. And until your creativity is up, you will see and collect rope and leather, but until your creativity is high enough, a sling will never be the result. This allows for other weapons and it helps to season other skills too. Scribe skills are there to infuse map making, allow you to recognise books of value and read lore. But in this the skills of the parent will to some degree transfer to the child, something never done before. So over three generations you will have created a much stronger character if you marry right. And here is the kicker. I believe in checks and balances. Getting a too strong character limits the play, but a partner that is not all out in those fields but is an awesome butcher or fisherman allows for food to be gotten easier, as well as get more value from the skinning of a fish or a deer (I love my Bambi burgers). 

The indirect path has never been optimised and it is a niche in gaming that is screaming to be explored. And when you combine the elements you get to see that none of the others have any of this in their games. Over half a dozen gaming IP added to a blog. I give Guerrilla software a pass as their series is all new IP, never seen before and the others? I will let you decide.

Have a great day, my Friday starts in 200 minutes, in Vancouver it isn’t even 2am yet.

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