Tag Archives: CBM Amiga

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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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 23, 2025 · 23:37

The ability to create

That is at time the question is ask myself. You see, I can reengineer something in seconds, that is my brain does. It takes a little more to type the idea (usually in hours) and as such I wondered today if I still had it in me. I created a set of RPG games, from almost the ground up and they could be united in creating a completely new game. But in this case I wanted to create a new ‘action’ game. I really prefer stealth games, but to cleanse the pallet I need to revert to something new. It is hard to make something from the ground up as my brain contains the hundreds of CBM64 games I have played and they tend to get outside of my train of thoughts. Yet the idea of combining these games has merit as it becomes a totally new game. Not to mention that the CBM64 had massive limits and getting those lifted could send a new piece of IP to streaming systems. 

Why streaming systems?
I believe in these systems to entertain people for at least another decade and when they accept Unreal Engine 5 apps, the entertainment level goes straight through the roof. You see in the past I united Iron Helix and Murder on the Zinderneuf to create a new challenge a new game. I had the Amazon Luna in mind as it was the most likely contender, especially when Google dropped their Google Stadia. Then I considered another edition (a highly upgraded version) of Seven Cities of gold. From there I went to boggle my mind and consider a new version of Covert Action. With more memory comes more options. Then there was a setting to create a ‘Where the hell is Carmen Santiago’ with real mappings of wherever the game takes you. So where Microsoft failed and got mediocre games out of, I created a wave of partial originality. And now?

Now it is time to flex the brain one more time to set my (I think) ninth gaming idea to my blog.

So let’s combine Archipelagos (CBM Amiga) and Sentinel (Atari ST). These games were in its time awesome. It had all the trimmings of an addictive game and with the amount of levels quite the long play time. Yet the game was bland, in 1989 that was fine, but with streaming solutions we can have a lot more. So as I see it, the foundations are fine, but there are changes. The idea of an egg leading to an obelisk is one thing, but what if we changed the premise that the Obelisk is still the goal, but there are several ways that we get to that goal. There is the egg, but that leads to a bird (large) and that one needs to be defeated. When we take away the time limit of 90 seconds and we add more challenges as you proceed in the game. Devouring elements like trees (wood), blocks (stone), Ice (water) and fire we get a new setting. As the game grows we get more elements and more issues to resolve. It is in part reengineering, but that was merely one part of it. As we have Water, Wood, Stone and Fire we can get more elemental challenges. Water and Stone gives us the mud challenge, Fire and wood gets us the charcoal element, Water and Wood leads to forests and so on. Wood and fire are insensitive to each other, but mud and fire can interact. As such we get a wealth of new challenges to any archipelago. The trick is to find the right solution to get new options. It isn’t as single dimensional and simple as that. But this is a start and as I work out a few more kinks and alignments, we get a new game. Will it have appeal? Archipelagos did and that was 36 years ago. To add graphics and music isn’t enough. The game needs to be playable and should appeal to a niche of gamers and that has to be enough for a while. You see, players like Ubisoft want a game for everyone. I still believe (and have always believed) that a Game that appeals to all will please no one. That is the flaw Ubisoft never accepted. So as I align more games to make one niche more appealing I feel certain it will work. So how long did this take? Less then an hour. So as 20,100 worked on a few dozen of games. I thought of at least 10 games within a month of considering them. Would they all be successful? I do not know. I merely thought of the game (the RPG is completely unique). And as such I feel that it would hold up as it isn’t a copy of anything created. And they were all created around streaming systems. I believe in that solution as a console. I have nothing against my PlayStation and I will keep ion playing that system, but it cannot survive by itself and Microsoft is losing the edge they once had. So a new contender is needed. I still have faith in Amazon Luna. There is now the Tencent Handheld. It seems to be great, but it is a contender for Nintendo whilst harming the Microsoft market share they have. As such the Amazon Luna is likely the system to have as a streaming solution. 

So what about a unique game? That might take a little longer and there are contenders. Sony has Horizon, Microsoft has Fable and Nintendo has all things Mario and Pokemon. There is still space for more, however when you consider Horizons, the drive and ability to create totally new IP (like my RPG) takes time, effort and some luck. I think I got lucky and whilst I decided to focus on the storyline, there is more to it all. Is there space for a ‘simple’ single playing shooter, or non-RPG is possible, but between the CBM64 and the CBM Amiga over 10,000 games were created between 1982 and 2000. As such the option to create completely original games that fits the mould is rather rare. It becomes possible when the limits of these two systems are surpassed. Yes there is space for reengineering and that would become the first setting for any new game. We could go for ‘Defense of the Crown’ and set the premise to a Muslim side with ‘realistic’ challenges. We could unite games, get us a more challenging version of Covert Action and now not a 1990 Max Remington in the lead, but a more 2100 (year) version setting a more Tom Cruise minded person in this. A game with more electronic events, mobile events and there would still be the need to invade embassies, but we could add a few challenges with a 3D need.

Whilst all are focusing on their IP (which is not bad), Microsoft decided to focus on its system (also not a bad thing), but as the console wars go on with their IP on the forefront of their minds, more is needed and as such new IP (or reengineered) with a more open setting is as I see it a first. You see, gamers want more and as such the streaming systems have a unique perspective to add Sony and Microsoft gamers to their arsenal. Tencent seems to have figured it out and is going for all four systems with their Tencent system. The problem for me is that I have no idea where Tencent is going with their solution. As I saw it they have the option to add 50,000,000 ‘gamers’ and that puts them far ahead of Microsoft. How that goes? Time will tell. 

So whilst I am still focussing on creation, I will have to do that behind the lids of my eyes for now. So have a lovely day and consider what I could come up with in the next day.

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October 20, 2023 · 00:32

The gig is partially up

Yes, this happens. Even to me and Microsoft apparently figured part out, part I had hoped to include in the sale of my IP, IP which might now be made public domain. I refuse to let Microsoft walk away with it all. You see, I made the second (or third mention) in ‘Ring around the currency’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/12/25/ring-around-the-currency/) on Christmas day 2022, almost a year ago. I had seen how gaming went and I made some calculations. Between 1985 and 1999 the systems Atari 800, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga had a little over 10,000 games. I reckoned that if you took the list sorted by rating and you take the top 10% you end up with 1,000 games. Now we get that some still have IP protection. I reckoned that if we set that marker to 50% (really high) we still end up with 500 games, a lot more than Amazon or Google had. The others are fair game, no IP protection and these games could easily be transformed for cloud gaming. Going from 64KB to 1MB-15MB is still a good gig and these games were really fun and addictive. A system with 500 games (merely one of three pillars). That is what the seemingly bright people at Amazon missed and I was laughing most of the year, knowing that my giggles were temporary at best. It was one part that ensured 50,000,000 consoles and alas Kingdom Holding (with Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud) were not taking the bait for billions in revenue. Neither was the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who was driven to eSports. But I thought ahead of the pack. You see eSports people get there by training and the younger they are the better they become and these games set up my and the next generation, so the new generation could do worse than train on these games. Still that was not my focus, it was a focus on fun. The fun I had through decades of joyful gaming. Not hopping like a kangaroo in FPS games. I also saw the option to reengineer some games (like Defender of the Crown) to be a little more realistic and more Arabic driven, a combination of that game with a focus of the 1st Crusades. Show the current generation what Islamic life in 1095-1291 achieved. And that was not all, many games were up for grabs, rejected and forgotten. As such the creation of a large coffer of games would propel any console and that was the setting I set out to do, but it was only one of three pillars. I tend to make the other two pillars public domain soon enough especially as my retirement in Toronto is now no longer a reality. 

There were several other games that required remastering in the new setting. There was Knight Games on the CBM64, and setting this with a Saracen style might appeal to a lot of Arabic gamers. The nice part was that I had played most of those games and I would be able to recall plenty of details and plenty of gaming sides, even improve on some of them. A setting that was never considered in those days. 

All this came to the surface when I saw ‘Phil Spencer Teases the Revival of Older Microsoft Franchises’. It came with ““With Game Pass, we have the ability to maybe pick a couple of franchises every year and almost do a ‘revisited’,” Spencer explained. Although he clarified that it was not an official branding term, he expressed the potential to recognise the significance of these games in gaming history and make them available through Game Pass.”

Yes, that was the setting that gave me pause to think. Spencer does not think in small settings and as I make this now public domain others will come and see what they can have. You see Microsoft has committed 69 billion, as such making sure that all these games get multiple contenders all vying for a piece of the pie makes the slice for Microsoft smaller and that is not the only thing they will face. So all who read this, if you develop games, see what old games you could purchase, get the IP for or register the new gaming IP. It will be the first disappointment for Microsoft. They will have to share the pie with many others. The other side is that these people could get a slice of the game through the new Tencent Technology handheld. Another mess they never banked on. I had hoped to keep ahead of the curve, but it seems that this is no longer an option. The only thing left is to make these steps as expensive as possible for Microsoft. They invested to get a mile, so if I can make the setting so that they merely get a furlong it will be a good day for me, or at least a better day than it was this morning. So here you see it, this is what Amazon and Google missed. Well, it was one of three parts they missed and I wonder if someone over there will wake up at some point. 

Enjoy the day, I will enter Friday being decently grumpy today.

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September 21, 2023 · 13:13

Look back in yearning

This happens and weirdly enough it hit me a few hours ago. You see a few days ago I started to replay Hogwarts Legacy again (third time). I started as Ravenclaw (I like blue), then Hufflepuff and now Slytherin. You see, Gryffindor is the least interesting house as Harry-the-Snape-sycophant-Potter has been showing us that house for 8 movies, so that place is last. And my view remains, yet there is some doubling up as you replay the game, but the game is a true work of love the houses and their common rooms show that part. There is not one better house, but there is a house for every HP fan and it is a great game. I truly hope that DLC’s or an additional game is not far away (like somewhere in 2024). I do not car about the haters and their views of JK Rowling. I never heard what she said, I do not care what her believes are. We all have believes and some opposes ours directly. That will always happen and dumping a perfectly good piece of IP (one she did not create) is just insane. 

Yet that point also woke up part of me that I missed. You see, I am not much of a racing fan. I enjoy a race, I enjoy some realism and I have enjoyed an F1 game in the past, but it is all ‘too realistic’ and I am not racer. I loved Ridge racer on my PSP, yet one title always stood out. 

It was Need for Speed Underground by Electronic Arts I loved even more. I loved it because it was more like arcade (Outrun example) racing games. Need for speed had a few additional sides that gave it the flair I enjoyed and when we look at the games nowadays, it is all about ‘realism’. Don’t get me wrong, Grand Turismo and Forza are amazing games and they have their own following. But these two lack an arcade setting (for lack of a better term). As such we forgot about Need for Speed and that is a shame. I didn’t like what they produced afterwards, it was too much about short term adrenaline rushes. But that game took my feelings back to 1982, Pole Position on the Commodore 64 which got an 85% score. 

In addition there was 1990 when we were given Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge by Gremlin graphics (85% rating). Yes, graphically there are much better graphics now, but these two games brought fun. They brought fun to racing and the games we see today are drained too much of fun and all about the implied rush and short term adrenaline events. Forza, Gran Turismo and  the Crew should take a hard look at themselves and not about outspoken claims (whilst ignoring tens of thousands of others). 

I believe that these developers are wasting a marketshare and this is about to become a time when marketshare should not ever be wasted. Yes, I see all the Twitter feeds on games that were released 25-35 years ago. Almost like influencers trying to get create waves at the behest of marketing departments. I do get that and I (for the most) do not care, but actual gems are left out there to rot in the sun. We are now in a stage where a lot of us have forgotten a game like Boulder Dash, a game that brought addiction to millions. The 1984 game got an 80% rating with “A very special Game with ugly Graphic. Boulder Dash is one of THE classics of the C64.” The interesting part is that graphics were set to 40%, implying that today it could become a 90% game. It was already a 90% game on playability. As such the streamers of today could have an interesting game that takes little bandwidth. You see, when streamers become of age and internet congestion becomes the larger problem (expect that in 2026) these games and games like this will drive gaming forward. It is about the fun and that is the part that too many developers are in denial of. I reckon Ubisoft has the biggest problem with that aspect of fun. In case of Ubisoft, I still believe the original stage I saw. ‘When you create a game to appease everyone, you end up with a game that pleases no one’. It was true in 2014 and it is even more true in 2024. As such these thoughts blended together missing out on arcade style racing. I wonder if these developers are seeing that part of the equation, because as I see it now we have the Amazon Luna developers and they can connect to the Tencent technologies handheld with their software opposing Chinese developers who are on the ball and could soon create a lot more ‘remastered’ IP and they could get away with it. You see players like Electronic Arts let the CBM64 and CBM Amiga IP expire and now the stage evolves for these new indie developers. If they can create a game that is distinct enough, they could create new IP and at that point all the wannabe Microsoft developers are set out in the cold (and not just them). As I see it, as I see what Tencent Technologies is up to, it will soon be another field where the US is fishing behind the net and when these developers are relying on their advertisement incomes, they are merely one step from becoming redundant and I reckon that Apple and Google will be on the same boat. Not merely because of what they proclaim, but it is what HarmonyOS (4.0.0.113 by Huawei) is setting the stage for and the moment that Tencent Technologies opens the door to that option it will not merely gain access to one market, it will gain access to three markets and when the others forget about the fun those others will get their goose cooked. If you think I am kidding, consider the advertisement (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvkMp0JuyPQ) when yo think this through and not hide behind the ‘sexy’ label, we see that Nintendo was right all along and Nintendo figured this out 16 years ago. Preppy and fun was the story and they delivered. In the meantime Microsoft lost a truckload of market share and Nintendo gained on Sony by miles. I like the ad as it is set against the PS3 and I had both (and loved both systems). Now we see that nearly all systems have forgotten about the fun part and a new market for indie developers opens up. With the streaming systems they can create for more than one in one go and now the others will have created a new competitor, merely because they adhered to marketing and business intelligence. The problems is that they are all opposed by a knife with three sides. That knife is awareness, perception and reality, the problem they face is that they are adhering to the wrong voices and forgot about the true fun side of a game (not everyone mind you), so all those developers forgot about one marketshare that is growing fast and is about to become a lot bigger and it is yet another reason why one brand is losing more and more marketshare. All because some of them disregarded the impact of fun and now Google and Apple are about to make that part even worse. So as the older gamers look back in yearning, the new gamers see what they are missing out on and they are about to wise up. At that point who will be in the top three? Sony will be, Nintendo will be and place three? That remains to be seen, but we now have another market where Microsoft ends up in 5th place, which is way behind the pole position they once coveted, once a long time ago. 

Enjoy the day.

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February 7, 2023 · 04:33

Brain switch

Something happened to me around 02:00. My mind was redesigning a CBM Amiga game for streaming systems when a switch went off. I cannot really go to much into details for a few reasons, but my mind went into overdrive. I was redesigning part of a game almost every 10 seconds adding more and more. Then the mind took a sidestep and went into overdrive. The results are not to be placed here for a few reasons, yet I believe that the impact will be global if my mind is correct (which I am willing to doubt at present). The ideas for enhancing social media, the tomes of advertisement and several other parts flashed through my brain. 

As was the first part in Unreal Engine 5. I saw in a few ways that it is a game changer and could guarantee (with the right approach) a setting that goes so much further than the 50,000,000 subscriptions I expected. If this goes right than this system will go to almost double of what I expected and that is something. If my mind is not delusional, this setting could break all records in gaming and as I have been part of the gaming world since 1985 that would be some crown to remove from my head as I retire, my mind has always been about more than gaming, in the 90’s I tried to advocate that gaming could lower the threshold of IT for people, IBM refused to listen as did other players and I was proven correct less than 5 years later, I was correct a few times over in the decade that followed and now, now I see a new stage, a new setting and all that could enhance in several directions and as my subconscious brain is trying to tell my active brain side that there is more I see more applications and a lot more settings that could enhance in several ways. All that and at present the only player ready to see what could be a stage 2 setting that gets them close to $20,000,000,000 annual. The Kingdom Holding Company has an option to reverberate all over the Islamic world with additional handhelds that could get them a truckload more options, but I need to tread carefully here. I need to retest and reset every element here, a player like that you can only approach once and I need to make sure that the voice of delusional greed is handled and muzzled, but it is hard. As I see more opportunities (in part thanks to the Unreal engine 5) we see that whatever this system becomes and who owns it, it now stands in a place where it can overshadow all other systems, something I never aimed for but there it is. I have been and remain a loyal Sony fan and my PS5 is ready to get Hogwarts Legacy which will happen in 309 minutes (roughly). But as I see the next iteration of what I thought out, the station merely expands and enhances and it will be my pleasure to hand the wooden spoon to Microsoft (should I get that opportunity). 

And still my mind is pointing out some of the past versions and what could be possible in this setting and the stage of doing that to a streaming system, I need to find my off switch, I need sleep.

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November 11, 2022 · 19:25

First of two issues

I had a rage attack today, it was right after some stupid set of saggy t*** decided to attack Elon Musk in a Presidential briefing. It feels like she is from Forbes. They have been pushing the Musk envelope. It is my personal belief that they are close friends with Jack Dorsey, a person they seemingly never asked any serious questions from and ‘the national security danger that is Saudi Arabia?’ Oh, I got her number and then some. But there is time for that and I have seen that death is not the worst a person can experience. It will be my delight to introduce that terror to her. But there is time for that and certain plays are not completed. But then something happened. 

A tweet brought Me back to my senses. This lady is totally nuts about Elden Ring. I get that drive, that devotion, optionally that obsession. I do not agree with her, but that I her right. I did not play Elden ring. I could never finish BloodBorne. I still have it as it is one of the most beautiful games I have, next to Dark Souls 3, a game I equally never finished. Both utterly sublime, but in my lifetime I doubt I will ever finish that. Yet it was about her feeling. I thought I had the same with Horizons: Forbidden West. But then God of War: Ragnarok came. I am taking me time as every corner, every sight is a feast for the eyes. I lost a few lives, but that is OK. The game delivers again and again and the story is magnificent, as is the music. I do not believe that Guerrilla software has anything to fear. There is space to love control of both Kratos and Aloy. Two amazing pieces of faming IP, this was a good gaming year and I am not forgetting Gotham Knights. Three Amazing journeys. Yet at present I am knee deep in Asgardian folklore and epic myths and Santa Monica Studios deliver in ways you cannot believe (unless you are playing the game) it is good that in the twilight of my life I can still be amazed by games. I started gaming in 1984 and I never stopped. I might not have the drive I once had (like playing 167 levels of Loderunner on the CBM64 in one sitting). I did take a sickie for that event. It was a time when you could pause a game, but you could not save a game. Still, 38 years later and that gam is still part of me. Games evolved from CBM64 we got the CBM Amiga, then PC, then the PlayStation range one through five and gaming never disappointed. I might not like everything, but that is not required. There is space for the yearners of Elden Ring, the obsession with Quake, Halo and Bethesda games. It is an inclusive group, the more the merrier. 

There is no hindsight, not a new piece of IP (other than the ones I already have). Many forget that gaming is not a business (to some it is), it is the ones that see games as art, those are the games that get the 90%+ reviews and Sony has a basket full of those, no matter how many ‘opponents’ troll rating into the basement. The gamers know what is what and they are driven to success. To achieve the end of the story. Anyone finishing Horizons Zero Dark can tell you about that. There is a need to finish the story and God of War: Ragnarok is no different. Do not worry, no spoilers here. 

Passing that line yourself is so fulfilling it gives value to a game and you will cherish EVERY dollar you spend on it. Today was a great day for gaming. I wonder if that is why I became angry at Forbes with its BS sense towards an owner and a partner who owns a mere 4% of Twitter. Which is interesting as the China hatred in the US does not give rise to the partnership that Microsoft and Tencent have, not even from Forbes, where is their national security interest there?

I am contemplating words I once got from Frank Herbert “He who can destroy a thing, can control a thing”, he published it in 1965, 57 years ago. Words to live by and I am feeling rebellious and frisky, a dangerous combination in someone with my mindset, but Forbes will soon learn that lesson. I’ll give fair warning a day after I have completed the exercise. Only fair, not?

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September 30, 2022 · 14:11

The union of games

This started yesterday in the oddest of ways. I have had a few thoughts in this direction, but I do not remember this being so outspoken or clear. It started watching YouTube. Not sure what I was watching but something got stuck in my mind. Then my mind was thinking about the Assassins Creed series and how they always have a bird do the ‘hard’ work. That got me thinking. You see the Paris and London areas are nice, but what if it is modern days (Watchdogs: Legion) and a modern version of Paris (one or the other), now consider not an assassin but a thief and the thief does not have one animal but three. So like the Beastmaster (1982) with Marc Singer before he started hunting aliens in V, a stage where he gets support from three animals. One on land, one in the air and one in the water and it does not stop there. With the chosen animal, he also gets bonuses and that is where we almost intentionally stuff the player. They get one choice each and it has to last them the entire game, so you can select the animal and get the bonuses, but you forfeit others. For example, a cat has night-vision and gives him a large boost of agility, a dog has amazing smell and he becomes stronger, and there is the third animal a horse which makes him fast, really fast and strong, but he misses out on the other two. The same for water. With a fish he can swim underwater without end, the frog makes him agile in water and he gets infrared vision and a third animal (undetermined). The same for flight. It would be even nicer if there were 5 animals per side, more options and more replayability over time and that is what streaming needs, replayability.  The city has over half a dozen storylines, and in this each storyline has multiple sides, so that the player gets to make choices and live with consequences. But there is more (there always is), it is not merely the skills he picks up, but when he takes the view of the animal, also the way that animal sees the world giving the player a lot more to deal with. We have seen similar parts in games like Fur Fighter (Dreamcast), Fly (CBM Amiga), and a few more, but never to this degree and to such a blending of different sides. It could be awesome, but consider that on a game like Watchdogs: Legion, but the map is now 400% larger. So in Legion the map was about 3.5 kilometres each side, now we go to 7 or 10 kilometres each side. Now it becomes a whole new challenge. In that game we could run from place to place, now it becomes a whole new challenge. And it is a much harder challenge as you need to find your entrance in nearly every building (or optionally could) the cat has its ways, as does the dog, but the other animals cannot be dismissed. They all have a power bonus and that matters in the game. So it will be up to the creator to also include some level of added bonus. The cat and the hawk combined allow for one punch KO’s, the stork gives him the ability to carry much heavier loads (they used to deliver baby’s in the old days) and so on. No one has ever made a game like this and with streaming new possibilities open up, even the option to have well over twice the amount of ‘open’ houses in the beginning and add to that from there. So if you replay the game a year later you might never enter the same building again (on a mission).  

So whilst Ubisoft brings you a new iteration of something you have played for over a decade, I created the foundation of new IP in less than 24 hours. So any indie developer who reads this, have at it and good luck!

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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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May 24, 2022 · 23:03

The edge of what could be

I thought about this and it intersects with stories over the last week. You see there is a change coming, but one that is openly ignored by some people. Not by the normal people. They ignore it all and so they should. But some want their life to continue as it is, to hang on to easy revenues a little longer at the expense of everything else. There is no real good here. The mistake was made by Sony in 2011 and again when the PS4pro came and now with the PS5 they still make the same mistake. I am uncertain whether Sony can (at present) correct for that mistake. They had the option to gain a huge advantage in 2012, but they decided to play the appeasement game with Facebook, now the game changes. Nintendo was not up to speed for a few understandable reasons and Microsoft only cares for self at the expense of others, so they would never go there. Now in the new setting the streamers are about to get to the same setting. I designed a few parts of it, I set the stage in my first IP bundle and it could apply to Amazon and Google in near equal matters. But that is one setting, the stage could now benefit Netflix in more than one way. Yet who does it fit better? I cannot say, yes a few items fit Amazon better and the idea of the Luna charging ahead sounds good, but the Google Stadia could face the same benefits and none of these parts are part of the additional 50 million consoles. There is the other shoe. I cannot tell how fair it would fit Netflix, but under similar settings all three could compete for that. But it is not about that part. It is about the other parts. 

You see as the game of gaming changes, the makers could adhere to the system, or they can adhere to the gamers and users. It is the second side that will push them forward. The system is clinging to the group of an ageing population, but when that falls away the game itself will be pushed into a new realm. Those not ready will fall behind really fast. In that new stage we have Amazon, Google, Netflix, Sony, Nintendo and Tencent. Yes, we see the claims that Tencent is not coming along, but a stage where hundreds of billions is part of the game and that is not including gambling is not a stage anyone ignores, no matter what they say. Whether it is merely Tencent, or a union with Huawei will be sought is not something I am aware off. But there is no way that Tencent will not be part of this. The part I cannot tell is how far along they will go. Will they be a console, a streamer, or a hybrid facilitating both? You see, I do not know any industrial willing to let go of a slice of $275,000,000,000. As such Tencent is a player, I feel certain of that. 

So where will it all go? There are several indictors that marketing and granularity will change. Meta is one factor, 5G is the other factor and it will all come to blows as Neom is completed. Neom will be the first step to clearly show the changes to marketing, advertisements and a few other matters. I saw this coming and as such I created the 5G IP I have. When the other parts are completed the companies that are still clearly in the dark will wake up and a rush will come. All racing for the same destination and not all will make it and now there are two sides that come to blow. Three if you reconsider the stage. In the first stage there is Meta, meta will be ready and adhering to whatever stage is played, it will be that flexible and I am not certain how or where it will go. Only the inner insiders of Meta know this. The second stage is seen by gamers and more importantly the streamers. The streamers are important fr a few reasons. They can become new clusters. Clusters where gamers and users are in charge, they will decide what they are exposed to and even as some will try to dissuade the consoles and streamers. The one successfully resisting will win that race. You see, the people have had enough and corporations are so used to the bully push that they will continue. Just to get their hands ‘in the game’ but that move will push them out of the game, there is no other solution for them and by the time they learn that lesson the hard way. The users and gamers will have had enough. They will of course cry like Chihuahua’s, making all kind of claims but at the end of the aged population they will be denied access, the people will have had enough. And on the third side is the explosion of marketing and advertising. Neom city might show the way, but they are not alone and that signal will show that there is a larger change coming it will evolve nearly everywhere, but mostly in metropolitan areas. And until recently I never considered that my IP would cover two of the three sides of that evolution. Which is also a larger weird part. Where will Amazon go, where will Google go and how far will Netflix get with their game streaming. All sides that give rise to questions, ones that I cannot answer yet, but I feel it is a temporary setting for me and after that I will consider whether I make it new IP, or make it public domain. In one part I like the public domain side, I have enough IP to last me a lifetime, some of the IP become public domain on June 30th if I do not reset the clock and I will watch from a distance how stupid industrials make claims and demand a seat on some negotiating table they have no business being at. They squandered it in greed and in the belief of their own ego, as such they should be allowed to die (go bankrupt) for that shortsightedness. A stage that has some repetition and a stage that is coming for a few too many of them, especially when they are no longer of what comes next. Yet it also is cause for worry. When these people are denied ‘their’ seat near edge of what could be they tend to become bullish, childish and they will resort to be the selfish people they always were, just a little bit more out in the open now, and still those around them will not act. This is why I like my public domain routine. It leaves the IP FOR EVERYONE and they can do nothing, well almost nothing. The only strength on my side is that I have is the willingness to lose it all, to make it public. 

It is the only thing I can do to protect the realm of gaming, when a company cannot own it, the larger base of players win, that has always been the case. The problem is that not everyone can see that. I do not blame them, I for one did not see it for a long time. I was never one for ‘free games’ and it all should be free or hacked. I believe that game makers are entitled their revenue and their profit. I never opposed that, but in the 80’s and 90’s games were more than entertainment it was a stage where the gamer was enabled. I feel that around 2005-2010 the gamer became a point of exploitation for the system and any digital revenue. I opposed that, there is no clear guilty party. Ubisoft might have some sides, but their need was revenue. I do not consider them guilty. Sony and Nintendo to some degree too. They are all guilty of adhering to a changing stage, but that does not make them guilty. There was a second layer, or at least it was my believe that the second layer was some mash of elements that pushed for a larger layer of exploitation. This continued until now, yet there is a new horizon, the streamers and there they have less power and when the power is pushed onto the gamers and users their options vanish,  that is my belief. There is a lot more and streamers can bring it to the front, the consoles had that option but they decided not to do that, for whatever reason they did not do this.

And now the edge of what could be changes, it alters in a way I cannot tell at present. Yet I still believe that the streamers will be at the core of gaming in the future. I will still play on a playstation as well at whatever number they are when that happens. Yet when I see what could be there is no chance that there will not be a streaming system next to it, as is most likely the Nintendo. Where gaming goes I cannot tell beyond a certain point. That is how things tend to be. I  reckon that it started when I created the foundation of what could have been The Elder Scrolls: Restoration in 2013. Over the years I upped the stage and set it to a much larger foundation. Then it fell away as Microsoft bought the place. So these ideas are now getting incorporated in another game, because the ideas were sound, they were merely precise. As a storyteller I can reshape them to fit another game with reasonable ease. Will these stories be part of the next edge of gaming? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. At times I wonder if pushing the edge of gaming is a good idea. But the edge of gaming was pushed by the CBM 64 (Loderunner), Atari ST (Dungeon Master), CBM Amiga (Dune 2), N64 (Goldeneye), PS1 (TombRaider), PS2 (Kingdom Hearts), Xbox360 (Mass Effect), PS3 (The last of Us), PS4 (God of War) and PS5 (TBA), now it is time for the streamers to do more than be the next copy of a game we see everywhere, now they can shape the edge of gaming that is not here yet. Only under these circumstances will gaming continue, evolve and inspire. Consider the old games and see where the new systems could take us. That is where we will be able to see the edge of what might be.

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