Tag Archives: CBM64

May 29, 2025 · 05:01

The secondary drive

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

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

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

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

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

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March 28, 2025 · 16:59

The mostly ignored stage

This hit me yesterday in between all kind of other stuff I was brooding about. It was set off by thinking of something else. As I was replaying Hogwarts Legacy, was thinking about the collectors edition that was released on day one and at $599 that was not. Leap I was ready to make. That set another track n the rails. You see, most places are lacking Power-points and some have solutions for that, but the larger issue is ignored. You see when you put a few things together, you start wondering a few things. With night stand lamps, office lamps and all kind of lamps in every room, there is a clear setting to have these places ‘illuminated’ with USB-C ports, for all kind of reasons. Charging mobiles and other mobile devices. Collect gimmicks and as such the average gamer needs about 10 points of contact. The office person has their own need and a few more. But color me happy, the big boys (in this case IKEA) never seem to have acted on this. I saw one part on TEMU, so why is that largely overlooked?

Screenshot

Now, this TEMU contraption needs a power source and as it is a bluetooth speaker, an alarm clock, a nightstand, a charger for mobile, earbuds and watch this makes sense. But most people (like me) merely have a mobile and optionally a watch to charge. As such adding a USB-C to most lamps will solve the issue without people have to find connection points for charge ports. And as most will suffice with a 15 watt solution, most rooms will have the stage solved for iPad, Watch, Mobile, and optimally enough space for the a mobile wifi hotspot. And in an instance the required need for 5-8 charge points are reduced to a mere 1-2 spaces. Most solutions are done with in an instant when we add a USB-C port to most lamps. So why was this never done? Some will say it was the price. But if TEMU can offer a 5 charging station with bluetooth speakers and alarm clock for a mere $15, I reckon that the pricing isn’t it (or at least not anymore). 

Was it the required brainpower that was needed? Well it seems that these captain of industry (as they call themselves) are in dire need of an overhaul to say the least. 

So where did they leave their innovation? With their marketing department, whist the marketeers needed time to think over the term innovation. So far this decade I have only seen one innovative marketeer and that person is the Canadian Ryan Reynolds (probably he got assistance from that youthful young sprout Blake Lively in that regard), beyond that there was the Heineken marketing teams in the 80’s and 90’s. The rest are mostly iterative players on ideas already phrased in some ways. So where are the boffins? The fact that I have at least three goals over DARPA makes one think whether true innovation has left the field and its stadium of operation. And that was merely the upper soil tossed, there is a lot more under the rubble and where are those innovators? They seemingly left Apple almost a decade ago, Microsoft hasn’t given us innovation for decades and mostly that is regurgitated from ideas from way passed. We see that when we see Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with the initial release date on November 19th 2024. There is no mention of the Flight Simulator 2020, which gives us “It is an entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series which began in 1982, and was preceded by Microsoft Flight Simulator X in 2006.” I remember that as I had the CBM64 edition (which set me back $299, and in 1985 that was serious cash), never regretted that move. It was the first time that I saw true innovation in the face of lacking resources and make no mistake, getting any flight simulator running on 64KB is an achievement. So when I saw the 2020 edition (I had the X version in 2010) blew me away, so seeing the 2024 version with an initial release data of that year kinda makes my blood boil (a little). To disregard innovators to that degree is not cool and it shows that big tech and their marketeers need to review what they think innovation is. 

And that takes me back to the present. As we see more and more items requiring a USB-C point, the idea of having this option inserted in laps (as such) gives us a much larger station for consideration. And the Collectors Edition is still desirable even after having played it several times over the last 25 months. So what will we do when another collectors edition requires a charge point and that is before we consider what other house smart ideas will grace our presence. Smart buttons, smart lights, smart speakers and all needing a USB-C point. So why didn’t IKEA (as merely one place) consider this option 1-2 years ago?That’s it for now, my Friday is almost gone, in Vancouver (the most eastern point of intelligence in the time line it starts in a little over an hour). 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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February 10, 2025 · 12:11

Time is on my side

That is always the question, that is until you set the records up for public viewing, then it tends to go your way nearly automatically. So even as I gave you all the setting that I was right, there was more. You see, more then two years ago I wrote ‘Girdle your loins’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/11/30/girdle-your-loins/) and that was AFTER I wrote part of the solution to a few people. I wanted to give it to Google three months before this, two days before they cancelled the Google Stadia. OK, they had that right and whilst leaving billions on the floor they walked away. Amazon (Andy Jessy) had the email less than a week after that and he never got back to me, which is also his right to do. Then whomever it got to (at Kingdom Holding) got the message and they never cared, or saw it as important enough. But now after more then 2 years (more like three years ago) when I saw the shift of sands changing a moment arrived (this morning) when I saw that I was right all along. So whilst people like Tim Cook (Apple) and Satya Nadella (CEO Microsoft who was never invited) are complaining about the harsh options are left with. I say, you left billions on the floor, so stop complaining. I gave that very same ‘warning’ to Sergey Brin, but he at least had a decent excuse when they dropped the Google Stadia.

So what is bringing this about?
Well, this morning when I was reengineering (in my mind) certain CBM64 greats, my mind fell over a message that I never saw coming. You see in 1986 I bought a Commodore 64 game named ChipWits (by EPYX), it was a great program with the option to program a robot with instructions and whilst the programing through icons wasn’t terribly new, on a CBM-64 it was at the very least innovative, as such I loved it.

Now back to today I considered that it was a great way to introduce this and add Machine Learning icons (and optionally LLM icons) to this game and give it a fresh start. So as I was thinking about a few things, I looked up the cover (see above) but what I found was also a reference from the original programmer Doug Sharp, and together with Mark Roth he is making a reboot.

Now this part is important as he probably started this around the time I made mention of this option (in my blog) that some true innovative minds got there all on their own. So Tim Cook and Satya Nadella take notice. This is what ACTUAL innovation looks like they got their on their own and they created the next iteration of gaming. They didn’t have to buy it for $100,000,000,000. They got there on their own $0.02. 

So why is this?
Well, in the first it was about me (it often is) and I foresaw this coming three years ago. In three years what ACTUAL innovation have you seen coming from Microsoft? I created a picture that left the ‘buyer’ with a starting revenue of $5,000,000,000 a year. So that is what. I recognised the field, I set the markers and I seemingly came out on top. The second phase would have been at least a fourfold of the first phase of my solution and If you look at all the great old games, you see that a lot is now coming. My favorite was Elite that on the PS4 is almost a thousand times bigger than the vector images of the CBM64 with a fleet massively bigger with billions of star systems (against the 256 planets on the CBM64) that is true innovation and David Braben deserves all the credits he is due, which is a lot as this was the very first serious game I saw on the then great BBC Microcomputer System, and I didn’t have to sob for long as it come to the Commodore within 2 years after. 

So when my mind went spiraling into reengineering mode, I got the idea three years ago for a bigger stage and I reckon that 10% of over 10,000 games that were published on Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari 600/800 and Atari ST should make farming for games lucrative. I got to 10% of 10,000 games with 50% reduction for IP protected games left me with 500 stellar choices, the best of a great gaming era and those captains of industry (Brin, Jesse, and Cook) never saw it, as such they left optional billions on the floor. I negated telling Nadella as there is no use in breathing life into a near extinct Dodo. They made their grave of mediocrity on their singular motion, or perhaps multiple motions of failure.

As I mentioned there are still a few options for Kingdom Holding but that is up to them and perhaps they are already pursuing this with Tencent Holdings Ltd. The next new player in the gaming sector soon enough. I reckon that is the moment that Microsoft either abandon its gaming platform or sells it to Tencent (as I personally see it). So that $100,000,000,000 anchor around their neck will be a lot less comfortable than a silk (road) tie.

For me? I doubt there is anything in it at all for me, but as I said, the realization that I was correct all along might help me to feel my other idea’s for a few coins to afford a new retirement plan. And the feeling that I was correct all along is just too satisfying (especially when seen against the Captains of Industry who never seemingly saw it). Even if I never end up with anything. This is a clear win to me. Others will state that it is always like that on the hindsight. They would be wrong, as I documented this and other ideas going be to before 2018, there are records. So there 😛

Have a great day and enjoy the stormy weathers I see happening overhead now (actual rain).

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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 23, 2024 · 23:11

Out of the blue

That is what happened. I had a stream of ideas out of the blue. I do not know what fuelled this. Was it reading about the failures of Ubisoft? Was it another setting? My mind went racing and I went back to 1995 and Tia Carrere. In that year she was part of The Daedalus Encounter. It was a fun game and I had fun laying it. But then a thought came to me. That game in 2024 could open other doors. Doors opened through machine learning and deeper machine learning (AI does not yet exist). The track my mind went through was interesting. You see, the movie world made rules for (what they call) AI. But this setting might not completely apply to games. 

Now consider the first stage of creating these kind of games using the technology complemented with Unreal Engine 5. We can make new versions of Rama, Infocom games, but now not as text games. More like Zork nemesis, with actors and actresses. Infocom created more than 20 games and they could now entice a much larger following. As the games develop new technology would also develop in creating games. The larger fun of this is that many more developers will get a handle on this form of game development. 

That brought me to the next level. In 1984 The Dallas Quest was developed. As such Datasoft created “one of the best games out on the CBM 64” and it held sway over pretty much the entire gaming community, even those who didn’t follow Dallas (example: me). We now have the technology for streaming systems to hold the sway of all who love this level of games. That wasn’t the only setting. You see players like Netflix could optionally create a new level of games using these technologies. The setting of of these new options could set in motion a new form of gaming. Consider what was. And now take another direction. Creation of these kind of games using TV series. Grimm, Babylon 5, Charmed, Buffy, Doll House and several other series that have been discontinued. Now consider the implementation of ChatGPT, and with a library for every character of that series. Now we get a new technology. A game where the player can be any character in that series and the interactions will shape the ‘episode’ of that game. That trend could be pushed forward. Now consider another venue of these games. Egyptian Musalsalat: A Social Construction of Reality has strength all over the Arabic world. Now take these elements and build the new template. An interactive game where the player decides on the route of the episode. In The Dallas Quest we needed to make choice, like finding the football tickets in the lobby, if not you get stuck in the game. Now machine learning will be able to avoid getting stuck. And the game can evolve even further. Consider the setting that Grimm has, millions of fans still love this series. Now they can continue their TV fling in this new direction. Consider the streaming solution and consider that I gave the option of 200 million consoles with the directions before I came up with this. Now it could become a whole new dimension of gaming. 

Oh, and whilst you contemplate how Ubisoft blew game after game and delay after delay I came up with this new idea (within two hours). Don’t get me wrong, this will be a complex undertaking and the idea to use the Infocom and the Dallas Quest first enables this technology to grow and to adapt to some sandbox approach. I believe this could entice millions more to the gaming population and it has options over time. There is even the idea that former adventures could be evolved into new versions on a new template in a new shape with new possibilities. What a difference a few hours make.

Have a great day.

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October 20, 2023 · 23:36

Elle Tea Gee

LTG or Long Term Gaming was today’s topic. It was a tweet that brought me to this point. It wasn’t entirely that tweet. When I created the foundation of Restoration replayability was the setting I focussed on.

As such the image made me giggle but then I considered the impact of what could be and that is going to be all the rage in streaming games, or GaaS as some techno dudes set their cap.

You see, would it not be an idea to have a blend of iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 when you play that game in 2024? And I am not merely talking cosmetic. You see in a game like Watchdogs 2, the phones could have additional power and optionally additional protection. Sneaking into a parking lot (one of the WD2 missions) could make it a lot more challenging. That setting is overlooked. It is not the fault of the creators, this setting was never an option in gaming. But now it is possible. For example in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, some of the elite guards could in 2024 be sporting Body armour by manufacturer XTEK. You see, games never had the additional parameters, but the new streaming consoles will be different, gaming will be taken to a whole new level making it essential that games are upgraded, as will be the need for more and better equipment. Before you start going on ‘that’s too hard’ consider that we see now what was never an option in the Commodore Amiga or the Atari ST. Games and systems evolve and now we get a setting where one system (a streaming system) will add new dimensions of gaming. I will not part with my PS5, I love it too much, but having a streaming system next to it will become more and more commonplace. Now these evolutions are not a given. Assassins Creed Mirage will not be impacted, it plays 1200 years ago. But there are plenty of games where if COULD apply. Newer speedboats, new model cars, new model nearly everything and there is a larger setting.

On February 13th 2022 I wrote “Just like the stage of combining deeper machine learning to a lens (or google glasses), a camera lens that offer direct translations, and the fun part is we can select if that is pushed through to film, or merely seen by us, now consider filming in Japan with machine learning and deeper machine learning auto translating ANY sign it sees” (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/13/looky-looky/) in the article ‘Looky Looky’ Now we see advertisements by Google iPhone doing that very thing. Another example where my creativity trumped a big tech company, in this case Google. Gaming was about pushing boundaries and it could do so again, not at the behest of Microsoft when they finish some new piece of software, but ahead of that software. People like Sid Meier danced on the edge of the CBM64 with Pirates in 1987. He did what even Commodore did not consider possible and he was not alone. We need to push art back to that stage and streaming systems are the most logical choice here. A setting where long term gaming could evolve and for the streamers (Amazon and Tencent Technologies) that stage needs to be explored sooner rather than later. When gamers see that they get a new dimension in gameplay. They will come and tip their toes in the water. Gamers always do and that is why Sony was scared of the SEGA Dreamcast. 

Soul Calibur was something that no one had, not even Sony. SEGA pushed the envelope and of course Xbox360, PS3 and PS4 had their own innovative successes. Now it is time for a new level of innovation and it is my believe that streamers could be holding that trump card. How players like Ubisoft will go about it? This is anyones guess, but I reckon that a player like Guerrilla Software and Santa Monica Studio are looking into that chapter right now, because the first one in will get the larger slice of pizza, that has always been a given and it is one of the reasons I oppose Microsoft invasion of the safe space that we gamers had. It was not about making gaming for everyone, it was pure and simple greed and greed will diminish a game EVERY TIME. There is no exception to that rule, which is why I am making a lot of my thoughts public domain. I hope to inspire and spark independent game makers. Yes, I had a dollar sign on my head as well (a person needs to eat and pay rent) but a lot is already PD here, so I will never see a penny of that myself. 

So, whilst I am ‘evangelising’ Long Term Gaming, the setting in a GaaS (Gaming as a Service) is not new and it will exist and it should exist. Game Pass was a brilliant idea. It was Microsoft’s decision to not include several games until 2024, but there could be a legal reason (I do not know). 

What matters is that I just had an additional idea that no game is sporting at present, that is not on those games. They were limited by hardware. With streamers it is a lot less limiting on deployment and physical copies. It is a different animal where we get a new stage, a new kind of food and a new kind of animal, but not one we have ever seen before and that makes it exciting.

Enjoy the weekend. Down here Saturday is a mere 1827 seconds away.

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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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January 29, 2023 · 22:32

Evolution in gaming

That is the subject of today. As I wrote a few chapters in the past regarding that, some people had questions and questions are good. But to coin a phrase, I just got you an evolution here. This is merely a setting, merely an example and I believe it opens up the game stage for everyone involved (mostly for the Amazon Luna). 

The game I selected here was Crush, Crumble and Chomp by Epyx. A game I bought around 1986 as a CBM64 disc game. 

As we see the image above, we see the map as the CBM64 was able to manage with its 64Kb. It was a big thing in 1985, in 2023 not that much and in this case we see the first step of evolution, we use the map that was used in Watchdogs 2, which also plays in San Francisco. 

Like in the movie Rampage we start with three monsters. Godzilla, Dwayne Johnson (oops, I meant the giant Gorilla) and the wolf. What makes this different now is that this game has three game modes. In mode one we are the government side. We get to automate (to some degree) the police, the army and the fire brigades. As the game progresses we get to enhance the intelligence of the government sides and we get more hardware to do so. In the second mode we get to play the monster and we can have a free for all on the city of San Francisco. The more damage, the higher the score, and of course there will be options to have a snack in the shape of Malin Åkerman, its only fair as she played the Corporate B from hell. It is mode three that becomes the stage, we now get to ‘program’ the monster and we got through the motions to make it as smart and devastating as possible. More important when it gets to level 4 (my mind came up with 5 levels) you can put your monster online and see how it does as others try to play the game with YOUR monster and that gets you ‘international’ recognition. You see, as I personally see it, the game that Jon freeman and Jim Connelley designed deserves a second chance to life and I thought it was limited at the time, but that was due to the memory restraints on the CBM64, now we can turn it to something real with real sides. Of course Ubisoft would have a large advantage to produce it as they created the city, but that shouldn’t stop others. Ubisoft has more advantages, as it adds Chicago and London and more importantly, as they add New York the mayhem is close to complete. 

 I would like to try and find a way to incorporate the music used on the CBM64 which was Mussorgsky – Night On Bald Mountain, it set the tone nicely and was a great choice to have. This took less than an hour to create and the library for a dozen more games are coming to mind. A stage that would service the 50 million subscribers in one setting and optionally the Amazon Luna setting too and this was not the best game to begin with (compared to thousands of other games). For the GAAS environment enhancements are the future of gaming and when Amazon figures this out they will be off to the races leaving Microsoft far behind them, as they should have in the first year of operation against Microsoft. Microsoft can buy all the software houses they want, but those with a lack of imagination will hollow out Microsoft faster and faster. Creativity cannot be bought by those who embrace fake it till you make it. That is how I see it.

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December 23, 2022 · 23:11

Unions

The thought took me by surprise. I had been playing Minecraft that day and the dream took me in a different direction, the merging of games. Now in the case of Minecraft this might merely be a DLC, or added to the game, but the stage opens up new directions in gaming.

To give you the rundown, I need to take you on a small trip. In my days of the Atari ST, the game ‘The Sentinel’ was released and I was happy, a remake was made in the late 90’s and it was awesome on PC, the music was fantastic and the game left an even deeper impression. The game is about a sentinel, it cleans the world, it rotates and nothing will survive in its gaze. It seems simple, but the 3D landscape is tricky and there are 1000 levels (if I remember correctly). So to win you need to get to the highest point and devour the Sentinel. The game is simple, but addictive and the PC edition even more so. But what happens when we take the Sentinel and make it massive, it cannot be devoured. Yet if you can get close to it, you could ‘attack’ it and get glowing bricks from it. The glowing bricks give the player powers. Blue will drop never ending water when active, red drops lava and so on. Yellow becomes a sun beacon. The Sentinel however changes the landscape it sees, and as such destroys your house, reduces it to rubble (with all the stuff still there. A rare event that changes the speed of the game and creates chaos. But that is merely one side, so what happens when we have BOTH games? We have thought of it and it does not always apply, but what happens when we have games from the same maker? For example AC Origin and AC Valhalla? They have implemented the cosmetic parts in later games, but what if we can push it both ways and more than just cosmetic? So Horizon Zero Dawn AND Horizon forbidden West? The games can be played separately, but what if we could unite these games? Add even more terrain? That is (optionally) the power of streaming games, streaming games will make this possible. 

It is a continuation of an idea I had in the past (and wrote about it). The original EA CBM64 game ‘Murder on the Zinderneuf’ now with a Bioshock look. Fully 3D, yet that is merely the start. For the Amazon Luna, the idea came for Luna keys, gold and silver. So when you play the game you could find a chess set, when found the option opens up to unlock THAT chess set in the game chess. It makes for a new setting of long term gaming. In addition, the idea came that could open up other games and other makeover of games. Like the game Clue, Harry Potter themes (if that was open to offer) and so on. In that same stage Assassins Creed 2 could offer a renaissance Italian chess set and so on. Not every game will offer this, but with every iteration that does we add value to gaming, we add interest in people who like to play chess to play other games. When you play the new version of ‘Murder on the Zinderneuf’ a game like monopoly would suddenly get an additional playable token (the Hindenburg) and it is that interaction that gamers will become hungry for and they will play more, enjoy more and experiment more. The power of streaming games is not unlocked for the simple reason that the game owners are merely looking to ‘copy’ their game on a new platform, to get more names, more players but no one is looking in creating better players, more fun and more joy. It is seemingly past them.

It is a stage that needs to be looked at now, because the new makers of systems are looking in that direction and there is no price for second place. As I see it The Tencent Streaming solution is merely a year away. The current owners squandered billions, lost the middle east and now Tencent is about to offer new options, new terrains and they will offer it to millions more. So how much of the playfield will Amazon surrender? Google left the gaming sphere and Microsoft remains useless (which they will spin in a direction like blaming Sony), but the truth is that these three players left well over 6 billion a year on the field and that field is now increasing and is slowly moving towards Tencent. Yes another fine mess they left the gamers.  The only player, who had their own niche is Apple and I have no idea what they are up to, they play their cards close to their chest. But they could be the new winner in the 11th hour. I cannot tell, too much speculation on that direction.

But the union of games is a natural concept in streaming games and look at how many offered that stage, the simple answer is none. And when Tencent does offer it, they basically become winner by default. It was so easy to actually listen to gamers (something Microsoft has never done). Sony and Nintendo were not streaming solutions and they have THEIR market. The others (Apple excepted) did this to themselves. Consider what you read here and consider what you see in gaming and then see how natural the ideas actually are.

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