Tag Archives: Games

Perhaps pirate plow?

That is the stage we see and we can go in any direction you want. I am not being mean or negative, because I have not played Black Flag Resynced and that should be the operative setting if you want to judge it. I have the original and I got it on day 1. So when I saw the ‘reviews’ stating that it is the most ‘successful’ AC game ever released, I went “wait a minute” there are a few facts that are ‘overlooked’. I got the PS4 on opening night and I got 2 games. The first one I returned the day after. It was the worst game I ever played. It was Killzone. It wasn’t my choice in gaming, but the choices on day one were exceedingly limited. When you looked down at your feet, they dance the jig, there were a few other issues, but it was not the game of choice. So a few weeks later AC Black Flag came out, so I used the cash to get that game. I reckon that is why Black Flag did so well, it was out in the first month and it was good, we can argue how good, but it was more than a head above all others games, so it had an excellent timing schedule. That benefit is no longer here. That does not mean that it will be a bad game, good games usually end up well. 

I had a few issues with the original (like music sheet chasing) and a few other settings. You see, I never regarded it ask AC game, a good game, not an AC game. But overall what I just saw is that the graphics are definitely improved, if it was originally 80%, it is now a definite 95% and that is just the graphics. There is not much more to say. I reserve my feelings towards changes made. I see that part as mostly ‘presented views’ on the parts that might not have been seen as great. I have the issue that there is too much fighting. A real AC game is taking out the enemy before they are aware you are there. But that is just me. 

So, will I try the new game? It depends on how the play throughs are shown. How stealthy is it? That matters to me, perhaps for others too. Then there are the settings of the new missions, the ‘altered’ views and the improvements to the Jackdaw. I get that a 100% transfer his unlikely to work, no matter how the graphics are. But the original game had promise, so it has the inner working for it to be a really great game and after 13 years there are all kinds of people who never played that game. So if you want to plow pirates, there is enough to make the cake delicious.

So whilst IGN gives us “Much remains to be seen of how well these new additions will be integrated into Black Flag’s original content, and how the game’s existing missions may have been tweaked, too. After years of leaks, though, we now at least have a better idea what to expect — and that July 9 release date on the horizon, which is now just three months’ away.” I personally have two issues. I personally believe that these so called ‘leaks’ are tempting data collectors on how to get a game more for ‘everyone’ and I have always believed that when you try to appease everyone, you will please no one and that is a setting I fully believe. As such there is a problem within Ubisoft. Either they have no security on their games, or they are testing the waters (for years) by feeding some people the parts and this puts the game at the test. But consider the rule I set as the most important one “when you try to appease everyone, you will please no one”, so when you see the ‘improvement’ to parkour running, what are they setting? How is that a AC game? It could be, but I merely wonder. As for the best game, we see the publications that AC black flag is the most popular one, personally I like AC Origins the most, closely followed by AC Brotherhood and AC2. Of course others might have another view and that is fine. We will see in the second week of July how the game is accepted and how others see this game. 

Will the game hit home? I am curious to see what comes from this. No matter how it is seen, I wish Ubisoft the best of success, because luck is not a factor here. 

Have a great day

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, Media

Just for Cat people

I was having a weird little day dream. I was in Abu Dhabi in the Warner Brothers hotel and a snow leopard cub walked up to me, making weird catlike sounds (like the sound of a kitten, not of a tiger like creature) I fed it three sausages cut in half, the little rascal loved them and purred at me. The idea was a just a little day dream but it got me thinking and my weird brain came up with a new game. As such, I will put some of it here and bequeath it to a game designer in Abu Dhabi, after all the Iranian attacks and the drop in revenue it brought, I was thinking to do something about it and it can be designed for all non-Microsoft systems. It is my way of halting their greed settings. So without further delay

The game is an RPG game, it could be based in the UAE, which makes it a novelty in its own right. The intro is the introduction to the game and how it is played. The person is walking and during road maintenance he/she gets too close and falls in the hole that the shifting ground creates. The person falls down on a statue of bast which was on an altar of Anubis. We see the liquid in the stature suck into the skin of the player and then we get to walk a little parkour of events including some scorpions, which you suddenly see. Walking, maneuvering and jumping. The game ends the setting that they drive you back home to your apartment. 

We then get a small cutscene of voices and the image of Bastet. It will be in original Egyptian with the hieroglyphs and English/other language subtitles. The story is that you were drowned in the essence of Bastet and you will be tasted and should you fail your soul is given to Bastet as a sacrifice. The walk to work is the first level. You get the sight of the cat and the speed of the cat. Walking is normal until you press the R2, at that point you will gain the speed and reaction of a cat. You already have the sight and you can see a lot more when you focus on something (with L2). It is the bare simple side. 

The idea that you gain a cats abilities when you get in contact with one. It gives the settings that you gain the speed of a cheetah, the strength of a tiger, the agility of a Savannah cat, the jump abilities of a snow leopard. 

The second setting is that you have to do a level whenever you get a new catlike ability and there is a part of what some call AI fusion with a cat (YouTube is filled with them) your looks adjusts to whatever cat is added to your abilities and shows you the new particulars added to your looks. 

There is more to come as the ability to change into your cat person, but can only maintain it whilst you are unseen. It is the simple part of the game and there is more to come, but with the millions of cat lovers out there, I think the game has options and it could have a future, but then that might be merely me seeing this.

So take in consideration a 3d game with stealth and it needs to have an action part. My idea is to add the Disciples of Anubis as the antagonist, which would fit the discovered shrine. The setting becomes how to fit the needs of Bastet to the goals of the disciples of Anubis and visa versa. The idea is to include a few more elements, the idea of Egyptian parts into the UAE might give a nice touch to it all. We know that “Egyptian influence in the UAE is profound and multifaceted, characterized by a deep strategic, political, and cultural alliance. Egypt plays a key role in the UAE’s professional sectors, particularly education, legal, and engineering, while roughly 600,000 Egyptians work in the UAE.” So, what would would enlarge the setting more? I think that this could work and I would be happy to leave it in the hands of whatever UAE game designer wants to pick this up.

The idea just formed to include the rusty-spotted cat as it is the smallest cat there is. Also the setting on which cat you add in which order is open, so that the fusion part will always vary. So we might be smaller because of that, and become larger when the tiger is added, but there needs to be a tradeoff, the large tiger is stronger making fights easier, the compact size of the rusty-spotted cat makes you ‘weaker’ against more powerful foes in direct fights. And as the game is replayed, someone will find the benefits of some cats better than others. And I have always been a pure believer of replay-ability.

I think I have more to write on this, but that is for another day. For now this idea is setting in my brain and there is more to come. So, not bad for a few hours?

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Playing the 5 tones

That is what is happening g, but how did I get there? Well, I was considering a few things, all at the same time when the idea hit me. We all want to give the ‘complete’ solution. But how to disperse that idea is another matter. So here I was contemplating a few options when I thought that games are the novel and most useful setting and it doesn’t need to be merely one game. What happens when a nation (like the UAE) sets a new station, a station of games and these games might be old, but they are entertaining and considering this also take in heed that these games merely scratch the surface of a mobile processor. So what to do in the meantime? And at that point I remembered the SETI screensaver and that project uses millions of computers to get the data parsed. So what happens when we get a game which in the background checks that computer for viruses and invasions? The UAE Cyber sections might like the idea that their work will be partially done by simple games. The bulk of that 11.6 million people that travel by bus, sit in coffeeshops or do whatever they do when their body are at rest. And in that time when they play a game, the background is used to scan their devices for incursions of a viral nature. It seems like a slam dunk setting for safety, I wonder why no one else had that in mind to keep their citizens safe. Leaving it all to commercial solutions? That is not a bad idea, but there needs to be a reason to do this and perhaps a detector might be enough of a reason to do just that. So whilst Trump is attacking the pope stating “In a lengthy social media post Donald Trump said the pontiff was “terrible for foreign policy” and was damaging the Catholic Church.” I don’t know the pope and even as I was baptized a Catholic, I know less then little about Pope Leonardo da Vici or anything involving the Vatican and still I reckon I likely know more of catholics than President Trump does, especially as he states that the pope was “terrible for foreign policy”, I wonder where he got that idea? I personally think that the last one validly got accused of that transgression was Pope Pius XII for all the right reasons. So whilst we see this, I casually created an optional solution for the UAE (and other nations) to detect that there is a problem. You see, there are those who claim that there is a problem and there are people getting the problem being unaware. This solution will detect that there is a problem and at that point you might want to do something about that (sooner would have been better), but considering that “The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently facing a significant surge in cyberattacks, with daily breach attempts tripling to approximately 600,000 as of early 2026” there might be a need to see where they are and what is being hacked. As I see it, this solution might get actual numbers of transgressions in play and then something could be done about it and these games could be distributed on mobiles, tablets, PC, Mac an other devices, but this part can see how deep it goes and it is only about detecting. When something is found the border of the game could turn red, giving the user the idea that he (or she) has a problem.

That took less time than President Trump taking his insults to the Vatican. What next? Well, the idea is here and I reckon it is up to the rest to act on this. It could be something simple like a Puzzle game showing images of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, games using the same images and other games what are easily created, optionally based on a CBM64 classic, requiring no computing power or memory and as they are free the entire audience would love to play them. A simple setting that is easily replicated and gives the notion if there is a problem. Seems like a dine deal the moment my words hit the mind of the reader.

Have a great morning, it’s almost 10:00 here.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, IT, Science

Learning from the lesson

I recently replayed ME3, it was because I have had the legendary version for a long time and I decided to play it on the PS5. It was a fun time, and it made me remember the idea’s I had for Mass Effect 5 about two years ago. After I played Andromeda (long after it was released) and because my funds were limited, the amount of negative press stopped me from buying it at release time (or soon thereafter) it wasn’t until I saw it in a bargain box for $5 that I picked it up, I was after all still curious. And I saw the resentment most players had I was oddly in agreement. The game was to some extent rushed, I saw other flaws. But there was a shining light in that game and the game illuminated a lot of it. As such I started to design the 5th game. To make it more appealing I decided to combine it with Andromeda, so the larger play stayed. I did get rid of the memory triggers. They made no sense. The idea that a trigger on an unexplored world would be the key in something essential. There are more setting, but that was the one that made the least sense. 

The idea was to set to the actual size of the Hyperion to scaled in the settings, then there is the ark (a lot larger) and the other arks will be added over time. The mission games stay at the same level, but trough the Hyperion and nexus we get additional missions and storylines added to the game. There are some limitations that are removed over time (and as the story of ME5 progresses) but that would eliminate the triggers and we get human, durian and the other arks. 

But this is just window dressing. The original did do a good job to transfer the battle settings of the game and as this is enhanced in the new game, we get other settings too. Eos and Voeld will move in opposite directions, as Eos cools down, and becomes more and more fertile, Voeld will warm up and do the same. The setting will erupt when Voeld will get its original life forms evolving in the game. But the setting will give us a few other allowances. But figure this small fat. ME Andromeda was created in 2017, it is now almost 10 years later and still absence from all kinds of revelations? I created this setting over 2 years ago, which does not mean anything. But as I see it, I created over half a dozen games in my mind and set some to my blog for others to create the games and optionally the lore that these games imbue. But the lesson learned is that these so called game developers are set to lose whatever they designed. Others take over these gaming studios for the betterment of profit and as such they drive the excelling powers of game creators away. Electronic Arts, Microsoft and optionally Ubisoft too. As some state “the gaming industry is undergoing a turbulent restructuring, balancing record revenues exceeding $184 billion with intense market correction, including roughly 45,000 jobs lost since 2022”  So corporate greed is endangering the gaming world. And whilst we see some (for now) escape that. One example is Guerrilla Games and optionally Avalanche games. There are considerations that it is now optionally too late for Bethesda Gaming studios, but if they unstrangle themselves from Microsoft they might have a chance. There is all almost unwritten rule that creativity stands opposite greed. Some will come with ‘but there is’, in the end they are either part of the creative cloud or the greed cloud and those do not mix. Consider these studios and see where they went wrong. You’ll see it when the cloud gets a clear identity. Consider the setting I voiced and see how I created some form of Elder Scrolls 6 in 2014, ME5 in 2018 and a few more. Do you think I was more intelligent than they were, or did they get rid of the creative minds that stood in the way of their greed? It is merely a speculative view, but as I see it, it holds water. 

The world is getting more and more aware of the hidden dangers of gaming and that is why the PC is losing ground to Nintendo, because as these gamers see it, Nintendo has forever been about fun and that is what gamers sign up for. It is followed by Sony and the rest of them have become an optional problem. Even the setting of streaming games is now in danger of being warped into something different. 

As I see it, the only solution is to give the indie world the ideas for good games and whenever that happens, the greed driven community loses out. They are too small for the game exploiters (like Microsoft) and when these ideas pay off, these exploiters will have to pay through the roof for an empty shell and I move on giving more ideas to new indie gamers. I might not make anything, the only thing I see is that I created more and more creative solutions and my place in the universe is set. 

Anyway, before I give more thought to the Third Horizon game (I already did, but I am awaiting what Guerrilla comes up with) and there is Bethesda who (through channels) made claim that TES6 was at least 5 years away and whilst that was the case, I constructed the idea of an Elder Scrolls 6 in mere weeks. Technology would take longer, but would it take 10 years? As said “Microsoft finalized its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, in March 2021” and in those 5 years the gaming world suffered. So what does it take to ‘streamline’ billions of gamers through Microsoft? Well, I for one am not ready to find out. Where Microsoft gets involved gaming suffers and as I see it Redfall (2023) might be the most clear evidence of that. As one reviewer states “Redfall is a bafflingly bad time across the board.” And the setting does not end there, the gaming world is in danger and Microsoft made it so. We might want to rely on Guerrilla games and other s to save us, but they are doing their thing and we all have to step up to secure our gaming world, whatever it is and I am primarily focussing on Nintendo and Sony, there are others, but to some extent they are already under the Microsoft spell and whilst we are ignorant of that setting, we are allowing another US administration to come for our sanity. That springs from the old saying “The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play”, it comes from Star Trek, episode ‘shore leave’ (1967). As I see it, it is one of the clear sentiments that has been part of all our lives. And there is enough evidence to support it. So we can still still until a new game comes along, or we can fuel the innovators in programming and gaming to give them the ideas that could relax our minds, I personally choose the second option. If the stage is set on exchange of ideas, this is the only idea that makes sense to me, as such I will imbue the indie game makers with ideas to fuel our sanity. Life works in unintended ways doesn’t it?

So whilst my brain is contemplating additional settings for Mass Effect: Emerging Worlds and I transformed Elder Scrolls 6 for other uses, there are a few other ideas that could use my time for exploring. I created some thoughts on Hogwarts Legacy 2 and I leave Horizon 3 alone for now, they created 2 amazing games and I will let them create their thoughts in a new game I would want to explore on day one. Still, my mind considered a few steps, so I am curious to see what they come up with. I am not the only creative mind, as such I love to see what others come up with. So let the world of game creators dazzle my mind by showing me what they can come up with.

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT

Redo from start

Yup, I went there, an old CBM64 error message. And it comes to us through the BBC who (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce84rvx0e6do) gives us ‘Great at gaming? US air traffic control wants you to apply’ So, why the error? Well, I had the inkling to go that route. I loved Kennedy Approach on the CBM64 and whilst in communications with the UNSC (posted in El Gorah, 1982) I was briefly ‘involved’ with flight following and in this case involved meant that I was sitting next to Flight Lt Wruck who was doing the job. It seemed simple and he was exceedingly good at it. So, I saw this getting done for weeks and it looked appealing, but then at 19 nearly everything looked appealing. These thoughts overwhelmed me when I saw the message in the BBC with the added “In a new ad campaign, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is explicitly calling for gamers to apply for jobs in air traffic control when its hiring window opens next week.

The Xbox one logo appears at the start of the video before dissolving into a montage that cuts between images of men playing various online computer games and people, including women, in air traffic control towers looking at their own computers.” And I have two reasons for not doing this. First of all it is in the United States and in this political climate and with the current administration it is the last place I want to be, although that job in Canada might still be appealing. 

The second reason is the setting that it is tainted by Microsoft. And with ““You’ve been training for this,” the ad says.” My thoughts go to “Really? How?” You see, in 1985 the message was clear, anyone stating that Kennedy Approach was reason to become an air traffic controller was given a red flag. I have no idea why, because as I saw it, ATC is something you either like or do not. And what games give you the ATC vibe? Fortnite? I can play that game, but I was used to real weapons and real ammunition. It takes the air out of the opponents (as they stopped breathing), but seriously? What makes a gamer a good ATC person? As we are given “The new strategy tapped into “a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller”, he said.” I am not debating against it, I merely want to know what makes the gamer a good ATC person. I personally would think that an updated Kennedy approach that gives people the skills to do that job, either with additional coaching or with added explanation, or with added settings and more scenarios. Kennedy Approach was initially a Microprose product and I loved playing this game. Then considering that Kennedy approach was insufficient to cater to this (it was merely 58Kb in size) as such an upgrade would be required. But that field could be catered to for Canada and many other countries. You merely need to adjust the settings of a 40 year old video game.

And if gaming is no longer a red flag, my mind starts cruising to mach 8 to get the adjusted settings to work. Still the idea is decently novel and could be applied to several fields. If I remember this correctly, the US Navy had a similar approach as they used Times Warner interactive to produce AEGIS: Guardian of the Fleet, or at least that was what I was made to believe. It was a tactical game and has almost no high res gaming screens, but the tactical screens were most excellent.

And the additional catch was “The ad also highlights the salary on offer to controllers, saying it is $155,000 (£115,000) after three years of work.” I reckon that this will attract plenty of gamers, especially as you see the the graphic card requirements that these systems require now. 

But this is not a novel idea, it has been voiced before, but the powers that be see gaming as a non-go setting, but in this day and age, gaming is different and it is real life that now starts emulating games, not the other way around. So as we are given new stations to jobs that are showing a lack of people, gaming is a way to get around to that and the funny part is that these people could get the gist of that job whilst finding out if this is something they might want to entertain. There are settings that work and settings that are less than stellar for a gaming solution. On that note, I failed the doctor test in 1985 (The Surgeon decided I was never going to be a doctor) And we can consider more pressing approaches but it is all between your two ears (the brain). And whilst we think that Kennedy Approach is a good way to see if you could make it as an ATC’er. There are plenty of other sides. Silent Service is not the way to find a sub commander. 

Yet, seriously, did it take 40 years to go from red flag to gamers are welcome? Or is the need for more ATC’ers now too pressing that they will consider all options? This is a serious question, because the underlying setting is that if there are no ATC’ers, flights will have to be cancelled. That is the real question that is part of that. I am fine with the idea that those who scored great in Kennedy Approach (or whatever is now the closest to an ATC screen) are set for a career in ATC at the FAA. But there are questions, because as this approach comes from 2021 under President Biden and we are given “The FAA said last year that it would be considered fully staffed with 14,663 active controllers. It was at least 3,000 controllers short at the time and said twice that many controllers were expected to leave their roles by 2028.” The setting that airports would be short of ATC’ers and the station that hundreds of flights would be cancelled if this is not resolved is not without its own set of cascade failures of flights required. It would be the next massive joke if ground crews are stopping flight crew from getting the job done. And there are additional questions that people will have to ask, because there is no way that this is a setting anyone would like to be on their front door as they are flying to their vacation spot, only to be stopped because there are no Air Traffic Controllers available. 

Yes, sarcasms slaps you it becomes irony and I am not being the doom speaker, merely a person who wants a clear understanding and personally it is too late for me (about 25 years too late) but I kinda like that gaming could invigorate a class of people to take up a new career. 

So have a great day, my Monday started 40 minutes ago.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, Media, Science

Who sets the stage?

That is at times and particularly now the question. Metro UK gives us ‘Sony has not choice but to release the PS6 in 2027 but it’s huge risk’, first of all, who decides this? Metro? The audience? I think it is up to Sony to decide this and I am open to a release of the PS6 at some time. But at present, my PS5 (the non-pro edition) is doing ints bit right and proper and as I see it, there is only the Nintendo that is a possible ‘threat’ and I see no reason why the Sony people cannot have a Nintendo Switch (1 or 2) next to it. I still have my PS4pro as well. Both are behaving particularly nice. So what gives? Games? The ones that are coming in 2026 are well adjusted to the PS5 and so is are the ones also facilitating to the PS4. So why would we need a PS6?

Don’t get me wrong I would be happy to have one if there are games that go way beyond the need of the PS5pro, but the only games that might (might being a stretch) get to the edge of the PS5 pro are allegedly Wolverine and optionally Horizons 3.

I imagine a setting where the PS6 could be the Horizon start tile, but I would love to see this release with the trilogy release with Zero Dawn, Frozen Wastes, Forbidden West and Burning Shores as part of this trilogy release. These would be a must for all PS6 gamers. But is that the case? Is Horizons 3 running at the edge of what is possible on the PS5pro? I doubt it, because the makers made it to run on the PS4 pro like a Swiss watch. Wolverine is still not in a golden status, as such it is possible and we see what is possible and we love it, but is it demanding a PS6?

So where does metro come with ‘Sony has no choice’? As is see it, Sony has plenty of options, especially as Microsoft dropped the bal and their balls on the gaming industry, Sony has plenty of choice so whilst wee are given “Namely, if there’s the demand businesses will produce the commodity to satisfy it and if not, they won’t (or else go under). But things are rarely that simple and Sony are its proof.” So this is called an idiots premise. The business doesn’t demand, teenagers without money desire it, that is not a demand, it is folly. And whilst we see that there are teenagers making demand, it is seemingly merely the people who trusted Microsoft for all the wrong reasons. They are not even steam deck masters. So whilst Metro needs to give a real reason (best with supporting data) there is the setting that we filter out the wannabe’s without cash, which takes care of allegedly several millions of wannabe’s.

Oh, and there is another side, whilst many are awaiting Hogwarts Legacy 2, there is every chance that this will require a non pro PS5 to run smoothly. So whilst many gamers are now looking in getting the additional Nintendo Switch 2, we see that the gaming era is changing. Now that Microsoft is likely leaving the scene, the actual gamers will focus on enlarging their focal points. Some will get a steam deck, see will add Nintendo to their domain, but the Sony domain is clear, it is set and it is in that gamers life. I have my PS5 and I am happy beyond believe. At some point I will consider the PS5pro, but at present, my PS5 is doing what it needs to do and it does it well. 

I am merely wondering if WW3 comes to town if I can still play my console if I am glowing in the dark. There is a lesson here, but I cannot see it. No matter what happens, I got Aloy to come out of the forbidden west victoriously even with the plus game requirements largely filled. So will we get a new Hogwarts? Likely but not before 2027, as such the need for a PS6 before 2028 is likely ludicrous and that makes sense. 

Consider the following timelines:
PS3 – November 2006
PS4 – November 2015
PS5 – November 2020

As such there will not be a PS6 before 2028, but there is another level and we are forgetting that. The games, we can see that the games pushed the hardware, only when we saw The last of us on PS3 did we realise that the limits of the PS3 were reached and it showed its superiority again on the PS4. Zero Dawn did the same for the PS4 in 2017 and that was proven the moment the PS5 appeared. I reckon that we will see several games that will push the PS5 (or PS5pro) to the limits. There is a chance that Wolverine will push those limits, but it is unlikely. The PS5 is just too powerful, but that doesn’t mean that Insomniac won’t reach these limits. Time will tell, and that will give us a real anticipated release date. Still the games are only part of this and the sudden chance of a war will also stop these hardware frolics from becoming reality (that and this so called fake AI). We see escalations and the demand for more and better stuff comes when limits are reached and as I personally see it, the PS5 is nowhere near these limits. These limits are not reached because some developer thinks he needs them, he get there by delivering short of where he wanted to get and that require people like Hideo Kojima flexing his muscles, only to realise that he cannot flex them any further. I this trend I have only seen Mathijs de Jonge (Guerrilla Games) and John Blackburn (Avalanche Software) get there in the last 20 years and they seemingly have not reached the limits of the PS5, so we have time. 

As I see it, Sony has choice and plenty of time. They merely need to keep the gamers on the 92.2 million PlayStation 5 happy and as I see it, we are plenty happy. The offside of the cow that influencers try to persuade there is require data and they cannot hand is data, merely conjecture (if at all). Metro UK should keep that in mind. We are happy because we get to play the games and we would like to play more games, so players like Bethesda and Ubisoft might remake some of their games for the PS5, it does help, but it would be better if they consider making games that will genuinely take us to the edge of the PS5, only then when we have these titles and we are considering that it could have gone further will we see the impending need of the PS6. 

Have a great day gaming today on whatever system you like to game on. My weekend ends in 87 minutes, darn.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT, Science

To match an equal

That has been on my mind for a while. You see, Nintendo has Mario Kart and no one has anything to offer against that. Now, that is nothing to be ashamed of. Mario Kart has its own following, I like Mario Kart. But it is a shame that Sony never had its equal on that. A racing game with a little fun. On the SEGA Dreamcast there was Wacky Races and as I was watching some pages, I saw that this original cartoon still has its own following. Even now, after 54 years there are plenty of people that like this cartoon and what is there not to like?

So even as I loved the gamed on the dreamcast, I am proposing that Sony (preferably) makes a few alteration. Not on the graphics or the cars, that is fine, but the setting of the tracks. Especially as the PS5/PS6 have a lot more power than the Dreamcast had 16 MB RAM, 8 MB video RAM, and 2 MB audio RAM, running on a Hitachi SH-4 @ 200 MHz, which had 480 MIPS. The PS5 has 16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM running on a 8-core AMD Zen 2, which has a multitude of the ability of the 

Hitachi SH-4. As such a lot more is possible. So as we consider that Wacky races could really take of on the PlayStation, the setting of this game could be made a lot more rewarding. 

As I see it, the game allows you (in single player mode) to select you first car. This has a consequence. The Roaring plenty gives you the track Chicago to Detroit, The army surplus gives you the track Ft Worth to Houston (Texas), the Varoom gives you the track Los Angeles to San Francisco and so on. And the second setting is that you unlock the track, but if you win that route, you also unlock the number two and three in that race. So you unlock a track with a new racer and you unlock racers by winning. As such you get to expand both elements in that game. Now for the tracks, they are ‘cartooned’ but they are the real roads that these distances have, with optional fuel points and garage locations (for repair and weapons and defense refueling) and as these races continue the game also have a level setting, the beginners level has more fuel and garages and only 50% of the distance, as you go up in levels there will be less garages, so you have to be clever with the attacks, defense is less affected, but there is a limit to what you can counter. 

This setting might take some tweaking, but the setting gives us 11 cars.

#1: The Bouldermobile (running from Santa Fe to Las Cruces) 
#2: The Creepy Coupe
#3: The Convert-a-Car
#4: The Crimson Haybaler
#5: The Compact Pussycat (Penelope Pitstop, running from New York to Providence)
#6: The Army Surplus Special (Running from Ft Worth to Houston)
#7: The Bulletproof Bomb (The Anthill Mob, running from Chicago to Detroit)
#8: The Arkansas Chugabug
#9: The Turbo Terrific (running from Los Angeles, to San Francisco)
#10: The Buzzwagon (running from Calgary to Edmonton)
Finally the #00: The Mean Machine (Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica)

I set out a few tracks, but not all are here. The idea that the game has growth in other ways too could give it the success boost it could. As Deeper Machine Learning sets the roads in a more cartoon way might also simplify what the developers need to do. It also allows for expansions over time. Because new cups could result in new tracks in other regions. I believe that this could be a worthy competitor to Mario Kart and optional other games that offer this entertainment. In this I feel strongly that Mario Kart has a unique place in the gaming world and without attacking this, others could have a real chance in appealing to their audience. 

Will it work? I believe so, but in the end it will be up to the designer of this renewed Wacky Races to appeal to their audience. 

Have a great day, optionally racing route 66.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT

Adding the plus sign

It started the day before yesterday. I was looking at an image of a plague doctor, a back leather mask with it’s raven beak. I remember the scent of garlic in the beak, it was a clear image I was seeing. It caught on and my mind decided on the setting of the ‘plus’, not in the Game or New Game, but to set this plus on the NPC characters. OI would go as far as to ALL characters. As I see it, it has never been done before as I see it and there is a side that it could grow the game in its entirety. 

The trigger would be a ‘mundane’ and personalized object. An image, a piece of clothing or a tool and when you grab it you will get the image that you cannot let go of the object, it isn’t evil, but it seemed important. That would be the setting of the ability. To get to that stage you get to sleep. Sleep is the activator. You normally sleep for whatever time you need in a game, now it becomes the start of another part of the game. There you wake up in the body of whatever item you had, if you have more than one item, you will be assigned a random person. As that person you will have mundane tasks. As a farmer you will tend the fields, as a butcher you will tend the meat and carve animals, as a stone mason you will form bricks and so on. The setting is that you get to up the game from that point forward. The farmers as the game is will produce more and better crops, resulting in higher health for you and the NPC. The stonemasons will result in better houses (over time) and better settings of the homestead. These are the mere tread stones of the game. The stage that a better smith will make stronger weapons, more impactful weapons comes with this and more. The fact that an RPG has never set the strength to the NPC’s as a game is oddly ‘discouraged’ as I see it. But better settings is the evolving base of any game and in RPG games it is not ‘heralded’ as a ‘wanting’ prospect. But that is where RPG games need to go, they need to go into new terrain, added terrain and this is one way to get there. We all herald the creation of Horizons and Forbidden West is the current horizon for the RPG game to follow, but there will be more. I have no idea how Guerrilla does it, but they will. They have created two games in perpetuity that are RPG games of awesome quality and even as I didn’t like the end of it, I get that it was done, but what drove me was the fact that the first thing after the finale, I went on finding more. That is the making of a near perfect game. The near perfection of this RPG game gives clear desire to upgrade RPG games, make a more perfect game by setting the stage to new frontiers. It doesn’t matter whether it is Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Horizons, Mass Effect or Baldurs Gate. They all need an upgrade, although I am the first to admit that the niche that Mass Effect created is near perfect, it merely needs a better story and backdrop. But in all this, they never resorted to upgrade the NPC’s and that is the new frontier. I already added stories in the past to upgrade the game, but to set the stage to upgrade the NPC themselves does not seem to be considered. Why?

It was a natural escalation of any RPG game and this possibility was clearly possible from the stage of the PS4, now we have the PS5pro and the PS6 will be coming at some point, so to get to this point, we need to upgrade games as they stand. When we ignore the perfection of Guerrilla games, we see that the others need serious work. And why not? Bethesda created Skyrim 14 years ago, and for the most it still does the job. A game doing the job after 14 years is almost unheard of. Consider that in 1987 Leisure suit Larry was released by Sierra on line. And it was excellent gaming, but it faded within 5 years, newer versions were created and the storyline faded. It was the way things were, but were is yesterday what comes next is tomorrow and even as Guerrilla and Avalanche Software might rightfully feel safe at present, but there is space for more and whilst there is nothing wrong with these two games, the RPG gamer wants variety and someone will pick this up. Whilst Bioware is seemingly going on the same track, when its storyline disappoints, their stage will be set in an instance, not one they would hope for. We can assume that it is ‘all’ going according to plan, or we can push the boundary of gaming and as such several  evolutionary steps were suggested (by me) in 2024/2025. Now I am getting to the stage of advancing NPC adherence. There are plenty of tracks, but the the one they will use will remain a secret until they are ready to give us the Alpha version of their game. I honestly wonder if Bethesda will make the cut. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know where they are going and I have the greatest admiration of Skyrim, but where they are going no-one knows (unless you are part of the Bethesda higher echelon).

So all the others, the Indie developers, the newly wannabe’s? Where will they go? Follow in the tracks where the other games are, or will they seek out the new boundaries and create a game that creates a setting of long term playing and in this economy having a game that keeps you happy for over a year is the way to go. I reckon that soon we will see the merchandise cloth us in the setting we desire, I reckon that 2027 will be all about that and as the money becomes more and more stringent of out money, we will need an escape and gaming is a justified escape. That is the setting I see and I also see that gaming will give release to the people. Nintendo does it the way it does (they always do) but the setting of Sony (PC and streaming decks too) will need a game that they can enjoy not for a hundred hours, but for a thousand hours. Development firms don’t want to do this, but they have to. Consider that the price of oil now is $101–$102 per barrel, it was $55 a month ago and it will go down again I reckon, but in the meantime all costs are going up and they will for some time, so take that into consideration when the costs are rising, jobs are fading and costs of living are exceeding what people find comfortable. They need an escape and gaming is one direction that is open to all. Not everyone needs that escape, but the amount of people that need that escape is rising and it is rising fearfully fast. And as we look at the options, we see a mere 100 hour escape, now consider an RPG game that holds a 1000 hour trip. This is the direction I see and there is a much larger population that is ‘demanding’ the escape route of gaming. I reckon that Microsoft had this in mind all along and like the setting set by Don Mattrick with his disastrous statement “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity, it’s called Xbox 360” he called the play too soon and also in the wrong way, now as Microsoft is a fading setting, the others need to be cautious and consider long term playing. Because the setting for 3 100 hours games might seem nice, the setting of that one 1000 game will hold a much larger population and that is the stuff of legends. I reckon that Bethesda is still in the running, but others can joint that setting too and I am kinda hoping they will. The RPG range needs enlargement and that is the drive we need to face and we might want to try other sides on RPG that will be offered and perhaps you will enjoy a change of taste (without forsaking the other games). Yet taking all the elements I wrote about in stride and giving it a face in these RPG games, we will see a new generations of gamers and a new generation of play.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming

The old premise

That is what I am confronted with. I saw several articles regarding Ubisoft including one (that is not part of this discussion) about a person who opened critique about an RTO (Return to Office) setting and was fired. Not sure if one validates the other, but there you have it, as I see it Ubisoft is in serious danger, which is after I basically handed them IP making them up to a speculated billion is rather weird. But there you have it, Ubisoft is in not yet in peril but it feels like it.

The first article comes from Tech Power Up (at https://www.techpowerup.com/346598/ubisoft-ceo-spills-beans-about-2-far-cry-projects-several-assassins-creed-games-both-multi-and-single-player) and gives us ‘Ubisoft CEO Spills Beans About 2 Far Cry Projects, “Several” Assassin’s Creed Games, Both Multi- and Single-Player’ where we see “Similar is true for the Far Cry franchise, in that Ubisoft currently has two Far Cry projects in development, although Guillemot declined to specify any further on what those projects were. One of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed projects is almost certainly the much-rumored Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake that is slated to launch sometime in 2026.” So whilst we are given “This interview and the promises of new Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed games comes the same week as Ubisoft confirmed a round of layoffs at its Toronto studio as part of its heavily criticized company-wide restructuring and cost-savings plan that will likely see up to 18% of the company laid off in order to save €200 million in five years.” Well, that is the setting and whilst we can all argue the validity of actions, it comes across as being mere Monday quarterbacks. I merely handed them up to a billion in IP and let it go from there (of course I would never deny myself a very nice bonus, but that requires evidence and I don’t have that and should they consider my thoughts, the evidence of it are on my blog. But as it seems, Ubisoft has a credit rating issue and usually it is found by cutting costs. There is a second setting which you saw above. It is see in “2 Far Cry Projects, “Several” Assassin’s Creed Games, Both Multi- and Single-Player’” You see, when you try to appease everyone, you merely ending up pleasing no one. So to illustrate that we get to the next article. It is seen in the adjusted title ‘Ubisoft has ‘multiple’ new Assassin’s Creed games in development’, which is seen (at https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/ubisoft-has-multiple-new-assassins-creed-and-far-cry-games-in-development/) where we see “Ubisoft has been attempting to branch out its biggest franchises into the multiplayer realm for more than a decade at this point but so far, nothing in the Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry universes has managed to stick the landing. However, this week in an interview with Variety, Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, has confirmed that more attempts are in the works, alongside the usual single-player games.” And when you consider that €200 million is cut, the setting of “more attempts are in the works” as well as “been attempting to branch out for more than a decade” (adjusted) the premise becomes a little stale. When you try to appease everyone, you merely please no one. And it has been tried in several ways before. Sections of prince of Persia added to AC 2, and for some parts it makes sense, but the setting that someone has that feeling that “it feels like I am playing game X” becomes a disappointing feeling and that is the setting that Ubisoft keeps on believing in. It is almost that some spreadsheet BI people are looking at the results of 4 projects and contain the most lucrative parts in game 5, a setting that as far as I am concerned never ever works. A game is a story, a story you play and that is why Far Cry 3 was such a success. It is why AC brotherhood worked. And by the way, the Black Sail was decent, but it was no AC game. It was merely the only game on release date of the PS4 that was outstanding (in its own right) and that part of the metric is likely overlooked. So when I see “the Assassin’s Creed games in development are said to include the Black Flag remake” I wonder why, doesn’t that PS4 game play on the PS5? I actually never tried it as I finished that on my PS4 ages ago. Beyond that, the idea of running after a sea shanty was not my idea of fun, to much like some Prince of Persia parkour. I get that you might ‘find’ these sea shanties and that was fine, but running through the trees passed the guards (who will chase you) is just utter BS. Still the game had highlights and a few nice surprises, it was not a bad game, far from that, I merely never saw it as an AC game. But that might merely be me.

To be honest, after Origins I left AC alone and I tried Mirage later (which was awesome). And there is some interesting in Hexe, but there are mentions of restrictions. It is not an open world. I am in dub there, because it could still be a really good game, time will tell.

And there is one other side that Ubisoft is seemingly forgetting. These lay offs could become a new competitor and create hidden traps to what they are trying to achieve. It is the trap of creative corporations. It takes one ignored person to be discharged and when that person creates new IP, Ubisoft is out of that part of the game. That is merely how I see it. 

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, IT, Media

As the gaming sense enters

That was the setting I faced yesterday. I ‘suddenly’ had an idea for gaming IP. This setting was for Sony, Nintendo and the streamers Amazon and Tencent. The idea is to separate the parts of a game. The story, the stage and the character. It can to me as I was watching Battle of the 5 armies and that gave me an idea. The Lord of the rings gave me the settings of Osgiliath, Minas Tirith, Helm’s Deep, Lake Town, Dale, Mines of Moria but also Acre, Antioch, Jerusalem, Plassey, Buxar but also more ‘modern’ wars like the the war in Leiden and Rotterdam these are mere stages, but the characters are the ones you define from some of the lord of the Rings characters (based on, not characters as is). During the movie my mind went into the setting what an one man do? So you could be stealth based like a ranger (or elf) a close quarter knight like templar or saracen, German or Dutch resistance. The idea is that these settings are separate, even though they can net er ‘bleed’ into other areas. So, the first character is YOUR choice. LOTR, Crusades or WW2 and you select warrior or ranger and that is your first setting, when you get to a higher level (3 or 5) you get the option to get to an exit and ave your upgraded character. At which point time you get the other character in one of the other levels (or your first choice was an LOTR character you will be able to select the Crusader/Saracen or German/Dutch resistance) and you will ALWAYS get the other type, so if you selected stealth based in the first instance you will be forced to select the warrior in the other timeframe, but you get to select the timeframe. 

It force a more open setting and after that you get to select the next iteration. Whilst the safe will give you more health, a passive attribute and more weapon abilities. The control are slightly based on For Honor. It was not my choice, but it was a whole lot better then what we had before, but the sticks are for the left and right arms, and this will enable more agility for left handed players, whilst  the adaptive trigger is the action for that arm and movement are done via the buttons (triangle, Square, Circle and cross) and their Nintendo equivalents. It will through over the world of the button masher and beyond that I haven’t worked out all the knacks that this brings but I reckon that the left directions are for abilities/tools and the shoulder buttons will have another function.

So as we set these worlds there are more settings to come, but the variable worlds gave me the idea to have some kind of story which only opens up after you enter the second world the it will become enabled and that I got from:

It seems that this might open up other settings too, and whilst you are trying to find things in the worlds you are visiting, it might give a clue towards your goals. You see, the goals that are always tied to your mini-map are merely traverse points whilst the setting becomes the joy of where you are (an RPG quirk I guess). But that setting will be another level of acceptance and whilst this game could start small (merely three maps) a startup company could add the other maps over time (like three maps per month) And the setting of the character you ‘envision’ yourself as might be another setting entirely. I have some ideas about the story but I will not put them here now. And as I set out the game possibilities in under two days I feel pretty proud of myself. It beats having to read the BS the media gives us on what President Trump is up to now and whilst I do not agree with the setting that Secretary general Mark Rutte is giving the world and he might just be ‘appeasing’ president Trump, but as far as I can tell, NATO is pretty much ready for whatever non nuclear solution Russia is pushing down their throats, but that might be merely the delusion I am seeing. Still when I see the Danish parliament howling with laughter on what President Trump was sending them, I feel pretty much correct on my sentiments. It is also the first time a foreign government is howling with laughter on what any president of the United States is offering them, so it is not merely me who is seeing him as a joke.

Still, the creation of new gaming IP is more value by me and as such I got to this and setting this game in a 4K setting makes it ready for Sony, Nintendo (Switch 2) and streaming solutions. The idea I had with the 4 ‘time frames’ Tolkien, Crusades, British India and WW2 is important to the story of the game, but not essential. Optional a 5th setting which gives us Khartoum and Battle of Rorke’s Drift, Falkland Islands, Invasion of Darfur and at least two more are needed but that is a matter of a later day. Consider that these settings could be played almost anytime (when all regions are unlocked) it feeds the gaming need when people can play the battle of Dale or Osgiliath after they watch the movie. It is a strange presence all gamers have and I reckon that this approach might be the next setting in gaming because when the characters are ironed out, including a WW2 character with the wars in Iraq or Yemen would be relatively easy as the architecture would allow additional maps. A game that feeds the next war in the setting of gaming is one that has not been considered before (as far as I can tell) and it allows for a stronger presence on these platforms, all whilst whomever does it for the Switch 2 might gain 10 million fans overnight, but that is a worry for the maker not for me.

Have a great day as I am relaxing now with some ice water as it is 28 degrees now and 31 degrees in my living room.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, Politics