Tag Archives: gaming

January 8, 2026 · 20:37

Our lull moments

That happens, we all crave it, the option of bliss, inactivity, moments of calmness and we find it in different ways. I for one have this with a video game. Not some edge of seat Epic setting, but the Horizon setting, Skyrim, Oblivion, fall out, the list goes on. And yesterday I saw a list of two dozen games coming to the PS5 and some woke me up. There was off course Wolverine by Insomniac. I will be waiting for that one, but at that point one game turned up that I never expected The game STYX has as far as I know been a Xbox game and it is a excellent game, Stealth of the better variety. And you better rely on stealth as you are a 4’ goblin with his trusty knife. What drove me to this game that any level had several solution to solving it and you got points for completing other ways. It was a lovely time. Now its coming to Sony Playstation and we can rejoice. More important there are a few other settings we could consider. One of them is RYSE, son of Rome. The good parts is that the graphics were really good and the storyline was amazing. The two downsides were in the first was that all combat is massively repetitive. And the second one was that you had too defeat several bosses twice, after the first time he completely reset his health bar. I don’t like this, but that might just be me. So as I see it, when you redo the battle setting of Marius Titus you might have an amazing Playstation winner. So when we consider the funny part, who thought that Frankfurt had more to offer than Frankfurters? Crytek GmbH might be the next great thing coming from Germany, go that is an exaggeration, but the truth is that RYSE might have dies too soon and too small a death, so whilst some might object as it was released 12 years ago, I say ‘be still’ good games overcome systems and generations (example Mass Effect and Oblivion) and those are merely two who made the system generation jump. I think that Ryse could do the same (if the two weaknesses are dealt with) As far as I see it, everyone is looking at what might be (I do that too at times) but at times I look behind me what we left and there is plenty to be had in that direction too. I gave some of this ‘life’ in an IP solution I offered to Saudi Arabia and I still believe it can work, not merely for the games, but for the two sides of that equation that could propels Saudi Arabia’s gaming and other settings a lot further. Don’t be miffed Amazon got the same option, but they decided to ignore this whilst they are banking on AI (good luck with that).

So whilst we were given ‘Amazon Pulls AI-Powered Fallout Recap After Getting Key Story Details Wrong’ which comes with “According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Amazon is betting AI can identify key plot points for a series to be synchronized with a voiceover narration and dialogue snippets.”” Apart from the settings that are incorrect and incomplete. Amazon needs to realise that this is all programmed and the programmer might not see what needs validating and verification. They might not know, but the fans will pick up on this instantly. And Engadget gives us ‘Amazon’s AI-generated recap tool didn’t watch Fallout very closely’ this relates to games, because when these people get the AI part ‘working’ they will go over games in that same way and that is where the blunders start adding up to the folly of people who blindly believe in AI. Because I mentioned once that 2026 will be the setting of AI court cases and I was proven (yet) again correct as we are given ‘CanLII and Caseway AI reportedly moving towards settlement in copyright dispute’ as well as TechCrunch given us 8 hours ago ‘Google and Character.AI negotiate first major settlements in teen chatbot death cases’ merely two cases in the second week on January. So, how many more will follow? Only seven hours ago we were given ‘Musk lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion can head to trial, US judge says’ and all this relates to games, because last November we were given ‘Ubisoft Reveals Teammates – An AI Experiment to Change the Game’ and I reckon it will merely take one slip up to thwart the statistics of a player and he will be crying in the lap of some ambulance chaser. A setting I saw coming a mile away which a few people have experienced if they are stealth players. 

As such my lull moment gets blown away with some AI character, team mate or not. But that might merely be me, but what Ido remember was call on this setting months ago and now we see two being settled, whilst OpenAI is now entering the dock for what might cost them a pretty penny. Did those shareholders consider that this might become the destination of their investment?

Have a great day.

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December 28, 2025 · 14:13

Are doornails really dead?

I got a nice surprise today. I got a story (at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/2025-was-the-year-xbox-died-130000467.html), the only inaccuracy I think is that the contraption was dead already, for about 2 years. So I got to wonder. What happened to:

Mojang studios (Mincecraft) $ 2.5 billion
ZeniMax Media, Bethesda $ 7.5 billion
Activision/Blizzard $68.7 billion

Which gives us $78.7 Billion and it shouldn’t be allowed to go into a bad bank, that interest is still due. The last purchase was only completed in October 2023. So what happens, sell it to Saudi Arabia? The interest (said to be around 5%) implies that Microsoft is still meant to pay $3.935 billion interest on an annual basis and there is no way it gets to be reflected away, although I might advise Saudi Arabia in particularly Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi that he should not offer a Halala over $50 billion for the entire package. I don’t think Microsoft is allowed any leeway for their intentional stupidity. That being said, they bought Mojang studios in 2014 and they did mighty fine work on their Minecraft product, including the PS5 (which still needs the PS4 disc), but that is small fry. The result is truly amazing and the fact that it is still one of the most popular games on any console is due to the Microsoft teams and credit where credit is due I say. Still, as the optional spokesperson for Saudi Commerce, I think it is essential that the Saudi Fleet of airplanes need to be give to all its Microsoft 2024 Flight Simulator players free of charge the fleet of planes that are part of the Saudia airlines, which consists of Airbus A320-200, Airbus A330-300, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 787-10, as well as include the King Abdulaziz International Airport (Jeddah) and the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh in the base setting of the Flight Simulator 2024. I think that Saudi Arabia is due some VIP treatment if Microsoft wants to flog away their failures. I think that Saudi Arabia is due that privilege. 

I think if you want the grease the wheels of commerce, you better take out your best effort, but that is merely me speaking. This all started in 2013 when they upset the gaming industry, by thinking they could strong-arm gamers towards the Xbox, whilst they never actually understood gamers (I point to the Don Mattrick, the former president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, widely remembered for controversial stupid statement of “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity, it’s called Xbox 360”) my response was ‘Fuck you Mattrick” and I placed a handful of gaming IP on my blogs for anyone not Microsoft. That’s how I react and these people are still welcome too all that, especially as the Xbox is now dead on arrival, a proper vivisectioned console at your local morgue. So whilst the article gives you “Xbox didn’t enter 2025 in a great state, and it’s leaving the year grasping for help, like an Arc Raider player desperate for a revival after being knocked out. Microsoft cancelled the Perfect Dark reboot and Everwild, two of the most interesting games in its weak upcoming slate. The company brought titles like Forza Horizon 5 over to the PlayStation 5, which prompted Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham to declare he no longer needed an Xbox.” He never needed one and I did mine away years ago, it was just a dust collection setting and I merely held on to it because of Elite Dangerous and Subnautica, when they became available on PS4/PS5, the fate of my coaster to be (Xbox One) was set. Some regrets, but the Xbox360 was awesome, so not that much and it was my first setting for Oblivion and Skyrim, which I also have on Sony. We were also given “There was a chance for Microsoft to reinvigorate the Xbox brand with the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds, but the $600 and $1,000 launch prices placed them out of reach for most gamers. It also doesn’t help that Windows still isn’t well-optimized for portable devices with touchscreens, and those systems also aren’t compatible with older Xbox titles like the consoles. At the very least, Microsoft now has a handheld foothold. But a future portable Xbox console would need to be significantly cheaper to compete with the likes of the Steam Deck, which starts at $549 (following the discontinuation of the $400 LCD model).” But as I personally see it, Microsoft tends to lose interests in solutions that dos not make them shine and the Xbox had nearly rusted through as I personally see it, but there was the news which was available for about three days now and I had other matters on my mind, so it was a nice setting today, I was proved correct all along and as Saudi Arabia is vying to be a digital powerhouse, the setting if upgraded to a better shine, what was left of Microsoft games, might get a decent second life, but the additions to the Microsoft Flight-simulator 2024 will be required, although they might include it as a package deal for the nice price of $50 billion, not a penny more, including the Flight Simulator 2024 might make it worth the time of Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, but that is merely my view on the matter. And there is the setting we need to consider, the Xbox came to life (with massive help of Dwayne Johnson) and grew to new heights in 2005, it actually became a competitor to Sony and made Sony release the PS4 and PS5 with the immense upgrades. Gamers rejoiced and then in 12 years (due to Don Mattrick as I personally see it) it went from hightop to basement level bargain value. Still, I am not happy. Sony was better with Microsoft chasing its tail and that needs to be said and the results as we still see every day its awesome and as I see it, Todd Howard now needs to say the words “Elder Scrolls 6 is coming to Playstation” the Sony and the gaming world needs to hear those words. The Microsoft blame game of ‘perhaps’ and ‘we will service all gamers’ is disingenuous at best and not appreciated. 

So whilst we are given “Its partnership with AMD could easily lead to new handhelds, and it also gives Microsoft a leg up in producing a compact and powerful Xbox PC. After all, why should the company keep trying to go toe-to-toe with Sony’s closed PlayStation platform? Why shouldn’t Microsoft embrace its PC roots to give us a gaming desktop under our TVs? The company has already committed to bringing new Xbox games to PCs immediately, so the line between the two is already blurring. It may be a risk, but evolving into a PC proves there’s still life in the Xbox brand. And crucially, it’s also something Sony can’t easily replicate.” You see, the gamers feel betrayed by Microsoft, even those having an Xbox, they aren’t (don’t say ever in this case) going to trust Microsoft, they tried to play gamers and these players don’t like to be played, they take this personally and that is what Microsoft did in a few ways as I personally see it.

So you all have a good day and those owning a Playstation have pleasant dreams, because Microsoft just bought the bucket from Davey Jones locker. I reckon that this setting is hardest on Phil Spencer, who tried to do everything to make Microsoft gaming work. I think he did a fine job, but Microsoft overhead was ruled (as I see it) by Excel users and that goes against the grain of gamers. Have a great day today, my time for a late lunch now.

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November 19, 2025 · 06:26

Expanding all fallouts

I have had this thought before and I also wrote about it, not sure when a few years ago, but the thought overcame me last week as I was replaying Fallout 4 on PS5, the PS5 edition and it looked marvelous. Off course I knew most locations and had played it all, but the feeling of getting the upper hand over the wasteland never leaves you. And as such the idea of the expansion came calling like a good Vault-tec sales person. The idea was that an export option on the Fallout shelter is added and that is nearly all that is to it. But the tiny stuff (that Bethesda contributes) comes into play now. 

At first I wondered how to incorporate this into the current game. The first thought I had was is how to do this. The idea that a message via a fallout Eyebot is added, when you come within a distance of it, you can pick it up on your radio whenever you are near the Cambridge police station. It will be near there and the eyebolt has up to three keys as you can have 3 vaults in your Fallout Shelter game. Then the nifty part comes. Bethesda has a system to make your 2D map a 3D world. So how to give you a changing challenge? Well I was thinking that if you have only one map there is a 50/50 chance it is P or D (i’ll get to that), if you have 2 vaults, there is a first setting that the first is P/D then for the second is if the first is P you will always get a D, if the first one is D, you get a second chance for the vault of be P or Z. So there is the option of Pristine, Damaged, or Zero. If you have all three used they will one each. Fallout Shelter has 26 levels, as such we get 8 levels per 3D level. So that you have three levels, the last two are added to the deepest level. From there, there is one additional setting. In case of the Pristine version, the Overseer room will have an additional room which is your living room. So the Small, Medium and Large rooms will be set to that exact setting and ‘Bethesdisissed’ onto a 3D spaces. The only other thing is that if you have altered elevators, it will show in the new design as well. So what’s the setting with Pristine?

Well good question, you have up to three versions and it is randomly assigned, so don’t get any bright ideas. Pristine is a shut vault, as such when you open it, everything is new, Damaged and Creatures or Raiders have taken over the vault, the vault is mostly good and you get a new cleaning crew function, when that is done you can add and upgrade the entry point with all kind of goodies (turrets) and you can upgrade the entrance and create a safety entry. At which point the fast travel becomes in the vault. The third setting is Zero. The vault was destroyed (by unknown reasons) and there is an upside. They all have one legendary weapon and legendary armor, in case of the Damaged one, it will be in the boss chest, the Zero and Pristine one will have it in the overseer room (on a mannequin). 

The idea is to use DML to create a changing setting on how the rooms are drawn. So you can relive these settings in Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 4 (and Fallout 5) if they ever get to it). A simple setting to add materials to a game and I am surprised that Bethesda didn’t get there on their own. There is no way that scores of Fallout Shelter fans didn’t think that it would be so cool to have this in their games on whatever system you play it. 

So Bethesda, don’t say I never give you anything because you are part of Microsoft now. Have a good day and enjoy the challenge you are giving to 230 million gamers (Fallout Shelter was downloaded that much). It was a simple equation and I wasn’t doing too much at present, the AI bubble and the American Tourism setting are starting to bore me.

Have a great day, my midweek is starting with a nice cup of coffee. It’s still Tuesday in Toronto and Vancouver. Time to see the day and seek opportunity.

Fallout, Bethesda, Microsoft, gaming, 

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November 10, 2025 · 23:01

Opportunity lost

That is the setting and not everyone agrees with me on this. Gaming has been accelerated like the  armistice race. Some people in gaming having no real gaming life and merely a setting in business intelligence are chasing the wrong niche in gaming. Gaming is so much more. And they are missing it. Yet the Arabic setting I considered might take it more seriously (and then there is Tencent) You see, gaming is seen in all walks and sizes and When you consider boardgames, that never left our minds. I got into boardgames at a very early age in the Netherlands. It was called “Mens erger je niet” in England it was called Ludo and based on the iIndian game Pachisi. 

And now it is almost forgotten, Facebook on a blue Monday set a few of these games on their servers, but overall, they didn’t last long. But take that setting and put it on a streaming console with options for single player (against the CPU), or even multiplayer with a setting for up to 4 players. Settings where you invite family, friends or even strangers. And this is merely one of many settings. Then there is the notion that some of these games have IP protection. It could optionally be averted if not digital settings exist, but when we go deeper, we see that there are dozens of these games that have no real ownership. So why did no one take up the baton to ‘revolutionize’ these games? Then there are dozen of MB games that could take a similar track and lets face it, the system that has the numbers of games has an advantage. So why did no one connect the dots?

Then we get the life long titles like Snake and Ladders and Clue (1943) so what stops these game makers from using a small team of programmers to bring forth one game a month, within two years there would be an abundance of these games. Kids playing with their parents, or even grandparents. Playing each other and so on. What baffles me is that these Business Intelligence people never figured that out, not in the last 4-5 years and when you take a longer look at this path you will agree that it is not a path that should be overlooked. Yes, we all love our times in the Wastelands when we play Horizon Zero Dawn or its sequel, but there are times when you and perhaps others might fancy a game of Snakes and ladders and a streaming system will easily do that. So why is it overlooked? Why are these dozens upon dozen of games ignored? Is it a mere IP thing? Doesn’t the programmer seem cool enough? Streaming systems have different metrics and they all seen to go over the amount of data passed, what it fails to look at is the joy it will bring, because joy is the true metric of a game and its gamers. 

We are all looking towards the new strides, but as I said more than once, when did you look behind you to see where the new course in front of you could be plotted. Have a great day today, Vancouver joined us in the present day as it is 4 am there now and I am 55 minutes away from Tuesday.

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November 4, 2025 · 10:05

At the benefit of Riyadh

That is what I saw a few days ago, but as with all matters, the people who see the advantage do not always see what they have. You see, almost 3 years ago I wrote ‘Girdle your loins’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/11/30/girdle-your-loins/) where I have both Kingdom Holdings, Saudi Arabia and Amazon the stage where they could set the stage of an additional 6 billion a year with optionally enlarging this to about 15 billion a year (a cautious conservative estimate) and that was merely the beginning. I tried to hand it to Google, but the person I had to seal to was not in the office (it was in the Covid lockdown stage) and 2 days later they dumped the Google Stadia. So, I was depending on Amazon (and Andy Jessy), or the Kingdom Holding, but there I had to deal with   Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud. And he has never heard of me, so I was up going nowhere. And I get it, a billionaire gets thousands of ‘pleads’ in a daily basis and I don’t amount to much. I get that. But that doesn’t take away the anguish of having the idea of a lifetime (well 50 million dollars plus change) and as it holds billions of revenue, I was in a decent position, but over the last three years my changes has dwindled, even Tencent was leaving the idea in the ground and for the life of me I cannot understand why these so called ‘self made billionaires’ leave this much revenue one the floor. I get the idea that if it isn’t AI, it is worthless, but the sentiment behind that is flawed as AI doesn’t exist and the issues I raised with energy and validation and verification of data are showing a much larger setting now (see yesterday’s blog). 

But as Saudi Arabia bought Electronic Arts the issue changes. You see the second pillar on the story ‘Girdle your loins’ has a new lease on life as Electronic Arts brought some of the highest rated games during 1985-1999 and that is the focal point of a lot of games and as Saudi Arabia owns the IP now, the games that are published as Bullfrog will be worth a massive amount. 

We had Magic Carpet (1+2), Dungeon Keeper (1+2), Populous (1+2) and there is another upside. These games can be released in the original setting (with upgraded sound and graphics) and there is the setting that these games can be ‘islamiphied’ giving a game like Populous the setting to add the graphics of an Arabic themed land, with optional setting that added libraries can be unlocked in the game as you conquer the lands it adds a cauldron with a graphic theme and that gives the player a new stride on the game. And that is one house who had additional titles, as such the setting for Riyadh increases to a larger setting and one that brings in the money. Wouldn’t it be nice if (as I personally see it) that the investment of $55 billion will earn itself back in under a decade by additional means? That is what Google, Amazon and others left on the floor. And only 20 hours ago the Guardian gave us ‘Boom or bubble? Inside the $3tn AI datacentre spending spree’ with the byline “Investment in these vast warehouses is huge but some worry the debt-fuelled exuberance will backfire” with the setting of “Google’s owner Alphabet has reported revenues of $100bn in a single quarter for the first time, helped by growing demand for its AI infrastructure, while Apple and Amazon have also just reported strong results.” And still the media avoids certain matters as we are given “Goldman Sachs expects it to double by the end of 2030. This carries a further infrastructure cost of its own, according to Goldman, with $720bn of grid spending needed to meet that energy demand.” So double the effort by 2030? Is that a critical holding, because as I personally see it, the American economy doesn’t have that long and the energy setting is critical as is validating and verifying the Deeper Machine Learning data sets, an issue that is ‘circumvented’ by nearly all. As such I personally feel that my solution as a way around shortage of funds was seemingly (a personal view) a good idea to have in the back pocket and I was eager to hand it to Google (just to keep it out of the hands of Microsoft) but alas, I was not that fortunate. And make no mistake. I wanted to cash in on my ideas as anyone would, so there is no altruistic setting here. I am not better than all (just better than most) and now it seems that Saudi Arabia and through it I reckon Kingdom Holdings have the inside track on billions left on the floor. I wonder if they will make a deal with Tencent to make it work. 

Have a great day. I will dream of icy cold water (it is 28 degrees celsius now) and the taste of refreshing icy cold water appeals to me at present.

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October 30, 2025 · 19:21

Operation Hoodwink

Yes, the setting is virtual and imaginary and consider the name of the title, there is the chance that deception is part of this setting. So as my slumber ideas gave grip to this setting. Let me reveal part of the plot. 

There is a young man walking the street of X (near a racecourse) he is having a grand day, he will see his girlfriend soon. So as he is walking , he cannot believe his eyes. Is that Vin Diesel? And Vin gestures him over. “Hi, what is your name?” The man is in disbelieve and answers “Mario”. Vin answers “Great Mario, he have a little problem here, we need a few extra man here Can you help us out? It takes about 2-3 hours and you don’t have to do any acting. Merely jump away from a car speeding at you from in that shop. Can you do that?” There is a C-note in it for you and time on the big screen. In the mean time the coffee kart is there” he points at a barista kart. “Whatever you are having they should have it and you can drink as much as you like. There are even some pastries there. You game?” Mario frantically nodded his head in a yes gesture. He went to the coffee kart ordered an espresso. The Barista asked if he wanted normal, 3 shots or 5. He grinned at the idea of 5 espresso’s. “Five please, oh can I have one of these cannoli’s?” The barrister complied and two minutes later he was sitting in a cast chair with a large espresso and a cannoli. He was drinking his espresso feline mighty fine. About 10 minutes later Vin came back in the picture. “OK, we are running late, so you have 10 minutes. In 5 minutes we take you to the shop and we rehearse a few things, we need to get this right as we only have one take for this.” Mario nodded “OK, whatever you want Mr. Diesel” Vin replied “Vin please, Mr. Diesel is my father. So drink your espresso and eat your cannoli. Ill be back.” And Vin Diesel walked away. He came back 5 minutes later. “OK, lets go over this. It’s a little psychedelic as it is part of that movie. So in we go” and they walked into the shop. He then walked into the door in the back and it was a completely white room filled with rows of White plastic foam domino stones, 4 rows all having their own color. “So you will be standing here. And we will be filming you from that corner, where the little window is. You jump up to that bar, pointing to a bar in the wall. Can you make that jump?” Mario tried, it was easy. “If you can pull yourself up, that is fine, make it look good. That is all you have to do. The car will come through the wall so stand against that wall the bar is above you. Stand there for a moment.” Vin talked in his earpiece. “What? OK.” He signaled Mario. “Can you take one step forward?” Mario stepped forward half a step, looking upwards to the bar. “Are we good?” He gave a thumb upwards to Mario. “Hold on” Vin said. “Mario, try to jump to the bar now” It was easy. And Vin talked into his earpiece again “Did you get that? What? OK? Mario, can you do this jump a few more times so we have actual footage and if you miss the point later, we have something to work with.” Mario jumped half a dozen times more. And Vin Diesel looked pleased. “So now we check the light” they tested the light a few more times. It was OK. “So now the hard part. When you hear a noise, it will be a car going through the front window, at that point you have a mere 2 seconds to jump to the bar. You good?” Mario nodded. He never considered that he would be a Hollywood extra some day. “OK, I am going towards the front and get things rolling, m do you have any questions?” Mario shook his head in a no, it seemed clear as water to him. “OK! Excellent. The take starts in a few minutes and it should be over 30 seconds later. Don’t touch these domino’s stay there and focus on the light, when it goes green it starts and 3 seconds later I go through the shop. After that you have a mere 2 seconds, so do not hesitate to jump. Just focus on the light.” Mario nodded “Im ready” “I’m sure you are, your doing great” and with that Vin walked away closing the door behind him. Sure enough 2 minutes later the green light lit up and Mario got ready and three seconds later as stated he heard the car and he jumped. The car came through the wall, Mario was safely hanging on the bar. The car went through the room and the dominos went everywhere and Mario dropped to the floor. He saw the hole in the wall and he looked at where the car went. It went though the second wall and he was looking some kind of drone repair shop. The foam dominos were melting away and the bar had retracted into the wall. In seconds security jumped on him telling him to go to the floor. And Mario was more confused then ever before.

The stage is set and the story continues. Vin Diesel was a lookalike, the film crew had vanished and the car had no driver. Mario was in deep shit. It was a setting where the family of Mario had to entertain favors and the politicians were eager to help. It was a hoodwink to flush out the crooked politicians and to show where the FBI and CIA could see where the problem lies. Not all settings are domestic and Operation Hoodwink was called to figure out which politician and optionally which judge was on the records of Organized Crime. And as America was bleeding funds they decided to do something about it. 

A simple setting and as I am flooded with 3 projects any Canadian film maker that sees light in this. Feel free to use this idea. Have a great day and it is time for me to look deeper at at my next project (working on it) and as it mostly plays in New Orleans, I need to rely on Google Maps (I have never been to New Orleans). Anyway, that is it for me for today.

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October 30, 2025 · 00:06

Adjustments

We all have them, we all make them, throughout our lives, throughout our careers and I am no different. For me two are essential, one out of my control, one less so. So as I have written 3,650 articles I have adjusted myself a few times. I do not hold ‘evidence’ in possession. Like you I am largely depending on the media giving us the truth, preferably presenting the news without referring to it as ‘entertainment’, I reckon they do this to make themselves less liable and hide behind their own (can I call this) stupidity. Over the decades (and 3650 articles) I have grown a certain healthy dislike to Microsoft. They largely did this to themselves, they lack innovation, they employ whatever spin engine they can get a hold of and that is merely the beginning. I had a few encounters with them (largely professionally) and from that a certain view was grown. But I too have to adjust myself. In gaming my first encounter with Microsoft was 1985 (or there about). I had just bought my Commodore 64 (with 1541 disk drive) and it set me back $1,500 which was a lot of money in 1985. One of the first things I bought was the Flight Simulator 2 for $149. It came with a massive manual and 4 maps and one 360KB floppy.

This is what I saw in the first instance (I had no screenshot of Chicago) and it was amazing. A almost setting of high tech fly by wire on a CBM64 and Microsoft made it possible for only $149. Now, of course my view is adjusted (a lot) and it does not have the pull and appeal it had in 1985. But the ‘magic’ was there. And Microsoft didn’t stop there. Almost a week ago I saw (at https://youtube.com/shorts/Aw22TS573Jo?si=NrKuT1pzmLrQm3OQ), I actually saw another landing but the gist of it is clear. They came a long way from 1985 and at present (as I see it) the difference between real life and the FS2024 is close to zero. Yes you can see certain ‘irregularities’ when getting over the houses around LAX, but I was just amazed how close to real it was. 

Now, I get that the opinion of a real pilot and a real fan of flight simulators might have an opinion that is different from me, but I am not a pilot and I reckon that my opinion does not carry any weight (it really does not), but when you consider that this program is now $129 you get 40 years of evolution and pay $20 less. And I say that this is almost as good as it gets (flying for real might be better). 

This is one Microsoft actually got right and that needs to be said too. OK, I get that some will say that the Microsoft tally system (Excel) is a good product as well, I do not deny this, I merely think that too many think it is the bees knees and that is a slight exaggeration.

But there is no denying that the FS2024 is for a lack of better terms the Apex predator of Flight simulators. There is no requirement to adjust my views here. They got that right and it shows from the very first moment that this product is shown. So whilst the actual Microsoft haters will call this a rubbish version. I am not one of them. I saw several YouTube videos and the setting is clear. There is no competition against the FS2024. I reckon that the pentagon will not be able to throw any simulator our way (optionally merely with military vehicles, know as jets) to show that they are better then whatever Microsoft has to offer, they will fail. 

I am not a simulator fan, as far as I know I never was any good at it, but that doesn’t matter. The options we see now outstrips whatever they had in 1985 and as far as I could tell, it is mere millimeters from the actual experience of flying, some reporter dude named Clark Kent says I am making over the top statements, but this is where I stand and in light of what is about to come I had the cleanse the pallet. So have a great day as I am now crossing into Thursday, 3 hours behind Wellington. 

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October 23, 2025 · 23:33

Never out of mind

That is the setting. I saw a trailer (I thought it was an AI fluke) but it had the stars and it reminded me of an old game. Wacky Races on the Dreamcast. I thought it was brilliant. SEGA had a competitor to Nintendo’s Mario Kart. Now, I have nothing against Mario Kart. I loved it on the N64, I also loved it on the Gamecube. And when I get the Switch 2, I will love it again. But the setting was that Wacky Races had an approach to counter whatever Nintendo had in those days. Wacky Races was it and as I loved the cartoon, I was instantly hooked. So I was surprised that Sony never bought the rights. So I don’t know what happened to that setting, but at present and especially with the movie apparently coming, Sony has a renewed option to get that title on their PlatStation systems. 

The game had several nice touches and the fact that every car had its own options, makes it a setting that will give renewed replayability. Set the game to several settings and as the game is played on ‘real roads’ the setting could get its own new lease of life. What is better than play your favourite character racing route 66? And that is merely the beginning. The cartoon gave us hilarious settings and that reflects back on the game and even now as this setting is transposed this game could have multiple settings. The famous ‘walks’ could now be the setting of Wacky Races. The St. Frances way (Florence – Rome), the Camino de Santiago walk (Saint JeanPied de Port to Santiago de Compostela) then there is the Nakasendo trail (Kyoto – Tokyo) And not to forget Lands end to John o Groats over the length of the UK. Now we can make the most of it and make it a cartooned version and we can add more. A setting never shown before and as I see it, you can race it eleven time. There were the Boulder Mobile, Creepy Coupe, Convert-a-Car, Crimson Haybaler, Compact Pussycat, Army Surplus Special, Bulletproof Bomb, Arkansas Chuggabug, Turbo Terrific, Buzz Wagon and who could forget the Mean Machine featuring Muttley. 

A wacky race and as the game gets more and more traction Sony could add its own set of tracks. There is no limit to the setting we could add and Sony had an advantage for the longer of times. There is even an option to add the Iceland ring road to these tracks. The quality of Deeper Machine Learning is almost perfect to add these tracks to their arsenal and Google Maps was kind enough to add these rides to the spectrum and now they only need to set the filters to adapt the tracks to a more cartoon setting. Was it that hard to think out of the box? 

But without fail there is always someone who can do better than me, that person (preferably at Sony) merely needs to raise his (or her) hand and start the setting and now that there apparently is coming a Wacky Races movie in 2026, there is an added reason to take up the baton of crazy gameplay on the PlayStation. There is of course a need to put it on the streaming systems too (Amazon Luna and whatever Tencent has). A setting we tend to forget about but the time is now to make that dent in the competitors. Should you see the need to add to this, my advice is to take a serious look at Fur Fighter (Dreamcast), the Playstation 2 made a mess of that game. Two titles and they were largely ignored. And with the stage of original games at a all time low, the need for quality gaming is now and the stage of these walks are a new ride, that besides the stage that you could also add tracks to this, perhaps Monaco, Francorchamps, Le Mans and a few other tracks like Daytona and the Gold Coast track. All options overlooked and now there is a larger setting to make it work.

Have a great day and when you go for coffee today, outside of the gaming world we do have speed limits, no matter how desperately you crave your coffee.

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October 18, 2025 · 23:21

Hidden claws

That is what happened to me, suddenly as I was rewatching ‘the last Witchhunter’ something woke up. It started after I played Oblivion on the Xbox360 for the first time. An idea awoke and I placed part of this as an idea on a gaming website. The idea however never completely died and it remained within me too. You see to take the Olympians into account, there is no way that the worlds of Hecate were innocent and docile and Hecate knew that. Balance is real, it cannot be maintained in the settings we see. Balance of light is still imbalance. In one of the books books of Star Trek there was a expression “Bless the world of shadows, because when the last sunsets fades, they too will die” and that stuck with me over the decades. So what about arch mage Traven? That was the setting I had in mind at that point and the setting war re-awakened in the last Witchhunter. What if the world of Hecate is reimagined but in a more balanced way? What happens when we accept the light and the dark? As such the worlds of Meridia and Namira? In the gaming world they are on opposite sides, but what is the thought that they aren’t truly opposite, what if they are merely apart by a third. Consider a segmented pie chart, one segment light and one dark. But the Elder Scrolls doesn’t hold that as ‘real’ and shows the light as two thirds, whilst the dark side is a mere third and Namira is on the edge between the two worlds and shown as dark. But the largest dark side is ignored. So what about that so called balance? What happens if Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, crossroads, night, and the underworld becomes real in Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls? What happens when that balance is restored? Not to celebrate ‘evil’ but to celebrate the ‘reality’ of things. Without light and dark the shadows do not exist, merely what we personally conceive as light and dark. So what will we see when the larger setting is revealed? What do we do when the world of Hecate is given life renewed? Will we create a larger setting of Vampires, Werewolves and darkness? What will be the real dark places? Perhaps we get a funny side of life and the true world of politicians and false prophets will be revealed to us. It is not merely the setting of what is real, but where the true darkness is real is equally important. As such, as the designer of gaming IP I say good night to one of my my godmothers (and family member) Hecate. 

If gaming is delusion and we love our games, let us say good day to the reality that beckons us and in there we might see what we cannot see in real life. It is merely a point of view to behold.

Have a great day and did you enjoy your Shawarma in Riyadh today? 

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October 16, 2025 · 21:27

Moments that came before and again

There is nothing much under the sun. My mind has been crossing into the language training setting and the setting that goes deeper has been ‘designed’, there is still the need to get Ubisoft on board, but there is a new setting, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia bought EA and whilst it allows their population to get deeper into gaming. The setting is more than gaming, it sets two other IP’s directly in combination with this setting and considering that the Meta Quest Pro could be connected to this all, the setting would add more to what Saudi Arabia is achieving. The other setting is that it doesn’t need the Meta Quest Pro and that is the controlling situation giving a larger population and a larger consumer base to this all. 

As I said before:
AC Brotherhood – Italian and Latin
AC Syndicate – Classic English
AC Unity – French
AC Shadows – Japanese – Portugese
WD Legion – Modern English
AC Mirage – Arabic

The stages are different, but the ‘game play’ tends to be the same. You start in the smallest cabin (like in the game), but you are not an assassin, you play one of the NPC’s For example in Harbiyah where you start in one of the dwellings. As you go around the area and play ‘games’ like speaking names, counting and around a dozen other games. When you succeed and complete (and surpass the minimum score) you get a reward in Dirham, which allows you to upgrade outfits, spend money in shops and it allows you to do things. So as you continue in the game and complete assignments you get to an ‘exam point’ and when completed you get promoted to Abbasiyah with a better apartment, more lessons, more challenges and more linguistic skills. From there you get to Karkh and from there to the Round city. There you get to listen to Arabic poetry and read it. This setting applies to all languages. As the origin of Latin was promoted through Familia Romana originally published 200AD. That book could be translated to any language and as the IP rights have passed already (after 1800 years) but that setting could be seen in every language and those books could be translated to al other languages. Books on telling time, books on travel issues and we could go on. The setting that this setting could be translated to nearly all covered languages and that gives the wielder a lot of options. As I see it, the maps need to be ‘cleaned’, and the use of the NPC’s need to be altered, but as I see it, these games are already 85% done for the new functions as I see it, the speaking part (microphone and interpretation) is part of the biggest setting and when done once, the other parts will be easy. A simple setting that Ubisoft left on the floor, but now with the settings that Saudi Arabia opened up, there is more to be gotten and for the people who want a little more luxury, there is the Meta Quest Pro (Apple vision pro optional) and that setting would allow 35 million Saudi’s to get multiple linguistic skills and others to learn Arabic. A setting that I painted before, but as it evolves in my mind, the mini games came and the thought of how it could be applied to any language. Counting, days of the week, family, time telling, tally games, personal introduction games, giving a speech and as a lot of this is possible through Deeper Machine Learning, it is a setting that is already out there. I am also thinking that some of the customer service agents could suffice to do some of these parts. Now take in consideration that this could be replicated to nearly all countries, the setting for Amazon and Saudi Arabia reaches the top. So, why write this here? The simple reason is that this IP is owned by Ubisoft and as others get the idea to throw this into new directions, I might stand to prosper somewhat here as well. And taking in stride the fact that Ubisoft overlooked that part of their equation and the fact that I showed the same flaw in both Google and Amazon will give others the idea that they are talking to the wrong people. Just my sense of humor in action. 

And there is another setting as I see it, the ramification in combination with the purchase of EA gives them a few more options, something that people like Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal seemingly overlooked. They are ‘all’ about profound concerns, yet they never saw the opportunities that were given to Saudi Arabia and they overlooked those as well, because as I see it EA would have never taken the step to give it away to others *(but that is seemingly just me)

So as we take the setting that there is a new Console and gaming rule, right next to Sony and Nintendo the setting will uproot the gaming community and that is a community that gets another billion gamers soon enough, no Microsoft required (I just had to say that). Within two years the Saudi Console (which could be a Tencent Console) will achieve what Microsoft had not ever achieved. They would equal the Xbox 360 being the best-selling at over 84 million units within two years and Microsoft was at it for over 20 years. As I see it, in the previous setting there was a chance to get 200 million consoles, with this altered state, there is no telling how many consoles this setting could sell. And as Saudi Arabia has the near first option for 1.8 billion Muslims, they would all be interested in learning languages making my solution a 4th foot to the setting and the 3rd pillar setting would become a lot sturdier and more appealing to a lot of people. A setting the greats might never have considered, but their focus (Sony and Nintendo) was achieved by focussing on their areas and now that another focus is added the consoles will take a new turn to new consumers and as I see it META might be the initial bigger winner here. 

All because someone had an idea that the rest overlooked. So have a great day and I am taking two days of to let a few more ideas sink in and I need to focus on that (for now). So have fun and consider the thoughts you considered not good ideas, because some might be and some are ideas that others didn’t think of. Have fun exploring your hidden niches of your brain where the other ideas are.

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