Tag Archives: gaming

The Magoo’s of media

That is the setting and as I saw an article pass by, I also saw the setting on how it affects my idea. You see, the conversation starts with ‘What Saudi Arabia’s role in the Electronic Arts buyout tells us about image, power and ‘game-washing’’ (at https://theconversation.com/what-saudi-arabias-role-in-the-electronic-arts-buyout-tells-us-about-image-power-and-game-washing-266359), you see, as I see it the ‘critics’ are always looking at tomorrows and at yesterdays news and as such they give us “The global video game industry is worth more than the film and music industries combined. But why would these buyers specifically want to buy EA, an entity that has won The Worst Company in America award twice?” And as I see it, they deserved that ‘title’ but there is an offset to all that. In my setting I saw that the world had enjoyed the Atari 800, Commodore 64, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga and in that timeframe 1985-1999 over 10,000 games were produced and when you take to top 10% you end up with 1000 games. I wrote about that a few years ago and now consider how many of that top 10% is Electronic Arts? A whole heap and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia owns it all now. There is a reason that they paid $55,000,000,000 and they get the winning numbers. Now consider how many of them can be transferred with upgraded graphics and sounds to a new streaming system like Tencent (Amazon seemingly didn’t want to play) and they are about to set that system in over 50 million houses (in past one) and that is one of the three pillars dealt with. The others have no IP protection and can be altered to a minimum setting to be valid IP. That is what the conversation is seemingly not considering. And they are painting it with “Video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA), one of the biggest video game companies in the world behind games such as The Sims and Battlefield, has been sold to a consortium of buyers for US$55 billion (about A$83 billion). It is potentially the largest-ever buyout funded by private equity firms. Not AI, nor mining or banking, but video games.” And that is the ballpark, it isn’t about AI where everyone is acing to proclaim that they have the winning combination (I reckon only to disappoint their ‘customers’) but the three pronged  solution that is out to give the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the winning setting is about to align the Islamic world in a new world never seen before and everyone is looking around for what should have been on their visors. And I warned them even before I wrote ‘The second confirmation’ which I did on November 5th 2023 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/11/05/the-second-confirmation/) I said so at least a dozen times that Google and Amazon were that much asleep leaving billions on the floor (no one cares about Microsoft) and now the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is getting that setting done. Alas, I might not get anything (I tried to sell the idea to the Kingdom Holdings), but my small giggle is to show Amazon and Google how they deserted billions in revenue, so any ‘sales person’ who tells me that I am seeing it wrong, I get to show them, how they openly left billions on the floor and someone will pick it up at some point and it seems that this moment is now. 

So whilst we are given “The consortium will purchase all of the publicly traded company’s shares, making it private. But while the consortium and EA’s shareholders will likely be celebrating – each share was valued at US$210, representing a 25% premium – it’s not all good news.

PIF acquiring EA raises concerns about possible “game-washing”, and less than ideal future business practices.” By The Conversation we see a different part. It isn’t game-washing. It is a proper developed gaming option that the world left behind because it isn’t AI. So when AI gets the umpteenth class action on how AI wasn’t and as those engineers were seemingly held to account, Saudi Arabia has another setting of making up to 15-20 billion a years and that is what others left on the floor (it is only about 6 billion in phase one). So whilst those people come with complain and cry about the setting of micro transactions. The setting of “Micro transactions are small amounts of money paid to access, or potentially access, in-game items or currency. Over time, they can add up to a lot of money, and have even been linked to the creation of problem gambling behaviors. Unsurprisingly, they are not popular among players.” They could have just ben cast aside and added as freeware. It is all revenue of the kingdom and greed is frowned upon in Islamic nations. As such they can be cast aside and just for reference. There were hundreds of thousands of fans looking forward to a revamped Dungeon Keeper and cast aside when micro transactions were introduced. Now this setting (without micro transactions) could be released gaining that solutions hundred of thousands of fans. And that is merely one example of many. 

So whilst the Conversation and others are on the ‘laundry’ list, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is simply setting a new platform for over 800,000,000 customers and set a new setting towards the Islamic world, optionally slicing the options for Facebook and others (like Google) to gain advertisement revenue, because when you get access to 20% of the planetary population, you can hand them what they want to do, not what your advertisers want you to do. You see, in Saudi Arabia “The CITC in conjunction with the General Authority for Media Regulation (GAMR), requires advertisers to submit campaigns and media to this regulatory body for approval before broadcasting, digital or offline display. In order to avoid rejected campaigns, marketers must be familiar with the key Islamic guidelines governing advertising content, including religious restrictions on alcohol, pork, gender portrayal, modesty, and symbols.” And that gets American and European advertisers into problems and that is how they are shut out. There is another body managing this, but I forgot the details. What happens is that there is a place where the setting is islamic and I had the additional setting of what I call ‘Tomes of information’ and through that Saudi Arabia gets visibility through and from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Indonesia. Setting the advertisement losses close to a billion viewers. That is what Saudi Arabia now gained. 

As as I see it, it is not about image, power or ‘game-washing’. It is a business decision that gets to unite the islamic world in more ways then one and alas, I seemingly am missing out, but I get to hold it over the heads of Amazon and Google for nearly all time. What a lovely feeling. 

Have a great day this Saturday (Vancouver is joining us in 30 minutes) and consider what running in a rat-race is not giving you. I merely looked in a different direction and saw billions. What can you see when you put your mind to it (and optionally clean your glasses)?

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Falling Cards 

That is what happens when you piss of a gamer. And the setting that we see is given to us by the BBC. The story (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgepkwpkg4o) gives us ‘Xbox Game Pass price increase angers players’ where we see “The company announced that the most popular tier of its Netflix-style video games system – available to PC and Xbox players – would rise by more than 50% from £14.99 to £22.99 per month.” That implies that the Game Pass is setting a gamer back to £276 per year. An annual fee of £276? That’s A$565 that comes down to a PS5 console a year. So what is the issue of pricing ones self out of a market? The Xbox is well over A$700, but this is starting to look ridiculous. The setting of Game Pass was pretty brilliant, but as it is showing to be a new form of gaming suicide. We are given “Reacting on social media, loads of fans said they had cancelled their Game Pass subscriptions, with some reporting the service’s cancellation page had crashed due to demand. BBC Newsbeat has asked Microsoft if the outage was linked to a surge in visits.” And in other news we were given “Ultimate – the most expensive tier – allows players to access new games from Microsoft-owned studios on the day of their release. These titles, which include series like Call of Duty, can retail for about £70 if purchased individually. As part of the changes, blockbuster games including Hogwarts Legacy and various Assassin’s Creed entries have been added to the Game Pass library. Microsoft said the new system would “offer more flexibility, choice, and value to all players”. But not everyone sees it that way.” I reckon that pretty much no one would see it that way (except for Microsoft sycophants). Consider that most people buy 1-3 games (to own) for about £200, as such the £76 to play ‘all’ the games? With what is released on Microsoft systems? There is still some appeal if you have both the PC and the Xbox, but I partially fail to see that. 

And there is another setting. You see, Activision was bought for $100 billion. And a few others for a lot less, but the setting is that Microsoft needs to make at least $4 billion to just pay for the interest and that is no longer happening and it is a lot less likely with these changes. Microsoft will be bleeding money for decades because of this. And as some are dropping Microsoft (Denmark and Austria) there will be a much larger setting that Microsoft needs to move on. I never saw the particulars, but I saw this and I saw the implosion within Microsoft at the end of 2026 and that is seemingly happening at this very moment. The fact that “the service’s cancellation page had crashed due to demand” is setting the shift out of gaming for Microsoft, because if that system cannot meet demands, there is a chance that millions might be dropping that system, good news for Sone and Nintendo. Gamers need their space and these two remain. I had seen a new system with a starting set of 50 million subscribers and that is now looking very appealing to the new players Amazon and the Kingdom Holdings. I reckon that renewed contact might become essential. 

As I see it, Microsoft eyes on their ‘price’ became too big and now they end up with a nearly empty eggshell. 

So how much of this is set in stone? I reckon that the pressure of the borrowed $100 billion is driving the upper echelons of Microsoft nearly insane, they bought into this and now their bottom line is drained (as I see it) and that is perhaps the saddest thing of all. Their setting that Don Mattrick started in 2013 would be the undoing of Microsoft, after the run they had with the XBOX360, they threw it all away. more than that. Fable was really big and after Fable III, Fable 4 was announced, then delayed and delayed which is now set to 2026. Chances are that this too will be canceled. An Amazing setting that started in 2004 saw massive flocking by the RPG community, then Fable 2 and Fable 3 (2010) and the people were sold on the Fable story and it was quite a story, but some come in and likely state that it could be bigger, and bigger and now it is as I see it gone, because if the Xbox community vanishes, the need for that game vanishes. The PC world alone will not maintain it. So as I see it the cards for Microsoft are falling and not in a good place. This is exactly why I put some of my Gaming IP out there for non-Microsoft developers. As I saw it, they could grow and whilst I am not a programmer, I do see gaming as the power it is. It can invigorate people in many ways. And now as Microsoft is about to fail, if they took up the setting of the games I offered, they could set out their new terrain in gaming. There is still Bethesda, but as I see it, it is part of Microsoft and as such their games get delays too and the new players will get to carve their name in stone in the vacant places of that stone. 

So whilst we see “Microsoft Gaming revenue was $5.5 billion” And that is great, but the Nintendo revenue is set to be approximately $13.1 billion, as such Microsoft is a mere small fish in gaming, no matter how they slice it. And others are about to carve up a piece of Microsoft in the process. Because Microsoft still has to deal with the $100,000,000,000 invoice. So where will this money come from? And whilst their arsenal of gaming outlets is diminishing, the appeal for their products goes the same way. As such, we might seem to think it will be okay for Microsoft, what products did it actually release? And on what systems were the returns given for the Remaster of Oblivion? 

It might have taken some time, but after 10 years I get to laugh deriving howl of laughter. Microsoft took on too big a chunk of arrogance and they are not turning it into dollars, merely into delays and canceled games and canceled subscribers. All the way until Microsoft gaming is canceled. 

Have a great day and If you are on a PS5 have fun catching the ghost of Yokai and on the Nintendo feel free to Kart around the world. Those victories are the moments you will cherish as long as you live.

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Cracks are showing

That is the setting of this day. In under 5 minutes three articles passed by my eyes and it is a clear sign that cracks are showing. I will give you an article first. The article (at https://www.cbr.com/xbox-game-pass-end-of-era/) gives us ‘It’s Officially the End of an Era for Xbox Game Pass’, I am in the meddle of that settings. I cannot disagree and I cannot completely agree. We are given “Game Pass might be a great deal for players, but unfortunately, it comes at the cost of devaluing developers and their work. If the system keeps running the way it does now, it’ll only get less sustainable over time, and if Game Pass crashes, a lot of people are going down with it.” Yes I agree with that statement, however “it comes at the cost of devaluing developers and their work” is a little validating what a fool hands for their games. Consider Hogwarts Legacy, the devoted Harry Potter fan goes ‘Take my money…now!’ whilst plenty of other gamers go ‘Not in 999,999 years, 11 months, 30 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 50 seconds’, as I see it ‘Not in a million years’ sounds so crass (big smiley). So the statement is out there and lets be clear Game Pass was a great idea. But it comes at a cost. You see, Microsoft needs the game pass to give validation of the Blizzard/Activision deal, together with Bethesda they spend a little over  $100,000,000,000 and as it stands and as I see it, to cross that deal they have to make over $6.5 billion dollars a year just to make the interest go away and last year it merely banked 5 billion an change. This is a loss of well over a billion a year just for the interest of this caper. I thought it was a bad deal the moment it was announced and I wrote about it in 2022/2023. So with the end of game pass this deal gets to be the sour apple that gives Microsoft indigestion. But like the infomercials say “There is more” and there is. 

You see we are also given ‘Microsoft Is Axing This Android App. You Have 3 Weeks to Find a Replacement’ (at https://au.pcmag.com/hosted-email-providers/113075/microsoft-is-axing-this-android-app-you-have-3-weeks-to-find-a-replacement) and you know, there is and there has always been a replacer ent from the day that thing was called into service. It is called GMAIL. It has always worked well and it is not riddled with hidden Microsoft snags. So whilst we are given “A year ago, Microsoft celebrated 10 million Outlook Lite downloads. Effective Oct. 6, however, Redmond says it’s being retired ‘so we can focus our investments’ on the main Outlook app.” I will counter that that this setting was in play since 1998, so the investments should be there and in order. But when you see “so we can focus our investments” and consider the previous article, we see the beginning of cracks in the armor of Microsoft. Cracks in its spin settings and telling the world how great it is doing as a 3.79 trillion company. You see, there is a lot more bad news ahead  for them and none of it is great. Yet that is beyond the third article and it comes with speculations.

You see, the third article is one I have issues with (I’m on the side of Microsoft here). The article (at https://www.gamesradar.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/after-4-months-oblivion-remastered-falls-to-mixed-reviews-on-steam-after-reports-of-poor-and-unstable-performance-on-pc-it-is-still-well-and-truly-a-bethesda-game/) gives us ‘After 4 months, Oblivion Remastered falls to “Mixed” reviews on Steam after reports of “poor and unstable” performance on PC: “It is still well and truly a Bethesda game”’ There are a few issues here. I played it on the PS5 (as one should) and I believe it was a truly great remaster. I found one glitch (optional a bug) and I got around this. Whilst we see that Cyrodil is massively shown in the greatness that it deserves and better than the Xbox360 edition, I got the same feeling of amazement here as I did in the original. And I have a few issues with the “poor and unstable” side of the matter. Yes a steam system and most PC’s do not allow for a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (and neither does the wallet of these gamers), as such they are playing with the overclocking left, right and centre. And not every application allows for that and becomes ‘unstable’. But the term overclocking sells systems and as long as the warnings are there, they allow for it, but software tends to be tricky and I believe that this is shown here. I never did that and I found one glitch (optional bug) in my PS5 edition of Oblivion and I think that this is amazing quality. So there is a larger audience who will ‘convict’ Microsoft in falsehood. 

As I see it, these settings will optionally call for Google to bring back to life the Stadia and I have a setting that will nearly guarantee a starting setting of 6 billion a year and past that stage one an increase to $10-$15 billion annually. I merely don’t want Microsoft to get that part, they tinkered with the freedom of gamers, so they are out. Amazon had the inside track for over two year and they didn’t take me seriously (my speculation of them seeing my idea) and now as the Microsoft cracks are showing we see a larger workspace of gaining over 15 million gamers and a whole lot more in other places. That warrants a new look at the stadia. I thought it was a great idea for the Kingdom Holdings to gain the hand on the Stadia, but as I see it, they seemingly lacked vision there too. As such Google now has a new upper hand and as I accused them of leaving billions on the floor, it is their turn to pick this up, fair is fair.

So whilst the cracks are showing others can gain the leverage of Microsoft (and make it fall at least a third in total value and the would make buy words golden too (and I get to hand a wooden spoon with gold engravings to Phil Spencer) as such my ego is at present a little unbearable to me as well. 

A setting that was foreseen at least two years ago and now there is a new stage in that setting, or better stated a remastered setting of the same stage and that is a nice touch on silly old me.

So have a great Monday, which at present feels like a new Friday to me.

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Revenue ignored

That is the setting I see. It is likely that others do not see it that way and that is fine. I and referring to Ubisoft. I got their product AC Shadow last week. At present I can only afford it as a preowned game, that is life. But as it is one of the first preowned games I am getting in that way, I am now ‘devoid’ of the initial codes for cosmetic extras. That is fine, I get that these codes are not transferable. That is the benefit of the full game purchasers. However considering that this game was as such 50% cheaper, Ubisoft is also out of revenue. So, I am guessing that Ubisoft has the option to ‘reclaim’ additional revenue.

As such I now do not have:

  • Thrown to the dogs bonus quest
  • Claws of Awaji expansion
  • Yasuke Sekiryu Character pack

I am not complaining on this, codes are not transferable and I think that is fair, but then I thought that these codes might be optionally bought for $3-$5 after a while. So lets say that there is a delay to buy these codes by months up to 12 months. So those who bought the full codes get these ‘extras’ for up to a year and after that Ubisoft can get sales from these codes. It could bank them millions. Optionally you could earn them through the Ubisoft store for exchanging these Ubi-coins. That is up to them, but I reckon that this solution is something that could bank them millions. This is set to the dozen of so games they released and for the millions of people who bought a preowned game. I am actually surprised that no one bought this to the attention of that youthful young scoundrel called Yves Guillemot (apparently the CEO of that place). It is not that CEO’s walk away from revenue, as such I wonder why this was decided. I get that there should be an advantage to the buying population, but after 6 month or a year? I reckon that there is a case t be made for that revenue.

And that is after the setting where Ubisoft is walking away from millions. Ah well, some people can afford to walk away from that amount of money. What a luxury.

As I see it, there is now an additional reason to add a Japanese language model to the idea’s that I already spouted and Ubisoft has another reason to reconsider some of the ideas that re out in the open. And as I see it, Apple is dragging its feet as well. But then they decided to call themselves innovative people (lacking innovation that is).

Anyway, from my point of view AC Shadows is a magnificent product. I was a little upset by the 140GB is had to download and it took hours to do this. But then no one is perfect (almost no one).

So whilst you consider the impact of all that material that could now be downloaded to enhance your playing ability, consider the impact of all these games getting a second stage and what additions could now spice up their wallets in addition to issues they forgotten they had. 

Have a great day, Vancouver will join us in this Thursday in a little under 4 hours.

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The wave of brains

This is a setting that might be, in gaming. You see I promised you something new and I found it. A game unlike any game we have seen and in part one we get to see life on mars, life as Elon Musk envisions it. The story starts (with a wink towards Bethesda) with you as an astronaut, you are in a prison, or a detainment centre to be more precise. You found your way here and it is the start of another RPG. Yes, but one with a difference (that’s what we all say). In this setting we have a completely self reliant system and that is what saved you. You don’t know to much about this as you have a serious blunt on your head, as such you remember nothing. The systems are self reliant, the systems provide nourishment, oxygen and water. But nothing more. So the first thing you need to do is to get out of here. As you become more reliant on the systems you see where things go and how they work. As such the first two hours you are learning the systems and looking more and more apt in getting things to work. Then you get to the first setting, the droid reactivating system. That gives you a few options and one works the janitor droids and one maintenance droid (a wink to the game Paradroid). As this continues you will see that one path needs to be cleared of junk (the janitor droids). As they progress you can review other systems and get them to up and running. But you will learn that there isn’t enough power to do this. And as the monitor systems has thousands of records, you get to see the settings when things were working. And as you get around, you find bodies with identity tags and as you have a universal tag, you get to become all of these people. This will give you access to their mail and conferences. As you become more agile you get to access other places and when the maintenance droid gets to the first tower, we get power to this dome and as it gets power, oxygen, sustenance and water becomes available. As well as a much larger place to explore. Now that we have access to the first dome we get to explore and we see the first settings of the damage caused. The place is deserted, thousands of corpses and no explanation. Then we get to a security station and we see the larger setting. A space ship crashed into one of the domes, that made the air escape and cause the brownout of the fusion reactor. As such we need to create a larger energy dump and the solar panels will take its time to do so. 

As we create the energy to do so, we need to inspect the oxygen and water supply points. As such we get a larger setting, because there is a few days of water left, this also hinders the sustenance creation. But it we get the water back online, it will all be ok. It is an idea that I am having and this will relate to the larger setting of the space ship, which apparently came from earth. As such there is more to this story and for now it is about creating the challenge of getting this into the Science part of sci-fi (we tend to forget about that) and as this is set it becomes about the sanity of 3 domes supporting up to 10,000 people. As I was shown the first dome, we need to set the next stage and in this where did I get to?

Anyway this game goes into a larger setting when the spaceship (which comes from earth) has a much larger issue and that is the lore that needs to be created. A setting that comes with bad news (isn’t there always) but this will be about after the bad news and that is part of the storyline. The ship is an ark of sorts (they are all dead) and that becomes the next stage if this all and what happens when the droids are the hazard? So security and battle droids are next but that is on the next installment. Anyway so for my mind created three domes with a optional population of 5,000. And the requires a little more consideration. We might be in the detainment centre, but that is linked to the retail and civilian dome. As such we have a start. I reckon that I can build from that. It is much more entertaining whilst America is losing India as an ally and trade partner. I reckon that President Modi has had enough of their 50% tariff. So when Wall mart loses all these Chinese and Indian articles that they can flog of cheap they are bound to American articles that no one can afford and China? They gain over a billion customers to Chinese goods. Yes, this was a good idea, wasn’t it? So whilst we fight over who is whose customer China gains a billion of them and now (as I see it) America need Bangladesh to avoid Walmart with its 2.1 million employees from going flat (that will one hell of a unemployment bash coming) So whilst the US government will rely on the Microsoft cloud accounts to spike up their IP engines. The larger issue will be the it will also end Microsoft and their 280,000 employees soon enough. Thank god I kept my cloud setting encrypted and out of the hands of Microsoft. So whilst America will be facing more and more hardship, we will see the larger setting that America sunk their own fleet (which makes for an awesome video game). And that was before BRICS became a world power. Now we get a new stage, as I personally see it America is beyond broke. And I know that a nation cannot be broke, but what do you call it when a nation cannot fulfill its debts? And the interest on $37.31 trillion is nothing to be sneered at, that implies that America will need to hand over 1.67 trillion in interest every year. I warned for that years ago, this was going to happen and now that the moment is there. Others go “It is more complex than that” Really? Interest is due, so where will you get the money from? Why do you think that some funds are setting their momentum now in Bitcoin? They know this is about to happen. As such we see President Trump making complements that Canada would be great as a 51st state. All he wants are the resources and Prime Minister Carney sees through him in an instant. And that is keeping Canada safe for now. Who when we look at this in a gaming setting, we see that earth is heading for a massive war between America and the nation who are not broke. As such there will be a fight over Canada and Greenland. But America misjudged their opponents and Canada has the Commonwealth and Greenland has the EU (as Denmark is in the EU). So this will be far from over and whilst people might be looking at the trivial news. I see this as good a place as any to inform the people, through a video game. 10,000 corpses holding onto information that is todays news. And as we adjust the focal point to what the news is telling the people we get a new iteration of what is real and what is lullaby news. 

I actually never considered this before but gaming could inform millions of people on what actually is. Did anyone else figure this out?

Have a great day. For me the next step is catering the news and setting it up as a lore creator. Whilst everyone is focusing on AI (which does not exist) I use the NIP (near Intelligent Parsing) systems to flake over the news, the public available news (no one wants the news according to Rupert Murdoch). And that is the second tier in this story. All brought to you by that old geezer no one cares about (mainly me). 

Have a great day.

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A present for some

Yup, there you have it. This is a present and particularly for Avalanche software, the makers of Hogwarts Legacy. I’ve been mulling a few things over and I reckon that at times we have to give back to the people who kept us entertained. As such I am giving this idea to Avalanche and they can use it, ignore it. Whatever they want. It also assumes that Hogwarts legacy 2 is as open as its predecessor was. 

First
In the first you need to be able to own houses. These houses can be decorated and they all have a ‘secret’ setting, but in addition to this The game will have its collection of castles, derelict places and others. These are the foundation of my focus. As it goes each of these places have the ability to have a secret level (rooms is more apt). And these houses need specific updates and some of them need to be found.

Portal elements. In the game you will be able to find unique portal items, as well as stress lanterns, and interior spells (an advanced version of Reparo) These houses will then be ‘decorated’ in the style of your graduation house, As such if you play the game 4 times, that place will look similar but different. As the game progresses you will find more unique spells and items (these will have a different icon, item card) the stress lamps are placed around the house or in the house and will give muggles the creeps when they get near one (but they do not know why). Portal items are specific for a type of dwelling and will show this, these portal keys are specific and limited to one location (your secret level) and these levels are consistent to the area they are set and the rooms are not unlike the Room of requirements, but they have limits. You now have places for wardrobes, spell crafts, potion crafts and so on. 

Second
I mentioned before jobs (in a previous blog) I set the ideal gave to a maximum job and two minimum jobs. So the 4 houses have a maximum job and 2 minimum jobs. As such we get 12 jobs. I wanted to add a segment to this, but I don’t want to steamroll everything. For Slytherin the idea of having a potioneer. As a Potioneer you get benefits, like an additional potion for every potion you make and you need one less ingredient for any potion made. For Auror you get more resources for every enemy you slain (like 7 troll bogeys instead of 5) As we get to the setting of minister, or civil servant, you get additional goodwill when you are walking around. 

Third
As you have graduated, you no longer need a field guide, but the idea can be transferred to the next game, it will have a different name, lore pages as you get the lore of specific things you find. This might also give you additional talents and spells. It might be nice that some of these are house related, like the original lore page writer gives the house wizard an additional page, a ‘golden’ page and that is house dependent and will give the person a skill, a spell or a conjurations linked to the thing you are revealing.

These settings are to instill the replay-ability of the game and the need for people to keep on exploring. As I wrote before in the jobs story, this will give you an income and that matters as you progress in the game, more money means more options (just like real life) and here we see that the smaller jobs are easier to get, but pay less, as such you can create the skills you need to get the ‘big’ job. The job will also give ‘renown’ as well as privileges. These privileges are limited to some degree, but they can make life easier in certain settings. For example a minister gets discounts, a auror gets stronger outfits. It can be applied to the same cloak. It gives an auror 20% better defense and that same cloak is 20% cheaper but does not have the 20% better defense.

You can still find and upgrade stuff, but the stronger clothes must be bought and they aren’t cheap. The aforementioned cloak could be found (acquired in a fight) with a defense of 60, that same cloak could be bought with a defense of 96. There is the idea that a loom could be conjured (or found), but the animal furs need to be bought from a pet shop. 

As I learn more about the second game I might get more ideas, but Avalanche here is your boon. You payed for it by entertaining me with an excellent first game.
Have a nice day all and the people at Avalanche happy programming. 

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Monster of creativity wakes up

Yup, that ghastly monster called creativity is rearing its ugly head again and it is merely 10:20 in the morning. On a Saturday no less. So I already have the drop on DARPA in at least three military inventions and one of them is a stealth system. But after I had a novel idea on taking Russian airfields, I now have another thought. What if we change the collective to another field? What if we push the Russian forces to deploy differently? Consider that Russia has around 61 airfields and we push them to ‘overpopulate’ 61 of them. They would require to seed around 31000 soldiers who are set to try to keep them safe. And it is safe to say that they will fail. That will jump the stress levels in the Kremlin by a lot. So as I thought this through I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself. As I see it I was leading DARPA 6-0 in this endeavor and now I am adding at least three field goals to this setting. I would need to confer with the Ukrainian consul general on this setting. And make it known that the Commonwealthian people support them. I might be too old to go into the field, but my brain works quite well. And I tend to like to show some people that they missed the target on me by a lot. And in the setting that I could optionally show these Russian courtesans that there are people who use their thinking caps to support the Ukrainian people (and I have a really good friend who will appreciate that too).

So off I am, trying to make Russian lives a little harder as President Trump is doing little to nothing in that field. Oh, he might act in 10 days (which is a deadline he gave three times over) so as such I am leading there too. So with the naval stealth system and now with ‘optional’ drone collaboration, we have a new premise. The Russian army will have to support the hind sites by a lot more than they have space for, isn’t that the nexus of non-violence? A teaching moment on how you can promote nonviolence by blowing up violent machines. It’s a brand new day. Anyway. I came to it via another IP and that is a lovely setting. The pass through method in creating abilities. 

In other news, I also gained the insight that might help dwindling down the number of Helicopters they have. According to news sources, they only downed 340 of these suckers. So I came up with a few methods to add to that dastardly low number. Same invention with a slightly different approach to doing the deed. 

Well that is my support to the next setting and I reckon it is time to give gaming a new vibe as I was continue to play Hogwarts Legacy to get 1 of them (in this case a Slytherin) person to 100% on everything I had a few thoughts that could be used in the sequel to this game. So in stead of having one battle achievement, have at least two. One stealth option one general option. I like to sneak up to my adversary and blow him away (or petrify the opponent) and in that case my last battle outfit becomes available. There were a few other things that bugged me, but as it is not a bug or a glitch, it is a little in the open. What does matter is that  the game should be 100% perfect. Now this is a large call and I am not faulting the makers of Hogwarts Legacy of anything, as far as I see it this program is near perfect and I have been playing it off and on since its release in 2023, so I have had two full years of joy. As I see it Avalanche Software should be proud of its achievement. Whilst I truly believe this, I also think that games can always be better, but this is often found whilst playing the game. And that is where people like me come in. The developer tends to be too close to the source and it requires a little distance to upgrade something good. I already mentioned 4-6 upgrades to this game making it a next game issue. And I have more to offer at present. I added jobs to the setting, careers that differ per house and after that I considered and planned the upgrade of any location to a new living space and you cannot convert them all, but you can create a living space for any character you create and a setting for any house to have a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin theme. And they all have settings. And as you optionally create 4 houses in the total of regions that you open up where each location has a Clevian portal to access the houses. Like the mirror in Hogwarts Legacy. A mirror space that creates a space to the other house. In that instance you have a setting to leap into other places. But this doesn’t happen automatic, the ancient magic required is massive (like three bars per creation) it stops doing that from level 1 and it allows the game to evolve the player as needed. Then there is the idea that some of the achievements done in the first game (like stargazing) now open up secondary missions. As such you need to interact with the NPC’s in more ways then one. As such there are more influences coming. What was done in HL1 was great, but now it is time to hand the game more leniency in distinguishing. As such the dark spells could also be a hindrance to gain access to alternative settings (unless other professions are chosen). It makes the game a lot more of a moral compass and it sets the wannabe wizards apart from the real ones ;-P

This makes me think of another setting. I met a man in the Epic Universe, some dodgy dude names ‘Jackal’ and he looked nothing like a jackal. He called himself E. Redmayne esq. He was wearing the most amazing cosplay lookalike of the man, the legend, Newt Scamander. You might think this is a ruse, but it is not, it is a hint, The same could be said for some youthful young sprout named Meg March. So take this setting and set it across the nightmares these Hogwarts candidates face when going into the thoughts of some creatures they face. As any Wizard (Witches too) have dark sides, we get a new setting. One that could optionally give us mini games. I am hesitant to set that setting, because not all mini games are good, but it is an option to consider. In that same setting I created a ‘magical’ version of Ice Hockey and that too had a few sidelines to consider (I wrote about it earlier). Now consider that we have another option beside quidditch as a sport to consider. Taking all this to the stage does not mean I created a better Hogwarts Legacy, it is just a few ideas for these developers to use and there is no charge, whatever I wrote to the game is now owned by Avalanche software and JK Rowling. I just did away with the hassle of greed that some see when they face these thoughts. I just handed it over to the makers of the connected IP. Im the kind of guy. I have enough IP to cross over a dozen times. 

So monster of creativity, get back to bed and consider using this to emphasize gaming IP, or IT IP, not merely weapons based IP. It gives me the creepy crawlers.

Have a great Saturday.

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The story script of lore

Yup, nice and confusing, isn’t it? But that is the setting. As I was playing Skyrim (yet again) the thoughts of lore went through my head. And RPG players might remember this. You escape the large lizard (aka Dragon), you go to Riverwood and then to Whiterun where you join the companions. Linear in extremity. Now, this is not critique. This is how RPG were played in 2011 and the hardware pretty much set you up for that. So, remember Richard Garriott who gave us the ultimate RPG in Ultima. I got introduced to his master skills in 1983 with Ultima 3, Exodus. But his idea were not used to the largest extent. Now I don’t want to copy his sewing, but the idea that every person has the ability to evolve their choice. Perhaps through an intro story where you have to make choices. So, to connect this to Skyrim, the choices will set you to a setting that will push you to Riften (thieves guild), Whiterun (fighters guild), Winterhold (Mage Guild) or Falkreath (Dark Brotherhood) there are a few other options (but I don’t want to give away the plot for others) There you get the option to get into the Stormcloaks or the Empire forces. Now we have to allow for a few other things, but the setting that you end up going to Whiterun to get to Bleak Falls Barrow, so that need not change, but the setting to give variety to this introduction is an option, and it could happen AFTER to evade that initial sneaky lizard. This could also be the first companion you get. IT doesn’t seem much, but the setting to avoid linearity tends to be massive in RPG’s. In addition to this, finding books, not just for skills but also for quests is a second. I wrote about this and it requires a more dynamic version of books. Skyrim is already doing this, but not with a dynamic pre skilled setting. 

In addition, there is the setting to adjust the game by alternative skills. Skills that are given to you by your parent (an intro choice really), so as that story evolves, you get skills in art, smithing, archery and magic. So as you start of with two of them. You get more pronounced maps, you get the option to see more in your surroundings. You might get a better view on ores and smithing, you get options to see more in shopping, which normally comes from personality. And over time you get the others too, but it shapes you more in the way you get through the first 20 levels and it is important to have balance there, so that people will try other things, not try the same thing at the start and then adjust the choices for the game.

This allows for the setting to own a shop and a trainee that tends to the shop. This opens up a new cog in managing the game and nowadays it is doable and has been for a while. I set that up for the game IP I created last year (might have been 2-3 years ago). The issue is not on Bethesda, they did a good job, but it is now in our hands to push this envelope higher. You cannot relay on one game maker to see it all through. That is where we are required to push new levels.

One of these things is the need to create your OWN journal and shape it through playing. Not just the expected quest things, the setting that you get to a cave and you cannot see how to continue, or a door that is locked. It makes sense that you make notice of this and optionally a tab to remember that you have to go back to this. The idea I had (for streaming games) that this journal could be exported as a pdf. A novel idea for RPG gamers (the novel part was the pun). An additional setting was the art setting, if you did not get this skill in the beginning, the art in your journal might be ‘lacking’ until you do get it, the same could be said for mapmaking. 

As I see it, the current approach is not wrong, but a little ‘vanilla’ (I actually hate that term). So as we see the additional cogs in the game we make the RGP more of an adventure. And whilst some titles in books are a given (also magical skill books) but some could have similar or a dozen settings for the title, so you can stop looking for a certain title. It is just an idea, but it could give the larger setting to non-linearity (and I am all for that).

So this was what I came up with yesterday and then I forgot it. My mind is flaky and weird, I know.

But these are things that could invigorate the desire for RPG games and I took Skyrim as an example, but this could equally done to the Fallout series. Anyway, that was the setting I was confronted with and even as I typed parts of this in the past, I saw this setting to see to the larger evolving stage of RPG’s.

Have a great day and don’t be a silly hero, when you see a dragon in your path, be like a mouse and let the police take care of that sucker.

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The Nintendo Charge

Nintendo makes another blitz record, it is not the first one, but this one is one for the record books. The story (at https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-has-sold-6-million-switch-2-consoles-and-almost-the-same-number-of-mario-kart-world/) gives us ‘Nintendo has sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and almost the same number of Mario Kart World’ as for my excuse not being part of that cluster is simple. I just don’t have the money at present. Nintendo played a near perfect awareness game. They went global with the teaser, they followed up with YouTube video’s and gave online presence. When Zero-hour was here. The streets were aligned around shops who sold it with people. We all wanted one, even the ones that couldn’t afford one. And there was a lot of interest. The expanded memory, larger screen, higher resolution, snap click controllers with magnets and the controller was also used as a mouse. 256GB against the 32GB of the original Switch. Basically everything was stronger. One exception, the battery life seemingly is not. I run my Switch on the TV, so I won’t ever see this one issue. And on the TV, you now get 4K. Cheaper than either Xbox or PS5 (not by that much) Nintendo made the record books yet again. In the first 7 weeks the Nintendo sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and the real screamer is that nearly all of them got Mario Kart World, it sold 5.63 million copies. That is huge. I saw the videos and I would get that as my first game too. 

So when we se all this we tend to think, what is next? But that is it, this setting will hurt Sony as well as Microsoft to some degree. People can no longer afford it all and when they get a Switch 2, their coffers are nearly empty as such, no direct sales for either Sony or Microsoft. Microsoft with its Game Pass will have an advantage over Sony (for the first time) and it will not be as hindered by Nintendo as Sony is, but they too will feel the pain. I reckon that this will continue straight through Christmas 2025. Because those who can not afford it at present, will work harder to get one before or at this Christmas (hopefully me too). 

So whilst we get the quote “Despite being a launch title and being constrained by its user base, Mario Kart World is the series’ second biggest launch behind Mario Kart Wii.” And that makes sense. I see the improvements and the plusses that Mario Kart World is bringing and I reckon that this game alone is the largest push to get the Nintendo Camera as well. It goes further, As of June 30, 2025, the Nintendo Switch has sold a total of 153.10 million units worldwide. This makes it the third best-selling video game console of all time and now add the 6 million Switch 2 systems and we see that Nintendo is overtaking Microsoft by storm. Consider that at present Xbox Series X/S (2020): Estimated over 28 million units as of June 2024. This implies that Switch 2 is already at 21% of Xbox Series X/S lifetime sales. And the Switch already surpassed that. This sets the  Microsoft systems in third position and should Amazon agree to my terms Microsoft becomes the 4th player. Not bad after spending Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That was money well spend wasn’t it? And should Amazon agree to surpass Microsoft too, that 68 billion dollar anchor will weigh harshly on their actions. The funny part is that neither Sony or Nintendo had to pay that much for anything they bought (as far as I know). And there is more (there always is) Nintendo is should of breaking its own record of the Nintendo DS which sold 154 million consoles. The Switch is now less then a million away from that record. It is anyones guess how far the Switch 2 will make it, but as I see it the numbers are in favor of Switch replacing a lot of systems within the next year. Nintendo said there were no changes to its financial forecast for this fiscal year, which is to sell 15 million consoles by March 2026. I tend to think that this number will be broken in several ways by Christmas 2024. That is before we consider the pleasing notions of all the Harry Potter fans who will be driven to this game on the Switch 2 as well. Yes, Nintendo is about to break record and this is the first time that I am saying this, but Nintendo is now approaching the pole position that Sony holds, as such they will have to up their game considerably if they do not want to be taken over by Nintendo, because that is no longer impossible. I don’t think Sony was ready to see the Switch family as a threat to their number one position, but that is the setting that they face in 2026, as such I wonder what Sony will come up with next. 

The armistice race on consoles tends to be a fulfilling one and there is the second step. When Nintendo get that done, it will find more gamers switching to their side. Although I have always stated that the Nintendo is the system you get next to your usual console, I still believe that and as such Nintendo tends to have great options. I merely wonder when Hogwarts Legacy 2 is released will it be released on day one for Switch 2 too? You might think that this doesn’t matter, but it does. It will be the first moment when Nintendo will have surpassed Sony and that is the kind of news that is massive in its own right. Sony released its PlayStation on December 3, 1994, it went straight to the top from the start and it will have taken Nintendo 32 years to overtake Sony and that is not something to think lightly of. I certainly am not. 

So, I merely have this to say “Well done Nintendo”

Have a great day today 

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Creating a new stage

That is what happened to me. In a near instant I created a new kind of RPG (all developers make that claim) and what triggered it was an image of a futuristic building it looked (largely) like the imperial city in Cyrodil, but it wasn’t. This set my brain on a side trip. What if the main character (the person you play) has two sides? A waking stage and a sleeping stage and in that instant we could ‘complicate’ matters. So in one setting you are in a renaissance setting and you get to start there. Story like any RPG, and it is the setting that matters. And whilst you are going through the intro, you get to embrace how you work the game (nothing spectacular). And as you go through the working of the game, you get introduced to some of the background of where you are. There are multiple stories in line (unexplored as of yet). But the kicker comes when you are at the fatigue point and you need to get to sleep.

This sets up the second stage, in this setting you are in a different place. A very futuristic space. Centuries ahed from where you were and if the first place is the 14th century, the second place is a thousand years later. It also comes with ‘issues’. The game will set the new hurdles. If you favored the bow in one, you become a sniper in game in the other. The several blunt weapons will make you a cop in the other and so on. There is the idea that tomes and scrolls open missions and storylines in the second game and visa versa. I am still working out the settings in my mind, but the idea that you ed up with two games at the same time and they are connected is something new. The idea is to get the storylines will also set you in doubt of what part of the game is you awake and where you are asleep. It doesn’t really matter, you could be awake in both, but the setting that one triggers options in the other is basically new and not always useful and you play, but there is a novelty on the setting you cannot avoid. The second setting is on how it works in the other direction. In the future we have memo’s, mails messages and other means of interacting, but they would open missions and quests in the first game. There are still a few issues to think through and I feel good about it, but would it work? It has never been done before, that is for sure and I feel good about the idea, but it is not about me. It is about the IP and getting new IP out there in the gaming world is (as I personally see it) important. More important we see all these ‘big boys’ like EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda ‘dragging’ their feet for years and in under 8 months I placed at least 4 new games in my blog and handed ideas for Ubisoft to expand their arsenal using their old games. As such I wonder who the actual game drivers are (I believe it is me). 

Still, this idea has merit and I will need to see through a few more iterations of this idea before it is even close to ready for development, but I will keep my head high and struggle through the ideas I have. 

Have a great day and enjoy this Saturday.

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