Tag Archives: gaming

February 11, 2025 · 04:32

There is always a script

It seems that we are decently obsessed with series and movies based on video games. And there is plenty to be seen. In 2024 we got the first setting of the serialification (this might not be a real word) of the game and now applauded series Fallout. And there is plenty to applaud on this series. You see, this first season got 12 wins & 73 nominations. As such it was recognised on a global scale. So Fallout has broken the mould on a few levels. We will soon see a second season of The last of us. And there are a few more coming. There are mentions of Beyond Two Souls, a game based on the exploits Ellen Page (now Elliot Page) and had contributions of Willem Dafoe, Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter. The game was quite excellent and I look forward to seeing the result on TV. 

And what else?
That is what this blog is about. You see, there is a game that was released in 2014, the title was Infamous: Second Son. I rated the game as average. I still do. Yet it was gameplay that hindered the high score. Metacritic gave it 80% (I gave it 75%). The game starts really good, it is after the first fight into Seattle that the issue starts. The game is too linear for a game of this style, there was initial an issue with the side missions, something that was fixed, but the linearity and the fact that the second power was too strong that made me give the rating as low as I did.

Still, the game had amazing sides too. The story was amazing on nearly every level. The power that you receive in the beginning was awesome. The other powers are really good too, but neon (second power) was overly strong. I would have switched Neon and video around and adjust the story (more like tweaking) and it would shape into a massive hit for the Sony studios. The funny part was that when the game came out I had never heard of this person named Banksy, as such the graffiti could be a nice edge on the storyline. 

Is that it?
Well yes, it is the recognition that the game had amazing properties that could easily turn into a TV series. For the horror/terror fans there is the notion of Prototype where Alex Mercer (you) is the target and the goal is finding out what happened. I particularly liked the achievement to drive over 65536 infected people and that is quite the grind. The story is captivating and the presumed special effect could be next level. There are legions of other games that could glue people to the TV and as ‘Hollywood’ seems to be running out of ideas the gaming solutions could propel them further. And as Sony is also streaming programs to the people they might look into the games they have. As I see it, plenty of options there. And that is the golden ticket for some. These games are propelling the stages to TV for a lot of actors and actresses. A setting that seemingly have been overlooked. And me? I am still watching whether Shogun will come to Blu-ray to Australia. (And a few more). So we should expect a new level of interaction between TV and gaming. I wonder who will bring it and what they will bring.

Have a great day.

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February 10, 2025 · 12:11

Time is on my side

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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February 8, 2025 · 19:08

You should have read the warning

That is what we are prone to do. Not to read the warnings. It helps if you are the expert on the game, but when you are not. You get to say “You should have listened” or “You should have read the warning”, which in both cases beat the saying “Told you so”, you can grasp that option when you are a recognised authority on the subject, but I am not one of those. I am not an economist or econometric guru and I have no degrees in economy. I have three university degrees, which basically makes me a dirty old man (you get bonus points if you get the reference). Yet I know numbers. I have worked with numbers for basically all my life. And the numbers never added up. Not for over at least a decade. So, what do I do? Let the media give you the numbers when they have filled their measure on hypes, stakeholders who filled their pockets? Or do you start a blog (with multiple options to put to writing thoughts) and create a timeline showing the media has become too corrupt to consider a viable source? I chose the second and in that meantime have published 3350 articles on all kinds of matter, starting in September 2011. 

As such today CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-economy-summit-1.7452748) gives us ‘Trump’s threat to annex Canada ‘real’ and motivated by access to critical minerals, Trudeau tells crowd’ this is an interesting side to it all, I made mention of this in a kinda sloppy way in ‘A call to arms’ on January 27th 2025 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/01/27/a-call-to-arms/) there I wrote “America has to find ways to raise its economic awareness of go under. And the oil and forests of Canada are not the way.” I merely mentioned oil and forests. I had no real idea Canada had other critical minerals. Yet this sets another dangerous precedence. I have been warning that America is going bankrupt. I was not the only one and some of the other people giving these warnings have much better economic qualifications. Yet I know numbers. And when you consider the US debt being at $145,800,000,000,000 that was January 2025 and in February 2022 they passed the $30,000,000,000,000 for the first time, that means it took three years to grow the debt by $115,000,000,000,000. As the debt is now ‘set’ to 852% of the country’s GDP, which is close to impossible to solve. I saw this setting (not to that degree) come to our front doors almost a decade ago. As such I saw the abyss America was heading to and the media was silent on most of this and the economists who predicted a similar event were trivialized by the media. 

And in this matter there is circumstantial evidence. You see if America needs resources, they have construction firms in the world and they start digging. And here we see the setting. If America is not able to pay for it, what they have left is merely annexation. 

So compare my words and the presented evidence (which is all over the place) to the words of Kevin O’Leary who was seen by others as a traitor to Canada whist we were given “Kevin O’Leary’s support in spurring on Donald Trump’s quest to merge Canada and the U.S. is nothing short of traitorous to his country and indicative of a complete disregard for his homeland’s desires.” It has the added “Canadian multimillionaire and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has taken it upon himself to negotiate on his country’s behalf in support of Trump’s twisted vision. O’Leary’s support of a U.S.-annexed Canada seems to be motivated by a strengthened economic union between the two countries — in other words, it will likely mean more money in his pocket, even if it comes at the expense of what everyday Canadians want for themselves including access to universal healthcare.” We get this from the Brock Press (at https://brockpress.com/kevin-oleary-is-a-traitor-to-canada/) on January 9th 2025. I wrote on January 27th “There is no opportunity as that weasel Kevin O’Leary states. America has to find ways to raise its economic awareness of go under.” I admit that comparing these two settings, I was not as eloquent, but I am not a journalist, so I have an excuse here.

There was no opportunity for Canada, there was one for America and Canada would suffer under the debts of America and go under as a result. This is one of the reasons why I wrote ‘A call to arms’ and now that I see the CBC article, I was more correct n a few ways then I expected. You see, I thought America would be clever in this and perhaps with President Trump calling (to some) weird decisions make sense in this setting, but the media never gave us this setting did they? 

So the Woke people are going under at present, for the simple reason that you cannot eat Woke, you can eat Wok but that puts you in Chinese waters. 

As such the tariffs were a prelude to something more and we see the optional reason with CBC. I made mention of the fact there was more, but I had no idea what as I do not have access to that stuff and to be honest I am most of the time more interested in the gaming universe than in real life. I real life I work make money pay the bills and play games (in a delusional world where I am a god, Laura Vandervoort is my goddess and yes I know she is engaged). 

As such we can conclude I am slightly delusional with a healthy amount of admiration for the ‘fairer’ sex (I just hope that didn’t sound too creepy). 

We are all driven and I am not different. I look at the new ideas for gaming, I redesign games as they are (mostly in my mind and a few are in my blog).

So why this?
Well that is partially simple. If I was correct about all this, then it stands to reason that I am mostly correct about some of my other IP (which was revealed in part in my blog too) and the setting of my evolution for the Amazon Luna would also be on target with an additional 50 million consoles on the pre-sale pipeline. The idea of a new setting to advertising which is partially coming to view by Meta, but the part they haven’t considered is what more it could do (in the near future) and that sets a new ramp to over 150,000 malls. And that comes with untapped advertisement money and awareness creation all over the place. As such I feel pretty happy. It is more than “I was right” or “The others were too stupid to see this”. It is a sense of the feeling being the right person and the actual innovator of retail goods in the long run. It is a very satisfying feeling, let me tell you that. So when I saw the CBC article all the bells and whistlers started to make sound. As it is a sort of validation of what I have done for over 14 years.

As such what every Commonwealth person needs to do is to buffer strength to Canada as they will need it. You see, when this all comes to pass and we are nearing that moment It doesn’t matter how many Mexicans try to be smuggled into America, we need to worry about the tens of thousands Americas trying to enter Canada, because if this 51st state garbage continues America is running out of options. And I tried to warn people for that as well. You see, $145,800,000,000,000 implies an interest of at least $4,374,000,000,000 and as they are getting through taxation (as speculated by certain sources) $4,920,000,000,000, which leaves America $600,000,000 for everything else. Infrastructure, pensions, assets purchase (military) and that is the larger setting. Funny thing, I wrote the article ‘The accountability act – 2015’ where I set the notion that tax laws had to be rewritten and I did so on June 19th 2012, almost thirteen years ago. I did so (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2012/06/19/the-accountability-act-2015/) they had that much time to revise what would have delayed the moment that is seemingly about to happen. So I’m feeling just fine. It was not the only warning I had, my blog has plenty of of those too. So wonder what the media kept from you for at least a decade and consider who the stakeholders of the media are. Now consider whether you can trust any media source at present. Don’t worry I haven’t trusted them for years. The ugly truth is that they do not lie to you, they merely present another side of any story that allows digital dollar exploitation and it is a global problem. So when you figure out just how far America is leaning over the abyss of bankruptcy, then consider where you are and how safe your future is, because as I see it, the Commonwealth needs to come united or becomes part of something else. Who that is, is another question, one I feel less certain to voice opinions over.

Have a great day and consider that the coffee (or tea) you drink today might be as good as it gets.

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January 31, 2025 · 20:44

In the mind of creativity

It’s always fun to show the shortcomings of Microsoft and others (Not Sony or Nintendo) and as such my mind created a new piece of IP. In this case I had to make a selection of sets (literally) And that setting took a little flight. In the game you start the game as a child (boy or girl) to make it more than cosmetic the boy and girl will have different abilities. Some will be alike, others decidedly different. Both have a disability. They cannot resort to violence or killing. As such stealth is your only weapon. 

I am still deciding if the first level is all in black and white (for the most) and as I saw it (in my mind)  when looking at important items, they become color when you focus on them. 

In the first mission, the intro mission you were taken by hoodlums, the have your sister (if you play the boy) or vice versa. They want you to steal something and only a child can get passed the blocks that would stop a grown man and it would make then visible to all.

As such the mission is simple. Take the item(s) and get out. Of course there are hints that this will never end, so you have your work cut out for you. This sets out the game and is not very remarkable. So lets add the stages. In level one the setting is the location for Rear Window (1954) with James Steward and Grace Kelly. In all it is close to a perfect reflection of the movie with all the people and as such you have your challenge. Stay out of sight of James Steward with his camera and avoid all other people. The achievements a few per level makes you the envy of Hollywood. As such you need to find a way to imply the criminals and you need to set the police on them (another challenge). So whilst you learn the game, we get to see the setting of observation icons (what others see), and we need to set the stage of where Jimmy is looking at. 

Another level is Petra which was used in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade (1989), but at that point both genders have additional powers. So that is what I ended up with after 2 hours of mesmerizing on what could be. Just a larger setting of gaming. So if you are an indy developer and you do NOT develop for Microsoft feel free to use the idea I set out here. In other thoughts I came up with locations. There is Salzburg, Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Grand Budapest Hotel in Görlitz, Duke Humfrey’s Library at Oxford, Ischia island in Italy, Café des Deux Moulins in Paris, Savoca in  Italy, Bruges in Belgium, and a few others. The idea is to set them in sets for of the age stages of the children. 

In this case I haven’t worked out the details yet for powers and the storyline. I want the storyline to have a twist of some kind and let the story unfold. As you are unable to free yourself from the hoodlums in level 1 you will get different missions and locations than if you are free to see the world. The additional setting if you lose your brother/sister you are more likely to become evil. That gives the game a few iterations to replay the game to get the achievements that you might want to get (some completionists are bound to for that goal) and that is all I got in 2 hours. So do you think that some game makers are innovative (not calling out the one I should). There is a business upside to buy it all, but it is murder on creativity and innovation. And the sneaky one (me) thought it was a good idea that after Microsoft bought some company for $69,000,000,000 (all cash), as such I would hand out free IP to others, so that they do not feel deserted (or ignored). that is my sense of humor in action.

Have a great day

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January 28, 2025 · 03:17

No stopping the reengineer

Yup, It is as we see it. When you are able to reengineer there are a lot of issues that your brain is trying to work out. I started yesterday and in a few hours I thought through a new selfie stick. The one I have now is good, but it was meant for more, for the selfie filmer and as such it is a little too bulky for the noob selfie maker that I am. I reckon I have about a dozen selfies collected over the period of 3-4 years. Not much to write home about, yet I feel the a selfie stick is essential for nearly anyone, as such I came up with a new selfie stick. And in the gaming section I reengineered Infamous: Second Son. The game has issues and a few more seem to crop up on the PS5. I rated the game as average when it was released. Let me explain.

The game starts AWESOME. It hit all the right spots and the smoke power was pretty unique to say the least. It doesn’t show it’s tail until the second act comes into play and the laser power comes into play. That power was too strong and after that the game becomes too linear and slightly dreary. And it was a shame, the elements of the game are awesome, the storyline is good and the setting (Seattle) is also a strong setting (My introduction towards Seattle). The game has a great setting, it was the linearity that mostly got to me.

The second setting (a mere idea) was the switch of power 2 and three switching. So the TV power first and Laser third. When the larger fight starts (concrete) the game sizzles. The idea that the power is used to repair the city and make it like before the conduits (Bio-terrorists) came to Seattle. 

It requires some switching in the storyline but for the most the story lines could remain in the act the are meant for. The smaller issue is the linearity of the good and evil powers and to mix them up all over town. There would be a little more requirement for the game, but those were the heart-line of the matter. There is the additional setting that with the TV powers you would get a larger setting towards stealth and that was optionally missing in the game. The setting that after the first act you could subdue your opponents in stealth and there would also be the added tension that the enemies would be massively more powerful against the TV power and that could spell problems for the gamer if they rely on stealth too much. All small things but it would set the game from a 75% (I think that was how I rated it) to a solemn 92%. As ‘glitches’ go, the fact that the troops at tomes seem to merely run back and forth and not much action from there. The second thing I noticed (now) was that you see troops with blazing guns (when they are a little further from you) yet no bullets and no tracking (of ammunition), but this is a minor glitch. 

I think it pays to do this as the game is worthy of the update that comes and to get the rating that much higher would be worth it, it would also mean that it optionally gets a streaming update for the Amazon Luna and like kind systems. 

The Banksy part of the game is awesome and still fun after having completed the game at least three times (I only learned of Banksy after I had completed the game). I also ‘thought’ through a setting for a 4th Infamous which I blogged about a few years ago. There I also set a new premise to the powers. You see, I grew up with the teachings of Mendel and as such I thought that the game could be set to two phases, the first is that Delsin gets his powers (like you play), but now he get a girlfriend and he gets busy (as mentioned in the Incredibles) the setting is that he has the choice of 4-6 girlfriends (three good and three evil) and the child will be the 4th game and his or her power will be based on the powers of the parents and that gives us a whole new range of replay choices. And as the child selects good or evil will also set the powers the child has differently as well as the karma settings of the game. It was a thought that kept me awake for hours, but in the end I found the setting that would be a productive one. I also set the stage that the New Second son would also set the premise of the meet and ‘greet’ and the actual sequel would be in Vancouver (as It is close to Seattle) the game would be close to be playable but now we have a new goal as the child will have predestined powers and as such the game needs a second antagonist to make sure that certain game elements would remain possible and that takes a few cogs to work overtime so that the inherited powers are usable and an interaction with the second protagonist would still be a challenge. 

Just my skull making the candy for gaming. Well that is it for now have a great day.

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January 23, 2025 · 23:37

The ability to create

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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January 16, 2025 · 04:28

Giggling is the better medicine

This morning (around 03:00) I felt the need to check my mobile (a compact version of the invention by James Alexander Bell) or something of the sort. Inaccurate? Perhaps, but everything comes from somewhere. And as we all look towards roots, I looked at the screen and suddenly stopped. You see, I saw a Microsoft header with layoffs pass by. This is nothing to worry about, or new. They are all laying off people, all the big ones, so that is not cause for concern. Microsoft employs 224000 people, so they might cast a few more away. But I had not actually seen the details of the news, as such my trusty Chrome looked at the news of Microsoft and there a few things came up. And the count is important (for later)

  1. We see all kinds of advertisements with the Surface Pro being reduced $300 in one direction, $400 in another. There are all kinds of ‘offers’ but why would you want to discount THAT much? 
  2. Layoffs. We see ‘Microsoft lays off employees in security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming’ (source; Business insider), ‘Microsoft staff face second round of layoffs as firm continues cost-cutting measures’ (source: ITPro) several sources claim that the layoffs will be small, but no numbers are given. Now this makes sense in light of the ‘redundancies’ at Google, Amazon, Meta (say Facebook) and a few others. Another source gave us “Microsoft plans to pause hiring in part of its U.S. consulting business and said last week that it would lay off less than 1% of its workforce”, still that could be up to 2200 people, when you are one of them percentages really don’t make a difference. 
  3. The information gives us ‘Microsoft’s Gaming Business Falls Short, Despite Activision’, This is fun. You see in 2023 Activision Blizzard had a market cap of A$120.08 Billion. Microsoft only paid 75 billion for the company and in early days I stated that a gaming company is only as valuable as the last game, and in 2022 Activision Blizzard’s annual revenue amounted to 7.53 billion U.S. dollars, as such Microsoft needs this to go on for 10 years just to break even. I warned for that and now we got ‘Microsoft’s Gaming Business Falls Short’, the Information (at https://www.theinformation.com/articles/microsofts-gaming-business-falls-short-despite-activision) gives us also “In the year to June, Microsoft’s gaming business revenue grew 5.8%, well below the 11% target set for the purpose of calculating part of Nadella’s compensation, according to securities filings. (That growth excludes revenue of Activision since its acquisition but includes Game Pass)”, it amounts to the fact that ‘gaming’ revenue is 50% short. Not good news I say. And when others come with complex stories that it has a few more sides. I say revenue is revenue and it is 50% short, that is the part others look at. And Newsweek gives us ‘Activision Hasn’t Helped Microsoft Grow Xbox Game Pass, Says Report’ (at https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/activision-hasnt-helped-microsoft-grow-xbox-game-pass-says-report-2015392) where we also see “Microsoft was hoping that acquiring Activision would lure other game developers to rent its Azure servers, which hasn’t happened” not surprising. Developers like numbers and with a 3:1 margin Sony is a much more appealing choice for the first stage of any development. And the bad news doesn’t end there, we see at TechRadar (at  https://www.techradar.com/computing/gaming-pcs/theres-one-handheld-gaming-pc-that-went-under-the-radar-at-ces-2025-and-its-got-a-secret-weapon-to-beat-the-competition#) that Tencent now released the Tencent Sunday Dragon 3D One at CES 2025, a setting that was (kinda) clear over a year ago and my IP was set to that device and if successful (here’s hoping) it will cost Microsoft a lot more, well at least they bought Activision at $10 per $1 (OK, not entirely accurate, but I’ll go with that feeling). 

So three points, all relate to revenue. Lack of two, lack of innovation in one (spin stories aren’t innovative) and whilst we are ‘given’ ‘Xbox Game Pass expected to make $5.5 billion in 2025’ expected isn’t something that is achieved and there might be more bad news on the horizon, which will set the spin engines to overdrive. To compare, Nintendo reported in September 2024 a Revenue of 276.66B, can you see why I giggle? Microsoft ‘sickofans’ are elated on the optionally coming revenue of Microsoft Game Pass that is merely 2% of Nintendo’s revenue. And that is next year whilst Nintendo is already slaying the revenue dragon. The revenues of Microsoft are likely to lack visibility for some time to come. Some of the reviews of the 2024 Surface Pro aren’t anywhere near stellar (and it needs to be) as such my predictions for the downfall of Microsoft are still achievable. I reckon that when the first AI milestones start failing the domino’s will take a tumble making Microsoft cut more and more meat of their bones. All this whist more and more people see through the presented spin (as I tend to call it) You see, with the promise of tomorrow you better deliver tomorrow and certain parties bought into that and as such when delivery stays short of achieving. The dice get cast in a very different direction. For me it’s easy. I merely have to wait for the predictions too fall short and Microsoft is lacking in more and more fields and as such as Tencent makes larger gains the stage doesn’t just change, it crumbles. I wonder where Amazon is, because with their Luna they had options. I initially designed for that track (merely because Google dropped their stadia) and should Amazon get on top of the Unreal Engine 5, the stage is seeded with Amazon opportunities. A setting Microsoft totally ignored (also they were not invited to my IP clambake). As such I reckon that there will be a hiatus until Microsoft announces more lay offs. And I have seen that before. They will ‘call’ it streamlining and what I see is an empty egg. The shell of the egg looks smooth, but you cannot eat it. In 2023 we got ‘Microsoft outage worsened by staff shortage’, so before you cut your less than 1%, was your staff shortage secured? And when that happens, where are the other shortages? Where one source gave us ‘Microsoft has published a preliminary report into an incident on 30 August that finds insufficient data centre staffing levels contributed to an outage’ and another gave us ‘Microsoft had three staff at Australian data centre campus’, a data centre with 3 staff members? I reckon Microsoft has a few more problems (I reckon planning being one of them). 

So have a great day and consider where you are now and where you optionally could be.

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January 5, 2025 · 11:59

What is the difference?

A note to start with. This is pure presumption, there is no evidence that this is happening at present. And the second part is that I will be talking about AI in this article, all whilst I know it doesn’t exist yet. The setting of ‘AI’ is the conclusion of LLM and deeper machine learning at present and the solution in some cases is amazing, yet it is not AI (and that never will be the case), yet players all over the field (like for example Microsoft) they are set to the ‘AI’ field and there lies the danger, too many will snap their teeth into this field and they do not know what they are doing. The ‘et al’ parties in this like the revenue and will to some extent ‘accomodate’ what comes and what will connect to it. 

If this is the first setting of that stage, the second would be the accusation that ‘Meta Opens Floodgates For AI-Generated Accounts On Facebook, Instagram’ (source: Forbes). This sets up a new stage in data collection and data gathering and this connects to a movie called ‘Free Guy’ (with Ryan Reynolds) and that set in motion some thoughts that occurred to me. This part will be speculation to some, presumption as I see it for the simple reason that I have seen decades of lazy programmers and not to clued in data scientists who rumble to appease their data collecting masters. 

The premise
A man is going out on a date with his girlfriend, they are having a lovely meal and at that point he gets arrested for an outstanding warrant in Riverwood NSW, as he is accused of stealing merchandise from a shop and he is sought out to answer questions for the death of a police officer in that location, he is not wanted, but is a party of interest. He goes along with the setting, as only to see what is going on. He is certain that they aren’t looking for him. 

You see, the man is not the person they are looking for, to be honest there is no such warrant but there is the snag. Someone mixed up profiles and his gaming profile where he visited the Riverwood Trader in Riverwood in a place called Skyrim. You think I a kidding? No that is the reality we face when AI’s, who are not AI’s as AI’s do not yet exist. In the bungling mess that data scientists face they will cross the wrong paths and leave a lot of people in a dark setting as they are in line of warrants and black marks by the setting of that stage. And when someone will query the stage and ask if Riverwood NSW and Riverwood Whiterun are the same locations, or virtual ones. The computer will simply answer “What is the difference?”

Settings
The setting of correct staging of locations and perhaps the simpler settings that a game crime is not a real crime the computer throws a NULL, it was never taught the distinction. The data Scientist never thought it would become a reality. And there is the stage when we get fake profiles collecting data. No distinct verification of data required (apparently).

It was a danger I saw years ago, but no one seemingly caught on and now as everyone wants to trow in their ‘AI’ to be more efficient in data collection, real profiles and real people get twist in a setting of what is reality and that setting will become the event of the day for a lot of people.

I am not looking forward to the arrest warrants from Florence and Rome for killing these so called Italian Carabinieri. I killed dozens in Florence and Rome and they will not realise that those done as my Altar Ego (Ezio Auditore) were not real, but leave it to any data scientist to leave that little setting out in the open. Now that some are pushing their ‘AI’ delusional reality to the larger profile and matching stages with all kinds of profiles we face these dangers. Should anyone say “That will never happen, we are to clever for that” I will answer “Why are you selling AI while it doesn’t exist yet?” These are stages that will soon come to fruition and even as it is not exactly that exact, there will be cross linking social media sources a they think it is their great O (ask any girl, she’ll know what I mean) and the simplest setting is decades old. You can not compare a basket of apples and a basket of oranges by calling both baskets ‘fruit’ the simplest setting ignored for simple greed. Because these ‘AI’ systems will accept both as fruit, even as an actual AI system would see the difference and simply state “I cannot compare a multitude of Oranges and Apples in the same comparison. The difference between a real system and an orchestrated system. 

Have a warrant free day today.

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January 3, 2025 · 13:37

Changing the question

That is an old setting that has been around for over 30 years. It comes from either market research or politico logy. You see, that setting was given as “If the answer does such the mines not match, change the question” and it has been used in all kinds of media for decades. As such I get to the article in question (at https://insider-gaming.com/ubisoft-far-cry-7-and-maverick/) we are given ‘Ubisoft wants to change the ‘Far Cry formula’ with Far Cry 7 and Maverick’. I found the setting hilarious. You see, we have AC odyssey (2018), AC Valhalla (2020), Far Cry 6 (2021), The Division, (2016), Ghost Recon Breakpoint (2019). That is a mere 5 titles that (as I personally see it) flopped because of shoddy programming ad even worse play testing. I personally see Far Cry 5 as a failure as well, but I have a few personal resentments against it, and I will not hold Ubisoft to blame for that. A stack of failures where the price of these titles drop by over 40% within the first month. It got to be that bad. Riddles with auto assumptions in these games to a much larger effect. As such when the article gives us “It’s understood that both games have had a significant overhaul to their movement systems, too, including the addition of tactical sprinting, sliding, vaulting, and more. Seemingly, this is due to both projects originating from the same game and sharing similar movement mechanics, with the similarities of both games bleeding into one another.” Well, in the past a lot of movement mechanics were blamed, but I saw that as shoddy programming. And as we look at blunder after blunder, the issue isn’t the system, it is the programmer, the director and the play testers. These three sides should be intertwined in creating a top product and they weren’t. As such I will not touch any Ubisoft product until I see a proper version and properly assessed. YouTube influencers are useless as I see it. So as I see it see it, the quote “Ubisoft is seemingly trying to break its own trend of chasing trends, and Far Cry 7 (or whatever it’s called) and Maverick seems to be a step in the right direction, albeit a considerable risk.” Should be seen as a proper one, but I for one see the larger danger in ‘chasing trends’ because gamers are not trends, they need to feel the comfort of a game and that results too often in more of the same. As such we might see AC Odyssey as a part of a revolving trend, but the auto assumption comes in play and the gamer gets into too many ship battles on day one, all whilst the serious setting of ships battles were that they happened seldom and with large gaps in between, all whilst the predecessor (Origins) was a solid product. 

Then there was the breakpoint failure. With a headshot resulting in the ping of a Triangle and the helmet flies up for over 30 feet (I remember headshots in 1982 playing out differently) and that ping was not part of the equation, neither was the flying helmet. Then there are all kinds of other settings that made little or no sense. All whilst gamers want to see ‘some’ level of ‘reality’ in that. The games had become a joke. No actor of any level could fix that (in this case Jon Bernthal). Ubisoft obscured their own view to the entire world. As such the answers never fit the bill, so they changed the question and most people will accept that software was the cause. As I personally see it, Ubisoft had much bigger concerns, solid programming being the first issue to address, when in doubt watch Assassins Creed: Syndicate, they are on Youtube. Flying carriages, I asked Tinkerbell and she denies every pixie dusting any carriages, she also reminded me that carriages cannot have happy thoughts. That is merely one setting, one of dozens why Ubisoft is phasing out of the gaming industry. I am not a sceptic thinking it should all be 100%, I have seen my share of stuff floating on air. But for the most when it doesn’t hinder the game, it doesn’t bother me, when carriages go awry in air, it becomes an issue and the waves of panicking NPC’s in AC Paris is just a little too much of a shift in playability. So, yes they can change the question, but gamers have a long memory and they have upset too many of them. As such as I foresee it, there is a setting that makes the Ubisoft stock go down another 25%-35%. Remember that in 2021 it was €84.60, it is now €12.86, that is already an 80% drop and it could get worse. The next released title tends to be the instigator. As such it might depend on Assassins Creed Shadows how this plays out.

Have an awesome 2025 this January.

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December 16, 2024 · 18:57

The statistics are against me

Yup, that happens and I don’t believe it is a worrying issue. You see, it started a little over a year ago and I created my first (sort of) script. It is called ‘How to assassinate a politician’ which I later ‘reset’ to ‘Essay’. MY first script was meant specifically for an islamic audience which could have graced the walls of the UAE or the Saudi media bosses. I saw the story and it was my response to an Islamophobe population. And how to better serve it than to assassinate the biggest European islamophobic of all Geert Wilders (now PM of the Netherlands). I thought it was an excellent idea (a pure personal thought). Yet now I am confronted with ‘How the creative economy drives growth in the Middle East’ (at https://economymiddleeast.com/news/how-creative-economy-drives-growth-middle-east/). Here I see “In the UAE, a global creative hub, Dubai Media City is home to a talent pool of over 40,500 creative professionals”, so what was I thinking? Well, the short of this is that I write to feed the creative beast in me. I was unaware of just how large the Media City population was, and if you go by that setting you will never get anything done.

And whilst you are mulling over “The UN Trade and Development Creative Economy Outlook 2024 highlights the crucial role of creative industries in global trade and economic growth. According to the UNCTAD survey, the creative economy contributes between 0.5 percent and 7.3 percent of GDP and employs 0.5 percent to 12.5 percent of the workforce in various countries. “The creative economy has the right forces pushing its sails. This is not just art. It is an economic powerhouse that we must harness together, leaving no one behind,” stated Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of UNCTAD.”” You see, it is nice to hide behind numbers at one setting, but the source of the numbers matter a well. I find a little worrying setting behind the statement “The creative economy has the right forces pushing its sails. This is not just art. It is an economic powerhouse that we must harness together, leaving no one behind” my issue is in one direction “leaving no one behind”, which is nice, but that is a political statement and Grynspan was in the past Grynspan was a professor and researcher at the Economic Science Research Institute at the University of Costa Rica. This is not some anti statement. I always wonder and become ‘skeptical’ when a politician makes a “leaving no one behind” in their setting. Because that tends to rally towards “We were however forced to make choices” and that always goes at the expense of Art, especially when dollar numbers are involved. That and the setting of “employs 0.5 percent to 12.5 percent of the workforce in various countries”, which is quite the distribution. So where is it 12.5%? Hollywood with its 153,859 villagers? Some other consideration would be ‘the UNCTAD survey’, which I am not attacking now, as I have never read it. But the stage of a survey calls with me the setting of data. What data? What was filtered? How was it collected? What nations participated? Indonesia has around 277.5 million people, how many does its media (online and other) have? Simple questions really. 

When we dig into the matter, we see “Middle Eastern countries recognise the potential of the creative economy. In the region, the intersection of the digital and creative industries, in particular — encompassing the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Web3, and virtual reality — is driving innovation and economic diversification.” I still shiver at the notion that AI does not yet exist, no matter how many players boom the bubble of the AI vibe, it does not yet exist and we need to take notice of this. It might be fuelling the desire for it to be here, but it isn’t and when the world starts wondering the simple equation of “LLM’s vs AI” and true data parsing, its verification process and programmers with its algorithms the statement “According to a white paper by Dubai Design District and Dubai Media City, the global digital creative economy could grow by 11 percent annually, reaching a staggering AED27 trillion by 2030.” I fear for the fallout it precedes. And like the other papers the question of population, collection and reading the data will get a much higher priority. I winder how certain power players will address and respond to “a staggering AED27 trillion by 2030”, you see, joy of a revenue is nice, but the fear of it falling short in 5 years will be on the forefront of nearly every mind who depended on this fuelling stage. 

There is a side I fully agree with. It is seen in “In November, Dubai Media City underscored the essential role of multicultural creativity at this year’s Global Media Congress held in ADNEC Center Abu Dhabi.” I believe that true creativity can only be seen in a multicultural setting as such the UAE has a jump on all other nations as I personally see it and even as I shiver at the 40,500 setting (I am not debating or attacking it) I understand that my script had very little chance to begin with. I am still proud I wrote it and there are three more coming (not with Islamic values in mind), but that is the state of the world. Creativity is where our thoughts take us. And we respond as we would or as we can. The first one was islamic in nature, but that doesn’t mean all will be and multicultural is the first step of being truly creative. What matters to me are a few things and the stage of the numbers is one, articles rarely spell that out and as such it becomes my setting that I wish I knew more of UNCTAD and their numbers, because it is at the heart of the matter here. And here is the spiller (or killer). You see, the UN Trade and Development has a UNCTADstat Data centre. I took a look (at https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/) where I found “International trade in creative services: estimates for individual economies” an experimental part that has data from 2010 to 2018 and shows us Saudi Arabia, but not the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as such I wonder where the numbers are coming from. The article does not give us that part. I saw the Creative Economy Outlook 2024. The word ‘Statistics’ is given to us 23 times, and always with references like {Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2022. UNCTAD/DITC/TAB/2023/2. Geneva.} Yet the report gives us no real numbers (like raw data) or the reference to raw data has exactly 0 hits. As such I tend to have a more skeptical view on such a presentation. As such when ‘confirming’ the survey, I see another ‘hitch’ the fact that the phrase ‘in countries where data is available’ is missing from the article. It happens, but as I see it, it is kinda sloppy. With the rather large setting shown (in the UN pdf) that we see “inputs received through the 2024 UNCTAD Survey on the Creative Economy from the following countries: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Benin, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Seychelles, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uzbekistan and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” And here we get the other shoe dropped. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are not mentioned at all. This is not on these countries, but as I see it The editorial of the Middle East economy has a little explaining to do (as I personally see it), it might be merely semantics, but that is at times how I roll.

And there is more on the graphics, one pie chart merely shows Saudi Arabia and the UAE as part of the EMEA region, as such I wonder which part of the 21% is Europe, because that sets a much larger premise of advertisement per region and population. There is no real way that Saudi Arabia and the UAE can compete in advertising against a population of 742 million europeans. As such I start to develop questions (as I would).

Well that was it for now, I’ll add the United Nations PDF at the bottom, it took me less than 10 minutes to scope out the questions you see here and if I took a little more time I will find a lot more. But that is the setting of a political brief (as I see it), I also didn’t see (I might have missed that) on the definition of the media and what sources are set to what medium. You see, there is a chart on Global video games revenues, and predictively set (based on data) this is always an upward spiral because there are no sources (or data) available for the Playstation 6, the Nintendo Switch 2, or the Tencent handheld. They are the tomorrow systems and there is no data on any of that a present. But the larger audiences are already looking into these parts. So what gives on the data?

A mere simple question that has no easy answer, I get that, because presumption is always on what is known, but take the simple setting in 2012 the PS4 was released. It got more than 50 million consoles out and obliterated the Microsoft product. In 2016 Microsoft merely gave us all Xbox live numbers. So when we see that, what numbers does UNCTAD have to set the Total video games revenue from 225 to 312 billion and Video games advertising from 75 to 137 billion between 2023 and 2027? A lot higher than Traditional games which went from 55 to 62 billion? The numbers do not reflect each other. As you might guess that sets gaming in a dead drop against advertisement, a bad business practice as I personally see it. And I could go on but when you see it was a forecast based on PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2023-2027 (so based on what numbers?) This is merely what I found in under an hour. As such question all numbers that have no accompanying response setting (aka N). 

Also when we get the Countries with the most significant art markets by value of sales in 2023 and we see USA, France, UK, China and other with France at 7% and other at 15%, where do the UAE and Saudi Arabia end up? Consider that a place with 40,500 members do not surpass France and are part of the 15% What is the setting for them? I wonder if the Middle East Economy had those questions in mind when they released that story. As I see it a simple question really.

1416030-ENDownload

Have a great Monday.

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