Tag Archives: Good Omens

Colouring your coat

That is the term I am seeing, do you? It comes in support of what I wrote yesterday about physical copies. I also added a few points that I felt were important. The BBC however (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ryjyvjq41o) failed to disclose them and trivializes other parts. As such I am now decently convinced that the BBC is enabling or supporting the Have’s against the have not group. It is a whole new setting of people classification. So as we get the headline ‘PlayStation will stop releasing games on discs in 2028’ it remains a dangerous thought, because whatever advantage they have over others (Steam Deck, Xbox) end there and quite quick, they don’t have any advantage over Nintendo, but they will hand them a truckload of people, right of the bat.

The first debatable setting we see is ““This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” it added.” It does not adapt consumer trends at all and I reckon that in 2027 they will face had choices for the simple reason that people like physical copies. It might not like the fact that people are forced in a download setting and the United Kingdom has plenty of rural areas, when they learn that Sony if forcing them out of gaming, the battle lines will be drawn. Gaming journalist Vikki Blake calling it a “Body blow to consumer rights” and she is right, it is. Whilst we are also given ““It’s of huge concern for game conservation and a massive problem for gamers with lower disposable incomes who rely on part-exchanging or loaning games from friends to keep up with the AAA price tags,” she said.” As well as ““Just one console cycle ago, Sony made a tongue-in-cheek advert about how easy it is to share games on PS4 as a dig at competitor, Xbox.” Which gives us the second setting, because it was not a mere tongue-in-cheek advert, it was more. Microsoft had seemingly ‘embraced’ the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) and so initially did Sony, their terms of service basically acknowledged it, I warned several news agencies of this in November 2013. They seemingly brushed it away. In the 11th hour, they saw the blowback it was giving, so they laughingly brushed it away with the handing of a game disc. Their was nothing tongue-in-cheek about it, Sony got really scared and did away with it in a public joke. So that was what it was and seeing this makes me fume a little. Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business gives us ““We still see millions and millions of PlayStation games sold as physical goods,” he said. “It’s a significant business and there are lots of players that prefer to buy this way. It’s tough news for retail.”” It is and if Sony pushes this disclose setting they will hurt their own business in massive ways. And it is shown in other means too, as such we see “Sony has also come under criticism for pulling over 500 films and TV shows purchased on the PlayStation Store from people’s collections with no compensation.” There will be a kick around and Sony will not like that fallout. The question becomes why is this done? There is enough evidence not to do that and I am pushed into the squad of a “have versus have not war” the thoughts that Dutch Journalist Luc Sala gave me 30 years ago is now playing part in what was to come into what is about to happen and it is not mere gaming, I reckon that it becomes about what is after that. I am not sure what ‘that’ is, but we will soon find out. 

As I see it, the fact that the entire TPP part was ‘overseen’ gives me the impression that the BBC is embracing the “have’s” in this war and whilst we can accept that everyone takes sides, the journalistic integrity of the BBC is as I personally see it in play, because the journalistic integrity of a place like the BBC should be merely on the fence and not choosing a side, but that could be merely my view on the matter. 

Another side is seen with “The firm said its arrangement with the film production company StudioCanal has ended, meaning it no longer has the rights to sell those TV shows and movies, and they will disappear from people’s collections on 1 September.” I believe it is short sighted, I get that it can n longer be sold, but taking it from a catalog is different from deleting it from anyone who bought it, I reckon that those people are entitled to a download of these series and movies. The materials will be downed in a different setting and we are already seeing that. For example you cannot buy Shogun (2024) in Australia, there is also a setting that in Australia Good Omens (2019) only has Season 1, you can only buy the other seasons through places like Amazon. This discriminatory setting is now getting more and more attention (mainly through hatred of Amazon, which is also wrong) so as these ‘products’ are deleted we will see more and more non-acceptance of these settings and gaming is likely the one place where people unite rather fast. You should ask Microsoft, their ‘online only’ cost them their place in consoles and now whilst they were on par with Sony, they are now trailing towards 1:4, those are strong results of failure, as such I hope that someone at Sony needs to receive their walking papers. This got started somehow and at some point people want to know how started all that. But that is merely my point of view. So I hope that the BBC will soon colour their coat in a more neutral colour.

Have a great day today, it’s Saturday here already and I am a mere 110 minutes away from morning coffee. In Toronto it is still yesterday’s beer-o-clock.

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To be considered

We all have these moments when we recollect a movie, a movie that had an impact when we saw it. It might not have been a great movie, but there was something about the setting. In this case I was considering the 1984 movie Runaway. In it was Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons and Cynthia Rhodes. The idea of killer robots (spider edition) was not unique, not new, but there was something about it that had  something. I reckon that in todays world, the idea of rogue systems, hacked systems with a killer result is actually a lot less weird than it was in 1984. The movie had more, but consider what this diamond in the rough could contain. Even if it merely holds a reference to the original, the stage of remote killing a person is appealing to a lot of people, and when we consider that in those days the smart bullet was a figment of science fiction, we now have the setting that in 2008 the EXACTO program began under DARPA to develop a “fire and forget” smart sniper rifle system including a guided smart bullet and improved scope. Even as the systems is seemingly not working, or not well enough, we got there or close to it 40 years later. We have zero day issues, we have hacked systems, and in 2019 the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) gave us “In late March, the agency warned that computer hackers can easily gain access to implanted cardiac defibrillators made by Medtronic.” In this we optionally got to the scenario that we saw in movies. In this, there is now a reason to consider that movie as the foundation of something new, whether it is a movie or a mini-series is up to the maker. I merely hope that Gene Simons will get to reprise his role as the evil party in this case, he really was a lot better then I thought he ever would be. 

Whether it would be called Runaway (again), Remote by Rogue or merely Zero Day Kill would be up to the makers. Yet anyone in that field should take a look at that movie and see what was a figment in those days and what might be a lot less delusional in this day and age. And when we consider the impact of electronics, the right chip might give us a lot more options in that field and there would be all kinds of people interested in that, as such there are plenty of avenues to walk. I reckon that it might make a decent mini series (in 3-4 parts) but that is merely my view on the matter. 

Yet what I didn’t know until today is that the movie was originally reviewed by Neil Gaiman (the man behind Good Omens, American Gods and the Sandman, He gave us “The race to outwit the cybernetic psycho is gripping stuff, mostly, with a terrifying showdown atop an unfinished skyscraper; and as the hero cop with no head for heights, Selleck is fine. In between, he spends too much time just being a heart-throb.” OK, I can see that view and it is in that that there is a much larger stage that could be walked by the right visionary (not me). I will leave it up to others to do this. I merely hope that this Michael Crichton original is not overlooked in a race for mediocre streaming series. There is plenty out there that could make for awesome stories. That is the nice side of what we can do today compared to what was created in the 80’s.

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