Tag Archives: James Clavell

One thought of many

That is at times all of the settings we see. We see an idea and we focus on it. I for one am ‘smitten’ with that affliction. It came to pass as I have been playing AC Shadows and the story gives us the Portuguese. I remember that setting from the James Clavell setting given to us by Richard Chamberlain in 1978, with the work Shogun he, Toshiro Mifune and Yoko Shimada put Japan on our eyesights forever. This is not an attack on the 2024 Shogun, as I haven’t seen it yet (not out on Blu-ray in Australia) but I have heard many good things about it and I look forward to seeing Hiroyuki Sanada replaying the role that (as I see it) made Toshiro Mifune a great actor in the  western world. That is the setting, but it is not what this is about. The setting is set around the Jesuit order, one that had influence in Japan (I am not judging whether it is good or bad) and there is no reasonable way that any jesuit makes for a good assassin. But the setting of AC Shadows could propagate the Jesuit settings, or as they call it ‘Societas Iesu’ founded in 1540, as such it has a rich history, and history being the capital setting as this society is founded on “evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 countries. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. They also conduct retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social and humanitarian works, and promote ecumenical dialogue” for me the idea of prolongating education has another setting. You see, as classes go into disarray in the near future, we need to set new boundaries, not more investments. I see it that the backdrop of Assassins Creed could be used to a setting to learn languages AC Shadows Japanese and Portuguese, Just as the setting of AC Brotherhood could be the starting stage of Italian and Latin. Two programs that give rise to 4 languages. We don’t always get that lucky. There are settings where we merely could learn English (AC Syndicate and Watchdogs legion) so we have an old and new setting for the language. Students could learn a lot by what Ubisoft set in motion. There are settings for Greek, America (they don’t speak English, LOL) and from that we go on. And the fact is that these students can learn all the time (at home or at School) a setting to propagate knowledge and it goes far beyond the borders of that nation. See how these languages give rise to people in India have a much larger setting for languages. As some might ridicule the idea, the setting has been given and some (preferably in Ubisoft) will give rise to that idea and equip something like the Meta Quest 3 and walk around in these conditions, all whilst practicing your language skills. We get all the news on ‘sue strategy’ whilst no one is pushing that envelope to get something going. I gave visibility to this setting almost 6 months ago, so my quote for “Google and Amazon left billions on the floor” is hereby set to true. It is not the only setting there are more, so when you start realising that education is under the hammer and you are shown that education has to be cut, see where we could have given a larger rise to a new pedestal of learning. In that same setting AC Shadows give rise to culture (As does AC Brotherhood) we can argue that Paris in not a setting for culture (look at me, making another funny). 

We need to consider that the art of culture might soon be lost as America squanders whatever it has to keep its billionaires afloat and here Ubisoft has a larger setting to push education to a larger stage in Europe and India, because 1 billion hungry Indians (hungry for knowledge) is a large population to push an idea to. There might be issues over time, but the Ubisoft solution is about 80% finished at present. So do what you want with this idea, but at least I was thinking outside of the box, no AI required and it is close to release (the voice interaction requires actual programming), so when you see another BS media piece on what to sue from who, consider that they never looked at the opportunities given, a simple setting I employed, with no real issue on getting profit (this will be in the hands of Meta and Ubisoft), a donation will of course be graciously accepted. Are you listening Yves Guillemot? 🙂

Have a great day and try to learn something today, even if it is in a direction you never expected. I today did my bit for education, technology, arts and culture. What will you do today?

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A song in my heart

We all have these moments, we all get that moment that our heart starts to sing and it is never for one reason. It can be a woman (Laura Vandervoort), it can be a video game (Horizons Forbidden West), a movie (John Wick 4). There are different reasons fuelled with anticipation, desire and longing. The heart picks up on this and sings. For me this started in 1982. A mini series on TV caught my attention. It was the exploration of John BlackThorne (Richard Chamberlain) of Japan. It was probably the first time I saw something on the historical side of Japan. We saw the titan Toshiro Mifune and I am decently certain it was the first event I saw with him. Over time I saw more, we saw the Portuguese version of Gimli, portrayed by John Rhys-Davies, Yoko Shimada, Alan Badel and many more. The work of James Clavell brilliantly set to TV. It was a few years later when I got the VHS edition and another decade until I got the DVD. It was a few years ago when I tired to get the Bluray edition, however unsuccessful. I still have the DVD’s. I must have seen the series several times since the 1982 introduction. It never stopped bringing joy to my heart. So when I saw a new trailer, the trailer to the 2024 remake, my heart basically went bug-nuts.

Now we will get to see the cycle from Blackthorne and Toranaga, now portrayed by Cosmo Jarvis and Hiroyuki Sanada. We have seen Sanada in several things (well, you could have). There was 47 Ronin, Helix and several others. I know it will be a few months, and several more until I will be able to get the 10 episodes on Bluray, but the idea in itself makes my heart sing. One of the more prestigious series I have ever seen will be remastered and with the evolution of special effects and camera options, guided by a new cast with decades of insight we are optionally treated to a series that will overwhelm the senses, at least that is what I am hoping for. The 1980 version was ‘only’ 5 episodes, but the pilot and finale were 3 hours each, as such the new version might be on par with that. Yet I am not trivialising this, the original version was a titan and it still is, it stands next to I Claudius as the best drama in history and they have had their positions for half a century, as such the remake will have quite the challenge to equal. I have no doubt that the cast is up to the task. Hiroyuki Sanada is very much on near equal footing as Toshiro Mifune is. His list of achievements is a decent indication of that. The rest? Well, I hope to learn this in about 15 weeks when the first episode airs and I do hope it is something I will be able to see, although it is much more likely I will get the Blu-ray on day one (preferably before December 2024). 

For now I feel great and it is Saturday (nice bonus). Shogun returns renewed and I can’t wait to see it. I am enjoying the weekend, I hope you will too.

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Shadows are Us

It is almost 20 years ago that me, myself, I, my playstation and controller took a gander into the world of Tenchu. Even as I now shiver on the graphics that were then amazing, the gameplay is something I missed. This came to light when I got a dose of Aragami 2 on YouTube. Proper sneak games are a rare commodity, and as we look for the next sneaker (Splinter cell, Metal gear solid, etc.) those who love stealth games, we all have a fondness for Tenchu, 

I personally do not think that there is an exception to that rule. And for some reason, even as we all love Thief and its versions, it feels a little more amazing in Japan around the 1600’s. Japan in that era was a fun place (a little superstitious), but fun none the less. So Tenchu was a lovely step into the past. 10 years after that, when Microsoft still knew what it was doing, Tenchu Z was launched and the thump in my heart was as happy as it could be. 

Even as we saw some repetition in the levels, the levels themselves were amazing. And there was the second setting where you wanted to live in the levels you were mastering, the house, the inn, they were all amazing. There were off course issues, there always are for those who do some of the levels again and again, some of the parts that Tenchu 1 offered did not happen in Tenchu Z, yet I was not upset, after 10 years I got to tenchu again. 

So what happened? Why did the PS4 not have its own Tenchu, or whatever it would be called. A Japanese set stealth game, I know there is a sizeable population that wants one. Even if we see an upgraded remastered Tenchu Z, it is a stage that could propel the cloud consoles (Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and whatever Microsoft has) forward and yes, Microsoft does have the advantage, but only if they act, if not it is up for grabs. Microsoft does not have IP on Japan or stealth gaming. I wonder why I had not missed it sooner. Perhaps I had hoped that Ubisoft got its act together. Perhaps I hoped that some would remember the great games. 

Yet if Aragami 2 (due out in September 2021) delivers, we will feel happy and after such a long silence it should optionally receive a large following. Yes, the first Aragami had flaws (a few) but it felt much closer to the original Tenchu than many other stealth games. Styx and Thief are good games, they have their own niche and they are quite good, yet it is not sneaking in 1600 Japan. The era speaks to our imagination, it has pretty much since a man named James Clavell wrote Shogun in 1975. The age of Blackthorn and Toranaga. It spoke to most people and the image continued in gaming. So now, when we see the Sony PS5 and Microsoft alternative, we see a system that can render an entire village, one would hope that Tenchu gets a new lease on life in gaming, optionally in a much larger setting. We learned so much over 20 years that this is all possible and cloud gaming might actually end up with a larger advantage.

Options
Cloud gaming has its own stage and its stage is a lot larger than any game. I staged that play in a previous blog when I coined the return of Murder on the Zinderneuf. The cloud consoles will have an option what I call ‘cross gaming tokens’ Something found in one game can be used in another game, or better stated becomes an unlocked item in another game. Consider that you find a house ceramic in Murder on the Zinderneuf, that could unlock the steampunk version of Monopoly, When you play Tenchu, you can unlock a weapon that is an additional weapon in Clue, and so on. It is a stage never contemplated before , or never acted on, but in cloud gaming it becomes real, as we embrace subscriptions and therefor we need long term gaming. As such long term gaming is found in adding to games, but what makes the addition? By adding games, other games will optionally be enhanced, or even added to, all because you played Murder on the Zinderneuf and you examined the chess set in a room, a new chess set is added to chess. And there is no end to the options you can unlock making a long term connection. Now consider that setting in a game like Tenchu. As the enemy is there, it is also possible that a game like Anno 1600 will unlock more powerful enemies in Tenchu. 

Remember that evil Dutch Merchant? Well, if you played Anno 1600, he will become a VOC representative, complete with two bodyguards yielding a ‘Donderbus’ (the Dutch invention that would later become the shotgun). When the stage is adjusted the game becomes again enticing and rewarding. A simple stage of adjusting, and players like Ubisoft never went there, why is that (equally other players did not go there either). 

So whilst we can argue that we must move forward, we have a ton of options that have not been acted on, as such there are years of exploration in sight and there Cloud gaming has the option to offer more, not merely another version of a game, but a much larger game, if only the developers had that in sight when they thought that one platform is merely a port of another platform. 

In all this we can lie in the shadows awaiting what comes next, or we can adjust the lights and create alternative paths. So whilst we all await a new game, what is wrong with replaying a game we forgot about, only to see that it has been enhanced by other games we have played in the meantime. I believe that there are a lot of developers and they do not realise the impact of long term gaming yet, they seemingly forget that soon we get to a point (in 6 months) when some people will have played the same game for 10 years. There are not many games that are worthy of that but Skyrim pulled it off, so what happens when on 11.11.21 the game offers the players something new in the same game they played? In opposition, what happens when the ‘patch’ will unlock a whalebone dagger in Dishonored 2? These are options that cloud gaming can offer, or perhaps a Skyrim board in Monopoly, an Axe in Clue or a Skyrim style chess set? It is not merely cosmetic, consider that over time you get additional rooms, people and items in Clue. The standard formula you had in your mind will no longer work, it needs adjusting for the different items optionally altered items. The game suddenly becomes more fun to play again. A stage many forgot about but Cloud gaming enables it and suddenly the stealth games all get an upgrade and that is what we like a challenging game that offers more over time. So whilst we see Aragami 2 coming in September, what happens when some of the guards have crossbows? Do not laugh, the Japanese had crossbows as early as 230 AD, they called them Shudo, they also had something not unlike a ballista, but that came 400 years later, still ahead of Europe though. History provides a whole range of options and opportunities. And the coming of Argami 2 made me consider that. I wonder what Google and Amazon are doing. Most likely relying on a deal with Ubisoft, I wonder how that goes over time. 

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