Tag Archives: Microsoft

January 12, 2024 · 11:41

Warning to Google

This must be done. I have spoken out to others and I love my Google, my pixel (etc, etc) and as such it is important to speak out to them as well when it is called for.

As such it starts with the latest update to Android, the Pixel now gives the weather on my screen, this is great. Then the problem started. I woke up with my mobile saying it was cloudy and sunny. As such I went out to infuse my blood with caffeine. A process most people go through, especially at 08:00. So I walk out and I am drenched to the bone in about 45 seconds. 

As such whilst sipping coffee I take another look at the weather part. It was set to Sydney. OK, my bad. So I look at the settings and I add Burwood to the equation. But here the issue starts.

Google wants my GPS to be active. There is no reason to keep track of what I am doing and in addition to that, GPS is an additional drain on the battery. A drain I can do without. It would have been so easy to save that setting in the app. Just save Burwood. I am there 97% of the time anyway. You see here is the warning to Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Sundar Pichai. The world needs one less Microsoft, not one more and that is where you are heading. Living of captured data. You got ahead by differentiating yourself from Microsoft, not to clone its business practices making Google the big bad to become.

And it took seconds to see that saving the weather setting was the easiest. Some might like to activate GPS, some need it but forgetting those who do not like it is bad policy. You see the current big bad (Microsoft) has additional issues and more re coming their way.

They bought another gaming franchise and paid close to $100,000,000,000 for it. So at 6% (rounded down) implies that they need to make well over $6,000,000,000 to merely pay the interest. Their gaming business is stated to be making $3.9B per quarter, giving us that 100% will go into paying of this load (principle and interest) and that will take a speculated 20 years to complete. This is now a setting where we see in what I presumptively call a Ponzi approach to their businesses. 100 years later and some still think it is OK to be this stupid. I saw this in the late 80’s with a Dutch firm called Infotheek. They bought everything around them and they went the wrong side of bad soon thereafter. This is in part why I predicted that Microsoft will enter collapse by December 2026. They lost their battles against Apple (tablets), against Amazon (AWS), Against Sony and Nintendo (consoles), ad now they are shedding marketshare in Office and streaming isn’t going their way either and that will go from bad to worse when the Tencent Handheld becomes a global brand. This is what is out there and Microsoft is losing more and more battles.

Google, I do not fault you for leaving billions on the floor. You did drop the Google Stadia after all. But when we also see (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67937725) that the BBC reports that ‘Google’s billions make job cuts ‘needless’ – union’, we see a new pattern evolve. I am not judging on this move. There are always two sides and we see one side, but the image for Google is changing and that is not a good thing. They need to show themselves different. I for one (for more than one reason) are all in favour to change that workforce. Not to fire them but to give them a chance to pick up the billions Google left on the floor and there is more than one stage here, so there is a real option to pick up a lot of money globally and I recently gave the view on my blog. So I made it open to all (except Microsoft, they can sink to hell for all I care). 

So what gives? Why does a nobody (me) give a warning to Google? I reckon that is something you all need to look at as well. 

Enjoy the day, It is Friday here, in Vancouver not that much, they still have a bit to go.

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January 8, 2024 · 14:01

One side of business

I have had some questions thrown at me, some very nasty ones. You see, there is a massive difference between me and Americans. They are all about “What gives me the best deal” because it is one and optionally valid path to take. I do not believe in that path. You see I have always and forever been about “What shows me to be the best return on investment” and I believe it is the best path to take in this day and age. Would I refuse a decent offer by Amazon (either Jeff Bezos or Andy Jassy)? No, of course not. I would have some reservations, but that is OK. For that same setting I would accept a decent offer by Sergei Brin or Sundar Pichai (if they pass the qualifying question). To be a good source towards THEIR return on investment matters. OK, in case of Google there are a few other issues, but for the most it should be fine. Microsoft is out and they are pretty much done for but I will return to that part shortly.

So why UAE?
It is merely one place and there are two players Emaar Properties (Mohamed Alabbar) and DAMAC properties (Hussain Sajwani), both multibillionaires and both on the top of their field. In this (as reported yesterday) Emaar could see an additional growth of what I speculated was “an additional stage that would bring more than Dh680 million.” This is not a massive growth, this would be the impact if my solution brought a mere 1% to that table. Anything more and it becomes a serious amount of money. We can posture and speculate on how much more and you can do that all you like. It matters not. What matters is that these two gentleman see what I can bring to the table. IP with global implications. The fact that it will be registered and tested in Dubai first is merely one way to look at it. The registration gives them a 25 years advantage and that is what matters. It opens doors for players like Huawei to get additional traction in an area they never considered before and all because American players stayed asleep. And that is merely the beginning. The moment I prove one side, the other doors will open and they have several parts to grow in. Even now, only last night did I consider another path for one of my IP parts. This will merely be an innovation patent but it gives the implementors time. Time that places like America no longer have. We see all the news on ‘growing consumer confidence’ but it is like yapping to reeds. You see America is down 33,000 billion dollars. The interest impact will slow them down more and more and in this Microsoft is starting to wage a losing presentation war. Even now (actually a few hours ago) we were shown “If Windows continues to shed market share, it could hurt other parts of the business and the company’s efforts to monetise AI.” Is this a surprise? I predicted this BEFORE June 24th 2023 when I wrote ‘Path of a slippery slope’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/06/24/path-of-a-slippery-slope/) As such I saw this well over 6 months ago. That list goes on for while and whilst we are all about the presentation in the end results are what matters and It seems that the tycoons of the UAE have figured that out. In addition the woke and impassible setting in America will hinder these larger companies in several ways. So you tell me when these two tycoons get a technology advantage, one that could have opportunities on a global setting. What do you think they will do? And that is merely a first step. We all know the first step is the hardest, but anything after that becomes a lot easier when you show that there is a return on investment. They would never hesitate to pay me 12.5% on this setting (with an annual bonus of course on achieved sales) and when it shows to be more than 1% the equation drastically changes for them. That is the win for them (and me of course) and in all this America no longer mattered. They are losing too much money. Presentation firms are staging ‘presented success’ all whilst we can see that Microsoft lost their marketshare 5 times over and now someone else is seeing that they are shedding market share in their office and OS environment a place they never worried about before. Suddenly that 100 billion for gaming becomes an anchor around their necks and they will have little or no winnings to show for that for some time to come. They can present all they want but Tencent Is about to launch its own solutions and they stand to gain well over 50 million gamers. And well before phase two is completed they stand to get within 2 years what Microsoft required to get in 81 months (58 million units) that is what America is about to face. The sure thing of presenting consumers confidence all whilst these consumers see new shores and all these shores aren’t American firms. They are other shores and the only one who has a chance at present is Amazon (Google walked away from that). It is merely one side of business but it is a side America ignored all for the need of ego and presentations. As such as the stage goes on at present my prediction for December 2026 is still on the table, but now there is additional IP and none if it is going to Microsoft, they lose out yet again. How much longer until America is getting the gist that the party is over and the wrong people are making the decisions. 

In all this nothing is new, yet for me it remains to be a return on investment, a lesson greed driven America hasn’t figured out yet and that works for Huawei who is implementing cloud centres in riyadh and I reckon in the UAE soon enough as well. Another marketshare lost to America. In this the BRICS members have an advantage in all this and it is my believe that China will prosper massively here too. 

So enjoy your day and consider what side of business is passing you by. It might be trivial, yet in that ask yourself the other question. What gives you long term gains. You see long term implies (not proves) that the other player will be ready to commit to what YOU bring to THEIR table. It does not revolve around ‘Cash is King’ but in this day and age commitment is everything.

Enjoy

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January 4, 2024 · 18:57

Wanna go fat?

That is the weird but very apt question. Of course I could ask Laura Vandervoort implying if she wants me (my delusional side in action). Yet this is not about women, this is about gaming. It is 2024 and internet congestion is starting to become a much bigger issue. As such, if Amazon with its Luna wants to stand out and equal if not surpass Tencent with its handheld, it needs to reformulate some settings. I truly believe that Gaming as a Service (GaaS) has the future, but the brains behind this are too much about the monthly fee and when congestion hits that monthly fee becomes a problem. Tencent with its handheld has a solution, now Amazon needs to find a roadmap to set itself apart. They cannot rely on player like Ubisoft to figure things out, it will be too late for them.

Now consider an upgraded and remastered version of some of the Commodore 64 greats. Fort Apocalypse, Wizard, Jumpman, Wizard of Wor and so on. You might find that amusing, but you only have to face one wall of congestion and it suddenly doesn’t feel that weird anymore. Now each of these games was less than 354Kb in total. Now with upgraded graphics (and much better sounds) it will easily fit a 2Mb marker. Consider the controller now with an SD card slot and a 64GB card is less than $15. Now consider that the controller is the fat client. It will use the servers, but in some cases it can download a partial frame and a whole host of games can be played from the controller. Not Ubisoft games and not many ‘new’ high tech games (or whatever they would call them) but others could be downloaded and other games could be downloaded whilst you play. It is a larger station to consider. In the age of congestion, the one that allows you to play is the winner and Amazon needs a real win. Microsoft is spinning the fact that they are losing. They made arrangements with Ubisoft. So what happens when Microsoft desperately wants more? Amazon better get ready because if they are not, it all goes to Tencent and they are at present in a stage where they could get millions of gamers, all because some were asleep (OK, Google walked away from this). 

The larger setting that we see (at https://www.androidauthority.com/amazon-luna-1170676/) is only part of it. They are set on relying on monthly prices and that is good. The moment that players and families will have to consider $12 for Netflix or $10 for Amazon Prime, Amazon will lose members. The controller is either $70, or $83. So what happens when people get the one time additional $10 for the fat client version, they need to buy their own SD card, but it comes with a free setting of these ‘download’ games and as that list improves the people will select the Amazon equation. You can all go into denial that this will never happen, but a setting where bills are strangling you, that $10 can given you dozens of games and a gaming setting that families can afford. Yes, when they cannot afford one, they cannot afford the other either. But there will be a large group of people who can only afford one. And that will escalate. Now take congestion in the mix and people are paying for something that cannot be delivered for whatever excuse the telco gives us and in Australia Optus has had its share of excuses, so much so that there is a senate hearing on Optus. And it is the first one at present. I reckon that soon enough others will have their congestion and outage issues, this might be the year it comes to blows all because too many were sitting on their hands and it is not merely Australia. EU and US will have their own issues soon enough. In addition to that Germany and France have massive rural area’s where the minimum bandwidth is seemingly an issue. That issue is seemingly and there is no real open data. Those who have the issue are (as I personally suspect) hiding this. As such a fat client solution could decrease bandwidth pressures and allow people to game there, at least those lacking a console or PC. 

As I personally see it, going fat is not the best way, but it is an option into the future, so how about it Laura ;-)?

Now consider the Amazon solution with dozens of awesome remastered games added to the mixture? As I see it it is better than what is now, the Microsoft spin only holds water for so long and whilst too many are following that Microsoft cult, Tencent with its handheld is about to gain real gamers globally and that was what I always predicted. They question becomes which of the two is gaining the additional 50,000,000 gamers the quickest in phase one? When that part becomes reality Microsoft will have lost another battle, all set to meaningless banter like ‘We have the most powerful console in the world’ which is not a lie, but Nintendo with its weakest console surpassed them with great ease and now Tencent is about to become the next favourite taste of gamers. Amazon has options but it is not clear for how long. They are establishing themselves, yet outside issues like congestion will halt them for some time and this is the kind of game that standing still get you to lose the race. 

Enjoy this Thursday, the first weekend of the year is only a day away.

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December 28, 2023 · 23:31

Not changing sides

It was a setting I found myself in. You see, there is nothing wrong with bashing Microsoft. The question at times is how long until the bashing is no longer a civic duty, but personal pleasure. As such I started reading the article (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/new-york-times-openai-lawsuit-copyright-1.70697010) where we see ‘New York Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement’ it is there where we are given a few part. The first that caught my eye was ““Defendants seek to free-ride on the Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment,” according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court.” To see why I am (to some extent) siding with Microsoft on this is that a newspaper is only in value until it is printed. At that point it becomes public domain. Now the paper has a case when you consider the situation that someone is copying THEIR result for personal gain. Yet, this is not the case here. They are teaching a machine learning model to create new work. Consider that this is not an easy part. First the machine needs to learn ALL the articles that a certain writer has written. So not all the articles of the New York Times. But separately the articles from every writer. Now we could (operative word) to a setting where something alike is created on new properties, events that are the now. So that is no longer a copy, that is an original created article in the style of a certain writer. 

As such when we see the delusional statement from the New York Times giving us “The Times is not seeking a specific amount of damages, but said it believes OpenAI and Microsoft have caused “billions of dollars” in damages by illegally copying and using its works.” Delusional for valuing itself billions of dollars whilst their revenue was a lot less than a billion dollars. Then there is the other setting. Is learning from public domain a crime? Even if it includes the articles of tomorrow, is it a crime then? You see, the law is not ready for machine learning algorithm. It isn’t even ready for the concept of machine learning at present. 

Now, this doesn’t apply to everything. Newspapers are the vocalisations of fact (or at least used to be). The issues on skating towards design patents is a whole other mess. 

As such OpenAi and Microsoft are facing an uphill battle, yet in the case of the New York Times and perhaps the Washington Post and the Guardian I am not so sure. You see, as I see it, it hangs on one simple setting. Is a published newspaper to be regarded as Public Domain? The paper is owned, as such these articles cannot be resold, but there is the grinding cog. It was never used as such. It was a learning model to create new original work and that is a setting newspapers were never ready for. None of these media laws will give coverage on that setting. This is probably why the NY Times is crying foul by the billions. 

The law in these settings is complex, but overall as a learning model I do not believe the NY Times has a case. and I could be wrong. My setting is that articles published become public domain to some degree. At worst OpenAI (Microsoft too) would need to own one copy of every newspaper used, but that is as far as I can go. 

The dangers here is not merely that this is done, it is “often taken from the internet” this becomes an exercise on ‘trust but verify’. There is so much fake and edited materials on the internet. One slip up and the machine learning routines fail. So we see not merely the writer. We see writer, publication, time of release, path of release, connected issues, connected articles all these elements hurt the machine learning algorithm. One slip up and it is back to the drawing board teaching the system often from scratch.

And all that is before we consider that editors also change stories and adjust for length, as such it is a slightly bigger mess than you consider from the start. To see that we need to return to June this year when we were given “The FTC is demanding documents from Open AI, ChatGPT’s creator, about data security and whether its chatbot generates false information.” If we consider the impact we need to realise that the chatbot does not generate false information, it was handed wrong and false information from the start the model merely did what the model was given. That is the danger. The operators and programmers not properly vetting information.

Almost the end of the year, enjoy.

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December 23, 2023 · 21:39

Currencies

This is not about money, well not in a real sense. I saw an image and suddenly an old idea came to mind and whilst I am watching everyones favourite Christmas movie (Die Hard), another thought came to mind. A friend just gave me the best Christmas present in a very long time. It is time to return the favour (sort of). As such I have something that is a freebee for any Tencent technology and Amazon Luna indie developers. A word of warning, this is not for everyone. This is not some a game for every player. Some will not like it, just like ‘Welcome to the rapture’ and it matters, because it not drenched in blood or actions. This is a different kind of game. This all started with watching the old Thunderbird movies and seeing Babylon 5. A thought got to me, what if we make it more ‘real’ when I had the thought the PS4 was new and it had nowhere near the powers it needed to be. So in this game we ‘work’ for a living, as such it is not a game for managers (internal lol accepted). So the setting was that we start being an intern on a space station (like the European space station) or Thunderbird 5. We are orbiting this planet and we have to use equipment to complete missions of all kinds. That results in credits and optional super credits, which gets us the funds we need for the second part of the game. These funds will enable us to do space walks and now the second part of the game kicks in. Space walks come with a camera and now we get the option to photograph earth, the space station and other things. The idea is to give the player a sort of photo mode in 4K with the option to save the photos and send them to our USB. Now consider that we have a 4K setting of the earth, a rotating earth and with the camera we can get a decent clear image of the country where we live. We can see the moon in much clearer view and so on. But this is not enough. I saw the setting that if we get all three done above a certain level, we get a promotion. From there we go to the moon. Consider moon base Alpha (or the moon base from 2001, which also gives us the next space station first as well). We learn more equipment, actual equipment and we get to do more and earn more, especially earn more credits and walk on the moon. Now you might think that this is boring and for those addicted to Fortnite, it might be, but there are more gamers, millions more and they just loved walking around the fallout ruins, or walk in Cyrodiil and this game is for them. See it as the part Starfield could not deliver on. A track of achievements that are done with the camera. I also want to set a larger field where we get choices and the choices made c lose certain doors, but open up different doors. For example, the camera allows for espionage missions, but it could close the door on one station and open the door on another one. Just a thought. 

From there we go to a deep space station, like the Coriolis space station (Elite Dangerous), or a station alike Babylon 5 (or the Inner space space station). This now becomes a much larger challenge, not only is it more challenging in missions, but there are more photo missions to complete. In this completing them yields large rewards, but not all missions are easy to get, or to get to. 

Now these two elements are not enough, but you can’t expect me to do everything for you, can you. You see, the entire photo mode part is undersold too often and it can be taken to another level. Yes, in 4K we can make the most amazing images but no one seems to take advantage of that, as such I thought it was a nice idea to use it and what looks better in 4K then space objects? The idea is also that as you unlock the next level, all previous levels remain available. Your clones are send ahead, you are not. As such soon you get to push more and more credits but there is a limit, only 50% gets send to a previous station and 25% to two stations back, so half, or half or half and so on. It stops those doing the minimal and getting ahead that way. Also in the setting of a B5 station, you also need to upgrade your quarters, so that you get access to more of the station and better space walks. 

This was the idea as I had it, but the 4K photo mode was too new when the thought came to me. Also there are a few more sides to all this, but that is for another day. Now consider that parents of RPG games get one side, but the idea of a non violent game with educational sides will have great appeal and in a streaming solution this game will appeal, not to all but to well enough. And it took me less than two days to come up with it (I spend nearly a day mulling this over in 2014), as such consider all the things Microsoft isn’t coming up with and they just spend $100B, now consider we get messages like “Expect new updates “roughly every six weeks” in early 2024” regarding Starfield, a game released on September 6th 2023. So, not only was the game incomplete. Even months later there is now some indication that gamers had merely a beta to play with. When you consider all the parts not there and consider what I basically designed in 2014, how asleep are these people? 

In the meantime there are all kinds of issues (some regrettably) that a game like Starfield has and has been showing for some time. This game was in development for 5 years. Now my part would not have been easy, but they didn’t rock it, so now it is a freebee for indie developers. And when they put out a superior game on those two systems another nail in the coffin of Microsoft appears. So how does it feel for them to mess with our safe space?

No idea how they feel and I do not care. I am off learning a little more and setting the stages for Final Draft 12 today and tomorrow. Have a lovely day, the 24th is now merely a few hours away for me.

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December 21, 2023 · 04:01

In development

For me over the last 20 hours, 2 issues were on the rise (like bread getting ready) in my brain. The first involves Final Draft and that setting will come to a new stage in about a week. From there I have two options, one solves it immediately, the other is a pondering stage. But about that more later. The second one was the arcane in a new RPG. You see, the one (for now) powerhouse is Bethesda and they created true greatness. Only an idiot will deny this. They took one of the most obscure gaming styles in gaming history and made it gaming mainstream. This in itself is an achievement that should never ever be forgotten and it took 4 titles. Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout three and four. These four changed the face of RPG gaming. Now that they are part of Microsoft the issues will come and will settle all over their faces. Now, we do not know what will come next but the next Elder Scrolls is Xbox and PC only and 2026 at the earliest. As such a gap comes into play and the innovative designer can now get slices of a gaming market that will need innovation. It is why I placed so many ideas online, to entice makers to push RPG to Amazon Luna and Tencent Handheld. You see, whatever they miss and it might be enough and from there they will lose more and more marketshare. In addition it could get to PS5 (or PS6), but the larger station is that Sony has a platform, has exclusive titles and now 2 other platforms could become contenders too. They might not be a threat to Sony, it is not required. Enough innovation and they will nibble at the Microsoft population. All due to a war they never understood and a fight they weren’t ready for. 

As such I was considering the Arcane part in RPG. I made a few inroads in previous articles. Yet I started to wonder about the foundation of the arcane and then I remembered the foundation of one game you needed to find Sulphuric Ash and Spider silk (if you know, you know). It made me reconsider a few sides. What if the arcane needed more then a mana bar? What if the foundation of that power was a talisman and its catalyst? More in line of ‘the old days’, but now we get more. We need to get stuff, magic doesn’t come from nothing (when in doubt ask that insufferable Harry Potter) LOL.

So we get a new and novel use of jewellery. I had one element in my hand when I came up with TES7:Restoration over 2 years ago, but I merely saw that as the foundation of the introduction and part of the story. Now it escalates in a new arcane setting.

So the training goes one side. The talisman (necklace, ring or staff) the other direction, lets call it focal point and the catalyst (reagent, leaves, resource) is the power behind it. Now the arcane becomes an entirely new challenge. And this is not some and and and for power. The and and or in that equation gives the stage plus sides and negativity like we might face in real life. Consider a bicycle, we can adjust all elements for speed, but there we lose acceleration. We can have the tyres to get more grip, but with rain that grip goes away. It becomes a new stage, a place where it is about balance. And as the player has its own sides, that player needs to focus on options to chose from. In the beginning more power is everything, but over time you will see that arcane traction makes you more versatile and that is a side Bethesda NEVER used. They saw what was best and they were right, but other parts were missed and overlooked and now that the systems are much more powerful we see more in a game, as such we need to create a different playing field. For those who remember Oblivion, there was the Rockmilk cave a good grinding spot. It also made me create improvements (see previous articles). What now matters is that we had two factions in one place who were fighting each other. In that setting you need a different arcane play. It also gave me the idea to adjust arcane fighting and with the different storylines that is not an issue. What matters to me was the fact that the arcane we did have was a little too rigid. It made me think in this direction. 

So as we have an arcane fighter we need to enhance gameplay by giving the player a new way to prepare, like a ready equipment setting. 

Example:
Pendent one and ingredient five
Necklace One, Ring three and ingredient 12

This reads weird, I know, but the setting is that you will find and upgrade certain jewellery and you keep them, there is not merely a stronger one (well there is), they reflect on catalysts differently as such you need a new way to be able to get through a place that has two different parties, like a cave with brigands and spiders. YOU must be prepared for both and that takes a different way of thinking and you need to adjust your equipment accordingly. As such you might have a ring and a pendent, but they are both for different enemies and in this you might not have your staff, but you have in one hand leaves for one and in the other hand ingredients for the other and when you combine these abilities you get either different results or you make yourself really visible to one or the other fiend (never a good thing). It is a new way to play the arcane and of course that usage will develop your player in new ways, which pushes replayability forward. A side I worship in RPG gaming. So whilst (according to some) Bethesda is remastering Fallout 3 rumoured on PC and Xbox only, others can look at a totally new way to play an RPG, some will love it, some will not, but both groups will be introduced to more and more innovation in gaming and that is ALWAYS a good thing.

As I see it almost a dozen new innovation that no RPG game has ever handed you before. Now to be honest, before the PS4 there was no power to do so, yet these innovation are now in part to the public domain, giving two new systems innovative play, all whilst (according to rumour) the more powerful console in the world will be playing a new iteration of a 15 year old game. Perhaps it will have new sides, it is apparently not coming to Sony, so I do not care. What I do care about is pushing gaming forward and that is what my writing does, opening the eyes of indie developers to offer something others did not and I feel that I am succeeding.

Now it is time to brood more on Final Draft and see what I could deliver to the MBC group or Al Saudiya (or both) and have a little more fun there too. It is time to put the final part on How to assassinate a politician and see what I can make of it. And never forget (I don’t) that it could all be a great flop. There is no shame in that. Nintendo got there with the WiiU and surpassed their fortunes five times over with the Switch. One led to the other and we all face these moments and some state (and I do not disagree) that sometimes you learn more from failures than from previous successes. 

The Switch is now around 132.46 million sold units. It is now their second best console in history and surpasses the PS5 with 50 million and the Xbox Series X and Series S with a lot less than Sony has (no precise numbers available). So consider that Nintendo outsold Microsoft by well over 300%, so where is that most powerful console in the world now? Where is Microsoft now with their $100,000,000,000 investment? They might claim that good times are coming, but I am not seeing them. Yes a remaster is nice, but gamers want innovation, not iteration and remasters. The remasters are nice to feel good about the past and we need that at times NEXT to new good gaming. As such I was right all along and now the new indie developers have well over 15 months to capture an audience that is looking for the new and the exiting. As I see it a 75% game called Starfield isn’t getting it done (presumption, as I never played it), but consider that a game so overhyped and so rumoured about only gets a 75%, how sad is that?

Innovation is where it is at and Sony was correct all along. Time for streamers to tech Microsoft that lesson too and when more than three parties shows them how wrong they were from the start. Will they catch on? I created more innovative public domain IP one year  for non-Microsoft players than Microsoft achieved with spin and presentations in 10 years. So they can take that to their overstretched banks too.

Enjoy the day.

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December 13, 2023 · 21:29

Slapped by surprise

This happens to us all and it happened to me today. I was pretty much minding my own business when something on LinkedIn hit me, it hit me square in the jaw. It was the application in another direction, but I contemplated it to apply to gaming in a similar way. You see, this is not an easy story and a lot of you might not get it, that is fine. It is the evolution from RPG to CtLFG. Role Playing games evolving in Close to Life Fantasy Gaming. Confused? That is fine. To get this I need to give you some examples. You are sneaking in a cave and slaughtering all you can and at times you hear “It must be my imagination”, it was one of several things that bothered me. Now this is not on any player and not on Bethesda. They created greatness with Skyrim. It survived three generations (PS3, PS4 and PS5) and has been around since November 11th 2011. More then 12 years. To have one game do this, especially an RPG is nothing less than astounding. As such with that in mind I initially created TES7: Restoration (the initial design was from 2015). 

In this the foundation was set with Cyrodiil (Oblivion), to make it work that map would need to be 3 times larger on the X and Y axis, making the map 900% of the previous one. The imperial city would be similar that much bigger, cities would be somewhat bigger, more people and in the end we would connect Skyrim to this and optionally whatever TES6 would be, but that would be options. Restoration required both Valenwood and Elsweyr to be added as that would be the setting for the story and main quest. Yet the setting would be larger than just these two parts, missions that cover all the areas. A lot more side missions and even side quest lines. Now we get to the evolution part. To avoid grinding I used IP originally by Vint Cerf, but now applied to gaming would make it an innovation patent and now we are off to the races. Yet something happened./ Microsoft bought Bethesda and I will not help losers, so I made parts of all this Public domain with the setting that this was to be exclusive Amazon Luna/Tencent Handheld. I wanted these two to have an edge over Microsoft/Bethesda. That was the first setting. 

Now the slap
As such today I got slapped by surprise by someone named Willem Koenders gave LinkedIn a new setting to BI in data. It has an offensive side and a defensive side. 

It is brilliant. I can see the stage of several issues becoming a thing of the past. Rollback issues, especially in data with second and third tier connections would have been a nightmare, especially to rebuild some of these connections. As I see it, that is a thing of the past with this, rollback becomes repair with a second datafile upload. And in the short time I looked at it, there would be additional benefits. Now apply this to new and advanced RPG gaming (CtLFG). You see, the old ways will not work on larger RPG games, it would require cloud gaming and that is where the new strains become the power of GaaS (Gaming as a Service). You see, evolved gaming (RPG) no longer has trigger points perse, but a combination of a narrative point, a location point as well as a quest trigger. It becomes too complex for the PS5, but not for cloud gaming. That is where the game takes of in new directions and new dimensions. 

As such my mind went into overdrive. You see, I had focussed on the stories and the interactions, but I had not considered the data side of this all. The image by Willem Koenders gave me that setting and it could be a much larger setting in cloud gaming too. Yes, it is always about the larger part, but consider that we always must look forward. We cannot play Skyrim forever. Now consider (Skyrim)4 and see where that gets you. In addition, as it is cloud gaming new quests could be added over time as well. A nightmare option in any console. With cloud gaming it is done before you know it and available just as fast. And the setting in a new game would be tremendous. You see grinding ends, it becomes a challenge every time around and that setting reflects in a multiple of ways. With the new data setting you could get thousands, if not hundred of thousands of conversations. Consider a city not with a few dozen NPC characters, but with 1,000 NPC characters. It allows for a lot more options. In addition to that, the setting of friend and foe changes. You now end up with friends, unsubstantiated gossip, boasts, lies, and foes. A new setting in adventure gaming. Suddenly a personality with charisma becomes a lot more important, in addition to this so is the setting towards corrupt guards, people luring you towards traps and walking blindly into them is never a good idea. 

An evolved setting towards gaming and I reckon that this is merely the start. Any indie developer with a clear head and clear direction can grow and take serious market share away from Bethesda (and of course Microsoft). 

Now consider the image again. Consider on the offensive side Customer insight (NPC character) linked to analytics which becomes available choices (lore, conversations and actions), on the defensive side we also add NPC character, but now connected to city laws (compliance) and actions based on YOUR activities (stealing, walking, sneaking, killing) as such sneaking through any place now has impact on that population. In addition it is ‘short-term’ impact, yet when you do that again you get recognised quicker. And from there we now get narratives (storylines and conversations) as well as locations (shop owner, home owner). There is a longer impact to actions.  And leaving the house is no longer a ‘reset’ to activities. I set this to a much larger effect in out of town locations (what some call caves, mines and so forth). As I see it, Vint Cerf had no idea what his IP could do in that setting, but that is the way the cookie crumbles at times.

In this my brain is still reeling with all the thoughts it is creating (even now), but it is time to snore like a sawmill and greet Thursday, which is less then 3 hours away at present. It is still 25 degrees, I am melting. Time to snore.

Enjoy your day.

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December 11, 2023 · 12:32

Tomes

This is a word that has held a magical sway on me since 2000. It was I reckon the first time the word struck a chord with me. You see, there are two ‘version’ for the word. The first is “a large, heavy book”, nice, but as I personally see it inaccurate. The second version is “Tome is often used to refer to a scholarly book that is unusually important” and this is the version I am partial and taken to. You see, Tomes can be used in a few directions and this morning I considered a second direction. You see, my new IP is all about traction. I see (and hear) the giggles and the statements of my delusion. Yet when you consider the application of traction consider something like YouTube. It was launched on February 14th, 2005 (yes, Valentines day) and it went from a few million to 2.5 billion monthly users. It was bought for $1.65 billion. Now it annually makes $29.2 billion. It starts with traction and all the big wigs laughing at what I proclaim forgot about traction. When this sets off (still hopeful that Amazon, Tencent Holding or Kingdom Holding buys it) they get more than the start that leads to 50 million users. It has the option to take away close to 10% from Microsoft and Facebook in the early days. By the way, Apple is still an option too. Now consider that Microsoft just spend close to $100,000,000,000,000 and they lose 10% of their population, how much hardship will they face at that point. I heard all the howling, but consider that they made a swing and a miss five times over, now consider that Facebook is about to get hit in similar ways. Now, Facebook will shrug this off, they have no issues. But it starts with traction and that was what my solution offered. Traction to grow a new business and now based on something new, some hype. It was based on sound practices all the other runners forgot about and now I have the opportunity to walk in sit in the centre of the trade hall stating “We are open for business”. When the betrayed people get another option, what do you think they will do? They will not switch to me, but they will add me on their side and over time traction becomes a serious setting of numbers and that is when traction becomes its own perpetually driven engine where the people, those who the big wigs forgot about curt their losses with the other players. You see presentations only go so far and now a new setting opens up and within a few years that engine will become a power player. It will not surpass TikTok or YouTube. It was never meant to do so, but these three players losing around 10% is a different setting. I made the ‘boast’ that in stage two it could grow from 5 to around 20 billion, now consider $9.4 + $116.8 + $198.3 (in billions), and beyond its own abilities it gets an additional $32.4 billion, surpassing my phase two prediction by 60% that is what traction will do and as I stated at first Microsoft is clueless on what is about to happen and now with the new Tomes setting that engine will become even more powerful and it got there by remembering the actual users of a system, not the advertisers. And in all this there are several income sources that are not considered at present and when this becomes a reality, I wonder how many sniffling little sales shits come to a limelight stating that they were cheated and that it is all so unfair. I merely have to point at my blog and show their inactivity for well over three years and howl laughs of deriving laughter whilst doing so (sorry, Monty Python).

In Robocop (1987) the character played by Kurtwood Smith states “Good business is where you find it” and he was right, too bad the bigwigs who wanted to be everywhere all forgot that lesson. It was a simple enough lesson not to forget.

What a lovely Monday this is.

 

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December 9, 2023 · 00:49

Vroom, vroom

I had some issues, not with the topic, the topic is fine. It is not my niche of gaming. And in light of the Gaming Awards 2023 it matters. You see, after spending $100,000,000,000 Microsoft ends with one trophy. Their Forza game gets it, so congratulations Microsoft. As a Sony Disciple I would go for Gran Turismo, although, I do not care for that game (either). I played it last on my PS2, Forza on my Xbox360 last and neither appeals to me.  I played some F1 and it is nice for a few go’s but that is it. I a not alone, but it is a small cluster of people. We aren’t racers and as such the game was lost on me. You see, I had real fun with Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox360) and I had loads of fun with Need for Speed Underground (Gamecube). There was an element of fun, the fun of racing and that had centre shift with me. Then of course there is the old Outrun (Amiga) and there were a few more on both Amiga and CBM64. The issue wasn’t the ‘simulator’ part, it was the fun part and both Sony and Microsoft have been so in each others face on the perfect simulator that they forgot about having fun. And this is on both Sony and Microsoft. Gaming is supposed to be fun, not some adrenaline race to all achievements. Did they both forget that? Why do you think that Minecraft is such a success? Why do you think that some shooting games are now introducing some kind of lego system? It is because the people just wanting to have fun whilst they are unwinding are adding up to a serious sized cluster and they are all realising that Tencent Technologies is trying to adhere to that cluster. As such they have now an additional handhold on the gaming population. Amazon with its Luna didn’t wake up and as I see it that could sent 50,000,000 people towards the Tencent Handheld and when it gets its own docking station (it might already have such a solution) it will also start biting into the Nintendo population as well. They all fell asleep and all whilst I was trying to warn Amazon of this danger, they decided to ignore me (which is their right). Now the station changes and I reckon by Q4 2024 Tencent technologies will be more than a blip, it will become a serious threat to the others. Amazon loses first, but the dock as long as Nintendo is the only one, will last them for as long as they have that advantage. Sony remains afloat, it has its own fanbase and is a solid setting, but by the end of 2024, Tencent is more and more likely ending up in third position, gaining on Nintendo with each quarter, how fast and how much? That is anyones guess, but if they deploy as I envisioned it, Nintendo could be the number three system by the end of 2025. It is that much of a race at present and lets not forget, that Tencent did this in under 4 years, surpassing Microsoft in all sales achievements. I saw this happening, but I had hoped that Amazon Luna would be in second place, that is now less and less likely. 

The setting mattes, because whilst everyone is caressing their ego (Larian Studios has every right to do so) as well as Remedy Entertainment who brought us Alan Wake 2. Both games could most likely port to the Tencent, as such they keep on winning. Microsoft has no options, they just spend $100,000,000,000 (for Blizzard, Bethesda and Mojang), they have no reserves left. They divided gamers, they conquered brands and these conquests did not result in awards or high ratings. 

A setting that Tencent Technologies can now use to their advantage. They seemingly all seem to forget about the fun and if Tencent remember that part they could gain massively in the gaming community. It is merely my point of view and some will say that it is the wrong point of view. But when you look back, how did these other games do? How long were they played? How many are now playing Forza or Gran Turismo? They didn’t do bad (neither of them) but I believe they both could have done a lot better and that is where I think the fun part is the problem, it is largely missing. They went all out in making the simulator and graphics the important part and forgot that plenty just want to race a track for the fun of it and that makes it more Project Gotham Racing then anything else. 

Enjoy the weekend. 

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December 7, 2023 · 01:00

Charlie Tango

Yes, it is an expression, but not the one you expect. As I was thinking of the new RPG, the one that will cause distress to a power like Bethesda, a new thought came up. You see, In the first I upped the intelligence of NPC characters in the game, all due to a brilliant idea by Vint Cerf. I don’t think he ever thought of the application I came up with, making this an innovation patent at the very least. It was up to the setting that is in the now. A new type of character. A stage where we consider the existence of SMPC (Self Managed Playing Characters). The idea was simple. A stage where you could activate a new type of character and as such give it powers and strengths and it becomes a Self Managed Playing Character. I had the idea before, but not to this degree. As such the game becomes more and it becomes to some degree self reliant. Now, lets be clear a self reliant game is dangerous, it could go into a direction the players never considered, but is that bad?

So as such I considered how to improve on it. So consider a Skyrim setting. You make friends with the Riverwood trader. Now we have all kinds of things that we can do to upgrade merchants, yet that is not the same. Consider this in a stage like the smith at Solitude, Beirand. Now consider that to upgrade this NPC you need to own a house in Solitude and you need to increase the link (friendship). When these settings are satisfied the smith will work at 1/3rd of YOUR smithing skills. After a while it will be at 1/2 of your smithing skills. These settings could be increased with skills. As such it would be increased with 10% and later 20%. Not every smith will allow for this and some will require missions to do this. When it is all done the NPC becomes a SMPC. This could be a tradesman, an artisan, a politician and so forth, it will set two things in motion. Replayability of any game employing this and as this is an ability that has limitations (1 SMPC per 10 levels), as well as location settings and certain skills. For example a court mage could never become one until your arcane levels are above a certain point. But the benefits are also massive (a later thought). As I am redesigning TESVII: Restoration to be more generic and optionally Public Domain soon, those developers (exclusive to Amazon Luna and Sony) will get a new lease on life, optionally giving Bethesda more hardship. 

And there is a larger stage in the works. You see I have no intention to make a knock off of Bethesda and I have already published several articles on this and now I am adding the SMPC styled characters. It also interacted with another idea (already published) and now we see a better stage of any game, so whilst some are redesigning the same game, I decided to make something so new it will be irresistible, especially to die hard RPG gamers (optionally I am delusional here). But consider that this one new game (by whomever makes it) has at least 5 new settings we have never seen before in RPG gaming, that is the settings that I am going for. All because Microsoft decided to buy and force us into a direction we never wanted to go. So good luck with that idea. And now another thought makes it here and optionally changes RPG gaming in a new direction.

What a lovely mid-week I have had, its Thursday now. Enjoy your day.

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