There was a need to do this. From the United States we only hear boasts and BS, from other places we see political settings and it tires me, but the shock I felt last night was just too real for me, the world lost a giant actor. Sam Neil has left us. I have seen his works going all the way back to the 80s. So lets take a look. I first noticed him in The Omen III (1981) followed by Reilly, Ace of spies (1983) it was a different spy story and it was only later that I learned that the man had actually existed. After that Dead Calm (which I watched because Nicole Kidman was in it), Kane and Abel (1985). I loved the story and Sam made it a better series, and together with Peter Strauss it brought a great setting where these two actors brought a book to life. After that I think I watched The Hunt for Red October (1990) which I saw because of Sean Connery, but Sam Neil was well noticed. In the 90s he was noticed by me, although he was not the reason I saw the movies he was in. I saw Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), The Piano, Sirens and then there was Jurassic Park (1993) after which Sam became the reason to see movies. First there was In the Mouth of Madness (1994) Event Horizon (1997) Merlin (1998) and Bicentennial Man (1999), which I actually preferred over Steven Spielbergs A.I. and Sam gave stellar performances every time. Looking back at these works I am amazed how much he influenced some of the choices of movies I made because of his involvement. As I see it, he made these movies great because of his collaboration with other actors. As I go through the list like The Dish and Jurassic Park III and Wimbledon I am noticing that I missed some of his works over time. Which makes me a little sad, but these were times that I could only squeeze 24 hours out of any day and choices needed to be made. I reckon we all noticed him on a Cameo in Thor: Ragnarok (together with Matt Damon) giving it all a fun moment. As far as I can tell, the last thing I saw him in was Thor: Love and Thunder. I have seen other movies with him after that, but as far as I can tell, it was the latest setting I saw him in. Weirdly enough, I feel no deep mourning. When I think of him in these movies it merely brings a smile to my face. He really livened up the movies he worked on. And even now I still consider watching the Blu-ray of Event Horizon today. This movie has a nice little story behind it. In a scene where he sees his eyeless wife I yelped in the cinema and a friend told me that an entire wave of watchers reacted to my yelp. That moment really got to me. As such I end this story with:
I raise my glass to you in salute to an amazing career in excellence for over 4 decades. Mr Neil it was an honour watching your work and perhaps we get to meet for real in the next stage of our lives. You will be missed on the big screen. And not to forget, my condolences to his family and friends.
We all do that at times and I had an idea. You see there is one FPS that I love above all else. That is Metroid Prime on the Gamecube and the Switch. It is by far the most perfect FPS game ever. I have played in at least 6 times (and I never scored 100% on any of them) I am not angry, disappointed or frustrated. The game is just too perfect. And nearly anyone I know who played that game thinks so too. The game scored 97% and when you play the game you’ll understand why. So why make a copy? Well, not a copy, but my mind set to work to base a game on this game and as I promised, this setting too is now immediately co-owned by the UAE.
So how to make a new game based on this. Well, I went with the ‘hero’ of this story to be Jafar, or at least someone like him. And I set the idea on the locations of an Arabic setting. Like the game locations that Metroid Prime used, I use a similar setting. There is The Royal palace, The palace of the Fakir, the streets of Baghdad, the sewers of Baghdad, the caves of prophesy perhaps a few more. But these are intertwined (like Metroid Prime) and as such created with artistic precision (not my forte, that I live to the graphical experts). So there is a setting where the Vizier is in his office (the council chambers) and you get the intro of the story and like Metroid prime (also in the first Assassins Creed) you are in a setting where you get attacked and get to more through the council chambers from room to room, taking care of business. In the end you are overwhelmed and cast out of the chambers and thrown into the sewers where the story begins. In this you start as a simple fakir, changed by prophesy and now without powers you are alone. In the sewers you are seeking your fortune and by resolving issues you are given your first token. The token of the streets of Baghdad, with that token you can now move through the sewers and into the streets of Baghdad. The tokens are collected in a neck charm, there is also a dark charm, it gets you into the caves of prophecy. To gain favor you need to get the clothes of office, from a simple civilian you get the cloaks of the fakir, the fakir will lead to the suit of the trader, the thobes of nobility and as such the clothes give access to places, as well as a Topi. There are also jewels, rings that give powers, the bracelets of strength and several more.
But this is a story and a challenge. As you gain your first station you will also get the stave of an element (ice of fire) and these settings are gained in part in the caves of prophecy where you will face several djini. If you survive the first fight you get a stave, in subsequent fights you will get a Kufi marker for which you can imbue its power in to gems or add to the staff. The idea is to make yourself stronger and more able to withstand the dangers you face. I am also considering to add a magic carpet (it is an Arabic story after all) but it comes with limitations. The idea of this story is that the lands are in danger and to restore the lands you need to gain powers. Between when you were in the council chambers and now (the start of the game) decades have passed (it becomes clear during the game) so the grandeur of Baghdad (which you see in the beginning) is gone and now you need to restore the land. So as you go through all the levels, where you resolve things the lands are restored. So there are a few versions of the game. From destroyed to great (dark) and great (light). I am partial to replayability. So that is a clear setting for the game. The idea is to add Zarek, Zulrekh, Kavira, Vizaresh, Sakhr, Azrakhil, Tharvex, Samirah, Ishara, Qandisha, Manlen, Qiwa and Salen. The female Ifrit have powers of restoration, healing, illusionary powers and mid powers. The make Ifrit have strength, elemental powers. There is the need for limitations. You can only have a specific amount of powers and elemental powers. Hence the Kufi markers and as you gain powers and abilities you will find new places and stronger staves and wands. So you can upgrade and whilst you are free to explore there is the chance that you are hindered by some powers. For example water and fire powers do not mix, neither do earth and air, but other axes are OK and the stages that two elements will result into a third power. But that is for later.
The story becomes that in this land, all is lost as friends of the nobles strangled the land into nothingness, the old Malik as well as the Sultan were killed in a tragic accident. As they were replaced, the milking the land and the people began. The challenges are set as the replacements were in league with the Western leaders, the Italians and the Spanish. As such you are called by the djinn, and they didn’t have powers over the western people. As such they are in panic, the westerners are new, they are not swayed and as such one djini (essential to the story) makes a wager where she is games it all for the restoration of you and you are taken out of your own time and pushed into the future without knowledge of what was and as such you start. So whilst we are given the story (which is fed in small instances) the story develops and as you are pushed into the realm of the Djini, you are heading into two directions. The path of light or the path of the dark. And if shapes the lands you are trying to safe. There is a lot more, but that is for next time. I did this in under two hours, as such I did not do too badly. No matter what it is based on, the story and the settings are unique, the story was made up today may me and even if it is founded on the Original Metroid Prime, the scenery, the people and the opponents are nothing alike. And as far was I can tell, there is no FPS based on the Arabic lands. So that is a first too.
Have a great day and try to wake up your creativity today.
I have been thinking of where to put my cerebral hardware. I am not one of those FIFA world cup fans and I get that some are, so whilst the world is looking at where their balls are, I am bound towards the IP I create over the last few days. You see, the other option is to look towards Presidents Trump’s stupidity and I have seen quit enough of that. So whilst he is pissing of what little allies he has, the story about Italian PM Giorgia Meloni is going in completely wrong with the Italian people. So another ally lost to the rough sea of accountability. I understand the setting If I was ‘to beg’ Saudi Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud for a selfie, but even then, the chances are that he might allow for this selfie because it might be another fan. So consider that the Italian PM does not even have that for President Trump, he wasted a massive amount of publicity on what would be his setting whilst it was rejected by the global community right off the bat. So whilst I am watching these Riddikulus (pronounced ri-di-KULL-lis) events, I am casting my boggart banishing charm (just in case these creatures can inhabit the internet). Because at present the truth is a lot weirder than fiction can be and that just now opened up a lore setting for the new gam had not considered before.
So as I prefer the design of new IP over the idiotic stage of political non-reality reality. I am drawing a new setting of the nano tech. There is still several stages to work out, but the setting is that I ‘find’ a nano tech station, merely one and from here we see that the balancing act becomes amount versus strength, the introduction gives us that part, a ‘tutoring’ setting of the base station.
The nanotech requires energy, so breeding into a lot is not a good idea, because it decreases over time to back to the beginning of one. So you need a balancing act. The station needs enlarging and it requires additions to power cores, drone management and memory. You get the first two in stage one, the basic station, but over time you will find options to enlarge this. The power cores gives you additional power to create more drones, the memory will enhance their memory management and capturing data and share that data towards all the drones you have and the drone management will hand you more powerful drones. So whilst I still like the Paradroid setting, the first stage gets you the ability to to capture Janitorial, Servant and messenger drones. But beyond that you need more powerful drones.
The setting enables that when you get the number of drones. By enlarging the chipset, the memory is enlarged, the and by getting the power cores enlarged you will manage more drones. And there needs to be a balancing act, you can go ‘the other way’ but you will find that many low level drones do not give you the added umpf you require, but I want the game to enable you because a gamed which allows you to fail will also allow you to enjoy the benefits of evolving your own game.
So whilst I was seeking out the drone settings, I came across a stage where a few of the achievements came up. The first was the Inspiration achievement, shots of found games (like Paradroid, Hacker and a few others that shows where the ideas originated. I think that it is good that we recognise where our thoughts came from, optionally also the views on a CBM64 and an Atari 800 to recognise where our games all originated. Then I got (because of the lore stage) the idea to the achievement ‘Anorak the All-Knowing’ which gives you the lore settings and you need to find 25 backstories (there will be a lot more) but finding them all might not be possible.
So whilst I was wondering on how this happened. The republican party helped out with that setting, as Measles is going rampant in the United States (with the CDC has reported over 2,100 confirmed cases and 30 active outbreaks across more than 40 jurisdictions), so what happens when this goes really bad? And whilst you are in a ‘safe’ space, resources are dwindling down and you find the first nanotechnology station. So whilst we advance to more drones and the core 4 (which will allow for autonomous data capturing) when it crossed with memory 3, which allows all data to be auto collected, because the game other whiles becomes too dreary. The drones will upgrade to views where all doors and ports that are open come green-lit. This enabled another path, places with drone ports can only allow Janitorial, Servant and messenger drones. The next ‘phase’ requires Maintenance, Crew and Sentinel drones to use the front door, so will all other drinks, but they are the next stage is for Battle, Security and Command drones but they are deeper into the setting of government and official places. So whilst we have something going, there is the larger need for a game to be repayable and when you get the override of a Command done, you find the option to get to another city or base and it opens up several other options. So from a simple building (like the northeast Bronx, Co-op City, Bronx is the largest housing cooperative in the world Co-op City, the world’s largest housing cooperative in the Bronx. And this is a great start, because it is not some flashy setting, it allows for a whole’s lot of original lore and the I what we are after, so when we get to this setting, for those who love the game, the Command drone could open up a stage that opens up the New Century Global Center (Chengdu), where we get a a staggering 1.76 million square meters. That’s just for starters, the idea to get a government building like the Pentagon mapped out is nice, but too flashy. To get some level of a conspiracy theory in place, we need to look at other places, like (for example) the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna, Austria. Stretching over 1,100 meters long, this historical social housing project was built in the late 1920s and originally housed more than 5,000 residents. There is always the chance that it houses a few survivors and gives us the larger setting for more exploration and optionally a larger stage to get a surviver setting in place. The last few things are top of mind thinking, but lets face it, we have seen enough conspiracy yanks to last us a lifetime, so we look in the direction of Europe as one example, optionally the idea of mapping out the Line (NEOM) is a nice setting and it might not have ben completed at present, or in the story, but a location that big, allows for a lot of directions to get us in. And my mind is still forever voyaging into gaming solutions (a nice pun even if I say so myself) and I am not done yet, but with the other two parts (see over the last week) the game comes across nicely and considering that Microsoft hasn’t produced a original IP game for quite some time, my work is standing out nicely. So you all have a great day and who knows we get another Trump story like to one NPR gave us 15 hours ago ‘Italy’s Meloni, once Trump’s closest ally in Europe, says he made up a story about her’, I cannot vouch either way, because I was not there, but the crumbles are all on the floor, time for me to call for a 123 disposal droid and get rid of the crumbles. It’s only nice that someone cleans the stage we all fin ourselves in and call for the 629 sentinel droid to get rid of irregularities. N’est-ce pas?
Have a great day all, I feel happy and creative this day, almost time for a nice plate of pasta, Giorgia Meloni put me up to that. (In truth pasta was planned, so I might just blame her for this too)
That is a big call to make and even to deliver on. Let me talk you how I got there. I have started to play God of War again, the fourth one. The reason was the demo we saw in State of Play. Now, for me there was an additional reason, because after I stopped playing that game and before now I was ‘forced’ to get a new TV and now that I have that new TV, I gained the benefit of 4K. Initially I had mixed feelings, because 1080 was perfectly good, but my trusty boob tube broke. It does that after 9 years of daily service and I had no ill will to the makers. It trustily served me for all those days. So here I was enjoying my 4K option and after watching Laufey, I decided to play the 4th God of War again. And what an amazing joy it still is. I initially rated that game in the 90s, but with the added graphics it is definitely a 100%+ game. The game was that overwhelming. Now, remember that it was released in 2018, now 8 years later, it still rocks the other AAA games release les than a year ago. That is nothing against the new games, the game was perfect. So, can we improve upon perfection? I think we can. Now lets be clear, I am not telling Santa Monica Studio how to do their job, they delivered a 100%+ game. But this could apply to all game makers. Now, consider that I destroyed now a few Odin’s Ravens I never noticed before, mainly because I was aware a lot sooner of what they were. So, what if the New Game+ unlocks not only gameplay and a lot of the same enemies, but what if lore is unlocked in this setting. There is only so much you can get in the first game stopping an excellent action game into an adventure game (the Zork kind), So what happens when we unlock additional lore (like the ravens) we unlock in all kinds of ways, making a complete story, a much larger story. And God of War allows for that, as do a lot of other games. But it seems more relevant to this game as it is already showing to be perfection incarnate. I started to play it so that I could enjoy the 4K adventure I never saw. But why happens when that comes the point of the game, to enjoy it again and then enjoy it more. It doesn’t need achievements, but the option to learn more about Odin and that rascal Loki is perhaps a setting worth exploring. Another game would be the two Horizons games. What is stopping the makers to add deployability be adding a few storylines. They might not make sense in the initial play through, but could make the replay ability stronger. So by adding a storyline to people like Petra Forgewoman, Ilsadi and Greatrun Keeper (mere examples), to add them in the initial game merely gives too much cluttering, but in the replay there is a lot you to with some automation and adding the lore and optional missions gives the New Game+ an additional side that could give the game the added umpf it could use. Because replaying a game of that magnitude tends to make people run from place to place, so to add side missions that were not there to being with might make for an interesting pace of gaming. In the case of God of War, optionally unlock additional ‘original’ lore, you know from the ones who wrote them.
Yes, I also feel weird commenting on near perfect games, especially what Santa Monica Games and Guerrilla Games are producing. But as I see it, no present games in rotation offer this additional setting. So it might be an idea to add this to the new games, and perhaps there is something that Santa Monica games might want to add to God of War 4 and 5, optionally after Laufey is released to give the games and their collectors an additional reason to hold on to them and optionally replay the games they loved for a long time. So accept the idea, or reject it. It is merely my thoughts on how to give these games optional additional greatness.
Have a great day, for me it is now time to get some snacks in.
There was a thought pushing itself into my brain, it came to me (weirdly enough) whilst I was rewatching the first Harry Potter movie. You know, that one where Daniel Radcliffe is still young and innocent. So whilst I was watching the movie, I was combining a few things together. First a Nightmare on Elm street (the one in Toronto) and then the idea went to the Hellraiser series. So, I was combining the original works of Myst (the game) and my mind was combining the cube from Hellraiser where the lament configuration is merely one of the options and each will open portals into other dimensions of hell. The idea that the graphics of the cenobites will get more than a few into Myst, there was nothing wrong with Myst, but the creators could create new worlds in a much higher resolution and the setting of horror set puzzles are pretty rare in the gaming world, as such it could gain a rather large following. Considering the appeal that Lovecraft satire have on the world as a whole and the connections to horror that the Clive Barker stories have had on people since the 80’s the game is destined for a decent level of success. So whilst we seek new IP, there is nothing stopping old IP to rear its head and give the audience a place to stay and have shivering fun. Now as we combine the works of Clive Barker, the Hellraiser comics and movies, we have enough materials to make a sizable game and considering the materials that Lovecraft gave, which requires some Cenobite rewriting (to avoid plagiarism) we get a large enough materials to fill a game with several missions and a decent amount of puzzles. Taken in account the other setting I proposed on relaunching the 7th Guest in the last month, I have done my duty to protect the power of gaming. Anyway, it is always nice to create non-military IP even if it is for the UAE and Saudi Arabia at zero revenue for me. The creation to protect these countries (against Iran) and whatever is trying to hurt them, I believe that a soul needs the creation of peaceful IP to grants the soul peace of mind and the blissful setting to remain creative (it is not a saying, I merely belief this myself). So whilst there is a stage that we need to consider that there is more to gaming, I believe that it gives the player the stage to consider other paths of the mind and puzzles tend to open the thinking of the player, especially if it is not the usual way that person thinks. So whilst others have made their way into valid and valuable creative IP, as examples I would like to raise Subnautica, Skyrim, Elite Dangerous and a few others. I would like to contribute as well. And this is my contribution to it all.
So let the developer who creates this game be smitten by the IP of Myst (perhaps even the Myst creators themselves) and see what the gamers can gain by playing that game. I get that it is all in the mind, but when you consider that games tend to be all based on some shooting game with flaccid stories, the idea to gain creativity and originality from an original game created in 1993 over a quarter of a century ago and create something unique and new and combining that with original storylines that others have not set into some combined IP is a little disappointing. But here I am trying to balance the scales once more.
So you all have a great day and feel free to create some original IP yourself as well. Perhaps next I will find another IP that will serve the defence of the UAE, as I already created enough IP for them to take out their harbours, railways and roads and also now (after the attacks on Barakah) I gave them my idea (and IP) to take out their nuclear reactors. I tend to have a vindictive mindset and I does not give way (I still have a healthy hatred of Samsung, even after 40 years) But after the created IP, I feel rather happy with myself, even after I also created the new 7th Guest setting. But that is for another day, for now the creators of Myst should consider that 1993 had 40-60 self pronounced gamers, in 2026 we are at 3.5 to 3.6 billion, it is almost 100 fold, as such there is a much larger audience and at best, there is a setting of 100 times what games in 1993 would make and that is what game makers seems to overlook. These original games are allegedly the stuff of legends. And even if we do not consider them great, with added graphics they could reset the moulds they were originally based on and that is just the start. Games like Millennium 2.2, Chrono Quest, and several others were what they seemed, original concepts and original games tend to be mind blowing in the very least, as such I saw this stage evolve years ago and as I see it, some are getting on that page now. It was the stage that could have propelled streaming solutions, as such the stage now belongs to Nintendo (Switch2) and Sony (PlayStation 5 and 6) I let these so called captains of industry decide on where they want to go with that, but the stage is there for all to see.
That is at times the setting and we accept that, but have we ever truly set that in gaming? There are examples. There is The Talisman by Peter Straub (Stephen King too), there are numerous other examples and I even wrote that setting in a previous blog, a basic setting that is. So consider an altered example. The image below
Shows 13 areas, the middle gives us the start. Now consider the setting that the start region is WatchDogs 3 Legion, it gives access to 4 other regions, they are in the background. Now one of these regions is AC 2 (AC Brotherhood) and that gives access to Areas 1,2,4 or 2,3,6 or 4,7,8 or 6,8,9 and so on. The object is to create a giant puzzle and the setting is to give each regions it own set of rules. So whilst I am looking at the series Caprica, we can see how the alternate reality gives a more docile or less docile setting whilst ‘throwing’ concepts like gravity, time, behaviour and classifications of people and of positions are thrown into the mix to be altered in each region. As I see it, the goal is to set a more distorted sense of self. That is the one side that gaming never explored. But the stage where we all throw it into the wind remains seemingly untouched, all whilst devices like the Meta Quest 3 could open that up to a much larger extent. We tend to reflect on what WE are, but not on how we manipulate ourselves. We play RPG, Minecraft all whilst Ernest Cline in Ready Player One opened a larger stage as early as 2011, now that we have much better technology, no one seems to be heading that way. It is not about the VR setting, it is how we see ourselves that is not addressed in gaming to any real setting. (OK, the real is debatable). And that setting is overlooked time after time again and as I see it, there has been 15 years of technology and no one thought of that approach to give the gamer the ride of their lives? When we consider a cross mix of technologies, the setting to hand the setting over a larger place is also overlooked. You see with the Meta Quest 3 there is the setting of streaming consoles and an ability to set both gaming realities in some kind of overlap would help. I reckon that the last time that this was done to ‘some’ extend was the game System Shock, but actually to set these linked technologies to real technological puzzles is missing. That same setting is partially seen in a game named Portal (Rob Swigart, 1986) and it seems that no one ever. Considered the next step in what makers like that would have seen impossible in their time, but now this option is ready to be explored. I actually placed a story here somewhere where I addressed that setting (too tired to find it now as it is 100F at the moment) So whilst we all go for the ‘cosmetic’ in today’s gaming, the larger setting is to take a leap and make some changes actual and yes there is a drawback to program to the Meta Quest 3, but I already handed several setting where the device would be an actual asset and it sets the setting to much more intensity when we alter that perception, and I for one think that the visor with a streaming solution like Amazon Luna or the TGP (Tencent Gaming Platform) Box. I reckon whomever get in first will get the larger following and I recon that It also pays (for me at least) to let this evolve with the console setting I saw over the last three years. I reckon that there are 50 million consumers just for starters who will embrace this and that would be merely phase one. In the later phase I have no idea where it will end but 100-150 million consoles in not out of the realm of possibilities and after that I get hesitant. I would love to be the one guy who get this to 200 million plus, but I am hesitant to get overly ‘confident’ I am certain it will work, but to see the one solution that Google and Amazon can’t see makes my confidence shaky to say the least. At least I got to imagine another Gaming IP even if it is based on other settings, but that is merely cosmetic in some form. Whoever designs the new IP will have a strong sense of achievement and here I reckon that Ubisoft has the inner track and after they just sacked dozens of people all over the world, they might be thinking on what to do next. Well, they need to not look further at present.
So have a great day and as I am melting like the wicked with of the witch of the west in this heat, I will take the slow lazy setting to avoid heat getting to me.
There was a story I saw a few days ago and I have an issue with it. The story (at https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20251212-10-biggest-film-flops-of-2025) gives us ‘Snow White to The Smashing Machine: 10 of the biggest film flops of 2025’ I wondered about that and while I was not a great fan of this Snow White (I am still drawn to the 1937 version, it was the most beautiful trip any youngling could make in his preteens), it wasn’t bad, it just wan’t my cup of tea. So the story comes with a line “From a controversial recreation of a Disney cartoon to an awards-tipped sports biopic starring The Rock, why did so many high-profile Hollywood films fail at the box office this year?” This is the real reason behind this. The economy. Consider that a ticket is roughly $15, popcorn $8 and a soda $5, so that puts you back $28 and that is merely for one person. At this point I reserve my cinema money for the really good experiences (like the Odyssey and Dune 3) and consider that $28 will get you Netflix for 2 months, the equation is simple. Thunderbolts, Mickey17 and M3GAN 2.0. All movies you can watch on the TV and some will require the purchase of a BlueRay $30, and you can watch it whenever you want again and again. These movies should not be seen as flops, they are merely the victims of a horrendous economy.
That is not on them or on us, it merely is and you can tell me how awesome the Dwayne Johnson movie is, but I am not in to fight games and that might be on me, but at present I can only afford to see 2-3 movies a year, so I have to be massively selective in new movies. Hence the two movies I have (at present) preselected. So as we are given “There were plenty of hit films this year, but there was a raft of high-profile releases that fared far worse than expected. So where did they all go wrong? Below are 10 of the most infamous of 2025’s box-office duds – and they all help to explain in different ways why Hollywood is struggling to get people out of their homes and into cinemas.” At no point does the BBC raise the issue of the economy, I am in a bad place, but not as much as some others, I reckon that if they can afford merely 1 movie, they would be in a stellar mood and that is before you see the equation when it is 2 or more people. The BBC leaves this on the floor and blames the movie, but the world is a little more complex than that and Whilst I wasn’t a Snow White fan, I did get the Blu-ray of Mickey 17 and I loved it. The trailer was awesome and that is why I got it, it wasn’t the great trip I hoped for, but it was a nice ride and as such I am happy I got the Blu-ray.
So whilst some people at the BBC want to say how the movie was depressing and and no one goes to see a film starring The Rock because they want to be depressed. No, it is a setting that people cannot afford to go to the cinema and that is why no one turns up to these events. I am already saving up to see the Odyssey and by march I should have enough to get the ticket for the IMAX. A simple setting that the BBC is massively overlooking and I wonder why. The economy is less than flat, it is turning onto itself and hiding that fact away isn’t helping anyone.
Have a great day today and consider what movies you want to see, because the big screen is still magical, it is merely out of reach for many people.
That is the setting and not everyone agrees with me on this. Gaming has been accelerated like the armistice race. Some people in gaming having no real gaming life and merely a setting in business intelligence are chasing the wrong niche in gaming. Gaming is so much more. And they are missing it. Yet the Arabic setting I considered might take it more seriously (and then there is Tencent) You see, gaming is seen in all walks and sizes and When you consider boardgames, that never left our minds. I got into boardgames at a very early age in the Netherlands. It was called “Mens erger je niet” in England it was called Ludo and based on the iIndian game Pachisi.
And now it is almost forgotten, Facebook on a blue Monday set a few of these games on their servers, but overall, they didn’t last long. But take that setting and put it on a streaming console with options for single player (against the CPU), or even multiplayer with a setting for up to 4 players. Settings where you invite family, friends or even strangers. And this is merely one of many settings. Then there is the notion that some of these games have IP protection. It could optionally be averted if not digital settings exist, but when we go deeper, we see that there are dozens of these games that have no real ownership. So why did no one take up the baton to ‘revolutionize’ these games? Then there are dozen of MB games that could take a similar track and lets face it, the system that has the numbers of games has an advantage. So why did no one connect the dots?
Then we get the life long titles like Snake and Ladders and Clue (1943) so what stops these game makers from using a small team of programmers to bring forth one game a month, within two years there would be an abundance of these games. Kids playing with their parents, or even grandparents. Playing each other and so on. What baffles me is that these Business Intelligence people never figured that out, not in the last 4-5 years and when you take a longer look at this path you will agree that it is not a path that should be overlooked. Yes, we all love our times in the Wastelands when we play Horizon Zero Dawn or its sequel, but there are times when you and perhaps others might fancy a game of Snakes and ladders and a streaming system will easily do that. So why is it overlooked? Why are these dozens upon dozen of games ignored? Is it a mere IP thing? Doesn’t the programmer seem cool enough? Streaming systems have different metrics and they all seen to go over the amount of data passed, what it fails to look at is the joy it will bring, because joy is the true metric of a game and its gamers.
We are all looking towards the new strides, but as I said more than once, when did you look behind you to see where the new course in front of you could be plotted. Have a great day today, Vancouver joined us in the present day as it is 4 am there now and I am 55 minutes away from Tuesday.
Yes that happens, we all have vacation, but this one has a difference. The vacation is already sold out, a year in advance. And in comes a hero shaped like Bart Simpson (aka Tom Holland) and he is accompanied by grandpa Simpson (aka Matt Damon) there is a princess involved played by Zendaya, it might be a coincidence, but Tom Holland is her +1. Bruce Wayne is involved (Robert Pattison) So as the story goes about grandpa getting home to son and wife we get to see a abundance of types and people. OK, this is as much damage as I can get away with (and stay alive) against the setting of the journey home of Matt Damon. As such this is the book about the journey home after they sacked (also destroyed) Troy, which can be seen in the 2004 movie Troy.
So why am I talking about this? A few months ago I saw the announcement that tickets are already being sold a year in advance for the IMAX version of the movie. I desperately want to see it, but I have to save my coins to afford that ticket and there will be a showing in Sydney (one in Australia and I reckon Sydney gets it) there are also more codes according the CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/christopher-nolan-1.7597788) these are 16 in the U.S., six in Canada, two in the U.K., one in Australia and one in the Czech Republic, according to the source that gives us ‘Sellouts for Nolan’s The Odyssey shows audiences’ hunger for movies projected via film’, I want to go as Nolan’s movies are awesome. The last time I went to the IMAX was a decade ago to see the 3D version of Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. That movie was so amazing that it still caresses the retina’s a decade later. I also got the Blu-ray of that movie and I love it, but it can never compete to the 3D IMAX experience. As such it is time to see that youthful young sprout shine on IMAX (I did mean Christopher Nolan).
So why? I reckon that most people have the same setting. To see the works of Christoper Nolan on IMAX is pretty much a must and to see what Christoper Nolan makes of this classic work is stimulating the ‘must see’ vibe in my blood. In addition to see what can be made from a 1400 year old story is one you just have to see and the crowds are set on seeing it to, at least the thousands that will go to see it in the 26 IMAX theaters.
One might think that it will make Homer rich, but as his bones have turned to dust, it is un likely that he will see a penny of this. There is a side of the CBC article that I tend to reject. It is “The rush could be interpreted as a rejection of near-ubiquitous digital screenings in favor of the analog appeal of celluloid.” I don’t think the writer is wrong, the writer is merely incorrect. Apart from the IMAX experience, there is the setting that we have been bashed to near death with Marvel and DC movies. Don’t get me wrong, I like these movies too, but when did you last see an epic movie? For me it was the Avatar movies and they do have their own appeal. Then we get Gravity, Kingdom of Heaven and Apocalypto. These movies are rare to say the least and to get the advance tickets of a movie like that (optionally a week before anyone else sees it has appeal), massive appeal.
The reason for my attention to this is the fact that the movie is already sold out a year in advance and the fact that it comes to IMAX, and the fact that it is the latest Christopher Nolan experience. The fact that this movie is nothing less than star studded is merely icing on the cake. And it is a bonus for all the actors (actresses too) that are involved. Christoper Nolan expects excellence and the fact that an actor is involved shows us that these are real stars (if that expression is allowed), so I will try to get a ticket in a few months, but in the end I might have to wait until the movie is released. The article has a lot more than I looked at, it is a nice trivia of IMAX to behold yourself. As such there is a risk that you might want to get a ticket yourself and it will be money wisely spend.
It is time to talk bugs. As I see it there are three kinds, there are the actual bugs, these are settings that crash a game, or make it non-working. The other two are glitches and systemic glitches. Glitches are merely a hindrance they are flaws in a game of program, but they do not dissuade from the joy that the game brings. I saw all of these settings in Oblivion remastered. Let’s be clear. I am not a doom speaker and heralding the ‘Messy setting of Oblivion’, I am (for the most) a game and before I start this article I will say right now, up front, that Oblivion brought the sense of joy I had when I played the game 20 years ago. That is as I see it a massive achievement,
Virtuos brought their A game and it shows in everything you see and play. This game is 20 years old, as such plenty of laurels for Bethesda as well. It was the reason I bought me Xbox360 and I never for one moment regretted doing that. Yes, I have had the red rings of death and in the end I have had 3 Xbox360’s. But never was there any doubt that it was a great machine and a worthy contender to the crown that the Playstation 2 won.
Still, we were talking about the game. As such, we have glitches, persistent (or systemic) glitches and bugs, there is also the fatal bug, but I haven’t seen that one in Oblivion.
A glitch can be systemic, but does not mess with gaming fun. An example is that when you go from the rain into a ruin, or a cave and you still hear the rain. It doesn’t stop you from having fun, but it is a glitch. Then there is the systemic glitch. When you’re cupboards are too full, because you (me) is a hoarder, the system gets a little confused and will not show everything in your inventory. As such I could not move my sigil stones from the inventory. The solution is to sell off a lot of junk you were holding and that fixed it. There there is the setting that you can not control. A setting where things go a little haywire (because of a dozen reasons), which can mess with the storyline, but the simple solution is to reload the last autosave and often it is fixed. When dealing with these knights of the thorn idiots, I had to reload half a dozen times before I got the mission done (in different places). There is nearly no saving an idiot who thinks he os gods greatest knife fighter whilst surrounded by two Xivilains, loudly engaging them calling in two more. There is no stopping stupidity, it tends to get you killed in the battle field. Then there was the first time I went into the Rockmilk cave. After the first reception area, there is a path down where three spiked traps are. The stage to the left could not be entered, whilst it had enemies. I think it was a glitch, and it was ONLY the first time I entered it, subsequent entries were good. It is my place to collect free arrows and in earlier levels that matters, later too (I had over 400,000 gold), but it is a assured way to get ebony arrows and glass arrows, which are not sold. Apart from the bounty in there, it is a clear way to make headway. Then there are several persists glitches, but the one in Sancre Tor was fixed by waiting at the opportune time (where there are 4 people) and that worked. These settings happen. Anyone who thinks that bugs/glitches on a game this big doesn’t happen is beyond stupid. And for the most part it never bothered the game. Perhaps one setting which was beneficial to me was that the Rumare Slaughterfish were bouncing on the waterline, so in clear view to kill them. For the most, this game is utterly awesome and I never regretted spending the money of the 125GB download time on this. I will be playing this a few times over as I never played a high elf mage, but that was on me.
The fact that even after 20 years and after Skyrim, this game shows just haw amazing gaming can be and that is never a bad thing.
So don’t call everything a bug, because some games are just too big and a bug tends to have fatal issues on a game and yes, I did crash a few times, but I just reloaded the game and I merely lost a few minutes in its worst scenario. Yet it is not all bad. It made me realise the settings I redesigned for an RPG and as I saw the stage also saw why my mind set a few things the way it did and it makes sense to do so if replay-ability is your goal. I think this should be the mindset of any RPG developer. As such did you consider the soft architectural stage that Diablo (the first one) offered against the planes of oblivion? When you connect the ideas that certain games had and incorporate them into a plane of oblivion? When you aren’t set to a mere version of a game, but when the towers can be radically different, how much more fun can you have exploring?
So have a great day and when you hear the screaming in the night, that would be the sound of Daedric Princes as I have entered their realm and they fear for their life now.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 