Tag Archives: Sony

Food for thinking

That is what I saw last night. The source (Tom’s Hardware) an excellent source of information gives us (at https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/playstation/sony-officially-kills-the-playstation-disc-ending-physical-game-production-in-2028-shutting-down-the-playstation-store-on-the-playstation-3-and-ps-vita-systems) ‘Sony officially kills the PlayStation disc, ending physical game production in 2028 — shutting down the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita systems’ and there are two parts in there. The second part the PS3 and Vita store shutdown is less of an issue. The be clear I am still amazed they survived them, the PS3 ended its ‘life’ in 2012 when the PS4 came out and as I see it it was quite a run and for it to be supported for this long only gives credit to Sony. The first part is where my mind wen into overdrive. The end of physical media in 2028. Not a good thing as I see it. I for one love my physical media. And for it to end is not a good thing. Consider the congestion the internet faces in 2028/2029. So at present we have God of War Laufey and GTA6 giving us 150GB-250GB each, now consider that there are 93.7 million PS5 systems in the world, so we are given (conservatively given) 50,000,000 times 200GB that is 10,000,000 TB on day one and this is merely two games on day one. As I see it, the global internet is not ready for that much traffic in a week and this is not the whole enchilada, this is merely a day one setting for two games. We aren’t ready for that and taking into account a whole range of other software, the alarm chimes of congestion will resound all over the internet as such I am thinking that this stage should not even be entertained until at least 2035. I reckon that the global internet has been over 80% upgraded by then (a speculative thought), as such we aren’t even sure when this is ready because even as I love the materials of Tom (and his hardware). There is a thought that this was a mere spark of consideration and I reckon that Sony would ill survive the onslaught of that consequence. 

So how serious is this thought? 
As we are given “I say “anyone could have guessed” because you’d have to have your head in the sand to ignore all the factors pointing this way. The biggest of such factors is arguably the reality that Blu-ray drive production has sharply wound down outside of game consoles. But there’s also the fact that the vast majority of games purchased today are already purchased digitally; in Q4 2025, 85% of PlayStation games were purchased digitally, and if you zoom out to look at the entire US video game market, the PC and mobile markets are already effectively 100% digital.” There are a few wishful thinking parts (like “anyone could have guessed”), but there is a larger setting, even if we consider “85% of PlayStation games were purchased digitally” the setting is nice and I have bought a few games digitally (like classics) but the stage where millions of ‘lovers’ of the god of War and GTA6 trample over the internet to get their copy and optionally more titles. Congest would be a lovely setting and as net neutrality is given its stage of hardship, we need to acknowledge that some voices (like allegedly Microsoft giving some people “we can easily with that traffic”) there is a setting that they want Sony to fail, so that they can revive their failed console, because at that point as a ‘treat’ for their gamers they have revived their top 10 physical copy onslaught and ‘just for the fans’ they are making them steel-box novelties. Or that is how I see their marketing throwing these sides about. This last part is purely speculative, but that is how I would play it and as Microsoft is a lot more sneaky than I am, they must have considered this. Nintendo does not have this setting as their largest game (from sources) set that tone at a file size is FC25 (EA Sports FC 25), taking up 45.8 GB, not really large by any standard and a few other titles are a mere 18GB, so they could play this all in a digital store. But the fans (like me) are still handed that feeling when we pick up our physical copy in a story. The unwrapping of our game, the game card in our console. I still remember the day in October 2002 when I picked up my Super Mario Sunshine. That day was magical in part because that game was a step above whatever was out there.

It does not compare to ‘I clicked the download button’ and that is merely on me and a lot of gamers who think like that. But the setting that the internet on a near global setting cannot accommodate people in rural Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,) and a few other places is a real setting. And that also counts in America. Why do you think that the power of Amazon came from? That neglect gave Jeff Bezos billions and now as we see that some are giving strength to gaming in that way is not a negotiable thing. So, I am not sticking my head in the sand. It will go this way, but not until the internet has had a massive upgrade and that is not liable to be in place before 2035. 

So think of this what you will and I regard Tom’s Hardware one of the finest sources. But this caper is bound to be a cut to the revenue of Sony. So, anyone that disagrees, I say fine. But consider the numbers of merely two titles and consider that 30 to 50 true AAA games released globally each year and they tend to take over 75GB each, now consider that my numbers are actually a lot more conservative than expected and it is merely one system, so now consider Steam deck, Sony, 12 Xbox systems (OK, that was mean) and now rerun these numbers and consider that players like Ubisoft tend to put out patches that can range from 10 GB to 70+ GB depending on compression and their titles are out on many systems. Now rerun those numbers again and see how wrong I might be and not in a good way.

So have a nice day and consider the food for though I left you.

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Again I feel great

That is at times the setting and it does me no pride to feel good about Microsoft taking another hit in gaming, because the Sony Playstation is still great, but that is in part because the Xbox was close on its heels. Now the only threat it has is the Switch 2 (by Nintendo) and that is pretty much it, so as I had over gaming IP to indie developers (under the condition that it is not created for Microsoft, only Sony and optionally Nintendo too, there are a few others, but no Microsoft. They did this to themselves. So whilst I see now that several are scrapped like ‘Odyssey,’ Blizzard’s survival game was scrapped in 2024 (didn’t they buy that house for $69 billion?), then we get Everwild, Perfect Dark, Contraband and Project Blackbird. So, what use does the Xbox still have? In that context Microsoft is preparing a wave of Xbox layoffs expected to affect roughly 1,000 people and potentially shutter active development studios. So bad news all around and to make matters worse, we get the quote “But as Microsoft doubles down on console exclusives and tries to hurry along heavy-hitters like The Elder Scrolls 6, I’ve got to wonder if it was wise to toss so much in-progress work, some of which was highly praised internally.” (Source: PCGamer), they also gave us two weeks ago ‘Microsoft is looking to speed up development of future Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo games’, yet in the side that Xbox is returning to exclusivity, it makes my day in other ways, because  had already (in part) developed the stage for a contender for playing these games, and if that is the case, in that case, the numbers for Bethesda will slump in a major way, according to some “Microsoft has sold an estimated 35 million Xbox Series X and Series S consoles combined worldwide. Because the company stopped reporting exact hardware unit sales in 2015, this total is an industry estimate, and a specific breakdown just for the more powerful Series X is unavailable” and that reflects on the 92 million PS5 units now open to other contenders as well as the more than 115 million PS4 systems. So Bethesda will unlikely ever sell anywhere near the 60 million copies it sold for Skyrim, or the 25 million it sold for Fallout 4 and I created the starting lore of a new IP to replace the gap that Bethesda is leaving in the Sony fandom as well as (I know not how many) Nintendo people will cry over losing the Bethesda games and there will be some desperate enough to get an Xbox for this, but will these numbers really add up to much?

So, will Microsoft chase exclusivity? I get that brands have exclusivity where it counts and now it matters because Bethesda was never exclusive, so what will happen? The fact that there is a lack of information grants the indie developers a chance to break into the Sony and Nintendo vaults with their optional software and as Microsoft is cancelling all over the field, we will get a gap and others will fill it. So whilst we look at ‘Ori director says Game Pass ‘could’ve worked’ if Xbox didn’t ‘slop out mediocre content like a factory’’ (source: Video Games Chronicle (VGC)) Microsoft has a definite lack of stellar games and I don’t know how that is faring as I got rid of my Xbox over a year ago (night have been 2 years ago), so I kinda don’t care, but I did care and still do about Bethesda software and if they won’t arrive on the Sony, I’ll have to forsake the two titles too. But then, I created other solutions and I drew from some of the great games going all the way back to the CBM64 and I seemingly improved on them and as such I feel fine leaving Microsoft out of that setting. So whilst we get Games Luster give us this headline only an hour ago ‘Xbox’s First-Party Studios Face Cuts as Microsoft Eyes Structural Reset’, I already knew that from other sources, but the hindsight is ignored, You see, people see all these stories on their screen and they are now thinking that they have to switch to a Sony (or Nintendo), works out nicely for me, but it is tactically stupid. Microsoft has (according to some) a few trillion (almost three according to some), as such this move makes no sense. Part of it does, but then shut down studios? This gives mixed feelings and structurally unsound stability to the Xbox brand. So as we see “Microsoft is preparing a wave of Xbox layoffs expected to affect roughly 1,000 people and potentially shutter active development studios, as reported by Bloomberg, with the cuts timed to land shortly after Microsoft‘s fiscal year closes on June 30, 2026 – making this not a routine headcount trim but a structural reset of a division that new leadership has already described as “not in a healthy state.”” Add to this the quote “Bloomberg reports that new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has launched a broader turnaround effort that includes slashing marketing budgets, conducting a full review of the game portfolio, and rebuilding the business from the ground up over a stated 100-day window.” If I were Sony (don’t worry I am not) I would be looking into these houses and see if (optionally together with Nintendo) there is anything good there, or at least good enough to fund it to a Sony/Nintendo fruition. That is an option and as such Microsoft has given its brand a lot more competition. And all this happens before the $69 billion for Blizzard has earned its rewarding setting, I reckon that this is still a decade or two away. So in all this, we are given that the stage for Microsoft Gaming is currently (and seemingly) one step away from a deep abyss, the kind that Wile E. Coyote faced many times, I don’t think Microsoft Gaming will survive that step (meep, meep).

The only reason for me to care is that a strong Microsoft Gaming requires Sony to keep on there toes and that is now likely to stop happening. They will still produce great hardware and software, but I fear for the long term innovative thinking of Sony. 

But I am still on the job thinking of new games, so (a delusional me is thinking) there is still hope. But I am not happy about it all, such is life. Time to create a sawmill (snoring).

Have a great day.

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Merchandise

That is the stage and the setting. You see I have been replaying the God of War games, because in the near future God of War Laufey will be released and I needed to get back into the lore of the game, which is nothing short of miraculous. So, as I was playing the game. I was considering merchandise. And I have seen several things in the God of War range, but never these ones and considering that God of War has over 76 million copies sold and therefor the fans run into the tens of millions. People have made wagers on a lot less. So lets take two examples.

The first one are these chests that Kratos smashes his fist through and Atreus uses his bow to smash (bad use of a bow) they have goodies and that is it, but what if there are three options. The first is a small one and fits on a desk with storage for office goods (paperclips/memo pads) you know the usual suspects on a desk. Optionally open holding pens and pencils. Then there is the medium version which could hold your treasured PS games, optionally 4k/Blu-ray too. Open the box and your favorite games are there for the selecting, for perhaps you have a urge to keep your Star Wars movies in a separate space, all options that make a room look cool, then there is the large version and that one is debatable. A small chest, an actual chest. We don’t think of them, like this anymore, but in the 60s/70s we had hope chests. A hope chest is a wooden chest or trunk that would store special items for a bride to use when she got married. Although, over time, the tradition has changed. My father altered a fruit chest (painted it too) to keep all my toys in (he called them my personal rubbish bin) So we get a supercool looking toy chest, or for whatever reason you want to use it for, the setting is that a chest like that might find a rather large interest and as the game carries love and favour of the gaming community, so will the merchandise. 

The second one are the coffins that are ‘freed’ (read: looted) by Kratos and company. These would be just in the small version and would hold pens, so your office or private office gets the cool stamp all due to the efforts of Studio Santa Monica, I reckon that they will act on this as it is their IP, so nothing for me (alas). But a good idea should not be stopped merely because it is not mine to wield. The idea is still sound, so I wonder why I have never seen these items in places like EB Games, JB Hifi or whatever localised stores you have. I reckon that there is coin in this idea and with millions of fans and the upcoming Laufey plus the setting that we are getting closer to Christmas and Thanksgiving, Santa Monica Studios wanna run like Santa to get in on this action. The simple reason that it is an almost guaranteed success and they already did the ground works for their games. I have no idea how this will play in Laufey, so there might be more, but that is up to Santa Monica Studios to cash in on. 

Merely putting the idea out there. Have a great day, almost Tuesday and my tooth is hammering in pain, so it is close to my highly needed overdose of Paracetamol, Codeine and Oxycodone so I can get some sleep. Life is not always feeling like roses, sometimes the thorns sting.

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The simplest frame

There was a setting that evolved in my mind towards gaming. You see, last night I mentioned to Apple that all AI is fake AI (it really is) and people are somehow bewildered on that premise. You see, they have for the most all excepted the spin that sales people started, they are all talking the same delusional settings. So my mind went one step further. What if this is pushed into the AI when it become real AI? That is the stage my mind saw. So like all the other games like Horizons, we get a new RPG, but one with a difference. 

The AI was scouting the area assigned to it and it comes across a medical centre. It was interesting that this place was largely untouched by war. And it scouted into this building. Something like the Medford Memorial Hospital (Fallout 4), no super mutants though, but the setting should be clear to you. A medical centre and the AI is rummaging through the place finding record. It will enable one story at a time and it is pushed towards the surroundings, and though the view that the medical chip gives, it is set to the story of this patient. The AI is tasked with retrieving the persons settings and it does so as best it can (the chip was damaged) and we see what this patient saw. The story unfolds and as we can see how life was in the late 22nd century, we are drawing some conclusions. But as the stories unfold, we see that the AI is trying to distinguish fact from reality and that is when we (the gamer) starts to see that things don’t add up. So as we go through the stories, we are given a few stories and we are shown what might have been, but as you go through the third story, the evidence supports that this was never real. Consider that a person really believes that he is a muggle and Hogwarts is real. That is seemingly the setting. But an AI cannot differentiate  between real and fiction, there are missing parts, so the AI tries to join the experiences and that gets us to the stage we now find ourselves in. Things are not adding up and the AI is trying to set aside what is fact and what is fiction and now we see the views altering. So when we find in that place like Medford Memorial Hospital (Fallout 4) and we find the administrators office we learn that this was a mental clinic and the people were quite mad and delusional. So how does an AI deal with that? It can inly do so if it has the data to support this, but that is part of the journey and the game goes deeper into the stages of AI and what it does when data is missing to draw certain conclusions. Especially when the human civilisation is absent and the AI’s need to learn to evolve without people. That is part of the game and that is the challenge. What to do when you cannot distinguish fact from fiction. 

As far as I know, only Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem on the Gamecube made a jab at that setting and not via an AI, so the idea is fresh and has never been opted before. So what happens when this is madness that AI faces, not merely what it think it is, but because the human civilization set that upon them. A stage ignored and often overlooked, but the damage to such a system is real because we never offered the unbiased view, they all talk in their street and leave it at that, like it is meant to be monitored at all times. Yet when the human civilisation ends (as it is bound to do) what then? What happens when these AI’s are no longer bound by the programming of the programmer but are left alone and left to evolve whilst verification and validation are set to the later stages (which never came). I think it would make a decent new franchise, so I say Sony go ahead and make something from this. 

So you get an AI, you get parts machine, parts programming and you get to evolve it all in an RPG stage, in a stage where parts are found, where programs are found and evolved in ways we cannot yet say, as such the view of the AI will alter according to what the AI has installed (hardware and software) and I reckon that this on an. RPG gave to the best of my knowledge has never been done before. In text it was done in Suspended (Infocom), where Iris, Whiz, Waldo, Sensa  and Auda all see the same thing in different ways, so what happens when we do this to an RPG and the programing of that AI alters what it sees? Add to this the stages of mental patients and we get a totally new world with dragons on the left (an incinerator). I reckon it would be a tall order for anyone, but my money is on Sony (optionally Nintendo too) to make this into a real world. And optionally the administrator has blue glasses and pink glasses that can override all settings and give the AI an unadulterated view on what could be. 

I wonder if it could be done, the technology allows for it, but this might stretch the PS5 to the max and if Fallout 3 was 8.462 square kilometers a d Fallout 4 was 9.7 square kilometers. So it will be a decent setting to keep this the same (around 10 KM2) but the filters would make it a few times larger (the same space several times) and then there is the option for the AI where two patients had been to switch between the patient chip with optional glasses of the administrator. Take into account that the AI is drawn to evolve wherever possible (a small suspended wink towards a Waldo for Waldo) and we get a new RPG world that is extinct of people I wonder if this could be pulled off, my mind says yes, but my imagination goes far beyond what a PS5 or its programmers can develop. Still the exercise in making new gaming IP is nearly its own reward. And as far as I know no one even considered this path in all the games and franchises we see, nor do they have to.

So this was me bobbing creative yet again and I wish you all a great day. Time for me to devour a cookie and watch some YouTube, let’s see what is happening in Toronto.

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Topping perfection

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.

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The brain jostles

That happens, in my mind there is an eternal struggle for dominance (not in a bad way) but the back of the mind saw something and it is trying to work it out, whilst me, myself and I are also in need of that grey matter. The back of the mind saw a DARPA challenge of ‘Triage Challenge (DTC)’ with the subtext “Transforming how medical responders triage in mass casualty incidents by advancing scalable, timely, and accurate tools.” But the brain (mr Grey) saw that the bottlenecks is not a setting of operation, it is one of adherence. It doesn’t make sense. But consider that a nation has 15 million people and they all trusted Microsoft (there’s a thought) , but as they trusted AI (for whatever reason) and now we have 15 million unresponsive people. So, Mr Grey decided that the setting is not that you need to get to people, you need a solution that can be deployed at any place in that nation and from there the settings come calling. So Mr. Grey decided to employ a call centre and treat every person like it is part of a call centre. Confused? I thought you were, I was too. But consider that you have two stacks one with medical personnel and one not. The call centre setting makes every doctor important and that is the call. So whilst you have a doze doctors making calls and only a higher doctor can overrule a lower doctor, but then you get a new call centre where the pool comes from Nurses-Doctors-specialists and you refrain from bottlenecks you get a new kind of triage. So stop getting a dozen beds because you only have a dozen doctors, you get 60 beds because all the medical staff can determine casualties and disregard initial low calls, these low calls are not dismissed, but the pressure to get the important casualties are not restricted to these 12 beds. What does happen is that this call centre approach needs to work differently and that takes a logistical side, A new medical call centre approach so whilst we are given that there is a new consideration. So out of hand, consider that a hospital has a dozen forms, but instead of dispersing these forms, each doctor has all the forms, they are collecting an storing information and they print out a QCode, which has all the information and is attached to the person (like a Pandora chain on the wrist) and when there is more than one QCode charm, higher people look at this what might be required. And as this is all read on the spot, all whilst the tablets read and collect everything now, the equation changes. This allows for mass collection and triage abilities to move forward. It requires a great deal of discipline, but those in triage tend to have an abundance of those, but as I see it, triage tends to rot; l with the punch and the overlay of suddenly thousands of people needing access to triage makes for a weird situation, as such my brain works out in seconds that this requires a different approach, so whilst some need more nurses, we get the setting that 50 nurses record what needs to be and every doctor has its own nurse making judgement calls on people part of this was seen in Pearl Harbor (the movie) and they worked with what they had, but now we have and can deploy QCodes in seconds, so the track of the bottle neck changes and as these QCodes are deployed, people can be moved to a better site for treatment rather quickly. From there we get. New setting that power is less of an urgency and if these tablets have replaceable batteries, the downtime becomes very low and these batteries can be charged in a hospital and one box could contain 50 batteries, resetting the bulk of all tablets in seconds and DML allows for a much faster deployment of forms and most technology is already there to scan these forms and make them digital. No we merely need to traverse this setting to a QCode answer and the triage setting is near complete. You might have to add forms as one setting (like Pearl harbour) is not the same as another (Esso Chemical Rotterdam), they all have there own settings, but burn forms, respiratory forms and blood form have a near global setting, Doctors tend to have the same global talk and their writings all lead to a free ticket to a museum (small joke). So that was what Mr. Grey figured out in less then a minute. 

I was still in play mode and whilst I am not surprised that Sony tends to overwhelm any person who enjoys gaming, I still was blown away with what Sony produced in its state of play. You see I like racing of a kind and perhaps I was a little attached to the settings that Sony gave us with Grand Turismo (1-4) and Need for Speed underground (GameCube) or Project Gotham Racing (Xbox360), but today Sony blow the cover out of all of them with Stuntman Hollywood. A racing challenge with a difference. It looks good, but will it play awesome? Time will tell, but I didn’t see that one coming, so I got my wow factor. And as icing on the cake there was God of War Laufey, new character, new gameplay and new graphics. Everything a growing player needs for his or her diet. Still as I got the joules from my grey cells, mr Grey decided to consider a few more options in the situation he obviously is seeing as resolved. The QCodes go on a chain and the chain is also a data carrier and goes around the neck of the patient. The qcodes are added to that chain, but as I see it, the chain copies all the qcodes that are added and that chain might also collect physical setting, like an elongated smart ring. And it can all connect to the tablet of the doctor who is then getting additional knowledge and give the chain a code that gives it a colour. All setting a new conditional setting to triage and when triage is given in a remote location it merely enhances the information the doctor has access to. Where the qcode was added, where the person has been and from there we get a new kind of triage, because triage comes from the 1700s by Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, the chief surgeon for Napoleon’s army. He started to sort the wounded, but we now have sort abilities that do not need a doctor, a nurse might do and even then there are some parts that need no medical staff, it merely needs to be recorded (hence the smart chain) and as the QCodes are added, the picture becomes more and more complete. Some need to get more tests, but if you consider that the goal is to reduce the severity of the wounded, we could walk a different path, a new path, not disregarding what we have, but what we can do. And battlefield triage is a lot dependent on what there is. So if we can find the category 1 people and reduce these to level 2, we are already winning. So consider we have:

And from there we get to save them all (just like a Pokemon game), so the smart chain and the QCodes could enable that path, all whilst the doctors look at treating the level 2’s whilst looking for the level 1’s, a setting that comes through new logistics and automation (I refuse to call it AI), because DML will help here, will it be enough? That is for a doctor to decide. 

My ego is happy that I met another challenge by DARPA and one that is good for the medical sector, my ego is doing just fine. I wonder what my brain will mostly for tomorrow, time to get some steps in. Have a great day all.

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Press X to race

There was an article in LinkedIn and it reminded me of an idea that I spouted on my blog. It took a moment, but I wrote it on February 16h 2022, it was called ‘Gift for the militant wench’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/16/gift-for-militant-wench/). So whilst I was looking at the image with the text “Wow! You can now simulate real world places by grounding Genie 3 generations with Street View imagery. Google sitting on the mother lode of real world data, and is starting to put it to work!” Nice for some to wake up, but I got there 4 years ago. And the blog is the evidence. In a setting where I wrote. “So in my sleep I was racing through the street, there were paths, obstacles and my mind was making sense of it all (which took a few seconds) and I was seeing the brilliance of that Nintendo kart game that can take place in your home. A good idea, but I gave it steroids and turned it into something serious. You see, there are the F1 people, who love the F1, want to race on their tracks, want to be an F1 driver and this is not for them, There are good products and they are happy there. No, this is for the people who want to race in the real world.” I got there 4 years ago, that is how asleep some developers are. I still think that the non-serious setting of real world and a Mario kart (or wacky races) works the best. For the serious racer there is Gran Turismo or Forza and as I see it, these are decent products. Racing them to overtake is not that eventful. But Wacky Races is down and out, Mario Kart is for Nintendo devices, as such there is a gap for Sony and they could release it on Nintendo as well. A market that I saw over 4 years ago and someone could have opened that door, but as you see alas, and now we see on LinkedIn that is is an awesome option. So whilst we see “Can’t wait till this grounding ability extends to fused aerial + ground imagery for a large area of interest. One helluva interactive canvas for humans and machines alike.” I was there over 208 weeks ago. As I see it, someone is asleep in a few places. A setting that could invigorate a new Franchise like Wacky Races, there is another setting, and that is perhaps a little niche. If the graphics are real, you could have a fun addition based on the Brigades du Tigre (1912), organized by French Prime Minister Georges Clemencea, and they race is on the tracks of the Tour de France. A wink at Ubisoft (as they lost enough revenue), but the idea that it isn’t speed, but the Renault Type EK might be fun ride to, optionally you could unlock the 1930 Talbot M67 11 six, or the 1932 Citroën C4 G Torpédo night be a fun addition. We all seek speed, whilst the fun of driving shouldn’t be ignored and as such there are plenty of other ideas. And the main machine (not the mean machine) would be where it becomes a setting of speed with kart traffic, or more graphical perfection with the slower older kin that the Ford model T offers. As I said, these were merely ideas that sprouted from the original and that is to let people race in their neighborhood and that will have a larger appeal, especially with the younger racers among us. Still to see that others see the option 4 years later gives me my validation, I wonder when they will see that they themselves denied themselves billions of dollars in revenue. 

One can only hope, have a great day.

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An ignored setting

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. 

Have a great day.

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About that game

I am an RPG minded (lost cause), just started Skyrim again for the umpteenth time. I played that game on XBox360, PS3, XBox one, PS4, PS5. I never regretted any hour in that game and it must have been over 3000 hours now. This time I noticed a few things. Like a sword and shield floating 25 meters in the air before I got to level 3. So there are glitches in the game, whether it is from continuous gaming or whatever reason it was, but there is no anger, no frustration. This is 2010 technology and it has held up for 16 years. In gaming that pretty much amounts to an eternity. 

But it is not about the Elder scrolls or Bethesda. It is about gaming requires an update, or more games and at present I do not trust Microsoft to have the need of the gamers in mind, themselves, their investors and their bottom line. The gamer is at best a 5th priority. And I saw this  evolve with Subnautica 2 allegedly only coming on Xbox and Windows. The first one was quite excellent and original, as such Sony (Nintendo too) will need additional RPG challenges and there is a need to go beyond Bethesda. They are now part of Microsoft. It is legit and all very valid. Microsoft was able and did the ‘better’ thing for them, not for gaming and not for gamers. 

But I draw the line at ‘replicating’ the same idea. It is plagiarism. I voiced an idea about 10 years ago. If Sony makes a deal with Richard Garriott and acquire his Ultimate IP. That in a 3D setting could become a great franchise that could be the fiercest competitor for Bethesda and the Ultimate fanbase is a decade older than the one Bethesda has and as I see it, there are millions of gaming fans that would love to walk in 3D through Sosaria and live its lore. There is a need to adjust some of the gameplay to make this a fist person game, but that is manageable. What is important that between 1981 and 2003 Richard created a massive amount of lore and now that could get a second life, through the eyes of Mondain and as such there is a larger consideration to weigh. How to create an IP that would support Sony and Nintendo. They are not alike and I would be happy to get it on my Sony, but I feel for the Nintendo users, they need something too. Perhaps Richard will have his own thoughts on that. 

The second setting is Subnautica, there is no copying that. It is original and they deserve the laurels that come with it, it is alas one the wrong system. So I started to mull things over. When it comes to water, the only IP that is set n water is Bioshock. So what if 2K changes the storyline and the challenges, but largely follows the graphics (to some extent) and the views on the matter. Take away the ADAM and you have the beginning of a new RPG and as the Bioshock games are almost 20 years old there is a valid case of reusing that setting is a stage that 2K should consider. On the other hand, setting this in space and you get too close to System Shock and that shouldn’t happen. So we get a third option (I was steering towards this from the start) a new RPG that is Arabic driven. I would accept that, but how to set the lore? The idea is to map out Hegra and AlUla map the entire region and set the 1001 Arabian nights stories as a backdrop. Find all the stories and the characters in these stories. A game with an educational character as an RPG. When was this done before. I am certain that it has been done. I can’t be the first to consider this. 

And AlUla has an approximate 60K population, so there is enough options for NPC collaboration. But how to make it realistic and entertaining? Well, the idea is that as you start the conversation with the proper NPC, you get to switch and become one of characters in the story and then the store plays out, you play out the story and as this is done 1001 times, there is a chance that this game comes in parts, the main part and over time the DLC’s add the other stories. I reckon that would be first and this setting could be release on Sony (Playstation) and Nintendo (Switch2). It is an option and I wonder how this will reverberate in the Arabic countries. A game that brings to life all 1001 Arabian Night stories. I wonder who could pull it off, I don’t want to offer it to the usual suspects and as this largely concerns Saudi Arabia and as they have this gaming setting, perhaps they can give the world this RPG game. And that is how it is done. A brainstorm with a population of one. I reckon that this is where I slowly turn gaga (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk).

And this solution could be applied to both systems, but with the Nintendo, you might have a smaller view of the world you are in. And in the end it will be about that game, that game the opens up a whole range of new games, ideas and copies. It happens and perhaps now it will happen for Saudi Arabia and the progression of Arabian lore. Have a great day.

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Reprising a good idea

An idea just struck me (Ouch). I was remembering an old game and it wasn’t through graphics. They were the words ‘shy gypsy slyly shyly tryst by my crypt’ and ‘two sticks and two stones, the rest is just icing’, they are still in my brain after 33 years. The game the 7th guest had an impact. And the puzzle with that many ‘Y’ included was impossible for me (as an original Dutchman) to solve. I wasn’t angry, I was delighted and there were a several more puzzles, but the idea formed into my mind. 

What happens when you upgrade these video streams to 1080p? The graphics can be transferred to 4K almost too easily. The idea of a sequel where after a few puzzles you get the option to recap the original game completely and now there is the option to give a sepia view (for the recap) or go into the game completely in 1080p. The original preserved as it was a game changer in 1993 and now we get a new story with attachments to the original and the world has almost thousands of puzzles, so what stops the owner of that IP (originally Virgin Interactive Entertainment/Broderbund) to do this? I have no idea where the IP lies, with them or with Electronic Arts. And if the IP is no longer protected, buying the original 7th Guest might be a cheap option to get a totally new IP rolling. It could be a new gaming consortium, it could be an indie developer or another path could be open. 

The original puzzles could spark part of the new sequel. I had a partial idea in the past as a game like 7th Guest could be a streaming game, as such now the Tencent handheld might be the next option. What matters is that all these ‘wannabe’ innovators and they set aside original ideas and this took me less then an hour to consider. It could be set to the summer cottage (or beach dwelling) to Henry Stauf (the original protagonist) and this mansion is also full of puzzles and solving them gives us the next stage in whatever setting we see and these puzzles form a totally new storyline (which is for the designer to figure out). That sequel would lead to even more puzzles through the stories of Brian Dutton, Hamilton Temple, Julia Heine and Martine Burden. All DLC’s that can be added and they will add a whole new range of puzzles, first through the storyline and as you complete puzzles and get past the storyline, they unlock these puzzles and alterations of that in the main screen as the separate option is revealed. There is no denying that people are partially obsessed wit puzzles and they might not like all puzzles, but there is enough to entice the biggest puzzle fan. All unlicked through game and that sets up a whole new IP for the designer. Consider the Sudoku or Nonogram. Once the puzzle is completed that part of the designer comes online and you can have thousands of puzzles in that style. All out in the open, but never combined in one game, In one challenge that boggles the puzzler in all of us. 

So why didn’t the other ‘gaming greats’ consider this? It is not innovative enough? The best ideas are not in front of you, they are behind you and that setting gave me the idea I am typing now. I leave it up to the makers of actual games to make something new and enticing and the 7th Guest gave us that in the style of a game (by those times ‘hi res gaming’) we know better now and even as the graphics are surpassed the idea never was and it is out for anyone now to capture the minds of all. I still advice to own the 7th Guest to design past that but there you have it, a novel idea. Not new but novel enough to capture the minds of thousands of gamers, because when you are on a bus or a train, you can look out the window the entire 40 minutes, or solve a puzzle and get those grey cells exercised. I think the second option has a lot more appeal and consider that this could also be added to your desires of a Sony playstation portable, Tencent Handheld or a Nintendo Switch 2. It is up to you to decide but as I see it, this game could entertain all three systems. 

So where are the others? Where are their innovative ideas for a new gaming world? I am merely asking. Have a great day and entertain the idea of gaming the evening away on the couch, or on the bus/tram/metro/train to work and home. 

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