Tag Archives: Sony

December 28, 2022 · 23:11

Why be surprised?

I saw the news yesterday, I saw the news earlier. Yet yesterday we were given ‘Microsoft admits to making future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox’ It does not make me happy, but it is as I personally see it, their right. They paid over 7 billion for Bethesda, as such they get assign the dance card of Bethesda. I don’t think it is good business, but it is their choice. You see, in the lat two years I placed gaming IP, with storylines on this blog as freeware for anyone programming games for Sony and Amazon Luna. We can jump high and low, yet I decided to create IP for these two players to offset the Microsoft advantage. I believe that a new RPG IP will not solve it all, but it will take more wind out of the sails of Microsoft and Bethesda. When these RPG’s catch on, the damage for Microsoft increases and those who used my freeware will get a larger chunk of profit, all for free. A win, win, win (not for Microsoft though). 

So when we try to give rise to the titles and consider “The document blacks out the names of the upcoming titles, saying that these are games to be played “primarily alone or in small groups.” If this doesn’t say Starfield and/or The Elder Scrolls 6, we don’t know what does.” I reckon that Microsoft wants to hide the titles, they want to influence the impact of what system to buy. They want to sell more consoles, but Microsoft crashed its own windows all the way back when the Xbox one was here. It never broke the records of Nintendo consoles of the Gameboy Advance, the 3DS, The DS, the the Wii, the Switch and so on and the subsequent systems aren’t doing any better. The latest system has less than half the global sales numbers that the PS5 has. It gets to be worse, the PS4 has sold more than the sum of all Xbox One versions and Microsoft is getting desperate, another field where they no longer have any influence. Bethesda would optionally make a difference. I get that, people bought specific consoles to play a game. It is the reason I got the Xbox360, Oblivion was worth buying the 360 for and it gave me great gaming, a really good system and Microsoft bungled it with the Xbox One, just like they bungle all things else (as I personally see it) and they go on to the Blizzard merge. Another clever ploy, but I can counter it with more freeware for Sony and Amazon Luna. $100 billion in IP bought and the creative minds can counter that with additional settings that will lessen the value of these companies. I left over $6 billion annual on the blog and that is merely the first phase. I created IP for game developers who do not work for Microsoft. Slam after slam after slam. I will bring Microsoft down to their knees and teach them what happens when you mess with gamers. It might be the most expensive lesson they ever got and I am not even close to done yet. Now that I am fired up all the IP that was initially meant for TESVII: Restoration can be poured directly into a new RPG, one that is about creation, choice and restorations. Of course it will need new storylines but I can pull that off too. 

And the new makers never have to pay up to $100,000,000,000. A direct loss for Microsoft, as it should be.

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December 25, 2022 · 11:41

Ring around the currency

There is a stage, a stage I walked and it does not concur the news. The news given to us (or me at least) through ‘Saudi Crown Prince launches program to enhance digital infrastructure, creative work’ (at https://ara.tv/gkurj) from Al Arabiya. You see, the Saudi Consulate (through, I imagine orders from the royal house) stated that only partnerships can be considered. Yet creative work does not reckon on partnerships. The fact that Google and Amazon were clueless on what they saw, or they rejected this implies the folly, or the reduced impact of such a stance. We are also given “the creation of an intellectual property ecosystem that supports innovation and a creativity-based economy, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.” It cannot work as I see it. You see, partnerships implies that the partner will hold part of the IP, or the IP will become a whole lot more expensive, so when I offered a safe space for (an expected) 900 million Muslims this so called National Intellectual Property Strategy (NIPST), will reportedly play a part in achieving the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 would have needed to wake up (as I personally see it) and they did not, or the people waking it up, showing what is out there should have been alerted and they were not. I reckon that a safe space for 900 million Muslims should have woken the NIPST right up, it did not. On their side we can argue that it did not wake up Google or Amazon either, so it is not entirely on them. The idea that a new power player arrives should have woken the two up, or lose it to that wannabe Microsoft, but none of them woke up. So why is that?

I personally see it as a failure to identify a new innovative solution that ignores established foundations, because those foundations are rotten. As such a intellectual property strategy, a national one would not hope to have a real chance into becoming the power player. It will get a foothold, it will get IP, but only at the setting of the limited sight, which is a strategy and could be a strategy but not a true innovative one. The true innovators laugh at limitations, they laugh at established orders (especially rotten ones) and they create new foundations, stronger foundations. It is my personal believe that the foundation set to almost 1 billion Muslims should be seen as a sturdy start to something none of them have played to for a very long time. Decades to say the least, but that is my personal view. Those who hold the rotten foundations will not agree and will even less approve of my thinking. The longevity of their rotten foundations requires as many people as possible, too little and the rotten structure reveals itself and that is their fear, they invested lots of money in that foundation and when it gets exposed their value goes straight from penthouse to basement. A setting I saw coming close to three ears ago, before the first Covid lockdown, I was already on these pages and when we add the news from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-63906654) where we are given ‘Cost of living: Recruitment slows for game developers’. Here we see “There are 2,200 games firms in the UK, supporting 73,300 jobs The industry adds £5.26bn in GVA (gross value added) to the UK economy each year” now think for a second. How many AAA games were released in 2022, how many of them were British? 2200 gaming firms? How many rely on funny money (advertisement money) for them to get a few dollars, pounds or Euros? If only 10% of these UK firms relies on ‘real’ games it will be a lot. But that side is not one that the UK focuses on, are they? And it comes to blows when we get to “The value of the UK consumer games market reached a record £7.16bn in 2021” Yet my innovative solution, the one that the NIPST was never shown takes that one out of the equation, a billion (or more) Muslims that are not exposed to these advertisements, so how much is that costing these 2200 developers? Safe space is the next thing and when it comes it all ends for these £7.16bn funny money wielders and it will hit Google and optionally Amazon as well. That is the innovation that the NIPST was never shown, interesting evolution, is it not? And that is not merely on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a global problem now, greed dictates innovation, an option it was never allowed or expected to do ever before. Why is that? Why is it now? It is because the fakers until they make it never ending up making anything, an economy founded and adhered to fakers with powerpoint presentations, seeking ‘yay’ sayers and not much more.

Well enjoy Christmas Day and realise that it never grew up through Toddler toys and it was never raised through baby food nourishment tables. That we did to ourselves, we created economies founded on funny money and certification enabling wannabe’s and in the digital age that foundation is about to collapse. If I am the first many more will question the values from fakers and wannabe’s soon enough. And after that? Well consider that the UK has 2200 game developers, there is Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple and mobile developers. So how many are where? How many are streamers and now consider what that 7 billion revenue is actually hoping for? Not a person enjoying games, because 20 advertisements an hour takes the fun out of gaming, but you figured that out, did you not? Now lets see where the NIPST will end with its current strategy. And consider how many of these developers are actually aiming for safe space?

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December 23, 2022 · 23:11

Unions

The thought took me by surprise. I had been playing Minecraft that day and the dream took me in a different direction, the merging of games. Now in the case of Minecraft this might merely be a DLC, or added to the game, but the stage opens up new directions in gaming.

To give you the rundown, I need to take you on a small trip. In my days of the Atari ST, the game ‘The Sentinel’ was released and I was happy, a remake was made in the late 90’s and it was awesome on PC, the music was fantastic and the game left an even deeper impression. The game is about a sentinel, it cleans the world, it rotates and nothing will survive in its gaze. It seems simple, but the 3D landscape is tricky and there are 1000 levels (if I remember correctly). So to win you need to get to the highest point and devour the Sentinel. The game is simple, but addictive and the PC edition even more so. But what happens when we take the Sentinel and make it massive, it cannot be devoured. Yet if you can get close to it, you could ‘attack’ it and get glowing bricks from it. The glowing bricks give the player powers. Blue will drop never ending water when active, red drops lava and so on. Yellow becomes a sun beacon. The Sentinel however changes the landscape it sees, and as such destroys your house, reduces it to rubble (with all the stuff still there. A rare event that changes the speed of the game and creates chaos. But that is merely one side, so what happens when we have BOTH games? We have thought of it and it does not always apply, but what happens when we have games from the same maker? For example AC Origin and AC Valhalla? They have implemented the cosmetic parts in later games, but what if we can push it both ways and more than just cosmetic? So Horizon Zero Dawn AND Horizon forbidden West? The games can be played separately, but what if we could unite these games? Add even more terrain? That is (optionally) the power of streaming games, streaming games will make this possible. 

It is a continuation of an idea I had in the past (and wrote about it). The original EA CBM64 game ‘Murder on the Zinderneuf’ now with a Bioshock look. Fully 3D, yet that is merely the start. For the Amazon Luna, the idea came for Luna keys, gold and silver. So when you play the game you could find a chess set, when found the option opens up to unlock THAT chess set in the game chess. It makes for a new setting of long term gaming. In addition, the idea came that could open up other games and other makeover of games. Like the game Clue, Harry Potter themes (if that was open to offer) and so on. In that same stage Assassins Creed 2 could offer a renaissance Italian chess set and so on. Not every game will offer this, but with every iteration that does we add value to gaming, we add interest in people who like to play chess to play other games. When you play the new version of ‘Murder on the Zinderneuf’ a game like monopoly would suddenly get an additional playable token (the Hindenburg) and it is that interaction that gamers will become hungry for and they will play more, enjoy more and experiment more. The power of streaming games is not unlocked for the simple reason that the game owners are merely looking to ‘copy’ their game on a new platform, to get more names, more players but no one is looking in creating better players, more fun and more joy. It is seemingly past them.

It is a stage that needs to be looked at now, because the new makers of systems are looking in that direction and there is no price for second place. As I see it The Tencent Streaming solution is merely a year away. The current owners squandered billions, lost the middle east and now Tencent is about to offer new options, new terrains and they will offer it to millions more. So how much of the playfield will Amazon surrender? Google left the gaming sphere and Microsoft remains useless (which they will spin in a direction like blaming Sony), but the truth is that these three players left well over 6 billion a year on the field and that field is now increasing and is slowly moving towards Tencent. Yes another fine mess they left the gamers.  The only player, who had their own niche is Apple and I have no idea what they are up to, they play their cards close to their chest. But they could be the new winner in the 11th hour. I cannot tell, too much speculation on that direction.

But the union of games is a natural concept in streaming games and look at how many offered that stage, the simple answer is none. And when Tencent does offer it, they basically become winner by default. It was so easy to actually listen to gamers (something Microsoft has never done). Sony and Nintendo were not streaming solutions and they have THEIR market. The others (Apple excepted) did this to themselves. Consider what you read here and consider what you see in gaming and then see how natural the ideas actually are.

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December 12, 2022 · 10:44

Dopey and Grumpy, still dwarves

That is the setting and it is a strange setting, but it relates to ‘When it rains we call the kettle black’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/12/11/when-it-rains-we-call-the-kettle-black/) which I wrote two days ago. Yet I did not know there was more, and just now I come across ‘Saudi Arabia demanded defense firms set up in country by 2024. So far, most seem unmoved’ (at https://breakingdefense.com/2022/12/saudi-arabia-demanded-defense-firms-set-up-in-country-by-2024-so-far-most-seem-unmoved/), to be honest, I had heard some stuff in that direction, but I was unaware of how deep it went, and now I see “as long as it is related to the government contracts, they will have to have their regional headquarters here”, with the added “analysts said that the biggest players appear confident they can find workarounds — including the use of local partnerships and subsidiaries, as they’ve done in other countries — to keep the market open” and there the stupid factor comes into play. You see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has had enough of fake allies, fake commitments and now China is ready to make commitments and as the KSA is moving towards the 2030 mark of 50% in country defence and China is willing to play nice, the US is set to lose a whole lot of revenue. So there is your workaround, greedy and stupid working in cahoots like Grumpy and Dopey, both sides of a currency that has no meaning where they are, it is the sales prospects that counts and they are giving it all to China. You can only be the biggest player if you sell and there were markers for sale events and now there is a clear understanding in strategic papers no less that China is moving into sales column A. So when we think through what Breaking Defense gave us on December 8th, the US better realise that the age of pretending to do something and doing something else as a workaround is ending and it is ending really quickly. So when we see the larger players like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Leonardo, Thales, and General Dynamics. What happens when the representative $27,000,000,000 goes to China? Twenty Seven Billion no longer to the US, the dollar will take another dive and more importantly, the design of their stealth planes required some Saudi Funds, when they go to the Chengdu J-20, the impact will be seen all over the US, EU and NATO. I made mention of these dangers as early as September 2021. The fact that some American Fat Cats were playing stupid with a customer paying billions is a little new, but there is no surpassing the union of stupid and ego, it makes for a nice package, one that China could be enjoying a lot more than they figured on. And there is a chance that the strategic union between Saudi Arabia and China will go that far. Not only will the US lose their Middle East stage, they will in that same action lose whatever benefits they had in Egypt as well. And just to remind you on a speculative side. If China buys in this deal 2 million barrels a day from the American stack, the US is in deep manure. It does make the grass grow in Texas, but that is pretty much all it does. 

As such the last week has given us all kinds of revelations via several media sources. But the larger news is that State secretary Pompeo gives us ‘Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia a result of “bad American policy”’ and the bad news merely stacks. Yes Saudi Arabia is not squandering the connections with the US, their words and they are right. The US themselves are squandering it to China by playing chicken with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to appease their ego’s, and that is what is clearly in place and will shown over the next 13 months. You see, there will not be any 11th hour changes, if these regional HQ’s are not in place by December 2023 China will end up with a massive chunk of Saudi defence spending. China is happy with it, will the US be? I doubt it, but they catered to ego, so there you have it. It does not matter who Dopey and Grumpy are, in the end they were merely dwarves and as I see it, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is willing to make a large change and it will cost the US, it will cost them so much. I wonder how they will spin this loss, because at present that is exactly what it will become. A loss to their ally list, a loss to their economy and a loss of income. All handed to China for the mere satisfaction of ego. Government handed partnerships to players like Microsoft, Sony, Samsung and a few other players for the cumulative sum of a mere 1% of that, did you think the Saudi Government wasn’t keeping tabs? Silly bunnies!

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December 11, 2022 · 20:33

Gaming Oscars, a chalice of achievement

I was looking for a simple list, but none of them gave it, a simple lit with the game and the amount of awards. None supplied it as far as I could tell and it is weird because the Oscars have done this for decades. The simple stage is that Elden Ring (not my choice) got the Game of the Year win. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that Elden Ring earned it, it really did, it is merely not my game. That does not make me angry, if anything it implies that gaming is bigger than me. The two games I had in that in that direction is the God of War: Ragnarok with Horizon Forbidden West as a second choice. 

So when we see GoW, we see that they won Narrative, Music, Audio design, Performance, Innovation, Action/Adventure, 6 wins in total. My second game Horizon Forbidden West didn’t get any, the competition was too fierce and too good. Elden Ring took home Game of the Year, Best game direction, Best Art direction, Best RPG, a total of 4 wins. Gran Turismo got a win too and a few others 11 wins for Sony, whilst Microsoft has 4 (Elden Ring is on both systems). 7 wins for Sony exclusives. It is a chalice of achievements and it was never in doubt. The exclusives are the system protectors and the system evangelists (if gaming was a religion). 

There we have the larger stage, the larger issue that Microsoft is spinning out of view. When it was all good, they were happy to announce it, now not so much. Even sales numbers are a combination of system S and system X. I reckon the numbers are basically that bad and they are getting worse. No amount of software house acquisition will fix that and the fact that Microsoft is spinning the numbers and hiding them is telling me more, in gaming Microsoft is done for. Not completely, they are the number one ruler in flight simulators and they earned that part, they truly do. Yet life is more than straight forward games. It is about the art and HFW and GoW clearly showed that, in 2023 Hogwarts legacy will show again that love of a subject and dedication to that love will make Hogwarts Legacy shine on any platform it appears on. I personally predict that Hogwarts Legacy will up the mark for achievements in a game by a fair bit. Yes, I saw “a Twitter user wrote: “Hogwarts Legacy got a VERY tepid reaction at The Game Awards… and also did not win.”” Yet that concern was not there for Bayonetta 3, was it? I missed out most of the Rowling debate, in the first because I do not care, in the second that people have personal views and they are entitled to them. If it offends you then crawl under your bed please. She wrote a series of books that captured the heart of two generations, in addition it inspired the creation of Hogwarts Legacy. We see all these people cluster around perfection whilst they have no idea what perfection looks like, perfection to them is anyone who agrees with them and that is the important part of the stage. Gaming is not that. This is why my view on Elden Ring matters. It is not my game, but I saw how amazing it looks and it was a clear competitor to the GOTY and they won, there is no negative thinking by me. Gaming is too big! I have shared my displeasure with Microsoft on many occasions, yet the Flight Simulator was a clear win and they won other items too and they will win more over time (until Microsoft is speculatively no more). You see the wins are not Sony, or Microsoft. These wins are made by dedicated people at Sony and Microsoft. Which Sony seemingly has more of at present. I like the reference to the Gaming Oscar’s, but there is a hidden flaw. A decade ago when Microsoft and Sony were on par, the games were better, now that is seemingly no longer the case. Microsoft games are too often makers like Ubisoft who are everywhere. Yet, we cannot discount Microsoft yet. With Fable, Starfield, The outer worlds 2 and an allegedly new Forza, there is every chance that Microsoft will win big in 2023. I like that idea, because it means that Sony will have to go full throttle in 2023 and 2024. When these two fight, the gamer wins and that is how I like it, gamers winning. So the chalice of achievement might be with Sony in 2022, but there is no assurance that they will get 2023 as well. It makes for great gaming years for all gamers, which is what I particularly like.

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November 19, 2022 · 15:25

Correlating the mode

A weird term to say the least, but it will soon make sense. I was watching the Patriot today (the Mel Gibson version) which I had not seen in over a decade and something came over me. I suddenly wanted to play Assassins Creed 3 again.

One called or the other. I did not think it was a bad game, it had interesting elements and for one, the intro was brilliant. Yet the game had a missing part. It was a lot less AC then the previous ones and that is not bad, the game was not bad. It was merely less great. Yet one called for the other and I needed to recognise that. As such I wondered if BOTH directions work. You see the PS5 and Streamers (soon enough) have an optional additional side. To get there you need to answer a question. Have you ever watched a YouTube with cutscenes? What if there was another mode with more? To keep in the AC line, what if there wasn’t some DNA you were filling, but film reels? Consider any game, you have a main line and side lines (in RPG’s at least). So what happens when we find all the reels, more important when we find them all a new mode opens up that we can see at the end of the game. The movie! Not merely the cutscenes but a complete movie in 4K based on cutscenes with additional footage, footage that tells part of the story, but we never played that part of the story, it merely completes the entire storyline. Now consider that we play a game like Diablo 3, the cutscenes are fabulous, but what if the acts become additions to the movie and we have a wizard edition, a necromancer edition, a barbarian edition and so on. A game, nearly any game giving us a 4K movie to watch. Streamers are better equipped for it, but I am willing to bet that any Horizons Forbidden West gamer will go nuts when they complete the game and are then treated to the HFW movie. What surprises me is that this feature was never part of any game, why not? We can argue that previous editions weren’t ready for this, but these systems (Nintendo Switch gets an exemption) are and this option could be available in the next decent RPG game. 

I wonder who will bring us the most exciting game movie next. 

 

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November 14, 2022 · 19:40

The games one yearns for

We all have that. We focus on a game and that is our push point. It is a rather large issues when it is set to exclusives. In there Sony has a massive advantage over Microsoft, but Microsoft is not out of the race yet. Delay after delay, there are now more indications that Redfall and Starfield will get to the Microsoft community in 2023. I saw a first part of Starfield today and I will immediately admit that it looks really good. I am still not getting the Xbox contraption, trust lost is trust close to never regained, I am wired weirdly that way and the BS I once got from the Microsoft Helpdesk gave me that they really do not know what they are doing. Or better said, they know what they are exploiting but they keep their customer service department in the dark. Still, that is not what it is about. Redfall will come first (as several sources state), and it is Starfield that will be taking the cake It is definitely not some Skyrim version of a space game. It is much larger and there is a lot more. Yet that also comes with issues, but I will not speculate on what could be, what might be. It will be about the game and what I saw looks impressive.

In 2023 for me there is merely Hogwarts legacy waiting. I am unsure of other titles at the moment. I tend to not look too much forward. 2022 was AWESOME. Horizons Forbidden West and God of War brought gaming for me to a new high. I am merely looking at the exclusives. Yes there was also Elden Rings and Returnal but I never played these two. We all have our preferences. I am currently on the fence for Diablo 4, some news that reached me did not make me happy, but I am keeping it to myself. I have questions on that source too and I do not want to spread something inaccurate.

You will have them too and others will love their Xbox, they made their choices and as I see it they will go nuts over Starfield. I applaud all excellence in gaming, whether I support the system or not.   I revere games, not the system. As a system I am merely disgusted with the stupidity of Microsoft, so there.

We are now 3 days away from the next Pokemon, so my Switch will get some game-time too. Nintendo has its own release list, some not exclusive but that doesn’t matter. I still enjoy the games I have there and one more is added this week. For the most I have been thinking of what we can do more. Yearning is not limited to what comes NEXT week, NEXT month and NEXT year. Yearning also looks at the past. A spectacular moment there was Golden Eye (N64) and a few others. And there is where we see some news, some news that saw delay after delay (all the way from 2020) System Shock, the remake from 1994 will come to PS5 in March 2023. The notion alone is making me happy and with the hours I played the game (three times over at least) gives me butterflies (yes, I need help). Gaming gets a new lease on life as some makers are seeing the reengineering options unfold. The first feeling was when I saw my beloved (yes, I need help) Elite from the CBM64 getting remastered. I hoped for more of the same and David Braben would not have that. What he gave us blew most our minds away and it took some a decent amount of time to get a handle on that game. It had proper teachings, but the game combined Elite, Privateer and  added 21st century graphics, in addition the game became well over ten billion times larger than the original. Now consider that concept to some other games. That is where streaming games can take us. Yes, we can wait for the next mediocre program by Ubisoft. Yet would you not want to feel actual butterflies when you hold your controller? And that I not all, this will be possible for well over a dozen games all before 2024. Is that not the real feeling we wait for as a gamer? Lets be clear I am decently anxious to get to Hogwarts legacy. The little I saw (I try to avoid as much as possible) blew me away and it is still blowing me away. Yet I want it to freshly hit my eyes in February 2023.

We all want that, the people seeking every spoiler will lose larger than they imagine and in this Starfield might give the Xbox community the game they dreamt for, for well over three years. I hope they get that feeling too, because they too are gamers, they are in a sense family.

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November 13, 2022 · 01:47

Repetition or confirmation?

I was a little on the fence whether I should write this article. It felt a little repetitive and I hate repetition, hell is all about it. But it was the fortune article that made me go for it. There was a bonus involved. The article (at https://fortune.com/2022/11/04/cloud-video-games-future-stadia-xbox-microsoft-google-sony/) gives us ‘Cloud video games have a rocky history, but could have a bright future’, as such I agree. But apart from Google throwing in the towel (a mistake, but their choice). We get “In May, the company announced its Xbox Cloud Gaming program had attracted over 10 million players spread over 26 countries since opening its beta up a year prior. And the numbers are growing.” This and “You need to have a console solution and you need to have a cloud solution, because as gaming continues to expand, you’re going to need multiple options for each market” made me roar (with laughter). Not directed at the statements. I kinda agree with the second statement, although it is early days for that. It is the first that made me howl. Microsoft the company who ‘evangelised’ the fact that they had the most powerful console in the world was surpassed in lifetime sales by Nintendo within 2 years. Apple made a mess of the  Microsoft tablet, Amazon made a joke of Azure and now we see this, all whilst I am offering a solution to Amazon which could add 50 million subscriptions amounting to $6,000,000,000 a year.  So not only did Microsoft became largely irrelevant in Console gaming (all whilst spending $75,000,000,000 for Blizzard and Bethesda) Amazon does not have to go to anywhere near that that degree and will surpass Microsoft (if they buy the solution) by well over 40 million subscriptions. I reckon that if Amazon accepts the deal, the new years party at Microsoft will end up being more dreary than a funeral. Oh and that is before we consider the market share that Microsoft loses to Adobe. Cloud services, gaming, tablets and office losses. Life could not feel better for me at present and that is off course linked to Amazon (or another third party currently approached) buying my solution. It feels perfect slapping that smug company. I was clear 10 years ago that they were making too many BS mistakes, mistakes that gamers were not accepting (like always online). And Sony took them to the cleaners (OK, Sony had sheer gaming perfection in house, so that helped). 

Cloud gaming is the future that was never in doubt, yet it does rely on national deployed 5G networks. It can work on lesser, but congestion becomes a real issue at that point and there I have a few other ideas for Amazon (but these ideas are a little out in the open at present). 

And I believe it will go further, but that might be overly optimistic, and I hate being overly optimistic, but the numbers are seemingly in my favour at present, still I will hang onto ‘merely’ the 50,000,000 subscriptions.

It feels a little repetitive, but until today I did not have any numbers by Microsoft and they are only at 10 million over 26 countries. Not only can I do better, I would be able to hand the wooden spoon to Mr Spencer, that feeling is better than sex, I shit you not. In addition I would end my career on a massive high and that counts too, as such I do hope that Amazon reacts quickly. I have no problems with the third party, yet these two players are new to me and I am not sure how close they are to Microsoft and I do not want them part of this. Just mutually assured dislike. 

Sunday is turning out to have a nice start. Time to do some snoring (it is 01:44)

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November 11, 2022 · 19:25

First of two issues

I had a rage attack today, it was right after some stupid set of saggy t*** decided to attack Elon Musk in a Presidential briefing. It feels like she is from Forbes. They have been pushing the Musk envelope. It is my personal belief that they are close friends with Jack Dorsey, a person they seemingly never asked any serious questions from and ‘the national security danger that is Saudi Arabia?’ Oh, I got her number and then some. But there is time for that and I have seen that death is not the worst a person can experience. It will be my delight to introduce that terror to her. But there is time for that and certain plays are not completed. But then something happened. 

A tweet brought Me back to my senses. This lady is totally nuts about Elden Ring. I get that drive, that devotion, optionally that obsession. I do not agree with her, but that I her right. I did not play Elden ring. I could never finish BloodBorne. I still have it as it is one of the most beautiful games I have, next to Dark Souls 3, a game I equally never finished. Both utterly sublime, but in my lifetime I doubt I will ever finish that. Yet it was about her feeling. I thought I had the same with Horizons: Forbidden West. But then God of War: Ragnarok came. I am taking me time as every corner, every sight is a feast for the eyes. I lost a few lives, but that is OK. The game delivers again and again and the story is magnificent, as is the music. I do not believe that Guerrilla software has anything to fear. There is space to love control of both Kratos and Aloy. Two amazing pieces of faming IP, this was a good gaming year and I am not forgetting Gotham Knights. Three Amazing journeys. Yet at present I am knee deep in Asgardian folklore and epic myths and Santa Monica Studios deliver in ways you cannot believe (unless you are playing the game) it is good that in the twilight of my life I can still be amazed by games. I started gaming in 1984 and I never stopped. I might not have the drive I once had (like playing 167 levels of Loderunner on the CBM64 in one sitting). I did take a sickie for that event. It was a time when you could pause a game, but you could not save a game. Still, 38 years later and that gam is still part of me. Games evolved from CBM64 we got the CBM Amiga, then PC, then the PlayStation range one through five and gaming never disappointed. I might not like everything, but that is not required. There is space for the yearners of Elden Ring, the obsession with Quake, Halo and Bethesda games. It is an inclusive group, the more the merrier. 

There is no hindsight, not a new piece of IP (other than the ones I already have). Many forget that gaming is not a business (to some it is), it is the ones that see games as art, those are the games that get the 90%+ reviews and Sony has a basket full of those, no matter how many ‘opponents’ troll rating into the basement. The gamers know what is what and they are driven to success. To achieve the end of the story. Anyone finishing Horizons Zero Dark can tell you about that. There is a need to finish the story and God of War: Ragnarok is no different. Do not worry, no spoilers here. 

Passing that line yourself is so fulfilling it gives value to a game and you will cherish EVERY dollar you spend on it. Today was a great day for gaming. I wonder if that is why I became angry at Forbes with its BS sense towards an owner and a partner who owns a mere 4% of Twitter. Which is interesting as the China hatred in the US does not give rise to the partnership that Microsoft and Tencent have, not even from Forbes, where is their national security interest there?

I am contemplating words I once got from Frank Herbert “He who can destroy a thing, can control a thing”, he published it in 1965, 57 years ago. Words to live by and I am feeling rebellious and frisky, a dangerous combination in someone with my mindset, but Forbes will soon learn that lesson. I’ll give fair warning a day after I have completed the exercise. Only fair, not?

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November 10, 2022 · 14:03

This is the way to London Town

That as the first thought that came to mind. The idea that Microsoft is done for. 

See-saw, sacaradown,
Which is the way to London Town?
One foot up, and one foot down,
That is the way to London Town.

It is 2005, I become the proud owner of the Xbox 360, it is late in the year and I am happy. I saw what Bethesda is about to bring with Oblivion and I am happy. Gaming is at an all time high. I keep it next to me PS2, the PS3 is not there yet and Microsoft has an edge and they play it well, they become a new force to be reckoned with and I am happy. You see, Sony became better with Microsoft nipping at its heels and all gamers prosper because of it. 12 year later and what was once great is diminished to mediocrity. The Xbox One is released in 2013, I get mine in 2015. It is nice to have next to the PS4, but merely that nice. In 12 years Microsoft threw out of the window what it had, stupid people in the board room, stupid people agreeing with everything and getting nowhere. Sony is now the only titan in the sky, there is still Nintendo, but like Apple it has its slightly peculiar journey and that is fine. It is protective of the family as a gaming cluster and it does its part well. In 2017 Microsoft scratches its throat proclaiming it is releasing the most powerful console in the world and some fall for it. The limitations are a joke and moreover the weakest console of them all (Nintendo Switch) surpasses them in a little over a year. 

In the meantime, the Sony fans get the PS5 in November 2020, yes three years later but the impact is visible, it breaks record and the games are beyond anything we have seen. It shows their PS4 (pro) to be limiting but only to the games played. 

Whatever games Microsoft spins does not add up to anything near what Sony brings

Spiderman Miles Morales (2020)
Ratchet and Clank (2021)
Returnal (2021)
Horizon Forbidden West (2022)
God of War Ragnarok (2022)

Five exclusives and Microsoft has nothing to oppose it, it launches another Halo and it gets a mere 80%, it is like watching the spin of Ubisoft. What was once great is now at best mediocre and they feel certain because they bought Bethesda and Blizzard and that is not getting the people round. It is the stage of stale yoghurt with a decent chance of poisoning. There is nothing that gives Microsoft the value it requires. We see “Xbox beats PlayStation when it comes to backwards compatibility, which is a feature that lets you play games from older consoles. Xbox Series X can play games dating back to the Xbox 360, which was released in 2005. PlayStation 5 can play PS4 titles, but gamers can’t play PS3 titles they own with the latest console.” They rely on 15 year old games to safe their hide. The PS3 has 4 titles that would be nice to play again. 4 out of….. (you see my point). God of War 3, Arkham City (both rereleased on PS4), Skyrim (rereleased on PS5) and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots the only game I can no longer play. And with a 94% rating there is plenty of reason wanting to play it once more. One game and the rest is around the corner, as such Microsoft misses out again. There are of course more games, but I am focussing on exclusives. The fact that most PS4 games be played on PS5 is left in the corner. 

Microsoft got it wrong to this degree and they think that all is good, the marketing spin continues and they have no clue that they are a ship that is taking on water more and more. And do not get me wrong, I am not happy about this. It is because Microsoft was once close to a top position Sony opened up all engines and gave us the PS5 and we rejoiced. But I feel that the PS6 might not be the push forward. In the meantime I focussed on IP that will change the game, I am actually making sure that Microsoft cannot get to it, I am handing it to the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia at a reduced price giving them billions, I am willing to give up on a dream to prevent Microsoft fouling my IP. If we are not able to do this, then money controls us instead of we controlling money. Microsoft spin has no place here and I do not want them near my IP. 

There are two sides to the song and story. The great games live forever and Microsoft forgot that making new games and screwing up franchises. Thinking that a TV series solves it and with the 71% rating it shows how wrong they got that too. Consoles and Tablets two markets they wrecked and they give marketing the responsibility to safe it. Now their office market is starting to dwindle they are getting outmanoeuvred by Google, Apple and Adobe. Players that could not get close to Microsoft 20 years ago and now Microsoft is merely left with a spreadsheet, which they got from Lotus (basically). In 20 years Microsoft went from Titan to Tyrion Lannister, who talks a good talk and is smart, but this merely amounts to Microsoft marketing and they do deserve credit, but it might be their only division that does. And their Azure solution? It lost to an online bookshop (Amazon) and that loss is merely increasing as some sources claim. I honestly do not know enough to make that assessment, but Azure has a Microsoft logo, so I do not trust it right of the bat, the other divisions make sure of that. 

As I personally see it Microsoft is done for, it will merely take a few years for the carcass to start rotting and the first few years that rot will be masked as innovation as Microsoft is adding small to its divisions according to some alleged marketing people. In my lifetime I saw Microsoft grow from a simple company to a behemoth and after that dwindle to irrelevancy in the near future. I wonder what they will try to pull of with their partnership with Tencent. We will know soon enough.

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