Tag Archives: Sony

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The evolution of gaming

I have spoken on this before, and in that I tended to be specific, almost micro-manageable. It comes when you design IP, it is a path where you want to track every element so that you are not left in a loop, left with too many unknown parts. It is the way things go and especially when you do not have a brain-storm team, you end up designing as much as possible all parts of the equation. This is not new, this is how it is. 

However, In this stage I need to take a helicopter approach, I need to oversee everything (sort of), I need to take a wider stroll over this stage because the next part is not how to create a game, most can do that, most can set that stage. I need to create a stage where close to a dozen games a year can be created, a dozen a year for 3 years at least. So that the people are given new choices, new options. Streaming is a different kettle of fish and it cannot be approached in old ways. Weirdly enough the one I bitched about the longest (Ubisoft) has a clear advantage in streaming games. As such their approach towards GaaS is not the best but it is the most evolved one and they have a truckload of IP that comes with it, as such they are in pole position to get there. They lack elements, but they have a clear group of titles that could become clear winners in a streaming station. There are other elements in play and not all the players are clearly identified and there are other elements, like certain titles (example the Horizon games) that people would want to play again and those are not contenders, they are happy alliances. But it cannot be just about that, any system needs new titles, remastered titles and the less known, the better the chances. It comes as an addition towards the 50 million subscriptions I made a claim towards, but to sit on my laurels is not my way, If I can make the essential steps to make it not 50 million, but up to 75 million from year one onwards, I will have succeeded to a much larger degree and to end up seeing Microsoft executives choke on their Azure yaps, all whilst none of them look blue is a clear win for little moi and I like my wins, especially when it is warranted. And for them? Well the old saying (my old saying) applies. The blowback of sarcasm is merely irony, and I like to serve my irony with a wooden spoon award. It is not enough for them to fail, I want all others to see why they failed, why they should have been regarded as stupid from the get go and that is merely my bonus. So I am vamping up two of the three elements and it should be enough to get the ball rolling, and then I hit a snag. Well not exactly a snag, because I cannot test the snag. It leaves a trail and that I cannot use at present (well not until after the Saudi government paid me). And I have a stage that needs to be repeated a dozen times so that there is a floor-plan to work from and that is going according to plan (for now). There are two elements in play. How to make a worksheet, a plan of attack on the premise of art where we can identify enough elements to make sure that most hurdles are addressed, that most issues are identified. That is the task and that is not simple project management. Some project managers will make claim that they can do that, but outside of less than a dozen, how many +90% games have been released? The Xbox has released 6 games with a 90+ rating since 2020, over two years only 6 make the cut. Sony had 8, a clear win, but still low when you consider the investment of the dozens of games that were created. And it is not merely the 90+ games. One real hit was AC Origins which only got 81%. So there is another pool to work with and I decided to look at another pond altogether. I wrote about that too and when you consider the alternatives the investment per game decreases enormously creating a shifted investment number, one that is ultimately more rewarding. And there we have the station we need to look at, the second branch is close to complete with well over a dozen titles. It will take mere days to get the second dozen and branch two will be close to complete and then branch three starts, but I will not write to much about that. I like my surprises a much as I like to serve my plate of irony.

The evolution of gaming is underway, not because I said so, but because streaming games have advantages over console games, but it comes with additional dangers. A much better testing phase is required, the one elements too many game designers are weak on. Do not take my word on it, you merely have to look at the title AC Valhalla, released two years ago and it was still receiving patches three weeks ago. That side needs to improve, it needs to improve a lot. And there is the rub, any solution consultant that gives you the ‘these things happen’ line is wasting your time. Proper testing takes care of that and this is not done by too many. Streaming can only truly evolve when they have a better handle on it. This is not because it is GaaS, it is because Service will only last when the product is properly made and there Ubisoft left too many issues in the field. So you need an alternative to what they have, and there the second branch is the optional solution to getting traction to more people, and in streaming traction is the game that makes you the winner of the streamers and I have no intentions of losing, that is one definite that I am making clear to one party and optional Tencent too. But Tencent is complicated, they decided to work with Microsoft, making them the optional loser from the start, but that is the stage I am faced with, the question is what are my options next? If the Saudi government buys what I have, I am in the clear and my retirement starts. But if they decide otherwise, I will need an options and this is merely one of three IP bundles, so I am not out of the game yet, but I reckoned that the idea and proof towards $500,000,000 a month would have been enough, but I cannot rely on people making sense at times, as such I need a fallback position (as expressions go). And there I am doing work that is less creative, way too much tedious but essential, I get that. So here I am trying to work things out. On the other hand, in 6 hours 55 minutes and 23 seconds the premiere of Black Adam starts, so off to the city I go and have a bit of fun, I have earned it. 

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Just to be clear

Yes, that is essential. I am about to throw caution to the wind and do something (optionally extremely stupid) that has never been done before. Yet that is for tomorrow (or the day after). For now we focus on Microsoft. I did not plan this, yet with the article (at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/uk-watchdog-further-probe-microsofts-687-billion-activision-deal-2022-09-01/) we get ‘Microsoft’s $69 bln Activision deal could harm competition, UK says’ I keep my voice in the middle in this. You see I always applauded exclusives, in any system. It made Nintendo the behemoth it is today and Sony has had its successes as well, as did Microsoft with its Master sergeant in Halo. All systems had this and even as I hated Microsoft buying Bethesda, it was a brilliant tactical ploy. I did counter it by giving away RPG IP to all Amazon Luna and Sony Playstation developers, but it is a valid ploy. Yet Microsoft keeps on buying companies. It is their funeral. Yet the UK only reacts to Activision? So when I see “Microsoft Corp’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard could harm competition in gaming consoles, subscription services and cloud gaming, and it needs to be investigated in depth” this might be fair enough, but it seems that there is a larger issue here and it is not with Microsoft, I have more questions regarding certain ‘investigators’. Now, as stated before, I am no Microsoft fan for a few reasons and those who have read my articles know what I am about. But here is something more and I was happy that some people had (again) not done their homework. This is seen with ““We want people to have more access to games, not less,” Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith said. “Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about ‘Call of Duty’, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation,” he said.” I am hereby calling Brad Smith a LIAR! You see with the purchase of Bethesda they have clearly stated that the new Elder Scrolls is now an Xbox exclusive. As such we see Brad Smith as the liar and Sony gamers as the victim. But there is another side. Microsoft has been pushing its cloud gaming, and that is the path they will take, to host Microsoft cloud games on other systems, so that they can honestly claim that they service all systems, as long as it goes via their cloud capturing data (a speculation, I admit).

And the cloud solution is seen with “the deal would not be anti-competitive if competitors were given access to Microsoft games, as Microsoft has pledged” It is the ‘access to Microsoft games’ part that is the stage and interestingly enough there is no ‘release on other systems’ part. It is a larger capture and I get it, it is decently brilliant. As such I gave the others a new RPG game, parts of the stage, parts of the story (to get them started) and within a week another nice surprise that will cost Microsoft dearly (if all goes well) and on September 30th several parts become public domain, and only the clever sleuths will be able to find it. A new way to push the industry in a new direction. It is a crazy step and it took me months of pondering, but as I was given the afternoon off, I went to a local internet cafe and activated the timer. It is the start of one hell of a ride that might not go anywhere, but it will make the headlines and show the shortcomings of a few tech players (including Microsoft), yet the article bothers me. You see I believe in exclusivity, as such the quote “Microsoft needs to give a greater deal on assurances and put down in writing certain specifics around exclusivity” bothers me. What specifics? An exclusive game is an exclusive game. That is the case for Nintendo, Sony and as such also Microsoft. They are allowed exclusive games and if they buy Activision for 69 billion, they got the company and the exclusives are theirs. I might not like it, but that is the game, I countered by handing a totally new and unique RPG game to Amazon Luna and Sony Playstation free of charge. That was my choice, and over time I do believe the stupidity of Microsoft will be the death of them (I will be happy to help out though). 

And over time we will see shifts, the streamers will make sure of that, but that is the day after tomorrow. For now we focus on today and tomorrow. And here the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) might be an optional enemy. You see, Mario has been a Nintendo exclusive for a long time, for decades but the CMA did nothing there. So what gives now? They did not act on the buy of Bethesda, so what gives now? They are all focussing on “Call of Duty”, there is no mention of Diablo, a franchise no less important. And I get it, they have a case. Microsoft got greedy and now there is an issue. Yet I still feel bothered, because this stage opens the end of exclusives and that is a problem. It is a problem because the games will end up being as good as the weakest system and that is not acceptable. Am I overreacting? Perhaps a little, but there will always be differences in games. And these differences will make a game better on either system A or B, and that is fine. But when a system MUST be there for both one system will lose out more and they will have a game that is less than optimal and that is a larger problem. Gaming must always be at the edge of technology and that makes gaming great. As such not all games will work on all systems. Some games will be better in one location, some will be better in the other place. Exclusives are more than a game on one system. They are the games that uses that system to the maximum of what is possible. It is one reason why we love our exclusives. So I cannot tell if the CMA has a point but from a pure gaming point of view they are on a slippery slope as I personally see it.

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Resetting contemplated options

There is a time when a person needs to reevaluate the choices he is considering. I am at that stage. I had hoped that the parts I have shown would have enticed Google or Amazon, but they have not (or so it seems). So I have the option of considering two more options. The first play for the third party is now underway. The third party here is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You see they are intent on getting out of the oil business, or better stated, they do not want to depend on it too much. Here I am offering a gaming stage with well over 50,000,000 subscriptions. The nice part is that they can now consider Google, Amazon or Tencent. I personally do not care (as long as they can keep it close to Amazon Luna quality. You see, for me it cares as part of the deal is that I get 10% of the IP and sales value (plus a starting fee). 10% of 50,000,000 subscriptions could be anything from $25M to $50M and when this takes off, I have no idea where it will end, but even at a mere 1-2 years I could end with $25M to $50M a month in the second year if its running. I reckon that is a good retirement fee. Even at a maximum of 6 months it will be more money than I ever contemplated (or even dreamt of) having I was never greed driven. 

So consider the graph below.

The main event is the idea I concocted. The Master Choice is a set of old CBM64 and Amiga games now set to the latest in game streaming. Games that you all forgot about (Younger players are exempt from this). The CBM64, Atari ST and Amiga had created so much awesome IP and most are left unattended, left as garbage. Something these master pieces never deserved. I wrote about them in the past. And as I stated this is merely the start. Then there are the remasters. New games now made to fit this platform. There will be interest, the moment this solution surpasses 10,000,000 subscriptions, others come calling like junkies at a free cocaine feast. It is not good News for Bethesda or Blizzard, they decided to become Microsoft solutions. And when this takes off, Microsoft will fall flat. Yes, they will have their mobile options, but the larger stage will be lost to them. I have nothing against Bethesda or Blizzard, I loved their games and I still do, but there is a consequence of choice and if I get this done, they face hard choices. Then there is a part I cannot tell yet. The new IP. This needs to be catered so that independent developers can grow and can facilitate to, because any GAAS solution will need that. I have close to a dozen options for the start, but after that it will be time to hand over the reigns to the next generation, I will have proven I was right, I will be entitled to my retirement and months of skiing every year. Time for the next generation to make a mark and now there would be a new player. A Saudi group of programmers giving us a new stage of gaming, a stage no one ever considered, no one ever contemplated. But if a small nation like the Netherlands can give us Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, what can a nations like Saudi Arabia achieve? You forgot about the small parts, did you not? Minecraft was Swedish (as was ABBA), and that is merely when we look at two of the most visible houses at present.
So I want to open the field to others, I want to entice new options and a new era of gaming, because evolution of gaming is important. Nintendo will remain, Sony will remain. They always considered the gamer number one, it is not that I am telling that they remain, the gamers have decided that they remain and some will still side with Microsoft, that is fair. But the Microsoft field will tighten in gaming as it will in two other directions and I will hopefully be there to see it happen (health issues). Yet until recently I never considered Saudi Arabia as the new Mecca for gaming. It was an article in some magazine that dropped the coin. Saud Arabia was always in the back of my mind, but I expected that my IP would have gone to Google or Amazon. Now there is every chance that I will win a lot. A setting that sets the owner on par with Nintendo and Sony is not to be ignored, and even as Microsoft would still be number three for a little while, the humiliation of them getting surpassed by a new player will tong, it will sting a lot. It will show in the first that I was right, it will show in the second that their path was wrong all along. Yes they will make serious money with mobile games. But to lose one niche in technology to this effect will hurt, it will make everyone wonder what Xbox was and why it no longer matters. But for me it is about a new era for gamers, a stage that puts them in the pole position. The front person in a technology that depends on enticing their senses with creativity and inspiring them to become creators. And it has every chance of happening soon. How soon? I have no idea. I am still dependant on the selectors and the choice makers, in this I am a small fish, but a fish dangling 50 million subscriptions in looked at and my blog speaks for itself. Almost 2500 articles on all kinds of matter, many of them games and a lot of them showing ‘evidence’ that I was right long before others knew what was happening. It might be my delusional side and that is a fair observation for others to make, but if the sale happens they will suddenly state “Why did you not come to us?” At which time it will be too late and they don’t need to look at me, their superiors (or shareholders) will look at them asking them why they missed out, these people have no sense of humour. But I do, I will be on the sidelines giggling, enjoying a hot cocoa with rum and watching the snow fall and the slopes prepare for winter fun. And the one thought I will have is that I made ti the end of the rat-race maze, in a way I never contemplated 30, 20, or 10 years ago and I wonder what I will do next, because the creative mind only stops when it is dead, that lesson I learned through many sleepless nights (and three bundles of IP).

73 minutes until breakfast, whatever will I do now?

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