Tag Archives: Sony

March 27, 2022 · 23:05

Rings

We see them, we are confronted with them, we embrace them and we reject them. Yet weirdly enough, for the most we never ignore them. You see the circle is its beginning and end anywhere on the circle. We have accepted this long before we started to set our faith to wedding rings. Yet in the last few days I have been thinking through the ring process. It matter not why it was done, yet that it was done is still important to some degree. As I was considering the stages of pipelines (sales tracks), life cycles (marketing tracks) and circular service level agreements, I suddenly realised (to coin a phrase)  that games and gaming is not set to such a track. It makes sense, and at the same time it does not. A game is like a painting there are no cycles, there is no repetition and weirdly enough I suddenly found a painting that represents my thoughts. The image below is a ring, a cycle. (Unfortunately, I have no idea who made the painting)

But we see a third dimension and optionally a fourth dimension as well. That dimension cannot be seen, but we feel it is there. I reckon that Hogwarts Legacy unleashed a little more than I bargained for. I think it started when I saw the movie Arrival (2016) with Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams. The language shown in the movie started something in me. Not about aliens, that was clear for decades. Do you think that people really look like Dennis Rodman, for real? (LOL). No It is not about the people, it was about the language we were shown. So when you get that we take a sidestep. You might have heard of chainmail, but do you know how the rings are made? 

So as we see the rings, we take another gander towards that alien language, but now we take a sidestep, consider that every sentiment is in a ring, but more than merely sentiment and language, it become aa stage of digital markers as well, like a polyphonic approach to language and sentiment, vocal intonation. You see, we think of games, we think of NPC characters, but the need for NPC characters to become less singular dimensional becomes increasingly important and there lies the rub, you see we think of today’s emotion whilst relying on recording and programming stages that are decades old and something will have to give. 

And even as it (for now) seems impossible and largely overplayed, do you really think that this is far fetched when the PS6 comes and whatever Microsoft (if they still exist) has? We need to be thinking not merely of the games that come out in 2022, we need to think about the games that need to be made with a release date of 2030. And should we come close to the station of some kind of true AI, what we now have does not even come close to what is required and using yesterdays solutions will not cut the butter. As such my mind went wondering on the sound of the voice. If we cannot tell what is truth now, what do you think will happen next year? The only way to beat this is to look at new and innovative ways to find a way to store and retrieve them. The blue painting help me realise that and even if that solution is for now out of reach, the idea that we limit ourselves today on what CAN be done will result in a tomorrow that never comes, but Microsoft will soon learn that lesson the hard way, 50% of that happening is merely 1-2 steps away at present. And suddenly some other parts come to mind, but that is for another day, but I can tell you that it involves a stick (for now).

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March 25, 2022 · 20:19

Work to live, live to enjoy

It is the proper setting, work to live is now no longer added by live to work but live to enjoy and it is setting a different coil in the US. With 28,000 jobs gone, the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/24/us-unemployment-lowest-level-since-1969) reports ‘US jobless claims fall to lowest level since 1969 as states float rebate checks’, it is a good step for the us, you see as jobless claims fall to such low levels, there is an option to actually reduce debt, one millimetre at a time and there are yards to go, so it will take some time. If only the tax laws were overhauled it might become centimetres at a time, but all administrations had found excuse after excuse why not to do that and it will take decades to get a chunk out of the $30,000,000,000,000 debt. You still think that overhauling US tax laws is not essential? 

But that is the bad news, for now this administration can report that “Jobless claims fell by 28,000 to 187,000 for the week ending 19 March, the lowest since September of 1969,” and with all the bad news, that is one piece of good news that they can really use. On the other hand, as the IT structures change it might be a short lived gain. I am not stating that this good news will follow bad news, but as I see it over the next 18 months Microsoft will be in serious problems on three areas, it will force to lay off staff, on the other hand these people will be able to get a job almost immediately with IBM, Google, and Amazon. And with the laster changing station it will push revenues to new heights in several places (except Microsoft that is). And with the news ‘Amazon to create over 1,000 jobs with first logistics hub in Turkey’ Amazon sets another foundation, the first of three new cluster allowing them to gain even more revenue in 2023/2024. It will also work towards those 50,000,000 additional consoles and that is merely the start for Amazon and the beginning of much larger losses for Microsoft. Too bad they already handed over the $87,000,000,000 they could have used it to invest in innovative products, oh wait. That was what they wanted to do, what a shame they walked into the wrong direction and when you see that and realise the news (three days ago) gives us ‘Amazon further accelerates investment in Egypt, creates 2,000 new jobs’ the second of three clusters is set and the last two (the fourth is optional but decently essential) Amazon has taken steps to push Microsoft out of the gaming world (well, the most powerful console in the world becomes obsolete before it could shine), but the Nintendo Switch shines a little brighter than Microsoft, the least powerful nextgen console in the world defeated the most powerful one and soon a bookstore (read: Amazon) will add to the defeat of Microsoft and push it to fourth position after that the sliding scale will go a lot faster. The only crunch is that I would prefer that Amazon buys my IP before they can work out what was missing. (I am not greedy, merely hungry for a nice retirement) So soon we will see all the steps Microsoft missed and whilst they could have been going back to the n top position, their delusional side would not allow for it, their Azure and lack on several fronts got them here and should Adobe get involved. The fourth loss for Microsoft would be close to disastrous, but I already wrote about that and even as we see all the news, we also see that Amazon is getting ready to push back and they will push harder and more successful and too many will see Microsoft bleeding, after that the game of spin is on and spin only works if the people are willing to believe you and that group is shrinking rapidly. Yet it also reflects back on the 187,000 unemployed. For now there is no issue. As the Microsoft employees see the hard setting they face, they will all move to the other three, optionally places like Oracle and a few other places that will need people and the rush will start. In the end I do not know where the numbers end, but at present there is no negativity to be expected (if you aren’t Microsoft), and that starts a whole new stage. Even if we are alerted to the fact that unemployment is the lowest since 1969, the US will soon face a new challenge, a workers shortage and that is the larger station that follows, it will drive incomes up by a lot and even as the hungry sharks will focus on the Microsoft cadaver, it will not be enough and commerce needs the influx. Where it will come from? Your guess is as good as mine and beyond all this there is still China to consider. It too needs tech people, where they will come from? I honestly do not know, but there is every chance that some will come from the US. So whilst some will Ive to enjoy some will see an option to fill there pockets so that they can retire a few years earlier and enjoy more and longer. Which will drive up worker shortage even more and push the limits further, so when you see another ‘positive Microsoft story’ wonder where it comes from and what else is out there. At present Amazon is in place to push Microsoft down the hill straight into the basement only one tier remains missing (for now) and that will set the larger gains for Amazon. 

Amazon apparently is ready works to live and lives to become a ruler on more than one hill.

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March 17, 2022 · 19:59

Pushing cogs

Yes, for me that was the setting. In the previous articles (several) I set the boundaries for a new RPG game, freeware for all Amazon Luna and Sony developers (just to piss off Microsoft). And if we are going to take a chunk of the marketshare of Bethesda, we need to offer more and we need to offer different. In this I set the player as merely one of many people. Making sure that the world does not revolve around him (or her). So the towns need an economy, It needs a stage to grow and it needs to be in a trend that causes the need for replayability. I always believed in replayability. It is lovely that we all have a house in EVERY town, but reality is not like that. So even if we are going into that stage, I needed to set a larger premise towards WHAT the stage was. The tavern sets productivity in villages and towns. So does the Blacksmith and so does the general store, bookshop, butcher and grocer. Yet in this we see internal economy, the parts that feed the town (Butcher, baker, grocer, tavern) there are the shops that feed an external economy (Blacksmith) and there are the shops that feed both (herbalist, general store) and there is the luxury shop (bookshop). So as these shops are doing better, they could upgrade, they could grow the town. The external shops call in adventurers and more money into a town. And if a town grows to lets state 3 stars, the infrastructure upgrades (lights, guards) This cannot be merely tables that ‘satisfy’ the needs of the game. Each town gets his stage of cogs, one gear feeding another and that need is there. You cannot get a dynamic town in place merely letting the adventurer set the speed of growth. There also needs a risk setting. For example if you fed the tavern too much, and it gets to 5 stars, whilst the town is a 3 star place, the tavern gets sold, and you get to start anew there. Luxury shops (bookshop, tailor) are there when the town reaches its 4th star. This upgrade the overall look of the town, wealthier people come into town and that calls more adventurers and more charlatan’s. To set this all in cogs is nearly impossible, but such an attempt is required to create a dynamic playing world. Consider Bethesda’s Oblivion (2006), we see Chorrel, Cheydenhal, Bravil and Skingrad. They all stay the same, but what happens when you set the game where we see Chorrel doing better and Cheydenhal recedes towards another Bravil? To set such a gaming stage was not possible in 2006, but now with streaming servers and the PS5, that setting becomes achievable. And when you return to a town after weeks, it might look very different. And that is what we are trying to aim for, because the $200,000,000,000 gaming revenue (expected 2023 numbers) does not go to those doing the same again and again. It goes to the people who offers what others do not, or cannot. I do hope that Horizons: Forbidden West showed you that much (as did Elden ring). To give the world a new a really new creation will be rewarding beyond expectations. So here you go and you are welcome. Oh and none of this links to my optional additional stage of selling 50,000,000 Amazon Luna consoles, so there is that too (it sucks to be Microsoft in 2022).

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March 12, 2022 · 19:13

How many nails to a coffin?

It is a decently serious question, because I do not know. You see, I have given you the lowdown on Microsoft in a few ways a few days ago in ‘Microsoft, for cold laundry’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/09/microsoft-for-cold-laundry/), as well as ‘What we hope for’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/07/what-we-hope-for/) two days before that. I gave the lines, I gave the settings and now we see ‘Xbox Series X Is the Most Complained-About Gaming Console in the World’ (at https://www.cbr.com/xbox-series-x-worlds-most-complained-console/). 

Now I do have some questions here. You see, I do believe in evidence and the setting of ‘Most Complained-About Gaming Console’ requires evidence and Microsoft does not hand out evidence, they hide everything, even sales figures to show just how bad they are doing. We are given “The top three slots went to Xbox Series X (12.5%), Xbox One (12.1%), and Xbox Series S (9.8%). PlayStation 4 came in last, with only 0.5% of tweets about the system expressing any dissatisfaction.” Do not get me wrong, as a Sony fan I love this, but in fairness evidence is essential and numbers unsupported by hard evidence are not the reliable numbers we would want. And I am proven right with “Electronic Hub theorises that much of the ire directed at the Series X”. It was the word ‘theorises’. You see hard evidence allows for the circumvention of ‘theorises’ and it would give us a line like “Well over 70% of the complaints have a link to Controllers and headsets.” Yet we were not given that. We were given what you see in the link and even as it is a nice read, I remain partial to actual evidence which the article does not really give us. The second bit of information is that percentages are nice, but based on what ’N’? How many responses were given, how many were tallied and perhaps the region might be nice too. 

Then we start seeing more tweets like “I feel scammed having no games to play”, well that is not entirely true. The Xbox has released games, but they might not be games that this gamer likes and that gamer is now optionally envious of all the Switch and PS5 games. True, this COULD be the case but there is a hidden snag in all this. Microsoft is letting things get out of hand on several levels and that is in gaming alone. The complaints is their service division, the games is development and there are a few more areas where Microsoft is dropping the ball. Do you think I was kidding that I never want my IP in the hands of Microsoft? Google took another direction, so I am hoping that Amazon picks up the setting. Well, that is if they want to sell well over 50,000,000 additional consoles in 3-4 areas. I have had my concerns with Microsoft and IP, and I am not their to solve their shortcomings for them. Anyway, the bill fits Amazon a lot better with all the connected options anyway. 

But this is not about me, it is about Microsoft. And they are not doing good. If this view, this evidence lacking view is added to my views and educated guesses, it seems that ‘the most powerful console in the world’ (their words, not mine) will be gracing the number 4 spot soon enough, and a hell of a lot sooner if I have anything to do with it. If Amazon makes a deal with Google, Microsoft would end up dead last and my small dream of handing Microsoft their wooden spoon would become a reality. Yet this is also a rather large warning. You see, Sony was better when it was being chased by Microsoft and that now falls away. I am not saying that it is the end, but I fear that the PS6 might not be as great a leap as the PS5 was over the PS4. And I like high end gaming, so I am happy on one side and a little grumpy on the other side. No matter how good Nintendo and Amazon become, they are not the parties to actually chase Sony and push it to new heights. On the other hand, to see my views become nearing 90% correct is good for the ego, it really is. 

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March 9, 2022 · 17:08

Microsoft, for cold laundry

Yes, there is a need to go there. You see there is the setting that we kick Microsoft as a civic duty, but how long do you need to kick them for it to be regarded as for personal pleasure? Yes, that is the question and it is more to the point than you think it is. Two days ago I wrote ‘What we hope for’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/07/what-we-hope-for/) there I gave the setting that Microsoft is in more trouble than we think they are. They are losing the gaming niche, the ‘tablet’ niche, the cloud niche, the SaaS niche and optionally the office niche as well. That is a lot of terrain to lose. I also stated there ““Microsoft is in talks to acquire cybersecurity research and incident response company Mandiant, according to people familiar with the discussions, a deal that would bolster efforts to protect customers from hacks and breaches”, you see, it is not merely “bolster efforts to protect customers”, it is about preventing and protecting the customers you have and as we are seeing several Microsoft issues”, a few hours ago I learned that they do not even have that. ArabNews gives us ‘Google buys Mandiant for $5.4 billion’, the article (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2038611/business-economy) “Google is fortifying its cloud services with a $5.4 billion acquisition of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, the companies announced Tuesday”, as such the clouds around Microsoft seem increasingly less secure soon enough. Microsoft will find someone (I think) and they need to find someone and set the stage to a stronger Microsoft. Yet as I see it they lose gaming to Amazon (I was happy to help Amazon do that), their Surface thingamajig will lose to the Apple iPad more and more, and the Mac Air book takes what is left and the cloud is increasingly less and less secure, as such they are losing market share to all the other cloud providers. The SaaS niche is different, it relies on the cloud, lose one and you tend to lose the other as well to some degree. So now the last straw for Microsoft is their good old Office backbone. It is firm (for now) but the cyber issues will affect their mail system and it already has had a few issues. But the big push could come from a very different angle. Adobe will be the largest player in several ways. There is additional consideration that when business aligns for Meta, Adobe will get a fair share of that business and should they push for the an ‘office setting’ they could clearly clean house. The last setting is pure speculation. There is no educated guess in play. They need their version of Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Mail versions to impact Microsoft even larger, but that is not outside of their abilities to do so and moreover, as Meta will go in 2024 Adobe will feel forced to go there. If only to cater to the millions of GoPro users who will see new business ventures in a Hybrid setting of the Web, Web3.0 and Meta. I think that Google lacks more elements than Adobe does so Adobe is in a good place. No matter how we think it will go, I feel more and more certain that Microsoft is about to lose a hell of a lot more than they bargained for. I wonder if they ever saw that part coming as they increasingly believed the spin they put out there as well. Consider their 2018 setting: ‘The most powerful console in the world’, it was surpassed by the weakest (Nintendo Switch), it will optionally also be surpassed by the Amazon Luna (if I get it my way, ha ha ha). At that point, what did $68.7 billion get them (as well as the $7.5 billion for Bethesda)? Seventy five billion to end up in 4th position in gaming? Google buying what they need for Cyber security? One could argue that soon the buzzards will circle Microsoft, but that might be a little too negative. 

I saw Microsoft grow from nothing to the behemoth that decided what we wanted. Now it is turning out that too many are eager to find someone else, in too many IT fields. There will be Microsoft lovers out there, eager to state that I am wrong. I could be, I freely admit it, but when you put the facts together, when you collect the information out there and the weaknesses that they show gives a larger rise to my version (which has speculative sides) and the largest setting is the one we do not have. What will Adobe do in 2023/2024. It will impact several players a lot.

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February 27, 2022 · 17:06

The setting of what might be

I have always been a firm believer of the quote ‘Via ad sapientiam scientiam requirit’, which translates to ‘The way to wisdom requires knowledge’. It is something I have close to forever embraced. We can go into all directions on WHAT wisdom is but I have accepted that it is slightly different for every person. Yet without knowledge you will never find that place. Even blindly poking a map with a needle will never get you there. This is merely the stage of nearly everywhere.  Whilst people are focussing on what it happening between Russia and the Ukraine, whilst people are wondering if they are next (Bulgarians). I know that I know nothing on what is happening now, so it seemed wise to occupy my brain in different ways. And weirdly enough, I came up with new IP, military IP. My mind designed a new weapon system to incapacitate submarines. I have no idea if it works, but the setting is always nice to use in a story, a game or a movie. Where? I cannot tell, not yet. But the mind goes where it wants, sometime to places we desire and sometimes to places we cannot fathom. And for some reason, my mind went to the deep blue see, thanks for that granduncle! And I came up with a new submarine disabler. Now for the functionality I am all up in arms. I have several ideas on a few matters, but the targeting part is still a mystery (as I am not up to speed with submarines and torpedo’s) but I grasp the basics. The thingamajig (sonar) connects to the target and when distance becomes zero the whatchamacallit goes boom. But what happens when we decide not to go boom? And that is where my mind went and that is where the kraken torpedo becomes the reality of whatever story (or script) follows. 

You see people are all about destroying and I went in the other direction, the same as the weapon I designed in ‘The impact of insanity’, an article I wrote on January 20th 2019 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2019/01/20/the-impact-of-insanity/) where I designed a stealth weapon that could disable the Iranian navy. If the big boys will not deal with them, I will. So I handed the idea to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and I left it to them to decide. It is after all their direct enemy and to some degree their problem. I also came up with the idea to melt down their nuclear reactor (see other articles) and that idea came to me via a snow-globe, so my brain is as wacky as it gets. I prefer IP in IT, gaming or entertainment yet I do not have a choice in the matter. My brain goes where it wants and I reckon that if it meets up with any of 5 certain ladies it will go in a very different direction again, which could lead to really hot IP, LOL.

The setting of what might be is to be treasured yet it almost never goes into expected directions. It might just be me, but there is every chance that the makers of the Aloy series saw where their track would lead them. We can see now (3 hours ago) all the bickering, the BS accusations and small stages. For example someone gives us “The game doesn’t have any game-breaking issues, but it does have some that are vexing players. For example, everyone hates Aloy’s hair.” Yet the problem is the use of ‘everyone’, and that cannot be, because I have not found any part that I hate and after 20 hours of actual playing I am somewhere between 15%-20%. Watching the environment is overwhelming and it is the SECOND TIME EVER that I used photo mode. The first time was Assassins Creed Origins. For the most I do not care about photo mode, it is nice and some like it yet not everyone cares. I do not, it is an extra and this time I cared. I merely took one snap to show just how perfect the game looks and when you can do that at an active point in the game, that makes the game amazing. And ever as Metacritic is at a mere 88% (Xbox players will be haters) I feel certain that it will get to the 90%-95% where it deserves to be. Now, I cannot tell if the people of guerrilla adhere to ‘Via ad sapientiam scientiam requirit’ but I am curious to find out. At some point someone dreamt up Aloy, someone dreamt up the robotics that wielded Zero Dawn and now what we see now. A true new gaming IP was created and for me that matters, because the game has shown me so much innovation in one game it is game changing and that matters, because innovation will always matter. Innovation is the game changer of ANY industry and we all got there through knowledge. It is a much longer debate to see if there is a relationship between innovation and wisdom (example Facebook) because wisdom is grown and it allows us to create a safe road, a silk road or a fast road, it is the application of wisdom that matters and it is not always a guaranteed given. We are all slaves to our thoughts, we are all driven to the creative mind. We can overanalyse, we can do so much, but can we understand it? I want to because just like nearly any other gamer I would like to come up with the golden idea for a game changing game. I think I have one that sells 50,000,000 Amazon Luna’s (Google does not design software for Stadia) but it is what it is. Beyond that I made several game IP freeware for Sony and Amazon developers. My mind will not stop designing and that is fine (but it makes me lose sleep). 

We can speculate on what might be, but I believe it to be a waste of time. I merely write down the IP (not all in this blog) and move on, it is the best I can do and whatever will be will be, what might be is a road to nowhere. So there is a 4th road, so am I at some crossroad?

I simply cannot tell at present.

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February 24, 2022 · 20:36

Pristine and weird

There are times when the dream is nice, really really nice. But nice does not cut it, it was also confusing. I was in some kind of mansion, not a normal mansion. The mansion seems to be in the UK, the gardens around the mansion had a British feel to it. It was the inside. At the very centre of the ground floor was a kitchen, or perhaps better a kitchen combination. Around that kitchen was a collection of cells. Each cell had an entrance part, that would link to reception areas. These would connect to some form of living room which connected to 3-4 smaller rooms. One was for some kind of office manager as well as business executives. It was some kind of consultancy firm, but it all was extremely high end, like the Rolls-Royce of consultancy firms, for the really really wealthy or important ones v(so it looked at least), but that was not what was weird. It was the software that the office managers looked. Its foundation was like a blend of Norton Commander and Norton Utilities, but like it was given to Adobe and they went to town on it. The front page, and everything connected could be edited and maintained to their own pleasure. Headers could be personalised, front screens were adjusted, and all subsequent screens were matched to a personal version. They seemingly all connected to some cloud setting. One manager started with some version of Calendar and a ToDo list. The left side connected to applications that this office manager needed. Different managers hd different profiles. The first one had a green setting, another was blue based, but that level of personalisation is one I have never seen before. It was like Adobe combined its colour abilities in an office setting, complete with dashboarding, database and some kind of presentation software. I saw glimpses of the presentation software, there were Powerpoint/Keynote elements, it had Prezi elements and it was free-flowing. Almost like any part could interact with Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and substance. It was weird and at times confusing, but everyone had its own true free and personalising side. It then dawned on me that most software is all about ‘the company view’, no one allows for TRUE FREEDOM AND PERSONALISATION. Cloud software should allow for this and such a system would be high end, and I reckoned that is why it would be an Adobe setting. On this foot, there is off course the rewarding idea that Microsoft could lose another slice of business, short sightedness and non evolved.  A side that niche players like Adobe with its Subscription software could optionally become a much larger opposition to other cloud system subscription players. A setting of such personalisation has other impacts too. But that is not the exercise of today. I saw files with two part headers, files with a blockchain part, a descriptive part and some time part. It as more than just time opened and time edited part. It had the last 5 edit times, timezone mentions. Localisation points, Computer GPS info, with linked map location (what office). This what I saw was all real next level shit and more important, it was the first time I saw a system that was designed for THE USER, not the propagation of a company. It was really nice, to adjust ANY part to the need of the office Assistant or business unit. An approach I never seen before to this degree, is this where we are going in the cloud? All files a much larger stage of interaction, with block-chaining on every part, an almost forensically secure system. 

Did I glimpse into what could come, what was possible, or did I not look into the right direction? I cannot tell. The mansion was overwhelming. Every business lounge was like a business lounge you see as a sitting room for the rich and famous. It was a confusing setting, but in all this the computers came back. I do remember that one office had an Apple setup, the others had some kind of Sony display, with some kind of super-slim computer attached to the display foot. I had never seen it before but it was no wider then the display foot, I initially didn’t even see it was a separate computer. The 32” Sony display looked amazing. I cannot tell what was more build to impress, the computer or the software both were amazing. And then I woke up.

An interesting sidestep in office software on a new level, a level office software never contemplated before and in this Adobe might have a large inside track, a track players like Microsoft are unable to tread, their ego stands in the way on too many points in such a track, as such, a player like Adobe could win a good chunk of that business. 

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February 23, 2022 · 05:35

Salad with that?

It has been a while since I wrote about gaming IP, and I am not sure if it is really IP, but it is something the Sony and Luna developers might like. Even as I haven’t written about making games since January 25th when I wrote ‘daemonis more’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/01/25/daemonis-more/), an idea came to mind. I was watching ‘First we feast’ in this case the episode with Tom Holland and an idea came to me. You see, food has been in gaming for the longest of time, but we never set the bar of necessity there. Yes, most of us made at least one setting of Elsweyr Fondue (I always play a Khajiit), but it was not until Monster Hunter when I saw that there was a massive upside to having a meal before fighting. We forgot the sustenance setting and even as that is a mere copy, I thought it would be an idea if we add to that. 

So as an adventurer, you get the option to buy recipes, you can find and buy books with forgotten recipes and more important you can offer them to the local tavern where you live. So we can set a new set of elements to flourish a town. There are all kinds of side quests you can gain there. More important, we can set like the impact of a bard (which I discussed earlier) the impact of food. In the beginning there is one main meal, but as the tavern progresses which it does as the town progresses, it can do more and in each stage the recipe is either replaced or added as more recipes are only for a larger tavern, a larger tavern with a cook and as that escalates the town flourishes in other ways too. You see, you can be the centre of the universe, but that is not how the universe works (it only works for me this way, LOL), it is directed by all kinds of cogs and as we are able to grow cogs, replace cogs we see a much more interesting place, a place that grows different almost every time we play it, which adds to RPG games in no small way. So if writings become increasingly more important we will see that only the larger towns will have a bookshop and that also iterates a new set of options.

This is now possible because streaming and the PS5 are now of such size that we can add to the complexity of an RPG (and even more, but that is at present for Amazon eyes only). 

We can add to all businesses in all kinds of ways, but the clever part is not doing it, but setting the stage where it can grow and it can maze YOU the gamer into a setting where the game becomes at times a surprise. Think back to Elder Scrolls Oblivion, consider Chorrel, it was always the same (as were other places), but what happens when the change is not something you control, what if tomorrow you go into your RPG town and suddenly a store is upgraded and another store is added? In a game you are the antagonist, but what is the wonder of the game when at times you are merely the spectator? Not a cut scene, but the evolving nature of the town through the game and the game play you in part brought? It makes for a new (and very old) version of RPG gaming and that is where you will find the gamers. In a place where they never expected to be, where they are a force to be reckoned with, but not the stage master. We see some of the elements in the latest RPG games like Horizon2: Forbidden West, but it can go further and over the next 5 years it will, it will be a new standard of gaming because the PS5 allows for it and streaming consoles like the Google Stadia and the Amazon Luna allows for it. That is where optionally gaming will go and the first one with a real original and captivating game will get a nice slice of a cake that is expected to grow to $25 billion by then, should you doubt me, that is fair, but consider the people going nuts and tweeting all over the place on HFW on nearly all social media channels, originality accounts for that and Guerrilla delivered. Yet in this world there is space for more than one player and as Bethesda sold itself to Microsoft the market for close to 120 million PS4 players and 15 million ps5 players is now wide open. They said that the next elder scrolls is not coming to Sony, fair enough, but will happily become competitors, for several software houses the idea of servicing up to 135,000,000 gamers is appealing. I do not know what the streamers do in numbers, but Amazon (if they accept my terms) will grow by well over 50,000,000 consoles. So there is a market and whoever becomes the most innovative game designer will laugh all the way to the bank, every day for the rest of their live they go to the bank. And Microsoft? Who cares, they made their bed, now see how it pans out for them.

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February 18, 2022 · 19:23

Unintentional?

Whilst playing a game (Horizon 2, Forbidden West) my mind was drawn into a setting I have not openly done before. In the intro part we are (optionally) drawn into the conflict of intentional versus unintentional shortsightedness. A thief preventing theft is the clue (not giving away anything. But consider that I consider Microsoft to have shown (several times) the application of intentional shortsightedness. This goes back from the Xbox One and after. For whatever reason they did this, they set up intentional shortsightedness on storage for the longest time (since 2011).  And I have scolded them for it, I could do so because their competitor (Sony) set up an option where it could be solved. They did this in the PS4, PS4Pro and PS5. Microsoft since the Xbox One avoided that and only now (2020) offered another option, I reckon because they could no longer avoid that. Now we see streaming and I warned about congestion, the setting in the UK is now “UK’s biggest network operator, might soon become its biggest 5G provider. EE currently has 5G live in the UK in 160 places and plans to cover the whole country by 2028.” So proper national 5G in the UK by 2028, implying congestion in a lot of rural places. Europe and the US are in no better state. There we see “All of the major U.S. wireless carriers say they have nationwide 5G service, but industry analysts say that service is largely indistinguishable from 4G LTE service”, yet 4G LTE and 5G are not the same, in no uncertain way! So we see an industry who is hiding behind  shortsightedness to leave one third in the dark and that applies to the UK, US and Europe. 1/3rd is not worthy to be properly connected and in that we see a problem, it will taint streaming systems (and it works for Sony in no small way too). But I am not here pleading for Sony, I am here pleading for gamers.

The game gives us the stage of unintentional shortsightedness, because can we predict what happens or what is needed in 1000 years? Of course not, but the clarity we could see in 2011 was addressed by one and not the other, that makes it intentional. They cannot hide behind ‘We did not see that coming’ because nearly all could see it coming a mile away. Some hid behind what would expected to come (trade agreements) and someone boasted his trumpet too soon and the brand suffered, the other one made a video of one person handing a disc to another person and made short of the situation, but they too hoped for change and it is seen in there terms of service, the media largely ignored it whoring for digital dollars, but they too are guilty. 

These are all stages of intentional shortsightedness. So when does it become unintentional shortsightedness? Because of the filtered business approach, the approach of common sense or the approach of what a board of directors stipulates? I honestly do not know. I am willing to go with common sense, but common sense and business sense are not aligned, or better stated they are more often not aligned than aligned. There is the stage of common sense versus service level agreements, there is the stage of common sense and dependancy of suppliers and there are a few other stages. Yet if the the UK is any indication, the delay to national 5G (real 5G) until 2028 sets a much larger premise. The ability to offer 5G solutions and 5G added abilities to a nation when it needs to rely on other means. It is (as I personally see it) as the 80’s setting that Dutch Luc Sala stated as the have’s versus the have not’s and it is coming to actual deployment in the next 5 years and not merely in the Netherlands, it will be seen on the global stage. A stage of technological discrimination, the problem is to see the difference between intentional versus unintentional shortsightedness, because even as a game brings it to the forefront, this stage has been deploying for close to 3 years and if you want to refresh your information (I stated it several times) at present only Saudi Arabia has a national deployed 5G network, and it is more than that it is merely 700% faster than the US, it is a nation that took serious steps to make its nation 5G and over the next 5 years it might get a lot more benefits in its wake than any other player. South Korea might have an advantage as well, but that will be seen over the next 2 years. A stage that we saw coming a mile away, so is it at that point intentional or unintentional shortsightedness? I will let you decide. But the lack of services that we will see pop up all over whilst some providers hide behind ‘It works fine under 4G LTE’ and whilst the media keeps n ignoring certain steps should inspire you to seek out the real information bringers and make sure that the media starts operating less under the appeasing structure and more supported by the common sense pillar. 

Just to recap the important setting “In theory, 5G is likely to reach speeds that are 20 times faster than 4G LTE. 4G LTE has a peak speed of 1GB per second; 5G could theoretically achieve speeds of 20GB per second. … But where you might get 10Mb per second from your 4G network today, 5G could possibly provide 100MB per second everyday speeds”, so it becomes the “Do you really need 20GB per second?” And you think you are swayed, but the part ignored is that banks and others can have 20 times the transactions, so when you are in a bidding war and you will (nearly) always be missing out on a bid, it becomes the option where those who have will get the goods, those who have not will miss out on the goods. Transactions that are 20 times faster, the seesaw in a truly unbalanced stage. Consider your business where the information is brought to you at 5% speed, how appealing is that to some?

All matters that were out in the open for 4-6 years, now slowly pressing on your business, on your home, on your gaming and on your stream speed. You really think I was kidding when I saw congestion as the next big evil coming to your front door? So when short sighted people give you (on June 4th 2018) ‘NBN chief blames online ‘gamers predominantly’ for fixed wireless congestion’ and whilst we see see “The fixed wireless component of the NBN covers approximately 600,000 Australian homes. 234,000 homes are currently connected.” The larger ignored setting is that “streaming 4K video can use as much as 7 gigabytes (GB) per hour”, a clear setting of intentional shortsightedness, as (Australian) Netflix users surpassed 11,000,000 the Q1 2019, as such we see a massive cluster of shortsightedness. The issue here is prediction when does prediction become intentional? I cannot tell and Covid changed the metrics by a lot, but the levels of congestion were clear, they were clear before covid (2018), there are cogs that are connected, but I can tell you right now, that those claiming to see the difference can not always tell (including me), but I saw a lot of the factors upfront and I blogged them at the time since before covid. As such I feel that I have proven that a lot of unintentional shortsightedness was indeed intentional shortsightedness. Yes, I agree that some cases can be made in a few directions, but not all and too many points were unattended by too many industrials, and not merely in one nation, but near global and in the upcoming 5G commercial wars it will give raise to several failings that we are bound to see in 2023 and 2024. Perhaps suddenly the issues I raised in the streaming wars are a little less innocent, especially from the view of some of the industrials as they gave them. Consider some ‘stream’ presentation and consider who in the end they are really for.

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February 18, 2022 · 15:23

The Dutch lead the way

If someone told me 5 years ago that the Dutch would become a new leader in open world gaming, I would have told them to stop using drugs and could I please have some of whatever they were taking and I would be proven wrong and I am. The software maker Guerrilla Software, the makers of the Horizon series did something way unique, not only did they set a new record, the have now 2.3rd (if there will be a third part) to actually surpass Mass Effect in storytelling. A scenario that was unheard of 5 years ago. There was no doubt, there was no doubt that part one was exquisite on many levels, but at present, as I approach the level with three snakes, the point of the first repel I feel that there is a larger station, a story that could become legendary and a Dutch software maker did this. Yes, I saw a few glitches, I saw 1-2 bugs, I also saw 1 error and as Eloy is now visible in the red grass (intentional or not) is beside the point. This game is roaring an introduction that is unheard of and it is merely the intro to something we can only guess on. And (to vex Microsoft) it is only for Sony PlayStation gamers! 

The game plays like we are getting in our most comfortable shoes. We see the things we loved, the controls we remember and the game has the feel of a world we understood and on the PS 5 it is so gorgeous, water the blight, it is amazing and there are dozens of hours head of me, optionally up to 100 (speculation) hours of amazement and gaming. The posters revealed San Francisco (what is left of it), those large red towers were a bit of a giveaway and some of the trailers showed that we have so much more to see. But the part that get me the most is that the intro part gives us what was and a larger story (supplementing) on what became through time. A station largely ignorant of the player, making us watch whilst we game through a story that goes into a direction we do not know where. In part because I would not give spoilers, but to the largest part because I am merely at the first repel point (it makes sense when you get there). The horizon story is breathtaking and I feel certain that NO ONE had a clue what we were in for when the first trailers were given to us in 2015 I believe. We knew that we were seeing something special but how special is only coming clear in the beginning of part 2. 

In the speculative part of me, I do hope there is a deeper setting to Sylens (Lance Reddick), apart from the cast of Fringe (Scarecrow) being upset, I believe that there is a lot more to the setting of Sylens (but that could just be me), It seems that the story can go a whole lot further, but that too is a combination of speculation and wishful thinking. What is true is that I am at the mere start of the game and it is impressive beyond believe, to be honest, it has been a whilst since I was that impressed. It is the combination of Story, gameplay, character and anticipation/thrills. You see, the corners, the triggers we have seen in past games have presented anticipation and even as we think we know what we get into the first repel will dazzle and optionally surprise us (I actually do not know yet). 

And this is brought to us all by a Dutch game maker. It would be folly to think that all great games come from America/Japan, but to see another game maker surpass thresholds like the story of Mass Effect trilogy and new levels of gaming that America seems unable to deliver is something no one would have expected and as other games come, some need to realise that the old standards no longer apply. The old masters have to some degree now been surpassed. It would always happen, but I never expected to be around to see that and it should be a harsh lesson for players like Microsoft and Ubisoft. There levels will only maintain with the upcoming new titles, so whatever they think they have, they better test it and if it does not break the 83% marker it will bring them down, not sustain them. We have arrived at that point and their influencers and marketing will not aid them, not when these new levels of excellence are brought to the gamers. It was a lesson they were always going to have to learn, but I reckon that they hoped that there would be time until 2023/2024. As I see it, 2022 will be the first moment these makers will get the crap kicked out of them. And it was a Guerrilla army of makers (360 of them housed in Amsterdam) that would treat them to the first kick.

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