Tag Archives: Sony

May 18, 2025 · 15:01

Are there two coins?

That is the question I put before you. Are there two coins, or is merely spinning with different currencies? That is the setting that the Wall Street Journal gives us. With ‘They Paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts.’ (at https://www.wsj.com/tech/they-paid-3-500-for-apples-vision-pro-a-year-later-it-still-hurts-496de341) we see the (almost) crybaby style of “I never actually needed it”, we see the setting of “It was Apple’s first major product release in years! It’s the first device you look through and not at! Typing can be done in the air! But buyers who wore them in the wild say they got nothing but dirty looks and sore necks. Now, the devices are daily reminders of their misplaced bravado.” As I personally see it, they wore this in the wold, so they would look ‘innovative’ almost like the influencer who wanted to appeal to everyone, but they never knew how. It seems like a variant on the West Wing setting taken from Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin with “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.” As I see it, a pointless exercise that costs money and leads to nothing. I, on the other hand could never afford it and I came up with several IP variants where their customers could have enjoyed the setting. In November 2024 I wrote ‘One step left for a new world’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/16/one-step-left-for-a-new-world/) where I combined education and gaming with languages for the masses. And Apple has his translation software, and that could bestow education and fin for the masses (who could afford it) and beyond that (after a year) it could be transferred to whatever MetaQuest offers. I did that in under two days and even set the premise in this blog to give them the setting to a unique ‘game’ with Guerrilla Games. Did they catch on? No, they are all on a non-existent AI horse (not the one used for Troy), but just as fatal for the people without imagination. So when I see “No player in the virtual reality space has yet to figure out how to drive widespread adoption of the technology. Apple hasn’t disclosed how many of the devices it has sold. The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro, putting its success at risk, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Apple declined to comment.” I merely laugh. It took me two days to set the premise of close to a dozen ‘games’ (OK, several have an educational nature) and as such it is on Apple. Especially when you see “The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro” on two days I have the setting for a dozen games (close to 10 all with the same setting) and there is as I personally see it, a need for it. They just needed to get Ubisoft (desperate for more revenue) and Guerrilla Games on board (who might wanna do it, for the unique venture it allows for) and basically this would be close to no funds required, merely expertise and hardware. And as both developers have 80% of the software done. The setting should need little time and from the moment on the visibility rises as gamers all over the world are seeking such a solution and that is merely the start. So is Apple or Timmy the Cook interested in that setting, or are they hiding from the idle bomb called AI to implode in their faces. It could be that the WSJ doesn’t see what could happen, but as I came up with the idea nearly a year ago, I am willing to push the blame to Apple. This is basically what you get when you have mere yay sayers and none of them an innovative bone in their body. 

Could I be wrong?
That is a fair assumption, but I published those articles in 2024 and what have they produced? Nothing, not even an article that my ideas were just not that realistic, which would have been folly as the first setting was seen on a Playstation 3 with a mere 256MB memory on 20GB storage, as such it was produced 18 years ago. And I found a novel use of IP that was over a decade old. The second idea is a bit more dodgy as it was made on a PlayStation 4 with 8GB and 500Gb storage. It should be possible, and that would have been the real people drawer. As such I feel confident that I could set the winning solution. It just needed a conversation between Timmy the Cook and Arjan Brussee. The impact on the world would be amazing. All these so called innovators and they  simply missed that setting. The consequence of no creativity connected to imagination.

So when we see “Fox says he’s worn his Apple Vision Pro headset about four times in the past year.” Did he even consider the setting with real estate? He is a realtor after all. Did he consider that he could show something in 3D in ones view? Just a thought.

The settings are there and Apple needs to consider that idea’s this new needs a tiger team for setting the brand to the developers. As such they need to come with idea’s (perhaps different ideas from me) and see what developers could set the premise? I found two developers, one who desperately needs revenue and they have almost completed (as I reckon it to be) close to 80%. So when did you see a developer who cannot complete the idea for the last 20%. It is a simple question. 

So from there when that first setting is shown these programs can evolve into ‘newer’ settings where people can learn start Arabic, Latin, Italian, French and English. Just on the setting of the same premise and as you evolve the game where clothing was once cosmetic, the larger setting becomes that better clothing and a better location allows for more evolved language skills. Something that could entertain and educate people for weeks at a time. So how was that difficult?

And if Timmy isn’t up for it, perhaps Mark Zuckerberg can see a whole new dimension of options with the Meta Quest. The hungry want to at and more revenue allows for that. The most simple of settings that we can now see and where does that leave Apple? That is the question. Well, of all else fails, Timmy could become the Cook people needs to make them muffins. In the mean time the innovators in the world will take whatever they can to propagate themselves, because that is also a consequence of the innovator gene. You get to go places.

So have a great day, still Sunday here with a mere 225 minutes until dinner.

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May 6, 2025 · 21:35

Creating a plus plus game

Yes, there it is, but not in the way you think. First off, I have always loved RPG games, even before I got into Oblivion and Skyrim. These games are the best and as I am replaying Oblivion (now on the PS5), a thought got into my mind. And I created a new RPG IP. I summarized some of it in ‘Recap to the intro’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/) so the ideas have been brewing for 5 years. And today I had another idea. You see, we have a plus game where we continue or replay with the achieved gameplay. This is nothing new, but then I thought that some of the replay gets dreary (to some degree) and I just had the idea. You see, in my game there are 4 classes of magic based on the elements and these magic casters have a massive difference among themselves and it suddenly hit me to set certain missions in a different setting, as such, dependent of the magic class you play you get a mission, this is not new. Yet when you replay the game, when you select another magic class certain missions will have a new premise. Optionally with an altered intro to the mission. This has as far as I know never been done in any game.

So in the first mission you get to assist a smith to set the new forge with required cokes (or coals) and when that mission is done, the second time around another part of the mission comes clear. There is no setting that it all repeats, though some missions are an optional replay but with other sides. As such we get the option for other classes to add to that mission. So we get more than one plus game, giving the games additional sides to a mission. I wonder why the current RPG makers never considered that to amp their gaming experience. A setting that has the ability to create new lore, new experiences and now challenges. It got to me as I was going an Oblivion mission, so what is stopping us to push the envelope? I got a few ideas and that is a setting a simple setting, I reckon that in a much more complex setting it could create a new form of RPG game (I am not brave enough to give it a name). 

So as we set the game to a new frontier, we can create games with at least 4 new game playthroughs. A setting that has never been contemplated before in gaming. I wonder why not. Games nowadays need to entertain longer, so we can create more games or more gaming time (preferably without making the game lose gaming quality). 

As such the setting is changed. Consider the game Hogwarts Legacy getting an overhaul and the game needs to be played 4 times (not optionally played), which unlocks other parts of the game. It does not matter which house you play, and as different houses unlock missions for the first house, but what if the house is the second or the third house? The lore needs to be set to have one cosplayers (like Poppy for Hufflepuff, Sallow for Slytherin, Onai for Gryffindor and Thakkar for Ravenclaw) be the other contributor, so if you are one house, the other comes into play (via a message) that gives you the option when playing the second or third play through, I doubt that it is needed for a 4th play through but for completion it might be added. 

A new setting I an old concept, the RPG gaming experience (of a lifetime) that could add a lot more to the same game. I used the Hogwarts setting to illuminate the perception, but it could be added and part of this can be seen in Jackdaws rest, where each house gets a different alert to the same mission. So what happens when a mission gives us the 4 different missions to complete the mission overall? As such, I have been contemplating the same setting but in a slightly different way. Its just fun that the big boys (Bethesdas and Ubisoft) never got that far. Especially as Ubisoft has 18,666 dedicated game designers (big smile from me).

As such I can go after Bethesda too, but they created some of the greatest RPG settings, so they get a pass on this. It’s just fun that after I did the Melvin to DARPA and created three weapon systems (they dob’t have these) and I created IP that Google missed (Amazon too) I still found time to surpass Ubisoft and Bethesda. I am feeling good today. Still, I have an idea that could get me $3,000,000 from Matt Damon (he gets a script for that amount of money). Not sure if Matt is up to it, but as I see it, I have been plenty creative today and I am not done yet for today. 

It is a lovely day to get creative, so have a great day and get ready to dream big.

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April 29, 2025 · 23:22

News and self reflection

That happens, we all have to reflect on ones self. And I was given, by Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2598647/business-economy) ‘Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports surge 113% since Vision 2030 launch’ here we see “Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports reached an unprecedented SR515 billion ($137 billion) in 2024, marking the highest value in the Kingdom’s history.” It comes with the added “The robust growth spanned all export sectors. Merchandise exports climbed to SR217 billion (+4 percent), fueled by respective increases of 2 percent and 9 percent in petrochemical and non-petrochemical exports.” As such it seems that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is doing well. For me the quote “In 2024, the Kingdom exported goods, re-exports, and services to over 180 countries, with 37 countries registering record import values, including the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Spain, France, Poland, Libya, and Syria. Other countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Pakistan, Nigeria, Germany, Greece, and Bulgaria, also achieved record import volumes” was important. You see, one of my IP ideas would add Egypt, Bahrain and Bangladesh to that list. Indonesia, Pakistan and Oman were already on that list.

As I see it, the first phase might be a simple $6 billion (﷼22,500,000,000), but after that, I personally believe that the annual revenue could grow to $20 billion (75,000,000,000﷼) I might have gotten the placement of the Saudi riyal symbol wrong. The nice side effect of mixing left to right and right to left issues, but that is what it amounts to, as such a nice 6 to 20 billion annual added to the frame, but neither the Saudi Consulate (or Amazon for that matter) was taking the bait and it was such a nice bait. Still the setting of creating IP with a phase one setting of 6 billion is nothing to laugh at. I wrote about it before and that was merely one of a few IP settings (the rest is not that valuable). Still, I feel strongly about this idea and it fits the Muslim stage for a few reasons and that is beside the idea that it might unite the Muslim nations. 

Still I wonder in light of this news, is my idea really worth that much and will it work? I believe so, the one factor I cannot predict is how Epic Games (the maker of the Unreal Engine 5) will react, because I am not certain if they ever considered other venues beside gaming, as such Tencent becomes a factor as they too could carry the IP and in light of TGP Box (Tencent Games Platform) could it support the stage? With the initial 50 million consoles and in a non gaming condition could they consider the new venture it goes along? With the data centre in Saudi Arabia they might. The setting is diverse and it gives them access to a whole new cluster of users. Then there is the secondary stage of gaming, with a strategy that gives this solution over 1000 games pushing them on par with Sony and Nintendo, are they ready for what comes? In this, on par is pretty much the stage as they will not replace these systems, but ride alongside with them. I don’t know enough of the strategists that Tencent has, I know that I cannot trust Microsoft, but Amazon was a first thought when Google dropped their Google Stadia. The internet of things and Cloud gaming had their pay offs as I saw it, especially as no one was looking in that direction and as two streams were taken from the Google ship it made sense to go to Google first (but they dropped their stadia), so the Luna was the only solution for me. Now that Tencent is up and running there is another option, but it is still a little dependent on what Saudi Arabia will do, they are the corner stone of this solution. 

So as I see this article, I wonder if I am right. Self reflection is important, especially when you are talking about billions, and I do not want to be wrong, which is why I try to be as conservative with the numbers I have. On the other hand, the thought that I have the jackpot idea and I cannot sell it is pretty much killing me and I don’t want Microsoft near this, they have screwed up too much IP as I see it as such I don’t want them near the ideas I have and there are a few more. Still the doubt  grips me, how could I have come up with the idea of billions whilst all the others cannot see what I see. Am I missing something?

The doubt can be debilitating. In other news of the good kind. Mark Carney won the elections, so that is at least something. Now if we could only make Donald Trump shut up about the 51st state, that would be really nice. So have a great day and if you are in Canada, raise your coffee in cheers for Mark Carney (it is 6:00 in Vancouver, way too early for alcohol). 

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April 23, 2025 · 21:08

Curse you to Oblivion

Yup, I went there. Well not really. I still have to buy the game and I was able to get half of it. Hopefully the other half in 3-4 days. You see, we are talking about The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion remastered. It was the reason I bought the Xbox360 in 2006 and I never regretted it. 

To be honest I spend over 1000 hours in that game (it might have been 2000), Together with Fallout 3, I have banked the better part of 5000 hours and they were wonderful. So when I got wind of a remastered version of Oblivion, I just leaped at the optional chance to get back into that game. So I got up this morning at 01:00 to see the YouTube video and it was marvelous. This version was made by Virtuos, a massive undertaking and a well made one (as far as I can tell). Like all RPG’s, I saw a far amount of glitches in this game. I am talking about glitches, not bugs. The glitches do not matter, the game is a wonderful result. I already saw that there were new looks and parts in the game that are actually new. The environment comes from Unreal engine 5, the voices are mostly the same, but it might have imagined this, but it seems that Sir Patrick Steward added a few dialogues to this and it is well received. 

The artwork has been preserved and is seen in a few places, giving it additional tone to the game. As I see it, you need to retrain yourself as this is not a Skyrim version, so there are differences. I think I saw the PC version, as such I will need to wait for the PS5 version (4 days and counting). There are two ‘issues’ at present. They aren’t really issues, but I need to call them something. The special edition in $99 (normal edition $85), with the hours I spend on the 2006 edition it will be well worth the money and the second one is that the download is 120GB, a little big, but with all the Unreal engine 5 stuff, understandably large. In addition is that this game has been upgraded for the PS5 pro, as such I reckon that this machine will give you additional sides I currently cannot see (I have the normal PS5). And as I see more of the game, I wonder where my memory went, as I do not recall a few issues I see now. 

There are several issues (not bad ones) that I get and it also shows that Virtuos didn’t blatantly copy stuff, they added massively making this more than a worry remaster. This is a clear labor of love, a statement I hadn’t expected to give after Hogwarts Legacy. S I watch the play through of MKIceAndFire I see so much familiarity, but so much new as well. I won’t give you the rundown on that as You need to see it for yourself, it is well worth the view and MKIceAndFire did a good job, although it views like he never played the game (which I sincerely doubt). 

And as I see at least three locations I haven’t seen in over a decade, my memory might be a little glitchy on the subject. No matter how that plays out, I feel my blood rise to the chance of the occasion and that sets the need to play this game again and get lost in the Cyrodiil. It was there that I initially designed the premise (of my) Elder Scrolls VI Restoration. It was set in part before Skyrim and the latter part was redesigned to play at a setting after Skyrim. I had set the story to not one by two provinces, namely Elsweyr and Valenwood. In the story that I designed I added Cyrodil and Skyrim where the area of Cyrodil was 900% the original size, so as the original game was 5 by 5 miles, the new setting was 15 by 15 miles and Skyrim was grown to fit exactly and that was the new stage, on this I added Elsweyr and Valenwood. The premise to allow added places (as some designers were truly amazing and that was a new setting in RPG gaming. A world like game that was a new setting in gaming. One we had never seen before, and that was the beginning. The game was set on a different stage. You see, I envisioned an impeding war between the magical and muggles (sorry JK). This isn’t a copy of the Skyrim setting. I set the premise that there is a massive distrust between the two all over the game. No one is ‘safe’, and that sets the start, but as I really like the replaying of RPG games, there is the setting that one side is revering the Nine as well as the magical settings (Valenwood) where most of the Elves, High Elves and other magical people are (they are still in other places all over Tamriel as well) and that is setting the larger setting we get to embrace. The other side are the tradies and commerce people that are muggles (sorry JK) and they do not care for the magical people. As you get to encase the game, you need to keep the distrust balanced (no spoiler), and lower the distrust between the two. So you get to set another path and at some point you will need to make a choice and that evolves the game. I made the call to exclude the shimmering isles (for other reasons). But in one way we get to set free the princes of Oblivion, we also need to ‘reconnect’ to the nine and as we get the distrust lower, we can give the tradies their own guilds as well and that is all possible no matter which side we chose. As the princes of Oblivion are set to their thrones again, magic in the land starts to reflourish again, which also lowers the distrust with the council of elves. The setting also sets limitations. As you reset the guilds (except the mages guild which is in the imperial city in Cyrodil) you get to chose. You can have one guild per province. So you need to chose between Skyrim, Valenwood and Elsweyr (Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood). You can only create one in each province. And each choice has an impact. The fighters guild reduces the mount of bandits in that province, the Thieves guild reduces the wealth of merchants in that province and the dark brotherhood reduces the nobleman and high ranking soldiers in that province. As I saw it there are more impacts. Where you place them will also matter, but only in certain ways, the second setting is that if you find certain books, the places will be stronger and have certain improvements. There are 4 books, one for entry, one for sustenance, one for accommodations and one for defense. The books are a mere extra and are not essential, if you find the books later you can upgrade the guild later (but a lot more expensive). And you lower the distrust of the merchants you get to build New Kvatch. Here the books become adamant, there are 4 books of the gates. The wooden book, the book of Dwarves Metal, the book of Moonstone and the book of Ebony. They decide the gate of New Kvatch and also the general look of the city. And as the city is completed you will get your statue in the town square. The statue will be Stone, Bronze, Marble or Ebony, depending on the gate was. And as I see it, there is a real need for a photo mode at this point (which unlocks now). 

As I see this remastered game, the ideas that I initially had in 2009 and 2013 erupts in my mind. 

I also gad a few winks to the older games. The merchant guild is now lead by Savonarola  Frasoric (Savonarola after a Christian false prophet) and Frasoric after the former guild master of Bruma. And in this he is not evil, merely (largely) useless. 

The setting as I saw it in less than 48 hours was largely reconnected to as I come to the end of the movie one YouTube. I also saw initially the creation of the mages guild and restoration of the Necromancers, which will lower the view of Meridia has on you, but it will increase the view Namira has on you and as such there are additional missions in the game.

Another setting are the merchants missions, they usually give you resources for New Kvatch and workers, the more workers you have, the bigger and faster the city grows. The first comes from the books for the gates. They will mention quarries for the stones and after you ‘liberate’ these quarries you have unlocked that is where the workers will get the stones. The workers are set to Quarry, transport and masonry. As there are more people, more stones and quicker results in the building. You CANNOT upgrade the city, the book you enact (a specific action in the book) will decide the look of the city and as you decide the city is created. From then onwards you merely get to ‘guide’ by completing merchant missions and get the town build faster, but there is the rub, guiding the merchants non-stop will lower the trust level with the Center of Elves and the Mages guild. The game is about Balance, as most things, balance is everything. And as I set the necromancer side, additional missions were introduced also gives an other setting for the pirate cave under Anvil and that might still be an option, but you need to finish the necromancer missions. In that no undead will initially attack you, unless you attack them (and then, they all turn hostile). As I saw it, more ideas came to mind and as Bethesda became Microsoft, I used the ideas to fuel other RPG games. Well, the ideas came to mind again as I see the remastered version of Oblivion.

Skyrim gave me additional ideas and I reckon that whilst Bethesda is trying to figure out how to connect to High Rock, restoration could add that to the premise, but that is all up to Bethesda. At present I merely use whatever I had to emboss the other RPG games and let that not stop you (or me) from enjoying a remastered Oblivion, because at present that setting is partially overwhelming and I saw almost 2 hours of a game that will be hundreds of hours long. A job well done (as far as I can tell at present)

So get ready to lose a lot of free time and don’t forget to have a great day.

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April 21, 2025 · 18:53

Time testing

We all do that at times, especially when we are about to make a financial commitment. And today I got my test (partially). The setting comes from 1996 when I got my Nintendo 64 and Mario Kart 64. I was not the first on that track, but that track never stopped amazing me and I got plenty of value from a game that costs me $79 at that time. 

In time I bought more of these titles. The GameCube edition, the Wii edition and that was it. I stopped from getting it on the initial Switch, but that was merely as my funds dried up (low bank balance), we all know what that feels like. Yet this time around the kart fever sets in strong.

See what you are about to face (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq4uCJDwO9U)

The sites you see are phenomenal, and I get that some will say “I’ve seen this before in brand X” and that might be true, but to see it all interactive, see it all in a family setting and set to Nintendo IP is a whole new experience. 

Screenshot

Some of these other games (not naming names as there is nothing wrong with them) have one, two or three of these parts. Nintendo’s version has them all. Courses and knockout in the ring, or on ‘real world’ driving between tracks and the larger setting is that you can have 4 teams with up to 24 players, a definite first and it goes on and on and on. Consider that the kids can have game-chat and chase each other on this game, or merely play together with family members. This game has it all. 

I reckon this is the first reason in a while to get a console because of a game and that is not nothing. It shows Nintendo is still the unquestioned gaming champion out there. As such in June 5th the console comes out and there is the option to have the console with the game for $80 dollars more, which means that either the console or the game gets a nice discount. As I see it, this is a game changer for Nintendo. Apart from all the stuff they released with the switch, they are adding levels of innovation that hasn’t been seen since Sony released the PS3. Don’t get me wrong, the PS4 and PS5 were excellent products, but the gaming increase that we saw from PS2 to PS3 was pretty much amazing and the move from Switch to Switch 2 is showing a lot more that that. I actually didn’t think that my gaming universe could be rocked to this degree, but Nintendo pulled it off. So get ready because the moment of rocking your world is a mere 6 weeks away. 

As I see it, get ready for Nintendo to move markers to awesome and it will be a hard pill to swallow for Sony (Microsoft is no longer relevant), because Nintendo is flexing its gaming muscles and they have become awesome. At present the total lifetime sales for Sony’s PS5 has now reached 76 million units, I reckon that it will take for the Nintendo less than 13 months to equal that number, a setting we saw, we also partially expected this, but to see it due to one game is a new experience, but there you have it and that is a first day release product. I wonder what more they have in store for us. Time for me to find some dineros.

Have a great day and take some time to play a video game, any video game. Smell the roses through your controller and see what’s out there.

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April 10, 2025 · 12:08

New short term thinking

The news hit me somewhere yesterday. I got it by means of a LinkedIn mention, and it gave me reason to pause. Here is one version of that news (at https://techwireasia.com/2025/04/microsoft-pauses-key-builds-in-indonesia-us-and-uk-amid-infrastructure-review/) with the mention ‘Microsoft pauses data centre investment in Indonesia, US, and UK’, and here we see the byline “Microsoft pauses or delays data centre projects in the UK, US, and Indonesia.”, it is my view that they cannot afford this setting. You might have heard the American expression, “Go big or go home” and I think that Microsoft is about to go home. You see, I have forever had the clear opinion that there is no AI. I call it NIP (Near Intelligent Parsing), the setting that if too many start accepting the setting that I was always right (which comes from the clear setting that there is one AI station and it was given to us by Alan Turing) the people will realise that there is no AI and it comes down to programming and a programmer. That setting puts Microsoft in hot water for a lot of heavy water (to be poured over their heads). And lets be clear, a side you can confirm with mere logical thinking. A data Centre is a long term setting. No matter what you put in the White House (by some called the village idiot) whatever this administration is, it is short term and a data centre is long term and that so called hype around their AI should never waver. You see, this short term action (read: knee jerk reaction) implies short term planning and that is where they all get into hot waters. Why did you think that I made mention that Google needs to put a data centre in Iceland and consolidate their thinking into geo thermal reactors? (Reactors might not be the right word). A setting where ceramic tiles (or cylinders) surrounding new constructions that is not unlike a nuclear reactor, but the reactor is all around them, not Uranium rods, the Lava (or Magma) is the powerful and as it is merely bleeding the radiation, the fuel never dissipates and never ending energy is theirs. For all these parties looking of creating data centers (as far as I can see around 50 in total globally) they will all require energy and as one data centre takes energy close to a amount a small city does, we will get energy issues a lot sooner than we think.

Did Microsoft think this through? Pretty sure they did and their conclusion is that they cannot spend billion on data centers. So at the same time as we are given “Rivals Oracle and OpenAI ramp up investments”, I come to the conclusion that Microsoft can no longer afford the bills their ego’s committed themselves to. Feel free to disagree, but they set out this AI ‘vibe’ and own 49% of OpenAI, so why close down their Data Centers whilst they ‘own’ one of the ramp up partners? They are figuring out that they are too deeply committed. And as the world realizes that NIP is not the same as actual AI, they fear what is coming next.

So you decide what to make of the stage of “Microsoft has acknowledged changing its strategy but declined to provide details about specific projects. “We plan our data centre capacity needs years in advance to ensure we have sufficient infrastructure in the right places,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “As AI demand continues to grow, and our data centre presence continues to expand, the changes we have made demonstrates the flexibility of our strategy.”” As I see it, it is an answer, but not the one that touches on this. I come with questions as ‘What growth?’ All this sets the need for some lowered activity, not pausing, unless you know what comes next and there is a larger setting with Oracle, Tencent and Huawei, I know there is a Swedish centre as well but I forgot the name. All these are ramping up, but Microsoft is pausing? That makes no sense unless there is another reason and my thought of “They can no longer afford it” takes another gander and when we consider that they paused “North Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin, the UK midlands and Jakarta, Indonesia.” That implies something is going on and when we combine this with “Microsoft cuts data centre plans and hikes prices in push to make users carry AI costs” (source: The Conversation, March 3rd 2025) these elements together implies (imply, not proven) tells me that there is a funding setting for Microsoft. Combine that with the lovely voiced fact of “OpenAI brought in US$3.7 billion in revenue – but spent almost US$9 billion, for a net loss of around US$5 billion.” (Source: the Conversation) we see another failed setting and that failure gets to be bigger. As Amazon, Google, Oracle, Tencent and Huawei steam ahead getting larger data centers and ready long before Microsoft is there means less revenue for Microsoft. I did say that they could go big or go home? I reckon that Microsoft already lost 6 times on front settings and they lost to Amazon, Apple (twice), Sony, Adobe, Google, and IBM. I should add Huawei to that list but they already bungled that setting before Huawei became an actual competitor. A simple deduction from little stupid old me. 

So whatever you do, you might look into the trust you gave Microsoft and see that you are not left with an empty shell. Oh, and to prove that I am not anti-Microsoft you need to know that they did corner the spreadsheet market (Excel) and the flight Simulator market. Microsoft did some things good, but when it comes to the spin setting of vibes they need to reassess their situation.

Have a great day, it’s midweek now. I am happily in the next day.

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April 4, 2025 · 02:47

N is for?

That is what I saw yesterday. Nintendo. I remember the Switch presentation and that was awesome and as I predicted, it overtook 3 yeas of Microsoft in a mere 14 months. At present they have sold over 150 million consoles, which is 500% of the Microsoft consoles sold, which also represents twice the amount of the Sony Playstation 5. That’s innovation at work, that is pure gamers joy. And now (say yesterday) they introduced the new console, the Switch 2 and it was pure joy to see buckets of innovation added to a great console. Its almost like watching the evolution of Playstation 1 to Playstation 2 all over again. I feel so giddy at present.

Let that not be the stopping power of wannabe reviewers with YouTube headlines like ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Is Disappointing’, ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Hands-on: An Exciting, Costly Sequel’ or ‘Nintendo Just Confused Everyone With The Switch 2’, these voices don’t matter. First off the presentation was clear. Three executives showed the Nintendo Switch 2 clearly and gave us buckets of innovation. First there is the chat button, where you can chat in the game with friends, or out of the game with friends. For parents there is a parental control for younger player, so they thought of almost everything. You can group chat in game (like Mario Kart World), every friend (up to 4) their own character and pose at times together for the in game picture. Then if you decide to include the camera (extra accessory) you can appear in the game at the bottom with audio, which has been given the option to reduce noise, so just the voice comes through. Clarity in its best form. As a Sony lover I am sad that they are overtaken by Nintendo and that trend will continue only with a much larger gap between Sony and Nintendo but that is the effect of true innovation and I am not sad for one second. I have my Switch 1 next to my PS5 and that is fine. 

So why is that good?
Because in 2002 Nintendo gave me Metroid Prime, an action adventure for the GameCube and now 23 years later that same game (remastered on Nintendo Switch) still gives me the buzz. It is gaming perfection and it still gives me chills to see these worlds, designed for a 40 MB memory system with a smaller drive system then either Sony or Microsoft had. It relied on on cards with a max of 32GB, which is still a lot more than a DVD. Now it gives us twice that on the game cards (up to 64GB) and the Switch 2 comes with 256GB of storage, a lot more than the predecessor. And that is before you consider the added settings of joy cons that can now be used as a mouse as well. The joy cons will now attach magnetically so there is no no sliding and the allows for in game changing as I see it. They also have a larger screen (7.9-in LCD screen, 1080p up to 120 Hz with HDR10 and VRR), but there is more. When you play it in the dock on the TV, 4K becomes possible (4K at 60 Hz via HDMI with HDR10 and VRR). All powerful innovations. And then Digital Foundry also gave me the setting “The Nintendo Switch 2 will apparently be able to handle Unreal Engine 5. Full article with Digital Foundry podcast with their source.” That means that my solution will now also with on Switch 2 giving them a handle on 50 million additional consoles, in a direction they never considered, sorry for the Amazon Luna, but first on in gets the jewelry. That is the power of innovation.

There is of course more, but I only have seen ‘clips’ for that and we get the setting that there is a lot more to have and Nintendo pulled it off, as I see it, Nintendo is about to become the king of gaming in several fields and Sony has its challenge ahead of them, because the Nintendo outsold the Playstation 2:1, so Playstation needs to look the other was (away from Microsoft) and focus on what Nintendo is bringing us in 8 weeks. I reckon that it will be possible for Nintendo to beat the first Switch and get up to 200 million consoles sold, which beats the Nintendo DS (154 million) and defeat all time rules PlayStation 2 with over 160 million sold, Nintendo Switch 2 is about to crunch records. I reckon that they will get there in under 2 years. Because that gives them Christmas 2025 and Christmas 2026 to beat these records and by what I saw in the presentation that will be very much possible. So, is there a downside? Yes, a minimal one. You see the Switch 2 requires the microSD Express card, the old one will not work. It is a minimal negative one especially as you consider all the extras you get right off the bat.

So I reckon that these bad boys will drop in price as well, because with 200 million more clients, prices drop fast. So whilst the world minus America gets to enjoy the Switch 2, America gets to grind their teeth, that is also the effect of tariffs, on the upside I just gave Nintendo the idea where they can get 50 million more systems sold. Oh and there is the one element I left out, the price. It is stated to be £395.99 (I used the UK price to not confuse the different dollar prices). That loser consoles (Microsoft) is still £479.99, the PS5 is £379.99 and the PS5pro is £699. So Nintendo did a great job giving us so much innovation at a competitive price. As a giggle I offer how Microsoft is setting the GamePass setting whilst most of the gamers in the world will go towards the Switch 2 pillar with their Nintendo eShop. 

So whilst America will go insanely jealous and negative on the Nintendo, they can blame the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States for that setting. There is no reason why Nintendo needs to accept 10% tariff whilst the world is willing to accept the Nintendo right of the bat. That too is the game of gaming. 

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March 8, 2025 · 01:05

Remake

That is what we think. In movies, in TV series, in books and also in games. Yet the question becomes have we ever considered an evolving setting? 

That thought came to mind when I was considering the political settings we currently face. So in comes an old acquaintance all the way back from 1985. It was the Balance of power. I had the Atari ST version, but it originally came from the Macintosh. It was created on a system with 512Kb of RAM, all whilst the Atari ST had 1024Kb of RAM. These were simpler times, but the software was remarkable, even for those days. So now we have PC’s with a lot more (4000 times more). The PS5 has 16GB of ram and the BlueRay can hold so much more than a 800kb floppy. 

That was merely the hardware, the setting of 1985. There no longer is a simple setting of bear versus eagle. The world is a lot more complex. Big corporations have global power, The simple setting of Russia versus America is gone. There is now the Commonwealth, the Arabian nations and there is China. It is governments versus corporations and all versus chaos and anarchy. So what happens if the game gets updated to include all these parameters.

So the ‘media’ is all about whitewashing using sports. So what happens if these parameters are included? What can we see when these thousands of elements are included? There might not be an actual AI yet, but the LLM’s with deeper machine learning could set a proper larger stage to test and use in the new Balance of Power. All set on actual premises. So what happens when this game actually include the extremists and what could the game dish out against the user who decides to become a president, a monarch or a CEO of a large company?

What can we make in the complexities of media and political charged players? Consider parts of the CCG Illuminati, created by Steve Jackson Games in 1980. What if the game has both elements so that any choice could evolve? The question becomes is there a market for this game. In 1985 the game sold over 250,000 copies. It was a time when almost no one had a computer. So what becomes of an evolved setting? I have no idea, in those times there were little games, the thousands of games were only starting to get developed  in 1985. So could a game like that work? I am merely one curious gamer. The connected setting is not merely can it be done, but could it work to a larger audience. 

A game where we can set the stage and can see if something is set in stone, or could it evolve if certain political players are not included? How could we consider if a technocracy could not exist, or the reverse. Could it become the only way out?

All questions we might ask and what happens if there is a game that gave you a likelihood of certain evolutions. 

All nice questions, but there is a larger stage. What happens is that LLM is in the cloud and you merely download a copy of the evolving parameters. In this what happens when we add a second game (for example) the setting of a game like the 4th protocol, based on the movie/book with Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine. What happens when we add an MI5,FSB,CIA element? We try to remake the wheel, but what happens when we create an element that uses the same data file? We could look at different stages all based on the same data, so the second game would have all the people in place, it merely adds the names the other game doesn’t use, but it all fits the nearly same pattern. You see, all these players (Microsoft, Google, IBM, Amazon) are creating their own ‘AI’ version. But what happens, when we do the reverse? One data set allows for evolutions in games? It was never done before because these systems were not in existence. Now we have the power, the data space and hopefully the inclination to create a new type of game, and this could fit all the formats. It is merely an idea but there is a larger need to create a unique game. At present we largely get more of the same and someone needs to think out of the box and create something new. 

So, this is just an idea and perhaps the idea might not work. Yet I believe that systems like this allow someone to totally create something new and never seen before in gaming and it could lead to a new level of RPG games. I made mention of this 2-3 years ago. What happens when NPC’s in games create their own intelligence? I gave the setting in them, but there is a larger need. Something needs to learn NPC how to become more intelligent, so that we don’t get the laughable AC Unity crowds. NPC’s that keep on walking in the wall and intelligent responses in a game. You can either create a more intelligent NPC, or you can let the NPC evolve through LLM’s and that is where we need to go. An evolved remake of the Balance of Power is merely the setting that could work and create another game in the process as you prototype solutions. It is just a thought to have the weekend.

Have a great weekend, it’s Saturday now and 7 hours until breakfast (for me).

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February 19, 2025 · 21:36

Realignment

Part one
Part one is seen in the CBC article (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/donald-trump-water-canada-peter-lougheed-1.7459583) where we see ‘Trump’s musings on ‘very large faucet’ in Canada part of looming water crisis, say researchers’ and we are given “In 2005, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed warned against sharing Canada’s water supply with the United States, suggesting Alberta’s most important resource was water, not oil and gas. “We should communicate to the United States very quickly how firm we are about it,” Lougheed said.” This was a mere 11 years before Trumps first presidency. So when we see “U.S. President Donald Trump wants to tap into Canada’s water, saying there’s a “very large faucet” that can be turned on to drain water from north to south and help with American shortages. We look at the question of water sovereignty — and whether Canada is ready to protect its resources.” We need to realize that America made its bed with the tariffs and I say let them pay, $13.25 per 25M3 of water as added tariff over the $53 per 25m3. Sounds about right. So how long will it take until Trump (aka OBWH) realizes that he took the wrong fight to the wrong party? Oh and leaks south of the border are his problem and with the current infrastructure, I reckon we can wait for that to go wrong and that time can be set in hours (at the most). So whilst we were given “Massive amounts coming out from the mountains, from the melts,” Trump said in January. “And even without it, even during the summer, it’s a natural flow of water. They would have had so much water they wouldn’t have known what to do with it. You would have never had the fires.”” Ads I see it, the Canadians know exactly to do with this, charge the Americans. And as Trump reiterates on cheap oil, we can give him an education. When a commodity is in short supply prices go up, not down. It was a simple equation that was set half a century ago, as such Cheap oil from Saudi Arabia is a figment of his imagination. What would they do with it? Well, selling to China remains an option. And Canada has options too, the Commonwealth. As for the reasoning? I still believe that America is running out of funds and that their infrastructure is about to buckle (a personal speculation). 

But with the tariffs, he opened up a whole new stage of short selling his own options. 

Part Two
I was thinking of what we could do to bring the pain to America and in comes the Canadian ‘darling’ of out of the box thinking. The name is Ryan Reynolds. You see, as gaming is set to dwindle down to abysmal settings (mainly due to Microsoft) Canada has options. In the first there is Ubisoft Montreal (Canada), then there are options in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec. So I have been re-playing Ratchet and Clank (PS4 remake) and I had the idea to get the last 4 achievements. During the play through I was considering that the flaky nature of the game could well be done by others (not a copy, but true new IP). Considering that the game was made in 2016 and sold almost 4 million games, it is still popular now, 9 years later. That takes near perfection to do. And it can be done again. As such I thought that with the voice of Ryan Reynolds (optionally with a sidekick voiced by Blake Lively) there is space for new IP. I haven’t worked that out yeet, but with America falling out of grace with millions of people it is an option for Canada to shine and with Sony being a Japanese company, there will be space to grow in the Commonwealth, Europe and Japan. Three places Trump pissed off. As such I say we need to grow, help Canada grow and let the pieces fall where they may. The style of Ratchet and clank is flaky, funny and unique. As such we need to prevent a R&C clone. But that is decently easy. The trick will be to find the animation and design in a unique way. To set the stage we need to rely on Ryan Reynolds (Blake Lively too) to set the stage with the voices. The rest will follow (I’m making it overly easy which is not the case) but the stage would be that America will feel the second sting of lost revenue and it was all because short sighted advisors in the White House thought that tariffs were the solution and after that JD Vance was stupid enough to blame Europe for all kinds of matters and that gives Canada the opportunity to sell to Europe as well and as they already set the stage to the Commonwealth we see a optional stage of 900,000,000 consumers and they are happy to see a non-American vendor. 

I reckon that I can work on the gaming idea soon, Perhaps even sooner if I consider a few CBM64 games. You see, plenty of that is UK IP and optionally no longer protected.

As such we see that from Microsoft and their ‘lessened intelligence’ pissed off millions of gamers in 2013, and with the losses they have they aren’t happy. So whilst I have the setting to make them lose more money and that is a work in progress in the meantime we get President Trump adding spice to that to piss off 743 million Europeans and 2.5 billion Commonwealthian’s. Smart move Mr. President. And I reckon that Japan likes the setting they face and in the meantime Tencent (China) has its own gaming solution that can stream as well. So in three directions a lot of revenue goes elsewhere.

As I see it, America has one option and that is to bring a clear victory home from Riyadh. If the Russians get anywhere of some level of win, most of the planet will become anti-American. And soon thereafter America becomes the isolated pariah. 

In the meantime Canada can ‘profit’ from the hardship that California faces and as such Vancouver can create more movies and TV series. I reckon that together with the UK and others they can upsell their services which America can no longer provide for the time being. 

As we see these elements that are in play, consider that billions of interest are required every month to pay for the almost $37,000,000,000,000 debt, or did you forget that such a debt has interest? At 1% it ends up being over 35 billion and it is never merely 1%.

As such I say, America did this to themselves. They re-elected that guy (not sure if the Democrats really had a proper person to become president). 

So enjoy that lovely cup of tea (coffee is also good) and consider how Canada can give a little more pain to America. Tariffs? Let that be an American worry this day.

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February 15, 2025 · 06:10

Doubts on self

We all have them, yet after a few confirmations I had over the last few days I am hit with self-doubt. I think it is natural for me to have them. You see, to merely contemplate my thoughts, I tend to doubt everything, even my self. As I do that I redesign the ideas I have and further optimize them. This is how I roll. I always try to improve the ideas I see and have, there is always better. As I call whatever I create ‘good’, I know that there is always ‘better’, just out of reach. When you do not take that approach you will soften and others will pass you by with your IP. I think that is why I always try to improve all settings in gaming in my mind. Is there an exception? Yes, of course there is. I cannot vouch for every game to give it the ‘approved’ setting. As such I was too unimpressed with Infamous: Second Son. There are sides that unimpressed me towards a rating slightly less then good. Even though the storytelling in that game is nothing short of sublime. The setting and a lot of elements are exceptional, if it wasn’t for the linearity of the game. The game would have been an easy 90% game. So what is the exception of a game? Well I am not the ‘choice’ on that ruling, but I played a game again which I haven’t touched since its release in 2016, remade from the 2002 original. That game is as close as perfect as a game gets. And my joy feeling I had when replaying that game last week for almost 6 hours straight until I realized it was close to midnight. Insomniac Games really did a piece of fine work on that and it is clear that it deserved all the ratings that was between 80 and 90 percent. The game has layers of achievements and you need to replay levels more than once to get all the goodies. Do not forget that it was mostly OK (the 2002 version) and that was on the Playstation 2, a system that is three generations old. As such the game is pretty fantastic. 

Loss
This game also leaves me with a feeling of loss. Why aren’t more games with this feeling? It seems that most games are about the hip, the adrenaline. Not the joy of gaming. Even Sony has made this mistake in their games. Lets be clear there games are mostly awesome, yet the joy of gaming is leaving us. If I get the sentiment correctly Astro Bot (2024) is the one exception to this (I still haven’t played it). Personally for me Hogwarts Legacy (2023) was the last game where the joy of gaming was abundant. It might be me, but I think that whilst gaming firms are leaving it all to business majors, they forgot about the joy of gaming and that is making me sad. And in this the only exception is Nintendo. Not sure what their setting is, but as I see it joy is the larger component to anything they do and they do it well. 

So what brings this around. You see, in all my reengineering I often forget about joy, the joy of gaming. I see it and I recognize it, but I don’t follow that path myself. I cannot cater to joy, merely the exceptional need to make the better game. It is a failing in me and I see that. 

This also reflects on most things I do. Although I focus on the engineering side of things, I see that the joy part in anything we do is essential. It isn’t merely gaming, it is all we do that requires the joy of more and that is sad.

Reflection
That reflection also hits the Russian side of the Ukraine war. You see, we are made from sterner stuff, unlike the pussies in Washington DC stating “U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops” (source: AP News). This is the response of a near bankrupt nation that seemingly puts the words of Wall Street as the go getter sentiment. All whilst 11 hours ago we are given “A senior U.S. official on Thursday said the United States had not ruled out potential NATO membership for Ukraine or a negotiated return to its pre-2014 borders, contradicting comments made this week by the U.S. defense secretary ahead of possible peace talks to end the Ukraine war.” (Source: Reuters) As I personally see it different people take a different look at Wall Street politicking their money views against what is right and Russia is a problem for everyone. If only DARPA had taken my word seriously. You see as I see it, the nuclear solution I had for Saudi Arabia, which would take Iran’s nuclear aspirations to their basement was based on Russian nuclear reactors. As such works for party B as easy as party A. And in my (perhaps incorrect view) when Russia gets a second meltdown Russia would need to divert too many resources to their own reactors and Russian armies come to a stand still. Yes Ukraine does plenty of damage, but until summer it is electricity Russia desperately needs and when 46 reactors (plus one on meltdown) are on lockdown their sense of freezing changes and that stops a lot of actions. Call me superstitious, but I believe that Russians prefer freezing over glowing in the dark. But that could just be me. You see, this reflects on the gaming sentiment over warfare as warfare is not about joy. Wall Street will reflect on the essential need of joy, which comes from victory. But Russia left that feeling behind by getting beat by the 20th largest army in the world. When you try to improve things you also gain the ability to make things a lot worse through the view of what was not found. The flaws of a system allows for certain improvements of a personal nature and what is more fun than seeing a Russian reactor melting down? So whilst politicians volley about what ends a war as it is said in Euro News as “The new US Secretary of Defence has categorically ruled out granting NATO membership to Ukraine as a security guarantee to end Russia’s war.” A statement he had to walk back a mere 11 hours ago. So how settled is this new American administration on claims? Their one win seems to be the Gulf of America. As far as I can tell the tariffs on Canada and Australia are being met with consideration and that is igniting the Commonwealth a lot stronger than ever before. 

So what do these two things have to do with one another?
That is a valid question and there is no clear answer. There are too many optional answers, but my take is that a game creator has no funds and it trying to make it work, America has little to no funds left and is trying to make that work too and in some funny way it is appeasing Russia to make their budgets work and in this it is laughable that the Republicans are appeasing towards Russia, a sight that they tend to blame Democrats for.

And now Canada is shelving American goods and I reckon Australia is merely one step away from that as well as setting the purchasing need on Canadian goods. America has merely made things harder for themselves (This could be my wrongly view on matters). 

So in the end we merely need to doubt self to some degree and see what we can do to make it better for us and I understand that America does what is best for Americans. In that same feeling Canadians and Australians need to do what is best for their nations as well as the Commonwealth. That is the uniting side of the matter. Will it bring joy? It is too early to tell, but appeasing Russia and President Putin will not bring any joy, of that you can be certain.

Have a great and peaceful day and try to make life a little better for yourself.

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