Tag Archives: Sony

February 3, 2024 · 22:47

What are sports to you?

A question I have been pondering. It started a week or so as the Swift hatred entered my Twitter account. I have no idea why there was so much hatred. She is gorgeous, she is a singer and from one photo I saw she has the muscle tone of an olympic athlete. So, what is not to like or love about that youthful young sprout? But this is about sports and for this we need to go back to early 2003. I got my Xbox with a new mobile subscription. I wasn’t looking for it, I had my PS2 and I was happy. I had nothing against the Xbox, gaming is gaming. And on a nice summer 5 friends and me making a team of 6 decided to have a little American Football match. With the EA game that as possible, so on Saturday we started the elimination game each a 15 minute game (I believe) and I ended up 4th. I lost the last game against the Steelers and the steelers went to the podium to get 3rd. The final that was to be played Sunday (we were all tired) was set to noon (a Gary Cooper reason). And the final match a two times 30 minutes game was set between packers and raiders and the raiders won. It was perhaps one of the nicest weekends that year. There were snacks, there were suds, there was cake in-between and we were all having a great time. Even now 20 years later I still remember that weekend. Gaming and sports. I was playing the 49ers for the most nerdy, dorky reasons of all. I saw one of their cheerleader calendars that year and San Francisco seemed like a cool city. 

Does there need to be another reason? I like my hockey, my NHL games. So as the 49ers are due towards the Super Bowl these thoughts came flooding back to me. 

And as I was looking at the news I see how Taylor Swift could make the flight back from Japan with the words ‘You need to calm down: Taylor Swift can fly from Tokyo to Super Bowl in time, says Japan embassy’ (source: The Guardian) is the world mad? First if she can’t make it, she can watch it on TV. She has a jet with TV. She is a multi billion dollar business woman and she has her brand, just like Travis Kelce has his job and his job is on the line that day. He might not be the quarterback, but this is the game of a lifetime and he is just as important as the other players. This is one match when being a team matters. Prima Donna’s never make it to the finish line. They need their team and this is the grand slam of finals in sports. 

I doubt I’ll see it, I am not a football fan and I am not sure if it makes the Australian TV. I will keep an eye on the Google Scores. And it all matters, as I see “Big name advertisers from Netflix to Google paid as much as $7 million for a 30-second spot during the game, seeking to capture the attention of the roughly 100 million viewers who tune in each year.” Everyone wants to cash in, everyone wants to see part of that 100,000,000 audience. I get it, but it is about the sports (and perhaps the halftime show)

But what does it mean to you? You see EA has its franchise, but when did they go out to make it about a friends sphere? Not what THEY believe it to be, but what you believe it to be. You see, I never got to safe that game (and now It doesn’t matter as I do not have an Xbox), but the option to set that match in PDF, or perhaps the game created a social media page. When was that done? We underestimate the connection of sports and play and the franchise holders underestimate it even more. In a global view it matters to people in Pakistan and India to keep scores of their achievements in cricket and I reckon in other games too. 

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not far behind them. These 4 make up for a 2 billion population, not all are into sports, but it ends up being a lot more than the population of America. These franchise holders have been catering to the wrong cluster as far as I can tell. Now that sports are going to be a much larger presentation all over the Middle East these people need to consider changing gears and they need to do this before their next games come out. Whomever does it will have options to really become a larger player in sports. But it all reflects back to ‘What do sports mean to you?’ It is not the easiest question. Even kids misalign their views because of what they feel of any sport. But ask any Pakistani Kid and for the most their will answer that Cricket is their life. And Cricket (on PS5) heard that call. Yet we also get The user score for NHL 24 on Metacritic has the game received as “generally unfavourable”. Not a good thing. And it gets worse for them. The Middle East has no representation as far as I can tell and in the upcoming years it will matter. It might not be NHL, the Emirates Ice Hockey League (EHL) is starting to get noticed and that implies fans and youthful players. I believe that gaming can head it off giving the young players something to care for. And in all this sport is caring and caring is sports. You might think I am wrong and that is fine, but consider the numbers. How many people play the Cricket game per nation? I never found these statistics and now they matter. You see there is a shift and it is turning towards the Middle East. Not for American Football and not for the Super Bowl, but this even shows how much sports have been in decline in the west. Soccer players will disagree and I hand that to them, it is all about Europe there. Yet there is a shift there too. We are catering to the wrong crowds and these franchises better wake up soon because that is how rifts start. That is optionally how new and better franchises are created. By the way, in 2003 I could set my entire game towards a SF49 interface. Later it was dropped. Why? Consider the thought behind that change and wonder how there is not a shift amongst gamers. The NHL games never gave me that option, other then my home stadium and a collection of players and outfits. But the interface was generic. Why not appeal to their fans? Why can’t actual scores not be added to the game tweaking statistics? All ideas that have been floating around for at least a decade, but we aren’t seeing any of it in the NFL, NHL or NBA games. Why is that? What are games to you and what are game to them? When you consider that these franchises are merely interested in money, where does that leave you? I let you ponder that and you all as you enter the last week before the Super Bowl. Sports are more than one game, but this is their moment, their aim for the throne of footballs. We can merely sit by and watch it on TV (or if you are rich and lucky) watch it in person. 

So have fun and watch out for that wicket this day.

 

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January 13, 2024 · 01:01

Something really new

That was my thoughts at some point today. You see, I have heard the news that there would be coming a remaster of the very first three God of War games. I have no idea how true it is, but I started to think of a different setting. You see the first game scored 94% and was pure gaming heaven (or hell depending of your point of view). 

The game was excellent and checked pretty much every box on what makes a great game. As such I very much doubt whether Remake or Remaster will do the trick. I think it is time to add the Reengineer term to the equation. They should go (if possible) with the same cast. They did a magnificent job and this was on the Playstation 2. 8GB is pretty much the best you could get and that was in a system that only had 32MB at its disposal. Now the picture changes. And it goes way beyond the ‘expected’ settings. Yes to Unreal Engine 5, yes to the enhanced audio. But what more? Well, how about adding another track to the game with environmental settings by Bear McCreary? So we have one score, one basic music added to the game, but depending on where you are the Aegean Sea, Athens, the desert, the temple of Pandora, the realm of Hades. That music alters with musical instruments and perhaps some rhythm. Added, not replacing the original music, which was awesome by the way. Now we get to the story. The story was perfect, yet more could be done.

Books
To give the gamer that little bit extra. The 5 games, all get a book. As you complete the games the story remains the same, but with added findings the books get embossed with additional materials. The books in the styles of Homer, Aeschylus, Hesiod, Euripides and Herodotus could be created in game (sort of) and when the game is completed you can read it on the PS5, or export the PDF file. So if you find all the secrets and optional side missions a book is 100% complete. The book will show you how complete it is. 60% is the main story and the 40% could be added as you find all the eyes and feathers. Why? This has never been done before and to get a new stage, we need to add things, we need to give the gamer who did play the original a game that is more than mere better graphics and music. 

Items
Like in the third game there was an option to find things to make the new game plus a more rewarding event. That could be done in the other four as well. The same items from the original remains. But what happens when you find the Dolphin bracelet of Poseidon? Perhaps in water you regenerate. Just a thought. I am not telling Santa Monica how to do their job. They have shown mastery several times over. But my mind went spinning on what more could be possible.  

They are talking about the first three, but we saw the third being remastered on PS4 (and it was awesome) as such getting all 5 done (optional in two master releases called the Kratos, the Greek era) and beyond that I wonder what more is possible. The first two games were released on systems three generations old. So much more is possible now and the added icing on the cake? It is still a Sony exclusive. It Sucks to be Microsoft here. And the idea to see Cronos in unreal 5, to see so many settings in todays graphics would overwhelm gamers everywhere and having optionally two master collection as well as the new concept of reengineered games would open so many other doors too. Too many ideas are entering my mind (some actually very useless) but the idea that I can play almost 20 years of God of War again is overwhelming my senses. 

If all this becomes reality 2025 might become the greatest year of gaming for Sony lovers. I just rewatched (on YouTube) someone doing the first game in 5 hours and change. I took a lot longer and I saw coffers with items in places I had never considered looking. It was awesome to see a 2005 game pleasantly surprise me 18 years later. It made me consider that some changes would be essential. The small shiny star on things to do was all there was in the PS2 era. Now we an do so much more, as such the reengineer option becomes ever more clearly and that has the benefit of not having been done before to this degree ever. Another new stage for the PlayStation. I can only hope I am still alive when these games are released (traffic is a killer in Sydney).

Enjoy your day, it’s Saturday here now.

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January 12, 2024 · 11:41

Warning to Google

This must be done. I have spoken out to others and I love my Google, my pixel (etc, etc) and as such it is important to speak out to them as well when it is called for.

As such it starts with the latest update to Android, the Pixel now gives the weather on my screen, this is great. Then the problem started. I woke up with my mobile saying it was cloudy and sunny. As such I went out to infuse my blood with caffeine. A process most people go through, especially at 08:00. So I walk out and I am drenched to the bone in about 45 seconds. 

As such whilst sipping coffee I take another look at the weather part. It was set to Sydney. OK, my bad. So I look at the settings and I add Burwood to the equation. But here the issue starts.

Google wants my GPS to be active. There is no reason to keep track of what I am doing and in addition to that, GPS is an additional drain on the battery. A drain I can do without. It would have been so easy to save that setting in the app. Just save Burwood. I am there 97% of the time anyway. You see here is the warning to Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Sundar Pichai. The world needs one less Microsoft, not one more and that is where you are heading. Living of captured data. You got ahead by differentiating yourself from Microsoft, not to clone its business practices making Google the big bad to become.

And it took seconds to see that saving the weather setting was the easiest. Some might like to activate GPS, some need it but forgetting those who do not like it is bad policy. You see the current big bad (Microsoft) has additional issues and more re coming their way.

They bought another gaming franchise and paid close to $100,000,000,000 for it. So at 6% (rounded down) implies that they need to make well over $6,000,000,000 to merely pay the interest. Their gaming business is stated to be making $3.9B per quarter, giving us that 100% will go into paying of this load (principle and interest) and that will take a speculated 20 years to complete. This is now a setting where we see in what I presumptively call a Ponzi approach to their businesses. 100 years later and some still think it is OK to be this stupid. I saw this in the late 80’s with a Dutch firm called Infotheek. They bought everything around them and they went the wrong side of bad soon thereafter. This is in part why I predicted that Microsoft will enter collapse by December 2026. They lost their battles against Apple (tablets), against Amazon (AWS), Against Sony and Nintendo (consoles), ad now they are shedding marketshare in Office and streaming isn’t going their way either and that will go from bad to worse when the Tencent Handheld becomes a global brand. This is what is out there and Microsoft is losing more and more battles.

Google, I do not fault you for leaving billions on the floor. You did drop the Google Stadia after all. But when we also see (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67937725) that the BBC reports that ‘Google’s billions make job cuts ‘needless’ – union’, we see a new pattern evolve. I am not judging on this move. There are always two sides and we see one side, but the image for Google is changing and that is not a good thing. They need to show themselves different. I for one (for more than one reason) are all in favour to change that workforce. Not to fire them but to give them a chance to pick up the billions Google left on the floor and there is more than one stage here, so there is a real option to pick up a lot of money globally and I recently gave the view on my blog. So I made it open to all (except Microsoft, they can sink to hell for all I care). 

So what gives? Why does a nobody (me) give a warning to Google? I reckon that is something you all need to look at as well. 

Enjoy the day, It is Friday here, in Vancouver not that much, they still have a bit to go.

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January 2, 2024 · 01:33

Redefining limits

Yup, we all do that. Perhaps me more than others. This time I am not slapping Microsoft (too much fun), but it is time to have a small go at Amazon. They were asleep at the wheel as well and they still have their Amazon Luna.

This is the image of a board game called Hero Quest. The game (at present) is not important. What is, is the fact that someone turned it into a video game. Now I am not judging that game (never played it). But there is a whole range of games that are ignored. The most important part is that people did not go into this with their imagination turned on. So let’s take another look at another game. 

Behold the Harry Potter edition of Clue. A game that could be played online as well. But consider another stage. What if the stage of the board changes depending on the character you play? The rooms and layout remain the same, but how you see these corridors and rooms do not. In Hero Quest we see a ‘bland’ board because at that time it was what there was. Now consider these corridors having shades and shadows. It gives a rogue less visibility, implying that in a dark part of a corridor he is unlikely to be seen and can attack once with benefits. In clue the characters have different secret passages, or at least not all of them. In addition (playing by the original clue rules) Hermione has additional question skills. Harry has movement skills (broom and such). It doesn’t change the game, it merely alters it and it becomes a whole lot more interesting to play that game with a specific character. 

We can go on all night and do this to a while range of games. My issue is that board games aren’t new. They are also not new in video games. So why didn’t anyone take this to a whole new level (looking at you Amazon)? 

Limits is where you see them and redefining them is seen when you destroy these limits. Players like Amazon are so used to let others (with limitations) set the premise and they are ignoring what could have been done. 

There were so many board games. There are the MB games (Milton Bradley Company) and their games were ‘top’ entertainment through the 70’s-90’s, so why were they forgotten? I get that they were not on the mind of CBM-64 programmers. But now with most limits gone much more could have been achieved and in streaming it will be important to set part of the stage where the whole family could compete and that is where streaming could push the new score of entertainment. If it is single player, against NPC’s or others online, the multi-view comes back into the equation. 

So do the math. How many games for Amazon Luna were released in 2023? How many were played? Now consider these board games and let people play them by themselves (against an NPC) or online agains a friend of fellow player, what clusters of eager players would Amazon have unlocked? 

That list could go on for a while and it could also include a few other options, but I think the message is clear. The console makers (all apart from Sony and Nintendo) are leaving it up to others to fix things. I think Amazon needs to take a hard look at where they are and where they think they are going. It is important because Tencent has a handheld for streaming and they are about to push their borders all over the globe. Microsoft can claim all it wants, but the new Elder Scrolls is (according to sources) at least 5 years away. Nintendo needed less then 2 years to surpass them and Tencent is likely able to achieve the same. It is now up to Amazon to be regarded as a serious gaming solution of become 4th in that race soon there after. They might land ahead of Microsoft, but in gaming that is not much of an achievement.

Just my few cents on the matter in this new year.

Enjoy!

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December 26, 2023 · 16:01

Utter brilliance

Yup, I agreed from day one, but to see this reenforced is never a bad thing. The game was initially released in April 2022, as such it is reaching its second birthday. I got it on day one and I was happy as might have ever been. You see, I still remember the first game, which was in display in my DVD shop of choice. I thought it looked cool and I played it for a moment. I suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder asking if others could play. Right there I had lost 45 minutes and I rushed to get it then and there. After that I spend serious more time on my PS2. Over time I got the other games too, but LEGO Star Wars was always shining a little more.

As such when the Skywalker Saga came out I rushed to the shop on day one. I never completed the game, but I did clearly see that this game was a lot more then the previous versions. This all comes to the surface as I started to play it again on Christmas Day. Now (boxing day) I am a little over 50% of the entire game. The game is that big. Suddenly I realise that this isn’t a race. This came is a marathon. A one of its kind and it is clear it is brilliant. There is so much to do, there are so many levels and so many playing locations that it boggles the mind. Metacritic only gave it 82%, but I personally believe it should be given a 90+ rating (91%). For any game to keep you interested for close to two years and give that much playability is just insane on several levels. I personally believe that any Star Wars fan should have the game and any SF fan should consider it. The game at present has a little over 5 million copies sold, but I cannot see the source materials. I believe that it would be close to double this and the makers deserve it. It is by far the best LEGO game ever. It is by far one of the best games ever seen. Only to be surpassed by high res games like the Horizon series, Hogwarts legacy and optionally Skyrim as well. To be on that level takes a very special design team and they delivered. Even now there are additional things you can buy for a few dollars (character sets). They aren’t essential because the game allows you to get 380 playable characters, so there is more then enough. The game has several challenges and puzzles giving you a minimal grinding feeling. There is some grinding, but as I stated minimal. 

As such in the second wave around I now see the game as a work of absolute brilliance. I think that no matter what console a person got this Christmas, if they liked Star Wars, they will love this game. And for a game that is on systems as little as $15-$25 (online price) that is an investment worth every penny.  

Consider that a game like this keeps you busy for months, how much would you pay for that? To be honest I had most LEGO games (not all) and the Jurassic version is the worst one. The others are fine. A game that is not about bloodshed, but keeps the younger player busy for a long time. What parent could resist adding that game to the surprise stocking? 

I have written about hard topics and soft topics. I do believe that an article like this is essential at times. We can all write what we believe on day one, but to be able to do this after well over a year when it still has value is a little rare. There are more games worthy of this (Skyrim being one), but in that regards the load of games deserving that fate is rare, it is slim pickings in the long term gaming achievement. A setting we seldom consider. And Warner Brothers doesn’t have that many games out there to begin with, to hand us something this legendary needs to be remembered. Especially to all the gamers looking for the next big thing. The simple question ‘Did you consider something from April 2022?’ Should be out there and it shows us all whether this is a gamer or a console fashion seeker. OK, I will allow for some gamers to not like Star Wars, that is fair enough. They do exist, it is rare but it happens. 

Some are all about racing, some are all about sport games and they might not like LEGO games. But consider the Star Wars Range and the Harry Potter range and you get 2 games that will keep you busy for a very long time to come and lets face it. 1 (or 2) games keeping you busy for months. List the games that honestly did that you, that list will end up being a lot shorter than you imagined. 

Enjoy the day (optionally gaming).

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December 12, 2023 · 10:22

Making a case

This is something different. I have been accused plenty of times. Hatred of one, disgust of another and so on. So in light of that, lets give you a setting where I show you what Ubisoft could have done (could still do actually). I was making a somewhat delusional setting of me attending the University of Toronto getting a Master of Arts in Greek and Latin. It would be my fourth degree. I currently hold three degrees, making me a dirty old man. As such, a fourth degree feels essential. I have two graduate degrees and a Master (Intellectual property). So I was contemplating a few things and the idea connected to Ubisoft making a newer version of Playstation Home (not limited to Sony consoles) and a few things started to connect. Did you know that France currently has 500K students in Latin? I did not know that. Now consider that we use games in VR mode for language training. There is Greek (Athens), Latin/Italian (Florence, Monteriggioni, Venice, Rome), French (Paris) and so on. 

For the most Ubisoft has the graphics. Now we need to add a few limitations (no climbing or killing) and ion VR we listen to actual conversations in the designed language. Students will be learning languages in front of their console. Consider that (according to some) we see these numbers annually French: 120 million, Italian: 2 million and I have no clear numbers for the other two. 

Yet, as the library increases, the impact and interest in these language studies also increases.   So students get a real grasp of languages in specified languages. Now consider the one number I left behind. 

AC Syndicate London could cater to two billion (yes, 2,000,000,000) students of the English language. Listening to actual conversations, learning the language and more importantly learning some historical culture. Now, the language models need massive upgrades, they need to add 100,000 conversations and I reckon that when Universities sign up, they too will (hopefully) add a part to all this. 

A simple setting (except for the VR part) that was already designed. Now take away the climbing and killing and it becomes an educational tool, all whilst ‘their’ version of Playstation Home could still come. So what happens when Arabic (AC Mirage) is added as well? All settings that Ubisoft could have considered and implemented, growing their gaming population into an educational population as well. I reckon that a slice of 2 billion English students could be encouragement enough. 

All settings that not only push Ubisoft forward. It also grows the streaming population on a global scale. Consider that China has 400,000,000 English students. Now consider these people contemplating a Tencent Technology handheld to aid them in English studies. It would make that console the biggest console in history almost overnight (in less then two years is more credible). All revenues that Ubisoft overlooked. The consequence of staring with blinkers. What is in the corner of your eyes, tends to pass you by unnoticed. 

Just a thought for the day, enjoy yours.

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December 9, 2023 · 00:49

Vroom, vroom

I had some issues, not with the topic, the topic is fine. It is not my niche of gaming. And in light of the Gaming Awards 2023 it matters. You see, after spending $100,000,000,000 Microsoft ends with one trophy. Their Forza game gets it, so congratulations Microsoft. As a Sony Disciple I would go for Gran Turismo, although, I do not care for that game (either). I played it last on my PS2, Forza on my Xbox360 last and neither appeals to me.  I played some F1 and it is nice for a few go’s but that is it. I a not alone, but it is a small cluster of people. We aren’t racers and as such the game was lost on me. You see, I had real fun with Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox360) and I had loads of fun with Need for Speed Underground (Gamecube). There was an element of fun, the fun of racing and that had centre shift with me. Then of course there is the old Outrun (Amiga) and there were a few more on both Amiga and CBM64. The issue wasn’t the ‘simulator’ part, it was the fun part and both Sony and Microsoft have been so in each others face on the perfect simulator that they forgot about having fun. And this is on both Sony and Microsoft. Gaming is supposed to be fun, not some adrenaline race to all achievements. Did they both forget that? Why do you think that Minecraft is such a success? Why do you think that some shooting games are now introducing some kind of lego system? It is because the people just wanting to have fun whilst they are unwinding are adding up to a serious sized cluster and they are all realising that Tencent Technologies is trying to adhere to that cluster. As such they have now an additional handhold on the gaming population. Amazon with its Luna didn’t wake up and as I see it that could sent 50,000,000 people towards the Tencent Handheld and when it gets its own docking station (it might already have such a solution) it will also start biting into the Nintendo population as well. They all fell asleep and all whilst I was trying to warn Amazon of this danger, they decided to ignore me (which is their right). Now the station changes and I reckon by Q4 2024 Tencent technologies will be more than a blip, it will become a serious threat to the others. Amazon loses first, but the dock as long as Nintendo is the only one, will last them for as long as they have that advantage. Sony remains afloat, it has its own fanbase and is a solid setting, but by the end of 2024, Tencent is more and more likely ending up in third position, gaining on Nintendo with each quarter, how fast and how much? That is anyones guess, but if they deploy as I envisioned it, Nintendo could be the number three system by the end of 2025. It is that much of a race at present and lets not forget, that Tencent did this in under 4 years, surpassing Microsoft in all sales achievements. I saw this happening, but I had hoped that Amazon Luna would be in second place, that is now less and less likely. 

The setting mattes, because whilst everyone is caressing their ego (Larian Studios has every right to do so) as well as Remedy Entertainment who brought us Alan Wake 2. Both games could most likely port to the Tencent, as such they keep on winning. Microsoft has no options, they just spend $100,000,000,000 (for Blizzard, Bethesda and Mojang), they have no reserves left. They divided gamers, they conquered brands and these conquests did not result in awards or high ratings. 

A setting that Tencent Technologies can now use to their advantage. They seemingly all seem to forget about the fun and if Tencent remember that part they could gain massively in the gaming community. It is merely my point of view and some will say that it is the wrong point of view. But when you look back, how did these other games do? How long were they played? How many are now playing Forza or Gran Turismo? They didn’t do bad (neither of them) but I believe they both could have done a lot better and that is where I think the fun part is the problem, it is largely missing. They went all out in making the simulator and graphics the important part and forgot that plenty just want to race a track for the fun of it and that makes it more Project Gotham Racing then anything else. 

Enjoy the weekend. 

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December 7, 2023 · 01:00

Charlie Tango

Yes, it is an expression, but not the one you expect. As I was thinking of the new RPG, the one that will cause distress to a power like Bethesda, a new thought came up. You see, In the first I upped the intelligence of NPC characters in the game, all due to a brilliant idea by Vint Cerf. I don’t think he ever thought of the application I came up with, making this an innovation patent at the very least. It was up to the setting that is in the now. A new type of character. A stage where we consider the existence of SMPC (Self Managed Playing Characters). The idea was simple. A stage where you could activate a new type of character and as such give it powers and strengths and it becomes a Self Managed Playing Character. I had the idea before, but not to this degree. As such the game becomes more and it becomes to some degree self reliant. Now, lets be clear a self reliant game is dangerous, it could go into a direction the players never considered, but is that bad?

So as such I considered how to improve on it. So consider a Skyrim setting. You make friends with the Riverwood trader. Now we have all kinds of things that we can do to upgrade merchants, yet that is not the same. Consider this in a stage like the smith at Solitude, Beirand. Now consider that to upgrade this NPC you need to own a house in Solitude and you need to increase the link (friendship). When these settings are satisfied the smith will work at 1/3rd of YOUR smithing skills. After a while it will be at 1/2 of your smithing skills. These settings could be increased with skills. As such it would be increased with 10% and later 20%. Not every smith will allow for this and some will require missions to do this. When it is all done the NPC becomes a SMPC. This could be a tradesman, an artisan, a politician and so forth, it will set two things in motion. Replayability of any game employing this and as this is an ability that has limitations (1 SMPC per 10 levels), as well as location settings and certain skills. For example a court mage could never become one until your arcane levels are above a certain point. But the benefits are also massive (a later thought). As I am redesigning TESVII: Restoration to be more generic and optionally Public Domain soon, those developers (exclusive to Amazon Luna and Sony) will get a new lease on life, optionally giving Bethesda more hardship. 

And there is a larger stage in the works. You see I have no intention to make a knock off of Bethesda and I have already published several articles on this and now I am adding the SMPC styled characters. It also interacted with another idea (already published) and now we see a better stage of any game, so whilst some are redesigning the same game, I decided to make something so new it will be irresistible, especially to die hard RPG gamers (optionally I am delusional here). But consider that this one new game (by whomever makes it) has at least 5 new settings we have never seen before in RPG gaming, that is the settings that I am going for. All because Microsoft decided to buy and force us into a direction we never wanted to go. So good luck with that idea. And now another thought makes it here and optionally changes RPG gaming in a new direction.

What a lovely mid-week I have had, its Thursday now. Enjoy your day.

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November 30, 2023 · 02:23

Memories

We all have them. And for a lot of us it goes back to almost simpler times and we miss them. As such I was hit by them when I got to the page (at https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-wallpaper-takes-spot-on-microsofts-new-ugly-sweater) with the appealing title ‘Microsoft’s 2023 ugly sweater lets you wear the famous Windows XP wallpaper’ I had to read it. You see, I was never aware that they had an ugly sweater and one could say that it is so ugly, it is actually cool again.

That is not me. You see, the Bliss image takes me back to 2004. Things were simpler then and to be honest, I have never known a negative day with my XP, not with Office, not with the Adobe suite. In those days things actually worked correctly. Yes, they screwed it up with Vista, but that is the nature of the beast. 

I was set in a stage of things working, Microsoft not being evil (or more accurately not being stupid). Bliss and XP took me back to the good times and that matters to a lot of people, we all revere the good times we had (or have). The really odd part is that for the bulk of all people, the good times is in the past, in some cases the distant past. 

As such, whomever brought life to this idea at Microsoft has earned a raise. To be honest I did not expect Microsoft to ever surprise me, but they did. And for all the good times reporting they are giving the world with expectations being surpassed. Lets not forget that they just spend well over $65,000,000,000 on a setting that has given them a few issues. One voice gives us “Bethesda tried to make a brand new game concept/idea using old ideas and an old game engine. It just didn’t work. Even modders will have a hard time because the game engine is one of the biggest problems and modders can only work within the limitations of the engine”, you think it is the big tamale, but it is not. You see, most people will overlook the fact that fixing the game is seemingly in the hand of modders. So, when did you rely on your price turkey being fixed by a third party? Add to that the redfall fiasco and you have the making of a problem and the beginning of what I would consider a fiasco. We see all kinds of news on exclusive games coming in 2024, but the larger setting is already that the games they have so far just aren’t adding up. You see I do not care about the Xbox, I dumped mine. What is important that Sony games were better because Microsoft was on their heels, now that the PlayStation has an overwhelming advantage, they might not go all out on the PS6 (whenever that one comes). Good gaming is where it is at and that is why I have been handing over gaming IP to the independent developers (as long as they were not releasing on Xbox). Simple, Microsoft bought it all, now they can prove they actually have it all and have good gaming solutions WITHOUT my IP, they paid enough for it, so now prove it.

In the end this started with the sweater, because that showed us our memories for better and simpler times. It matters to me because the Xbox360 was awesome. Now we see that the Xbox One and the two iterations after that, they are nowhere near what they had. They might claim they have the most powerful console in the world, but the Nintendo Switch being the weakest of them all had much better sales results. It is that bad for Microsoft. We see the mention that Azure is doing better, but what we aren’t told is the simple fact that Oracle saved their bacon. Bing currently has a market share of 3.02% or Microsoft has failed to pick up even 3% of market share in its 10 years of selling Surface PCs. A mere 11% against the 39% that Apple has with the iPad, a superior system. We can argue on how it will come (not ever likely), ore can see that consider that Microsoft is the De Ponzi solution to tech schemes (a I personally see it). Buying more and more and when it does collapse (still set for December 2026) this all falls away. I reckon that late 2025 people will start to realise how dangerous Microsoft has become and I reckon that a early indication will be that Azure users will move towards the AWS flock. It is a speculative view but I believe that I will be proven correct in a years time. The fact that Microsoft is either in denial or refuses to see this is up for debate. But the surprise was the ugly sweater, that win they deserved and according to some sources is almost sold out, so they have that going for them. So what revenue was theirs? And how much revenue are they not getting from their Surface Pro, their Xbox, their Bing and their Azure? That is merely four sides where they never got any decent traction. So what happens when a Google/Adobe partnership impedes on their Office and Office365 setting? How far from home will they be then? Their Office solution is keeping them afloat. For the most their Excel is doing all the heavy lifting. Their Outlook showed issues in the last 24 hours. So when others come calling with solutions that actually work Microsoft will have a a lot more problems and no sweater will save them then. 

Believe me, don’t believe me. It is up to you, but when you start looking at multiple reliable sources the puzzle becomes a reality and it is not a pretty picture, no bliss in sight.

Enjoy the day.

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November 16, 2023 · 01:48

Time of the signs

This is the stage we at times face. It is not a sign of times. Time was not the operator here, the signs were and some remained in denial. One of the better game reviewers (Eurogamer) gave us ‘More people are playing Skyrim on Steam than Starfield’ today (at https://www.eurogamer.net/more-people-are-playing-skyrim-on-steam-than-starfield). There are a few issues, but that is not on Eurogamer. We get the setting that on Steam Skyrim versus Starfield ends up being 15,386 – 11,563, as such on steam a 12 year old program has more traction than Starfield. Skyrim is great, it still is. Skyrim was a 90%+ game and that matters, good games always do, all whilst Starfield is barely getting above 80%, in one case it is a mere 70%. That is the impact of mediocrity and Microsoft has spend billions on that. 

In contrast, Sony’s Spiderman 2 has sold over 5 million copies. Compare that to the Starfield list of what some say is “the game sees over 504074 daily players on average”, a mere 10%.

A game that is shooting itself in the foot by being merely on 2 systems. It was the right of Microsoft to bar it from Sony systems, they did spend all that money, but now the stage changes. New (and at times free IP) will be pushing in on that field and with the small announcement that “It’s fair to say, it will probably be a while before we hear anything more about how The Elder Scrolls 6 is progressing” the new players get almost free reign with creating RPG IP and that setting gets worse for Microsoft when the Tencent Technology handheld is released. 

So we see that modders are trying to improve the program, we see more and more that Starfield was not worth the hype, although with the lack of games that Microsoft has on its contraption, it might be the only thing on that system. In the meantime we see Sony pushing ahead and they did not have to spend a total of around $80,000,000,000 for Bethesda, Mojang and Blizzard their goose is properly cooked. We see all kind of half baked release signals by no one is setting the stage of what ACTUALLY will be released and when. In the meantime Microsoft will ned up with more and more competitors. And we get it Bethesda will not rush ahead and that is fine and perhaps they will create a new titan in RPG, they basically have done that 4 times already, but this time around 108,000,000 gamers are not connectable as Microsoft is making Bethesda games exclusive to their system and that includes the 40 million PS5 players. The not so nice part for Microsoft is that if there is even one successful new RPG IP, Microsoft will miss out on a lot more and after all that money they spend, what a shame. And with some stating on Redfall “Very mediocre game at launch. Combat feels sluggish and unpolished. Characters and dialogue are uninteresting” is merely one side, you see that proper game testing is essential and as I see it that baton was passed in both Redfall and Starfield. You see when we are given “Bethesda released another Starfield beta update, its second such patch in November” my mind wanders in another direction. You see the game was OFFICIALLY released on September 6th 2023, so why do we see ‘beta’ patches months later? And when you start looking, you will find a lot more. You see, none of that is fair on Bethesda, yet as they are now part of Microsoft, they will endure a lot more and the Arkane failure (Redfall) didn’t help much. Now their last straw will be a news Elder Scrolls and that is seemingly not out until 2025, as such several developers will have the field to create something that holds up to scrutiny and when they do the damage will be on Bethesda (and as such on Microsoft too). They already have felt damage from the Horizons games (both of them) and number three is coming. When is utterly unknown but if they get it out before the end of 2024 Microsoft will be handed another painful defeat and now it is AFTER they spend all those billions. The stage I tried to push for is coming to terms and should Tencent Technologies (or Amazon) take my share towards 50 million users, Microsoft will diminish. None of this is fair on Bethesda, but that is what they signed up for and the steam numbers show that they had glorious days, but a lack of gamers is about to undo whatever they created between 2005 and 2019. It saddens me because Bethesda had great gaming moments. Even now I am hoping that Oblivion and Fallout 3 will make it to PS5, these games were that good. But the Microsoft stage is different and leaves no place for Sony. The one fear I have is that they will create some kind of portal to capture user data of all Sony players. There is absolutely no evidence for that, but Microsoft needs data, it lacks data. Google has one side, Amazon has another side and Sony and Nintendo have the final side. A triangle of data and Microsoft is the piggy in the middle and that game is already frustrating with merely two players against the piggy, in this setting (as I personally see it) Microsoft is wearing itself out a lot more than Don Quixote rushing after windmills and in all that the profit they seek is no Dulcinea. 

It is at best the old hag from some old movie we all forgot about.

It is the time of the signs and one of those signs are the old days, the old days where developers saw that fun was a determining factor, something too many developers have forgotten about. I wonder how many other developers Microsoft will drag down before they realise that they are merely making it harder on themselves to hold onto anything at all. When it was merely one console it was fine, but now it is billions in several directions and the hardship is merely increasing from what already is and with 2 more players adding into that field the setting becomes unsustainable for Microsoft and as such for a player like Bethesda as well. Perhaps they will create the next Elder Scrolls to be a 95%+ game and I hope that they do, because it will up the level of games all over the field, at present it is not likely to increase gaming quality, sad. Really really sad.

The latter part of the week is now in play for me. I wonder what I will find in 16 hours.

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