Tag Archives: Ubisoft

October 12, 2023 · 01:22

The Bagdad butcher

I gave you an impression 5 days ago and now it is time for the review. I hadn’t planned it because of certain facts, but as I got a 20% discount, the option was decently good. As such I will go back to the article ‘Where is the Fata Morgana?’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/10/07/where-is-the-fata-morgana/) where I gave you all impressions of the game. Now that I have played it, it is time to give you the lowdown. The first part is what I saw from the reviews. The graphics are phenomenal. The setting looks good and it feels smooth. 

So now about some of the other views. One view was “A richly constructed world and a pared-down gameplay experience refocusing on stealth and assassinations don’t save a game that is largely just okay”. I disagree. I have slammed Ubisoft and I slammed the Assassins Creed franchise basically since before Unity. This game they got mostly right. 

So what’s mostly right?
This is a setting we do not see directly, but we do see it indirectly. There are a few settings in the beginning that are questionable (optionally not wrong). I saw 2-3 glitches, but they do not stop the game. There are a few settings that are up for grabs. The game has a larger setting towards stealth and I like it. Those who go in fighting (like AC Origins) end up being dead, plain and simple. The NPC intelligence needs an upgrade. I got away with a little too much and it is purely due to the shoddy intelligence of the NPC, it does not break the game and it does not hinder the storyline. There are upgrades to the game and the approach to intrusions have been upgraded, which is good. The overall game is decently satisfying. I also like the way that they have upgraded tools and how you can make weapons more powerful. I especially like the setting that you get to choose WHAT way you want to make these tools more powerful. All these elements contribute to making this Assassins Creed a much more interesting game than the previous game. 

Some gave the critique that the story is bland, the characters are too shallow. I did not have that feeling as I was playing the game and the voice of Shohreh Aghdashloo is sublime. Perhaps my only issue here is that the AC Master should have looked more like the actress, less silver in her hair. With Basim it is a different story. I did like the voice and the character, but his voice seems to stay more neutral during the game. Consider that I just climbed walls, killed over 30 guards (I killed nearly everyone in that prison, just for the fun of it) and then I meet up with the others and I am not even out of breath? This and the NPC part are small issues. None of them interfered with the ability to have fun. At this point I have no idea how much more issues, or glitches I will face. Yt I do believe that those who liked the first two Assassins Creed’s will find a game that they will enjoy. If there is one thing I would change then it is that artificial narration to be switched off from the start. So when I play the game again (very likely to happen) I might set it to Arabic (with English subtitles) to get that authentic Middle Eastern vibe going. 

I have slammed Ubisoft plenty of times. This one they got right (mostly) and that needs to be said too. Beyond all other things I do believe in fairness.

Enjoy the day.

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October 8, 2023 · 09:52

The preluding thought

This started a few hours ago. I was in a conversation when a thought occurred. The idea would have merit, but I was amazed that no one has acted on this, not in years. The first culprit would be Ubisoft. They are so caught up in what they perceive to be innovation that actual innovation passes them by. They might be the biggest one, but they are not alone. In less then an hour I had the setting maturing in my brain. So lets take a look

This is the selfie system. A gamer can upload a selfie into the gaming portal, from there it goes to a server side processing module and from there it goes into the game. We have all these photo options. Yet, I reckon that millions of gamers would want to see themselves in Whiterun, standing in front of a dead Thunderjaw, standing in Gotham, being in Cyberpunk and some of these games would allow you to buy the postcard in the game (in Cyberpunk) and that postcard of you in the City Center could be ‘mailed’ to your game account, downloaded and you could put it on your social media. The funny thing is that this approach was an option 10 years ago. There are of course the funny flaky moments (an 21st century image of you in 9th century Bagdad), you name it, there are options.

The server-side processing module would be the IP of the gaming company and it could be applied to EVERY game they want to, and that one server-side module would be applied to EVERY game, so one module only and as the stage evolves that module just gets better and better.  The portal might alter per game and per console, but there are already options with Sony, Nintendo likely too. PC had these options decades ago. The portal is the only one that might need adjusting for every game, as such every game will have a portal part, but that is actually the smallest part of all.

What baffles me is that no one has put this in place. Perhaps there are reasons and I reckon that there would be a need to set the legal premise that every uploader is legally responsible for WHAT they upload. Yet I do believe that this is a minor adjustment. It also corroborates with a thought I had years ago. To upload your image so that the character you play represents you. Wouldn’t it be great if you are the photo mode? I know that this cannot be done with every game, but a Nord in Solitude that looks like you? Skyrim has sold 60 million copies, that implies that well over 30% would want this. That is almost 20 million social media posts and those on multiple channels will show it everywhere. So why has no one considered and acted on this?

I refuse to believe that I am the first one, but the lack of actions on the other side (game developers) seem to imply that no one has seriously looked at that part of gaming. You see games can only exist as they cater to the gamer, that much has been a fact for decades. So what gives?

I will let you ponder that, for me Monday is only 14 hours away, enjoy the day you have.

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October 7, 2023 · 00:35

Where is the Fata Morgana?

Yes, this is about Ubisoft’s AC Mirage. First of all, this is NOT a review or rating setting. This is about impressions. If the spin systems is about giving you impressions, I need to give you an Impression too, but it needs to be fair. 

And I cannot give you a review, because I did not play the game. Yet I believe that YouTube is filled with people who ddid not play it either. So here comes

On the plus side
It is stated by many sources that this is a return to the original AC games. I consider this a plus, no doubt about it. On the second side are the graphics and AC Mirage drips with amazing graphics. All the play throughs I saw, the graphics were amazing. The stage is set in a wonderful way. 

On the debatable side
This is my view, but the game is 78% at metacritic, the rest is giving it around 80%. That is not good. A game like this needs to be 90% or better, or at least very close to 90% and that is not a given, not from any of the sources that I find creditable. In a larger station nearly all of them have issues, bland this, bland that. It is THEIR views. What I saw is actors who gave 100%, to give the best characters. Characters like mentor Roshan, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo is more than a treat. Lee Majdoub plays Basim Ibn Ishaq and they did a great job from everything I saw online. Yet some reviewers say that this was bland, which amounts to not good enough. I feel uneasy to agree with this. The critical side on the story line is something I can support. You see, some sources give us that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is estimated to take players around 11 hours to beat the main story, 15 hours with side-missions added and just under 24 hours for a 100 per cent completion run. This is nowhere near good enough. It is less than the very first AC game. Yes, I have heard the setting that is was meant to be a DLC, I have heard that this game is only $80, but from those settings I state that this game is merely 50% of what it should be. This is an impression I have. If 24 hours is 100% and we see an introduction of around 2 hours, we see that this game is decently less than we find acceptable and Ubisoft should have done better.

On the bad side
To many reviews have issues with the game, to many media give us something is wrong here and we see too many YouTubes that give is all kind of solutions and shortcuts on the SECOND day. How weird is that? In all the parts I have looked at, this should not have happened, the fact that these video’s are out before the first weekend is out implies that Ubisoft have lost grip on the situation to a degree that is just too weird to mention. I get that these things become too openly available in week 2, but to see all this on day 2 is just unacceptable, it also gives too many people a reason to skip this title.

Verdict
I cannot say whether this game is good or not, but certain issues make this a lot less good than we would have given this. To give a frame of reference. I played the very first game on PS3 and Xbox360, I never got ALL the flags, but that was OK. I got nearly all of them and I played the game at least three times (twice on the 360). The game was above all a joyride of the first order and I believe that this part is seemingly missing in this latest edition of the game, especially with a main storyline a mere 11 hours large, and if that has a one hour introduction, the game is shallow. Too shallow. This is my view on the facts given to us and what angers me is that this IP was great, it was truly great. And the graphical side implies that the Ubisoft team hasn’t lost their touch. So why a game a mere 11 hours long? Forbes gave us ‘‘Assassin’s Creed Mirage’ Reviews Are In And Just Okay’. Really? Just okay? That implies that Ubisoft is pretty much done for, and that is the firm Microsoft is sharing cloud conditions with? You have got to be joking. Other sources tell us that the completion time is less than 24 hours. Is this true? I cannot tell, but too many less than stellar views made it important for me to set my impression on the internet too. For those who have Ubisoft plus or Game Pass it does not matter. Oh it does, it is not on Game Pass, but apparently it is on Ubisoft plus. I reckon that Game pass will get it when the price drops in the shops. When we get another list of issues and ‘features’ and the game goes the pricing of some of the other Ubisoft games, it will probably be launched on Game Pass. And that is not speculations. Yesterday I saw some articles that there are stability issues. Is that true? I cannot tell, but these all relate to the PC version. So I cannot say whether this exists on Xbox or PS5. 

But overall none of these negative sides should exist. This is as I personally see it another flaw in the Ubisoft testing side of matters. Yes, it is speculative and it is my personal view, but consider that we see articles of game freeze issues. Perhaps valid, perhaps not yet the larger issue is that this should not have happened, these issues should have been captured in alpha stage, in the alpha stage we should have seen a much better storyline (read: longer) because if Ubisoft sees a main line of 11 hours as acceptable, they truly have lost the plot in gaming. That is how I see that part. In addition to all this we see all kinds of other issues. Yet, we do not see them from credible sources. As such I am not stating that these articles are false or wrong. I merely wonder why others aren’t giving us those articles. Is it platform related? Is it a simple glitch? Your guess is as good as mine, but the fact that these articles are out there is a call for other matters and I will let you consider what the matter is. I honestly do not know.

So consider what you will do, but I do recommend that you check with the sources you consider credible (example: EuroGamer, IGN)

Enjoy the day and enjoy whatever game you really like.

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October 6, 2023 · 15:41

The dangers we ignore

That is the setting we are confronted with, or perhaps better stated the danger that Microsoft exposed itself to. Now, I have been happy to snap at Microsoft at every option I see. Them souring the gaming world gives me ample reason to, or at least that is how I see it.

Yet the poll at LinkedIn gives me another view that I am not alone and yes, as you see I see Azure the biggest intrusion danger of the others mentioned. It is not the only setting that people face and I have issues with some of them. 

You see, there has been a larger issue with Microsoft and they are all about buying their way into other streams at the cost of $69,000,000,000 and we see very little issues on RESOLVING safety and security issues. There is (as I personally see it) a massive architectural problem with the Azure setting. Now, I have NO evidence that this IS the case, but the listings are starting to add up.

July 2023: How a Cloud Flaw Gave Chinese Spies a Key to Microsoft’s Kingdom
June 2022: 6 ‘nightmare’ cloud security flaws were found in Azure in the last year.
Mar 2022: Source code for giant’s web browser app, virtual assistant allegedly leaked

That list goes on for a while and the examples are all out there in the media and online. Yet, instead of setting resources that can fix and redesign that part we see too much spin and not enough fixing. Or perhaps what one fix achieves, it also opens other ‘windows’ into a blue blue data pool.

Now this is speculation from my sider, but the sources as I set them out were never mine. Microsoft is losing and shedding marketshare. This brings me to the article that partially sets this article off.

It was the Verge (at https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/5/23904375/uk-cma-microsoft-amazon-cloud-investigation) that gave us ‘Microsoft and Amazon face UK regulator investigation over cloud services’. In this my issue is sen with “It’s part of a fresh investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, after telecoms regulator Ofcom “identified a number of features in the supply of cloud services that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers.”” The stupidity of ‘that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers’ is the delusional setting of some wannabe. You see, you cannot have multiple mainframe operating services running next to one another, you cannot have more than one operating system for a SERVER to run together. You might have two servers and they may have different data settings, but that requires a specially designed API to exchange information, which is a massive security risk, which any corporation does not need. The interesting part is that this same danger would be a case with IBM and Google too, but they are not in that mess are they? Azure and AWS are the larger players and someone wants to cut them short (for whatever reason). A stage made optionally by stupid politicians, optionally with friends that have a solution no one wants (a speculation from my side) and no one is drilling into the claim that we see from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). I want to see the complete documents and the sources who investigated both Microsoft and Amazon. And the link we see in the article that relates to “Microsoft recently restructured the deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft”. From my point of view Ubisoft after the next failure to bring a good product (AC Mirage raked at 78%) makes Ubisoft willing to bend over backwards to survive another year. 

As a character from ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit’ states: “this whole thing smells like yesterdays diapers”. And we are all in a stage to accept parts of this, but the political side is seemingly lacking in a larger stage of cloud systems and the amount of transgressions due to Microsoft failures are not met with official investigations and that is before they will block (as one might expect) any investigation into their shortcomings. 

Should you wonder about this, consider the 90’s and mainframes, or perhaps mainframes today and wonder how easy it is to switch those services. Yes, it might be possible, but consider the amount of dollars needed make such a switch non-realistic to say the least and that is on ALL providers. I feel uneasy to say that this should be possible, but I understand that it might have been an essential future issue. Yet, when we see the dangers of cloud services and the way that they are transgressed on. It might be that IBM and Apple clouds are the safest, or they are too small to get any representation and they are both in the other section, which is only 8%, as such the idea of either being a mere 4% against Azure scoring 50% must be some kind of hell for Microsoft and the amount of visibility of their issues are gaining strength all over the media. The Verge is not alone in any of this. 

No matter how people, media and Microsoft are spinning this, they have a problem and them diversifying in fields they do not understand for the mere setting of greed (as I personally see it), is a stage we should have been able to avoid and we are not, because the political parties in too many countries are willing to let too many Microsoft issues slide and that is one of the problems we all face. Is too much of what I write here speculation? That would be a fair question. Yet what actions have political parties taken to keep their national corporations safe? I am asking that question. You see, there is no top-line data from any media on that simple given part. The media seemingly doesn’t want that, Microsoft definitely does not want that and there we see a dangerous setting of ‘advertisers’ versus informing the audience. The setting that I have referred to in the past as the connected stakeholders. Yes, I could be wrong, but I have been in the IT business since 1979. I have seen a lot and I have a long memory, as such there is plenty of evidence all over the field. So why am I the only one seeing this? Yes, again, it could merely be me. However, is that the case? 

I will let you mull this over and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy the day, the week is almost over.

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September 3, 2023 · 20:09

The Shallow sea, an idea?

It came to me yesterday, but I was uncertain what I was looking at. It was not a game, it was at best a stage, but the idea is set in the environment (sort of). We (most of us) are all about extremes when we game and I wonder why that is. As such I got the idea of ‘The Shallow sea’ the stage is set on a train depot, the water has risen and the trains are under water. A mere 3 meters under water, so when you stand on a cargo cars you are up to your shoulders in water. You would be dry on double stacked containers and there are some, but not all. So here we are in a place called the Santa Fe Freight Depot (the place I initially chose) you see, this stage could be a mere stage, but it would be a game in itself. If not for looting, then it would be to find stuff to keep your community afloat so to say. You see, these stages are nice, they are big and they have a whole range of options. But that is the nice part of Streaming games, you can make them a lot bigger than any PC or console game. This setting was done to emerge ourselves into the water life around there and as the trailers would have been there for years, finding goods is a bit of a challenge. Small sharks, barracuda’s, turtles, plant life. A place that evolves over time that you play this level (or game). You see, I was a little irritated with Far Cry 4. Far Cry 3 was awesome and they tried to replicate this. The scene is beautiful, yet well over a dozen times and hour to hear ‘eagle, eagle’ and to get that irritating budgie take another health slot and the irritating ‘heal on my screen’ ALL THE TIME was getting to me. That fictive place Kyrat has more eagles than the nation of Tibet has people. Add to that all the other ‘predators’ and you see why that game has no real setting for a long life. These parts matter, because in a place like I just described, a small shark might appear, but it is really rare. A stage where we can admire the sea life and have a story as well. And the larger setting is not whether this is a game, but what game could achieve the close to impossible when this is merely a level and that is what we forget. Gaming and RPG is not about milking and farming. It is about enjoying the sights. Bethesda and Ubisoft took that away from us and it is time to create games where the people can enjoy the sights again. Yes there should be a conflict and ‘challenge’ side to this, but it should not take away from the joy of gaming. The joy of lore and the joy of going somewhere. I believe we lost parts of that and the streamers could give that back to us. Consider The Horizon games (Zero Dawn and Forbidden west), would they not be even more fun if you can walk through these worlds (after you finish) the games? A stage where the machines are diminished by 90% after the game is completed so you can enjoy the art, the looks and the amazing graphics that the game brought? Restoration might no longer become a Elder Scrolls game, but the sentiment and the setting could be a nextgen. Whilst people game more of the same with Hammerfell/High Rock another developer could bring out a while new kind of RPG gaming and there is space for more, there really is. The new Horizons is likely to come in 2025, A new Elder scrolls with a speculated date of 2028 and that is pretty much it. There is a lot of space here and the Streamers (Amazon and Tencent Technologies) could create amazing new IP by early 2025, with Horizon 3 being to only opposition for years. That is what I tried to tell developers. And if they aren’t getting that, they will be complaining on the side roads. A few more ideas came to mind, but that is for another day. You see, the population of gamers (those who aren’t focussed on some Call of Duty clone) will change and with the tablets forcing advertisements down their throats, it is likely to change a lot and that is where the streamers came in. All paths Microsoft ignored and now there are other options and Microsoft will not be invited (the joker isn’t allowed in bridge). You think I am joking, but I am not. You see gaming for the joy of the game is a forgotten art and those shouting ‘their fragrance’ are about to learn that not listening to gamers comes at a cost and they will go where the joy is, that was why my IP had the appeal (a speculated shine). And that was why I was trying to sell it to Kingdom Holdings. A business man like Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud would know what the power of 50 million subscriptions brought. There is every indications that Amazon and Google overlooked that part and Microsoft was not invited to that party. So there we are in the shallow sea. ?The water up to our shoulders and the question becomes. Would you nag, or would you see what beauty below the surface of the Santa Fe Freight Depot could be brought to life? I leave it up to you. 

Enjoy Sunday. 

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August 31, 2023 · 23:59

Sentimental journey

We all have these. It usually is about something personal, something we are passionate about and mine for the longest time has been gaming. I took a sentimental journey by replaying Far Cry 3. It still had all the flaws (replaying on the PS5). One was a design flaw, one that massively annoyed me, one was a ‘weakness’ and one was open to debate. I replayed the game 4 times and in order were the PS3, Xbox360, PS4 and now PS5 and this time I stuck around to get the platinum achievement. Three I never had, one was due to me not looking at the issue, one was because I never found it (that Hollywood star with his head above the sand). The toxo thingy (because I never realised that you could do those with explosive arrows and the gamble bully as I never cared for poker. This time around there was just the poker part missing as such I ended doing a side quest I merely shrugged at and now I have it. OK, I looked up that Hollywood person. I initially thought it was one in my party to save. So when I found the solution I had to giggle. This is one of those moments I applaud the makers for such a sneaky achievement. 

This also stirred a few other things. You see, there is a game I want remade, but remade different and now it might not come to consoles because this is a streaming option. I also have been rethinking a few settings in the original games and how it might be done differently and that got me to a new approach to ‘family’ trees. Whilst everyone is rethinking ChatGPT and taking swings at their version of ‘AI’, I have been considering another use. A use in gaming not used before, not to ‘extent’ the gamer, but to extent a system that allows for ‘shoddy data’ and is set to parameters where we decide what to include and what to filter out. I considered it for a while and I suddenly that in some trees pruning is not the reward, but correctly pruning leads to a bigger reward and that is merely one stage to enhance an old game 30 years later and create a very new game. As such I now have 2 out of 4 stages of that game thought through, the third one is also there, but I believe that we need to tune that a little more. So whilst Microsoft is spending billions and billions to acquire IP, I merely thought it through and have a setting of close to half a dozen games ready to add to the Amazon Luna and Tencent handheld stables. I just can’t stop giggling at that premise. They (Microsoft) is trying to spend $69,000,000,000 to buy Blizzard and an idea that could be seen as outdated, I am about to hand Amazon and Tencent Technologies IP at less than 0.1% of that and they end up with half a dozen games that Microsoft does not have and will not have. In the meantime thanks to a brisk idea Vint Cerf had when he was an old-boy at DARPA led to an idea to a new approach to NPC enemy intelligence. Yup, Microsoft really played that part in a boneheaded way. And now (after they spend $7.5 billion for Bethesda) all eyes are on Starfield. I am not focussed on it, because I refuse to get the new Xbox and should that title fail, the goose of Microsoft will be sorely done. I honestly hope it will go well, because hoping for someone’s game to fail is just a dick move. I will merely never play it (unless it comes to PS5, which is a not going to happen). So I am not a starfield hater, but Microsoft placed a bar too high for normal games and now all eyes are on Starfield. I however decided to be more creative and designed several games exclusively for Amazon and Tencent, several of them I placed in the Public Domain for exclusive free development for these two systems. Yes, I know that this was a stretch, but the more I design and the more Microsoft fails, the bigger the loser they are showing themselves to be. It is a stage of lose some and lose some more. And now that my first IP is close to completely redrawn, Tencent Technologies stands to make a fortune on the space that Google Stadia once had and that spells out more bad news for Microsoft. 

Still the sentimental journey played its part. I have been driven (over time) towards games like System Shock and stealth games. Now I see that these stages are also drivers for new IP, not a copy of an old idea, but completely new IP, and as I personally see it Microsoft has nothing to counter it. Yes, Starfield will be new IP, but that is one IP on one system and they are still feeding the Game pass. I have several pieces of NEW IP, new that is never used and to a degree never seen on consoles. As such not only does Microsoft have contenders, but with their Call of duty fetish, trying to counter Epic and its software, they left too much lying on the floor and Tencent Technologies is starting to catch on where Amazon, Google and Microsoft decided not to look and now they are about to become the competitor Microsoft never banked on and as such they have more contenders to fields they never completely understood. First there was Apple with their iPad and the Windows Surface giggle never got close, then there was Amazon with AWS in the first (eat your heart out Azure) then with the Luna and there is Microsoft losing the streaming console war all whilst Netflix is a new contender costing Microsoft even more. Then there was Sony beating the Xbox version X (or was that the Nth degree). And now Tencent Technologies is about to enter the field giving more and more competition to Microsoft in streaming solutions. Making Microsoft the loser 5 times over. So Bethesda has an abnormal amount of pressure on it to make Starfield a lot better then good and after the epic failure that Redfall has become with additional promises not met 3 months later, all eyes are on Bethesda and I do not believe that is fair on Bethesda, but the premise was pushed by Microsoft and they will need a scapegoat should things go south, no idea how they will do that, but there you have it and I am handing over IP for free to anyone that is not Microsoft. You see, to avoid fish getting caught, you can either take the fish away, or make the pond a lot larger. I opted for a combination of both and when my initial premise of 50 million gamers is met, Microsoft will have to hand over the field yet again. Because it is not merely that I gain these gamers, Microsoft will lose those people in a few ways and that was the initial stage. It might be delusional, but I believe that giving gamers pure gaming pleasure is one way of gaining their trust. Not the trust of some analyst and some bing stage, but a stage where gaming for the sake of fun will endure long after Bing went the way of the dodo. I had hoped it would be an Amazon/Google win, but there is every chance that it will now be an optional Amazon/Tencent win and that will lead to a lot more damage to Microsoft over time. 

So whilst some will throw all this to my delusional side, I decided to blog the ideas so that they became open and Public Domain and I there is no regret here, I just came up with another part to an idea that could please a whole cluster of gamers, how large the cluster is is unknown. I understand that this is not some Call of Duty clone and as such plenty will not care for that game, but I believe millions will and that opens other doors and close the doors of Microsoft all at the same time. Why use energy twice, right?

I just have another idea. I think I wrote about it before. I should give it to Netflix as soon as possible just to piss Microsoft off and the more streaming gamers out there, the less is left for Microsoft and lets face it they have 238 million subscribers, so giving them IP merely slows the Microsoft cattle and diverts some of them to other places, a stage Microsoft cannot control and they lack ability to coach. Yup, now just to hand it over to Netflix and another loss for Microsoft is coming their way.

What a lovely way to start Friday (in 9 minutes).

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July 16, 2023 · 10:58

Single-mindedness towards greed

That is how I see it in this case. To see this we need to take a look at the CBC article (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/box-office-slump-2023-1.6906554) called ‘Blockbusters are failing spectacularly, but how that changes Hollywood is anyone’s guess’. First of all, are they failing? To the requiring mind of these movie releases they seemingly are. Yet I am not of that mindset. Lets see if I can get you on board. A second article is from the BBC and seen (at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230713-how-the-cost-of-living-crisis-is-fuelling-job-quits) where we are getting told about the cost of living. They call it ‘How the cost-of-living crisis is fuelling job quits’, especially in families with children, the revenue of worker number two is no longer covering the cost of the children. They tell us “Rising prices and interest rates are pushing some workers to move around the labour market, rather than dig in their heels at their current employers.” This is not merely a British thing, it is a global thing and when you add Australia with age discrimination we have a very different picture. We see a growing global community that can no longer AFFORD to go to the cinema. I used to go to the cinema at least once a month. Now I am happy if I can afford to go once a quarter, that is a drop of 60% and I am not alone, millions are in the same boat. To get any kind of tinsel town satisfaction we are driven to Netflix. $15 a month versus $15 per visit is simple math (if you have a proper internet connection), yet the CBC has merely one mention of Netflix and it is in the wrong direction. The article has nothing on ‘cost of living’ a clear first in any household. A week ago CBC gave its readers ‘Families face ‘hidden homelessness’ as Hamilton shelter system is consistently overwhelmed’ and no one was able to connect the dots? In ‘generalising’ statistics we tend to agree and accept that for any household collapsing, at least 50 more are on the verge to go that direction. It isn’t a foolproof stage, but with the lack of data that is a clear path to walk on and now we see that this implies that in Hamilton alone a thousand households are on the verge of collapsing. So how many of those would consider going to the cinema? It amounts to $25-$40 per person, and that is just for starters. There are travel cost to consider as well. So when you add it all up, Canada alone has close to 250,000 households that actually can no longer afford to go to the cinema. Add a few million from the US and a similar amount from the EU and it explains why people aren’t going to the silver screen, they lack funds. This doesn’t make the movie a flop. I would have loved to have seen Shazam 2 (or the new Indiana Jones, or Oppenheimer, or Mission Impossible) I just couldn’t afford the ticket. It is life on a budget and I reckon that Jackson Weaver has some rewriting to do, perhaps add a chapter (or two). The funny part is that I saw this path clearly within the first 2 minutes. Me, for now is saving up so that I can see Dune Chapter 2 on launch date (which is November 2nd). This is the reality that millions face, we aren’t happy, we aren’t thrilled. This is our lives and the people in the entertainment better take notice (like the CEO’s making 135 million plus annually). You are either getting smarter on how you do things or lose more and more money and downgrading payments of actors is definitely the wrong road to travel on.

And why is this single-mindedness? Simple, you see Google and Amazon should be running circles around me. Yet for now I am growing my IP count where they should have been ahead of me and they are not. The simple setting is that they (and Hollywood) should have the goods, but I wrote several stories (could be scripts) in directions they never contemplated. So, why not? Are they the next creative failings after Ubisoft? You tell me, I should never have been ahead or even close to equal to them, but it seems that I am. I will tell you that I am not driven by greed, I believe that this is the setting that is drowning them. When did this happen? My personal feeling is that Avatar and the Marvel movies opened a door they never saw and now they are all rushing to get to that revenue. It is a greed driven drive, which is why they will never equal people like James Gunn (even when he is wearing glasses), the creative minds like Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese are titans because it is about the creation, not the revenue (it is a nice side effect for them). Art is never bankable, but it is collectable when completed. A simple premise that most never seem to get and they all rely on one other element. People who can afford to go to the cinema and for now that equation is massively out of balance.

It might not be their fault, but it is still on their plates today. Not hard was it?

Try to enjoy the last day of your weekend.

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May 25, 2023 · 11:49

The balancing scales

This story comes from two different directions, not too different, but there is no real link between the two (it will make sense, I promise). I (and millions with me) saw the Sony Showcase 2023. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I do not think that this is on Sony, it is on me and to illustrate that, I will have to make a few sidesteps. In the first, you all know how I loathe Microsoft, they did this themselves (and their customer care with them) but we need to acknowledge and accept that Sony is now better because of Microsoft not in spite off. Sony grew to new heights as they were at each others throats. As they were battling for supremacy the gamers in both camps got a much better console and we all rejoiced. The issue (as I personally see it) is that the same needs to happen to games, driving games and gaming to new heights.  This is one and for me the most important reason to hope that Starfield, a Microsoft exclusive will become a 90%+ game. It will up the ante for Sony (and optionally Amazon Luna too). The show started with Fairgame$ a multi gamer experience which (even if it was not) smelled a lot like Ubisoft, all smooth, all overwhelming, but the real deal? We will have to wait and see. Helldivers 2 was very Starship Troopers, Phantom Blade 0 looked like an upgraded Sekiro and Towers of Aghasba had a Zelda feel to it. The games were nice, they were very turbo. They had their good moments too, or at least moments I lived for and I am not stating that all games need to be set to me, but when you saw that Telescope looking like the telescope from Alien (more futuristic), what did you think? Then we get some foam game that was clearly based upon Nintendo Splatoon, a turbo edition. This happens and I am happy for the PS5 people who get to have a go at this game, but all this is iteration and gaming, real good gaming gets offered innovation, we need that to evolve gaming and that is one of the reasons why I hope that Starfield is the game every gamers waits for. I had my moments, I loved Spiderman 2, I saw the new parts and they looked good, they really do, but is it innovation? I feel uncertain, there were more games. I can’t wait to get my hands on Alan Wake 2, it seems to be a winner, but seems is the operative word, it is gameplay we need and we saw little of that (apart from Spiderman 2). Yet the story behind this is that we need actual innovation in gaming on every console and this time around Microsoft seemingly gets to have first dibs on that, but we will know for sure in September. 

This links to the second part of it. I am replaying AC Origins and now I got to the curse of the pharaoh which is graphically a new height. Yet here my mind wandered, I had played it before and I cherished it. I took a sidestep to Valerian and Laureline (in Dutch: Ravian), I grew up with that comic as well with the Trigan Empire and things started to blend, started to mingle. So what if this game is not an assassins game and you cannot climb, hide or anything. Almost like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, but now with a much larger stealth part, no killing. The idea floated in my mind when I saw the Star Trek Voyager episode Displaced in season 3. So what happens when we get to the two worlds Aaru and Aten. So when we get there we know nothing, we get to live lives, we get to walk around and we get to missions, but not in the usual ways. We need to be part of, or hear conversations to open this story and both worlds will have a dozen story lines. No Sekmet scorpions or Cobra’s. You think it is boring, but this is not a game for everyone, it is one where the story is everything and Ubisoft has shown that it can create good stories.  

This interacts when we doe in one world, we wake up in the other and vice vera, so you need to die at times (it is a hassle, but so is life). As such we get to learn that this is a prison and we need to learn why we are prisoners (a little The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley where we get to see versions of stagnation and conformity) and for this the ancient civilisations were great. Life was simple and the mind is much easier observed and classified when it does the simple things. Yet how to set this in gaming? Ubisoft had its device, but what happens when the world is the device? What happens when the wold is not part of the mind, but the mind has to adhere to that world? No matter how complex we are, the mind controls is and as such we are shown new iterations and that could lead to innovations. But in this the story is everything.

We can speculate and ejaculate all over innovation, yet unless we are holding it in our hands (sorry, no pun intended) we have no idea what innovation looks like, the mind will not fill in the blanks, our wills do and that is why Google and Amazon missed out (at least twice already) So how do we get about to find the next innovator in gaming? Well we can dump all the BI people stating they have no clue and rely on the artsy people to dream the new game. Perhaps one with tech savvy skills, because art only gets us so far, tech does the rest, not Business Intelligence. 

This is my view and there will be people telling me I am wrong here. I will let you decide. For now, I want the new iteration of System Shock. Mainly because how the initial game made me feel, just like Mass Effect 1 ten years later. I miss that feeling to some degree, which I personally believe is the reason that some remaster are great reminders.

Enjoy the day.

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April 27, 2023 · 23:41

Slapping a giant

Yup, that’s me, but not in the way that we saw in comic books. This is real. I set up the setting for Microsoft to lose out a few times. And with Amazon staying asleep at the wheel, the option is now with Tencent technologies in one direction, but there are a few more directions to consider. So now it is time to take care of Bethesda, or hat was Bethesda, it is now Microsoft. I saw the claims that it might come to PS5, it might not, yet the reality is that this is stalling technique. It is not the first time that Microsoft did this. They made similar settings in the 90’s. As such some developers out there will have the option to grow in amazing ways. You see, it is time to create two new games. The first is already on my blog. Search for “lawlordtobe + RPG” and you will get most of it immediately. There is one condition, the simple fact that the game will be made for PS5 and Amazon Luna only, optionally later on Tencent, but that is still some time away. You see Microsoft paid 23 billion for Bethesda, as such making them bleed is a nice present for messing with gamers. 

The RPG game
A lot of it is already on this blog, yet I considered a few more items. One setting is that you could get a lot more out of a new era. Between 1568 and 1748 the Dutch had over a dozen wars which involved Spain, Germany, Portugal, England, Sweden and Austria. It would also involve the Golden age of the Netherlands. People like Rembrandt would show the world what the Dutch were capable of. 

My issue here comes from a setting in the Ezio collection. Ubisoft was great in those days and I just replayed these games learning that they are still massively good. But there are issues, nothing against Ubisoft on those titles. But the setting of Brotherhood gives the stage a much larger setting when you apply those graphics to Dutch settings and adjust it for the 17th and 18th century. When we consider that outfits were merely cosmetic, that could alter. You see someone in German garbs would be massively distrusted, but not in Germany. The same for the Spanish but not the French. Outfits matter and that gave me the idea to have tailors with several layers. Three levels of tailor and you could help these tailors out to gain a level. They could only gain ONE level, as such choices become important. Yet a level two tailor would not talk to you until you are dressed as a level 2 person (and live in that city, or have fame). The same for weapons and in some places you cannot walk with a sword, but you could have a dagger. All things that were assumed in Assassins Creed, but now the systems are powerful enough to deal with it (the Xbox 360 and PS3 could not). It allows for new kinds of stealth. Yet line of sight is important, but so is minimal distance and unless you are correctly attired you get all the attention that you never wanted. Also there was no ‘police’ or protection in every corner. There were a lot more in high society places but that was about it. Still the police was not the worst opponent. Cutthroats were that and now we have an entirely new kind of stealth. When we apply that to an RPG it becomes a challenge, no doubt about that. And when you apply this to cities in the Netherlands it matters. You see, the big places were Utrecht, Deventer, Zwolle, Kampen, Haarlem, Leiden, and Amsterdam. The Hague would not get its city rights until 1800. 

Yet this setting towards an RPG would create a new era of gaming. Like the other settings I mentioned you get to have the first two games with similar mechanics, merely a totally different side towards gaming. The Dutch side is often ignored because of its size, yet they had a war that lasted 80 years, in those days that spanned 5-6 generations, then Napoleon made a mess of things and that setting reflects into a nice setting to RPG gaming with optional stealth settings. 

As we start the game we get an choice of three

The initial option is Killer, Soldier and Thief. Each with strengths, but there are three more. You can grow in both sides, so the thief can also become a Brigand or a robber (they are not the same and as you can grow to lets say 5 degrees in the first choice, you can only grow 3 degrees in the second and third options. It allows for a lot more playability. But a good RPG game will have limitations. For example, the Thief will never be allowed in the Merchant guild, as such he cannot grow shops, but he can steal art and become really wealthy that way. The brigand has opportunity there as a smuggler, the robber does not. It is that interaction of styles that allows for the play style a person prefers, or they can really leave their comfort zone and do the opposite. The thief robber and brigand will have much better stealth options than the other styles, the soldier side will have better weapon skills and the killer will be equal if not better with some weapons and have better stealth than the soldier, but less resistance to attacks. That is merely one side. The Dutch had the golden age and as such they had all kinds of art and in those days it was very cheap (by our standards). As the Bethesda games have their own niche, the time to create a new niche becomes important. From a Bethesda point of view the time is right, no matter what they claim, they have time restrictions and Microsoft is making it harder for them and there is the option for the new developer and when you get it right with Sony, you get a new hardcore fan group with up to 32 million fans, no matter what some Microsoft driven guru states. This game was played before and you will have to stick to your guns. The options are clear. Are you a real developer or a wannabe? These ideas are free for exclusive Sony and Amazon Luna developers. 

I talked about one side and gave you another. Yer when you do the search I stated at the beginning you get a lot more and it all fits together in a few ways. When we connect the points you see so much more and you got it without investing time or money. As I stated before, lets collapse Microsoft before December 2026. Lets show Ubisoft that the claim of every year an Assassins Creed game is a BI setting and not an art setting. Is a game business intelligence of art? I see it as art with added mathematics (at times). Let’s teach some of them a lesson by yanking away their markets and in case of Microsoft, who just (apparently) lost their Blizzard/Activision deal. Lets show them that messing with gamers and yanking away gaming pleasure for $7,500,000,000 comes at a price, one they never counted on. The shareholders meeting of Microsoft could end up being massive fun in 2024/2025.

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March 31, 2023 · 20:09

Those cordially invited

That is a setting that is not merely an evolving one, it sort of fits several stages and it all revolves around the choices that some make. As such when the Gaming Bafta’s were on, there were two considerations. The first one was how well did Sony do, the second one is how bad Microsoft is doing. I will get to the logic a little later. Sony sort of won a few times. There was God of War who was a winner, of course the music by Bear McCreary won and Christopher Judge as the voice of Kratos won. It won 6 awards in the Gaming Bafta’s and had 15 nominations, including EE game of the year, best game went to Vampire Survivors by Luca Galante. Horizon Forbidden West by Guerrilla games, a Sony exclusive won best technical achievement. One out of 5 nominations. This maters as these two games are gaming achievements of the highest order. God of War is given a 94% score, HFW an 88% score (I personally believe it should have been a 92%). Microsoft and their acquired houses had 4 nominations and zero wins. OK, I will grant that Bethesda had bad luck having to go up against one of the Final Fantasy kids, but still as I see it, no bang for seven and a half billion spend on purchases? Perhaps next year. The big titles were not here and I was missing Hogwarts Legacy, but they might have missed the cut off point. As such Microsoft has additional issues next year and that is before the storm hits. You see, the E3 was cancelled. It does not matter what the reason is, they cancelled it for some of the players having their own spin presentation, where they can intentionally not invite those critical of them. It makes sense and it is a valid and acceptable choice to make (even as I am spinning this in personal ways too). You see, I do not know the individual reasons and that means I merely do not know. But the hardships that Bethesda presently has, the lack of releases by Microsoft houses and whatever Ubisoft has to remain absent, they might all be perfectly valid in Business Intelligence, but gamers will spin this. One source gave us in January “Ubisoft’s Project Q has now been reportedly cancelled. The PvP battle arena game was announced less than a year ago in April 2022. They’ve already delayed Skull and Bones six times now and the recent comments by CEO Yves Guillemot haven’t helped.” Another source gave us that Assassin’s Creed Mirage and The Crew: Project Orlando will not come before Q1 2024, implying that they miss the summer haul and the Christmas revenue haul (including thanksgiving), two massive revenue moment. As such it makes sense to give E3 a miss, yet I personally would have spun this into ‘We will get a better result when we take more time’ even though one game has had 6 setbacks. They basically face a lose lose proposition. In all this I set the groundworks for new IP and that actually matters this time. You see there is an element missing at present. That element is Tencent. They are giving a miss for now, but they are pouring buckets of gold into their Unreal engine 5 design teams, this implies that they could grow big next year, they could pull the carpet from under Microsoft legs. 

I did not give Tencent the consideration I could have, mainly because Amazon is a better fit, but in the setting that they are in. I am sitting on a totally new form of gaming on one hand (a small exaggeration), on the other hand the other IP in phase one could represent five billion and a lot more after that. Tencent could be the direction to grow my setting and even as I prefer Amazon as a first choice, one needs to go where the gold is (a small personal greedy direction). And as long as Microsoft is rejected as a contender, I am happy, even if Tencent ends with the IP. It still is important for me to assist in sending Microsoft to some revenue graveyard by December 2026. You think I am serious, and I am, but there is a hidden egg in the graveyard part. 

If Microsoft had focused on quality instead of spin (which they in part might be) there could have ben a little hope, yet at present when we see the Xbox Series X and after two years we still see review (source: Tom’s guide) “Few next-gen launch games” a setting you can accept in year one, but not after two years, you see how Microsoft is desperate and now I add Project: Graveyard against that setting, without Microsoft being able to attend that game? It is nice to hand Microsoft the wooden spoon in 2024, especially when they could have spend a little over $100 billion by then (Mojang, Bethesda and Blizzard) and that is before the other IP is launched (if it is sold) and before the list of Sony releases get to be even larger. Ubisoft is important for Microsoft and their consoles as they were their biggest drive, no matter how we think of some games, Ubisoft has had moment of true greatness and one additional title could safe Microsoft. So when we set the larger stage and we see the gaming Bafta’s and the E3 cancellation, the larger stage of Microsoft is as I personally see it diminishing. And the stage is worsening in other ways too, but I will write about that should Microsoft acquire Blizzard, because that is expected, but not set in stone at present.

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