Tag Archives: Video games

July 19, 2025 · 11:19

Yesterday’s IP served tomorrow

Yes, that is the bad ground of the story, but it is not all it is set to be. You see, I have ‘seen’ different settings through all kinds of sources (who claim to have been whispered to by those who are in the know), basically it is almost impossible to get any kind of information that is decently reliable. Now, if there is nothing to report, fine. If they have nothing to say, don’t say anything. I am fine with that, but ‘the powers that are’ basically the marketing divisions of those who I don’t care about are of the mind that if we aren’t postulating or speculating on what might be, the game no longer matters. They basically started this by announcing a new game four years before the pre production is finished. As such (as I personally see it) we will not see a new Mass Effect before 2027/2028. Basically 7 years AFTER the announcement. It is worse than the media monster being fed. As I personally see it (and I might be wrong) these developers start the rumor to see if they are on the right track, if there will be investors before the hype gets out of control. This I not the way to do gaming. It is bad enough that Microsoft doesn’t have a clue on what they are doing, but when the developers do a similar game, gaming is close to finished. We can set the exception to Sony and Nintendo, but some of their games are in a similar setting (example Mass Effect) and now we see that Bethesda has a ‘stellar’ surprise coming to us in October. This is fine, it is a mere 4 months away, so this could be done for several reasons and when it is within 10 months, I think it is an acceptable timeline for any game of ‘rerelease’. There are all kinds of people claiming that Morrowind is coming, Fallout 3 is coming to PS5 and Xbox series X, whatever the reason we know that ‘influencers’ need time to get traction and it is easy to block all their material instantly. So fine, if they want to chance that approach. This is THEIR right (and mine to block them). 

Of course I am curious to news games like Horizon Speculated Game 3. I loved the first two and these games are awesome. The same could be said for Bethesda games. I get that everyone wants to see something on The Elder Scrolls 6, but I think Todd Howard made a mistake mentioning it in 2018 and that gets the ‘fans’ riled. It is 2025 now and the last thing we heard (two weeks ago) was “we can count on is that Fallout 5 is set to come after the Elder Scrolls 6” and that has a speculative release date 2026, but there is nothin official, as such it ight not happen before 2027, so 9 years after the announcement. So, how clueless were the people at Bethesda? Was it because they needed to cash in on the $7,500,000,000? I actually do not know, but I can speculate just as well as anyone else. The setting is laced into the field of not getting updated on information and the fact that announcements were made at least 8 years too soon. 

It is anyones guess at this point. The funny side of this was the fact that I had created a storyline for Elder Scrolls 6 11 years ago. This doesn’t mean it was accepted or even read by Bethesda, but the simple setting that there was something out there that long ago and I also placed it later on this blog. I ever created a new setting making the new game a multi game setting with optional new stages overall.  Game that would test the RPG lover is new and never before seen ways. The idea came to me when I revamped IP by Vinton Cerf in new and never contemplated before ways. And in the setting I created gives the new IP a setting of Patent of Addition and as it shows new novelty it should stand. 

This is the setting that was out there for close to a decade. A setting I offered (before they were bought by Microsoft) and as I do not allow Microsoft near my IP, I set it to a new game setting (also published here) and making it published Microsoft cannot make claim to it (unless they pay me a truckload of money). 

So whilst that played, I also though of IP’s I created a few years ago and that would hand this who hide in the shelters of TEMU some disease where they might find more stuff. So we have that allegedly game designers spout ‘silent’ hints to influencers and see where they get and on the other hand there are people like me (I doubt that I am the only one) who spout IP settings for any non-Microsoft developer are freeware. In between these two fronts we get developers who announce games 2550 days before current non-release. We get all sorts on the internet and I reckon that gamers are starting to get fed up with that setting. Well, I have an excuse, I offer it to game makers and I don’t claim that it is coming. 

So what do gamers have to look out for? That is the setting and that is where the people on the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Sony Playstation 5 get to reek in the profits. Nintendo got 5 million Switch 2 consoles sold in 26 days, Microsoft never ever did this well (as I personally see it). Isn’t is weird that Microsoft only shows some sales figures consisting of the aggregation of series S and series X? I personally believe that this is as series X has no traction. I could be wrong in this. 

Oh and the setting that I give away ‘free’ ideas is shown on April 5th 2025 in ‘A political game’ (at  https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/04/05/a-political-game/) where I offered the idea (a revamp of Frogger) to any Canadian software developer to release on any system. I made sure it was feasible on mobile, so that CANADIAN developers would have some means to counter American tariffs and at the same time make fun of these Americans. It was my way of aiding my Canadian brethren (sisters too). I am not just creative, I can be a sneaky scoundrel too.

So when you get this, consider why it takes these developers this long to get going? They just fired thousands in this field and as such you get to wonder why. As such you might start to wonder if this is what the big boys are now reduced to. Merely rereleasing old hits? If that is so the next best idea is at least a year away when a ‘revamped’ version of Skyrim hits the shelves for Switch 2 and PS6. And that was before I gave the idea to Kingdom Holding giving them the inner track to 50 million gamers and the setting for a close to 1000 games. So do you feel that the gaming world is good, or is it now riddled with Business graduates who rely on Excel to make their paycheck? Considering that gaming is a form of art, I wonder how many developers made their business graduate supply a drawing that required personal art created and submitted during their interview. 

Just asking.

Have a great day today. It is almost 18:30 in Vancouver. I wonder if anyone has taken a picture today of all the traffic going into America via Peace Arch Border Crossing. It seems that I like to ruffle feathers today.

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July 7, 2025 · 14:41

Burning Bridges

This is the setting that Forbes (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/07/05/how-can-we-trust-anything-xbox-says-now/) gave me. You see Microsoft (always happy to get slapped around) gets the crooked eye from Forbes. The article ‘How Can We Trust Anything Xbox Says Now?’ late last night (might have been early this morning) and whilst I am always in the mood to slap Microsoft around, I do have an issue with fairness. As far as I feel it, I have decently slapped them silly on more than one occasion. Yet I have a few issues with this article. They aren’t lying, merely focussing on the wrong side of the dice. The dice states ‘six’, but we could assume the setting that ‘one’ fell, because that is what is below ‘six’ I a not telling you that six is the wrong number. But we tend to see the side of the dice that is up. Yet in early life I learned that randomization is an exact science (I couldn’t resist saying this), you see, the internet is full of dice games. And that is where the problem lies. You see a dice, you think a dice, but in automation, there are no dice. It is a random generator (overly simplified stated STATE(RANDOM(1,6)) and that is what you think happens, but if the result depends on settings and we get STATE(RANDOM(WhatWeSayLow, WhatMightBeHigh)) the numbers get fixed and that is what happens in gaming. This is not a gaming setting as Forbes gives us “After the launch of Hi-Fi Rush, Aaron Greenberg, VP of Xbox Games marketing, said: “Hi‑Fi RUSH was a breakout hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.” The studio, Tango Gameworks, was shut down a year later, and was only saved by a third-party purchase.” You see, there are a few issues with this. The first is that it comes from marketing, a member drenched in wishful thinking (by order of his superior) and ‘advocates’ that setting. Then there is the setting of what happened in that year? Was the market wrong (undecided is a better term) and that gives us two settings that is merely the start. The setting had a future, because a third party scooped in. Then we get “During its FTC trial, Microsoft presented a diagram attempting to prove that it would keep Call of Duty multi-platform, a key point of doubt. The idea was that existing huge franchises like that would stay multi-platform. Some current IPs that Microsoft has bought would be released on other platforms on a case-by-case basis. Then there would be a classification of games, original IPs like Starfield and Avowed, that would stay exclusive to Xbox. While that’s true for those two games so far, this concept has now joined a statement from Phil Spencer: “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not.’”” This setting is a little different. We should see a larger setting. Like, Microsoft never expected that its system would become the joke it has become. I merely raise the setting of 3 Sony’s (or 5 Nintendo Switch) to every Xbox series X, and it is about to get worse for Microsoft (Amazon and Tencent will be joining us soon and in bigger numbers). The market didn’t set the premise that some set their sights on. And the spin isn’t what it used to be. It seems to be the setting of the boy who cried console a little too often. And as I see it, the massive mistakes made aren’t small ones. Only last week were we given “Fable 4 will be released in 2026. An Xbox Game Studios update confirmed the game needed “more time,” pushing it back from its original 2025 launch window.” As such this game is now up to 18 months away. And the world is changing and Microsoft needs every penny it can get. You do remember that they bought $100 billion in IP and the return on investment doesn’t seem to be coming (at present). Now consider the setting that EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda all have shifted timelines and the larger IP deliverers now need a year more and that has got to hurt the Microsoft stage. It doesn’t matter what Game pass does. When the games aren’t coming you get the setting of a courtesan that forgot that it was the maids night out and all her laundry is still out to dry. That might seem like weekend lost, but Microsoft is looking to a lull of 52 weekends in a row. In the meantime Nintendo and Sony are making headway in games and the Microsoft gamers are feeling the pinch. A thought for Microsoft is to offer its population the series Halo and Fallout as free downloads, which might lessen the pressure (a simple but not essentially effective deal) as I see it, these two could lessen the pressure by an expected 16%-20% (up to two months) and it could be spread to one episode a week 8 for fallout and 17 for HALO, it wasn’t difficult, but it is a first thought. It might result in additional sales. Perhaps someone already mentioned it to Phileas Foggy Spencer, he can adjust even more red lines. 

So whilst Forbes is telling us no porkies, the article is missing a few items like time lines and as such the marketing impact. As Status Quo gave us in 1988 burning bridges is a state where actions that make it impossible to return to a previous state of a relationship. At least that was what I got out of it and it still largely applies. The consumer is a fickle beast and it adheres what tantalizes it and that is where the media tends to find its digital dollars. Cyberpunk got that slapped on its chest by adhering to the media in stead of telling everyone that the game will be ready when it is ready. Ubisoft got that with the first Watchdogs and the examples are legion (intended pun). What is on Microsoft that they didn’t have a stronger push for more games. Game pass is only good to a certain degree and when EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda lack releases, the console gets to be a pretty boring place. Microsoft is finding that out the harder way. And still the mismanagement issues do not stop (read: fuck ups) as we are also given “Now, in this latest story, reports have emerged that Phil Spencer “couldn’t stop playing” a new MMORPG codenamed Blackbird from ZeniMax’s Elder Scrolls Online team and was incredibly impressed with it. That was in March, and three months later, Blackbird was cancelled this past week.” In this the fuck up is plural. When he can’t stop playing a game it should be ready, as such when it gets cancelled three months later the question becomes “What on earth are you playing?” You see, when it is an MMORPG it needs to have systems in place and when something like that gets cancelled three months later it can’t have been any good (or so I personally think). 

And in addition we are given “In the same batch of cancellations, we had Everwild, where after a recent visit to Rare, Spencer said: “It’s nice to see the team with Everwild and the progress that they’re making,” Spencer said. “It has been [a while]. And we’ve been able to give those teams time in what they’re doing, which is good, and still have a portfolio like we have.” That was in February, and Everwild was also cancelled last week.” So what was Spencer doing? As such we have several failures and two cancelations and the other big boys are at least a year delayed. So, I see the setting that these people will optionally see their Xbox gathering dust for a year. Not the reason I buy a console. I have both the PS4 and PS5 and at least one of them is working on a daily basis. Even with the delays I see coming. As I personally see it Microsoft has had a bad decade and when you consider that the bad blood started with the Xbox One gathering momentum over the series S and series X there are a few things going wrong and Spencer would do well to nip this in its tracks (it is too late to nip it in the butt). I cannot see the setting of “whether Spencer is still the best choice to lead this ship”, I would need more reliable data to support that setting and lets face it, it is more than marketing. There is a failure on several levels and as Microsoft is seemingly losing more and more media friends their bad settings will merely continue at present.

So I see that the waves are against Microsoft, but the need to slap them shouldn’t overwhelm warning of ‘needless-slapping’ Microsoft. I don’t think I did that and in this day and age, your console is as much as you can get as the America administration are throwing entertainment in America in a messy situation, that being said, Microsoft is global so as I see it all countries (except Japan) can learn from this. As I see it, Microsoft needs to look at the bridge they burned and consider what can be fixed and what cannot. There is no guarantee that these bridges could be fixed, as their population are consumers, yet when they say “yeah sure okay”, your population is about to go somewhere else and that will be (as I personally see it) the end of Microsoft gaming. 

I might not be a Microsoft fan, but Microsoft pushed Sony to create the PS3 and PS4, when Xbox falls away, I will fear for the setting that PS6 could bring and I like the path PS3, PS4, and PS5 gaming got me. 

Have a great gaming day today

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July 6, 2025 · 04:08

When the gamer doubts

That’s me, I doubt things. That is just the way I am. The setting was thrown into my lap as Eurogamer gave me a view I had an issue with. 

The image (and article) gave us that “EA expects Battlefield 6 to have 100 million players – 3x more than the series’ best seller”, this gives me (and others doubt), but the setting gave me pause to think after a while. You see, the biggest contenders for EA are Bethesda and Ubisoft. As such, what does a gamer do when things turn bad? He turns to another game. It is just the thing we do. When the going gets tough, the tough go gaming. So is EA really expecting that many gamers? 

The first thought I had was ‘No Way’ now, that is nothing against EA. I am not a Battlefield gamer, I never was and that is OK, others are and they are welcome to it. One source gave me “So the earnings call confirms that BF6 is scheduled for a release before the end of March 2026” and then there was “On February 5, 2019, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson announced that the game ultimately failed to meet sales expectations, blaming the game’s marketing as well as their focus on developing a single-player campaign instead of a battle royale mode, a genre which had gained recent widespread popularity” The funny part is that I know Andrew, and as such things don’t make sense. You see he is the person that doesn’t go half cocked on 300% of expectations, especially when I see the results of Battlefield V. As such my mind started rehashing all the info it has and two things come to the surface. The first one is that a deal has been struck with Microsoft. A decent idea to get Battlefield on game pass but that alone doesn’t give 300% of people, something else needs to happen. As such the only thing that comes is that either Ubisoft and/or Bethesda won’t deliver on its games. That would get these gamers towards another game immediately. Then there is the combination of both and perhaps Game pass will have a few issues too with other developers. These three would get a massive need for something else on the game pass. I think it is a combination, but I have no data, no evidence of this. The overbearing setting seems to be that Andrew Wilson knows something that is not meant for the media and I get to this stage. It is highly speculative and as far as I know Wilson, he doesn’t push for 3 times the bandwidth on a whimsy. The other thought is that EA is keeping an additional title under the radar and that 300% is meant for two titles. That makes sense too. The reality is that I just don’t know but the setting of 100 million players after the previous never met the initial numbers is just too wild. The chance of EA has a larger additional win is likely, but I cannot state that with any certainty. I just don’t keep EA titles in my front pocket and I still think that they messed Mass Effect 4 up and there is no ME5 until 2027. So what is kept under the radar? ME1-3 remastered? I doubt it, but not impossible. 

The reason remains unclear, but there is no way that it is set to a game that missed the mark previously now getting 300% coverage is not the reason, that tidbit is out the door.

So what the reason is remains unknown for now, but setting up servers for 100 million gamers is an expensive exercise and that is waisting money in a dastardly way. So I reckon that Eurogamer will be taking a deeper look at this seems almost a given, and I reckon that this we will see the real reason during summer, perhaps the active gamers will find the reason spilled somewhere in a dedicated blog on that subject down the line.

Have a great day and try to enjoy gaming this weekend.

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June 15, 2025 · 03:39

When you are at odds

This happens, there is no real reason, merely that you do not agree with another view. In this case it is with the CBC. That is what intelligent people do, we are at odds and we reject a thought given to us. It started with the article (at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/nintendo-switch-2-1.7558697) where Jonathan Ore gives us ‘Nintendo’s Switch 2 sets early sales records. Its future is less certain’ and his byline gives us the goods “Handheld console arrives with high price, few games and fresh competition” he gives us a decent reason. High price, a setting I personally do not agree with, especially as the systems is basically an overcharged Switch one. The Switch 2 comes with 12GB operating memory (up from 4GB), 256GB storage (up from 32GB) bigger screen and a few other gimmicks. It is a real step up and as I see it, it sold over 3.5 Million Units Worldwide in the first four days, not bad, as it took Microsoft a hell of a lot longer to get those numbers. On day one we got access to Mario Kart World, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch 2 Edition), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch 2 Edition), Sonic X Shadow Generations, Street Fighter 6, and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. Not bad capture of games. At present we have 84 upcoming games, as I see it 14 of them likely to be in 2026, but that gives us 70 games all this year and that is evidently just for starters. So, the few games is pretty much sunk at this point. Are they games he wants to play? That is a fair question, but that is a setting we all face whether it is Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. As I see it Mario Kart World is already worth buying the console for, a setting Microsoft enjoyed with Bethesda’s Oblivion and its own Mass Effect. As such there are overlaps in judgement. I had the same setting with the very first Playstation. Because of Tekken I got the system and when Tomb Raider arrived a few month later, the admiration for that very first playstation was complete. There are reasons why we buy a systems. Usually it is because of the games already out, or coming soon. And when the setting of “With a high price, small lineup of exclusive games and a more crowded market for handheld gaming — including a major entry by Microsoft — things aren’t as simple as the original Switch’s debut in 2017.” I roll my eyes and giggle loudly. As the ‘major entry of Microsoft’ is set, they haven’t really wowed us since before the Xbox series S, and as I see it, they have come up short ever since. Now that doesn’t mean that the new console is nothing. Yet two days ago I was given ‘Xbox’s new console quietly cancelled as Microsoft takes different approach’ with the byline “many are wondering what the native console would have cost, because we’re all looking at the Xbox Ally and estimating it will fetch well over £500, perhaps even over £700.” And that is cheap? And as we see the line “It’s a followup to the original Switch’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which sold more than 68 million copies — over 20 million more than the next best-selling title, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” Which explains the setting that I am convinced that Nintendo doesn’t have any real worries to consider as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold more copies than Microsoft has in actual sales for consoles. That is set to 28.3 million (as of June 2024) accumulative for both the X and S series. Isn’t it weird that Microsoft bundles those numbers, which makes me wonder how many X systems were sold, Microsoft hides nearly all settings of those numbers, I wonder why.

And consider that Microsoft sold the Xbox Series X|S at 16.41 million units in the US in 50 months, Nintendo got 25% of that target in 4 days. So, as we find from a few sources “Xbox faces major challenges as its console sales hit record lows in 2024, and it’s not looking any better for 2025. The gaming giant sold an estimated 2.7 million units in the US market during 2024, marking its worst full-year performance in Xbox history” and as I see it, with cancelled systems the setting does not look good for Microsoft as it ‘just’ spend $69 billion on Blizzard (2023), as such the entire 2024 sales setting doesn’t even gets them the interest on that loan of $69,000,000,000 a year later. So the entire setting of “including a major entry by Microsoft” is massively bogus. One apparently is cancelled and the other one is years away (a speculated 2027 release). As we consider the first Switch with a Zelda game “earning praise as one of the best video games of all time.” Microsoft hadn’t done that since Bethesda’s initial release on the Xbox360, or Mass Effect in 2005, making it a 20 year lull in setting markers. OK, Skyrim on 11/11/11 was a worthy stage, but that one was also released on Sony, making it a not so exclusive stage.

As such I do not see the setting Jonathan Ore gives us, the stage of “Gamers who snapped up a Switch 2 may be anxiously waiting for more made-by-Nintendo games other than Mario Kart World” comes over as media BS as I got a list of 84 games a lot of them in 2025. Yes, I get that No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 aren’t exclusives, but we are assuming that they were ‘begotten’ on a system they had (OK, a small giggle is allowed). And these games contain the making of fathering the game settings, especially No Mans Sky. I almost forget to give the readers that the Switch 2 comes with Hogwarts Legacy on day one. If you didn’t have that game on any system, you are in for a treat. I end up asking why Microsoft was mentioned in his article at all, there was no reason unless a Microsoft stake holder requests the mention, which is likely as he doesn’t mention that “Sources have told The Verge that Microsoft initially had plans for a native Xbox handheld, but this has been officially scrapped as the company”, but this article doesn’t give you that, we merely saw “a more crowded market for handheld gaming — including a major entry by Microsoft” which by sources got cancelled. As I see it, the little dark cloud that this writer is trying to make falls in the water. What would have been better is that CBC had given the reader a sighting of Canadians playing these Nintendo games on the Switch 2. So how was it seen in Nouveau Scotia, or Saskatchewan? We know what Vancouver or Toronto does, but the rest? 

As such I am at odds with this article. In most places I look I merely see the amazement of the console, especially when the camera is attached and you are playing as a team. This is actual true innovation bought to you by Nintendo. 

Are there lesser sights to Nintendo? This would have been a valid side and the price is high, I admit that, but is the system worth the price? I believe it is and that is a personal setting. Not everyone will agree, but those people still have the Switch 1 to consider, or they have it and the upgrade was a no brainer. It is cheaper that my PS5 and I had no issue paying for either of them. Soon I hope I will be able to get that system (as soon as Oracle, to name merely one option, gives me a tech support or customer care job). 

And surviving Abu Dhabi, speculatively,  as part of ADNOC definitely makes the Switch 2 an essential need. Summer in the UAE is a bit hot when you float around the Al Raha River baking in the sun. The cool dark feeling of a living room playing Mario Kart World might be the way to go. We are all creatures of basic needs and Nintendo has fueled that basic need ever since I bought the Nintendo 64 in 1998. They gave us the fun and the sparkle for gaming even before that and that is some record for any company to entertain and Nintendo delivered. Something we don’t see in this article either. So who was Jonathan Ore catering to? Not Nintendo, not the reader and not the facts. I have my idea’s on this and so will you when you got to this point in the article. 

This is why I am at odds with the CBC article. Have a great day, still late breakfast time in Vancouver. So enjoy.

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June 5, 2025 · 17:07

The snag we don’t see

That happens, we don’t always see the settings that open up to us. It is one of the stages of what some call the ‘Aha!’ erlebnis. It is actual intelligence and that is why artificial intelligence will fall short for a long time. Yesterday I had some time to relax and I used it to watch the final two episodes of the October Faction (Netflix). Apart from being totally awesome, I also found the dastardly news that it is a one season only setting. Too bad as it was really awesome. Yet, I digress. During one of these episodes I suddenly had a little brain strain and a few things came into full view. It brought me back to a story I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) called ‘It was this simple’ where I had the idea for a new game that was also (in part) educational. Yet last night I had an idea that I was going about it the wrong way. You see, the start isn’t one of the three gods (Hades, Poseidon or Zeus), it is a destination. The idea is to invert that stage and start with pone of the ‘smaller’ gods like Hecate. You see, as I see it Hecate gets its setting from the mortals and animals. So do the other ‘smaller’ gods. As do Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Dionysus. And as we unlock their abilities, we will then get access to one of the three. Or I might am considering that Zeus is only unlocked when all others are unlocked. 

As I see it some gods connect to merely one of the three, some to two gods and some to all three. As I see it this game would need to be replayed three times to unlock it all, but in this game the second game already gives you the areas you unlocked in the first game and the second is not the same, merely a continuation of the first (makes for a challenging lore). And beyond that as I see it, the game will incorporate several gaming styles giving you a larger game and a more fulfilling gaming time. But I wanted more than a hack, slash and pretty picture.

You see, it is merely a setting to a game, but there we also see that we unlock educational parts. What is more enticing than gaining knowledge of classical works whilst gaming? Not the ‘essence’ of a classical work but the full text of people like Hesiod, Homer, Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar and many many more. I still think that the Amazon Luna, with a link to the Kindle, or even now the Tencent console with a link to the the MatePad Pro or MatePad Air might be an alternative. A setting to see a more inclusive form of gaming and as such un-enabling those with the ‘turbo’ style of gaming trying to getting people in line to more advertising. Short term enabling and set gaming back on the track of a more enabling setting of gaming like Bethesda enabled for almost 2 decades. 

We are all do taken back by the turbo setting of games (especially the young) whilst the more complete setting of gaming is largely ignored and as I see it, there is more to gaming. You see we cannot (in good mind) waste the entire day gaming. I get that, but we can rotate that interest to give people a larger backstory. You see, according to classicist William Hansen: “the Greeks and Romans had all the genres of oral narrative known to us, even ghost stories and urban legends, but they also told all kinds that in most of the Western world no longer circulate orally, such as myths and fairytales.” I want to resettle that lost art. Some gamers have tried to do so in the lore they give us, but they fell short as they didn’t consider the larger stage. It was not their fault, until recently and the promise of the IoT (Internet of things) and the larger stage of Bluetooth we never considered where we could go and that is merely another setting the Microsoft failed to see (they are racking up a setting of missed opportunity) and Google cannot be given this failure as they basically dropped the Google Stadia, which was their right to do so and as I see it, Amazon and Tencent now have a larger stage to become the new heralded kings in gaming. It is not a smooth or even an easy ride, but as I see it they both missed out on gaining at least 50 million gamers. 

So could I be wrong?
Yes, of course that is possible, but what the ‘advertisement’ courtesans fail to see is that the people have had enough of advertisements and that is something they are in denial of as the money is too good. But as I see it, the one who does see it will get a larger setting of gaining the field advantage to this and that is basically Nintendo and Sony. It is the third place that becomes interesting when we see in January ‘Microsoft’s AI revenues up 175%, while Xbox’s results remain disappointing’ (before the builder.ai exposure) and ‘Microsoft’s Xbox Handheld Plans Reportedly Shelved; Company to Optimise Windows 11 Gaming Performance’ (last week) and I reckon that the spin will continue as Microsoft is scrambling to bury bad news as Nintendo is making larger strides into gaming. As such there is space for either Amazon or Tencent to gain the number three spot. This is not a given but massively likely, especially as other news sees my other solution grace the limelight in sight of some Hajj numbers I see roll be and an optional solution that roughly 900,000,000 million users are up for grabs (yet another space Microsoft missed). So as some will see “Asus’ Xbox branded handheld, codenamed Project Kennan, is reportedly on track to launch later this year”, I merely wonder when that changes from later this year to next year and after that it being silently cancelled (my personal speculation). You see Asus also sees the market and the knee-jerk actions from an tariff driven administration won’t last long, especially when Huawei is showing its MateBook Fold and that is making the filtered news. I personally don’t know how good it is, but the larger setting is that the world is watching and now that it is less than 1.2Kg and uses Harmony OS. The first and it is a banger. So when that system as well as Tencent takes the world by storm (which it is very likely to do) we see yet another loss for Microsoft and not merely that, Apple, Sony, Google, Samsung and even Nintendo will see its impact (Sony and Nintendo less so). This was the setting I expected to come about 6 years ago and it is here a little faster then expected. 

This is all important because the advertisers will start losing out and that will stop gamers in their track as their games are less fulfilling. You see ad break gaming is nice in a turbo setting, but when the gamer considers where they ended up being they will want (read: demand) a more compelling form of gaming. This is good for people like Bethesda, Ubisoft, Guerrilla Games (and several others), but (for example in the UK) the 1,801 independent and publisher-owned studios. These studios employ around 75,000 people. The number of studios has grown significantly, with 251 new studios founded between December 2021 and April 2023 it is not good news, because what we don’t see is that these developers are relying on advertisement to make some of their money and when that falls away, these developers will fish behind the net of revenue.

And as I see it, Ubisoft has options in these glasses devices and they could also launch on Sony and Nintendo, but others will have to streamline whatever they thought was an option and others will merely collapse. As I see it, we haven’t see the power of Harmony OS yet but it will come and as America shuns away from that (for the most obvious stupid reasons) Europe and others are very willing to give their economy a boost from what HarmonyOS brings and now that the hardware is out some people will finally get the thought “How can this benefit us?” And that will be the start of a lot more and as I see it, Amazon has the inside track to grow more business (outside of the US) and there lies the setting for them. As some might ‘speculate’ that Amazon would not be profitable without its cloud business. We also see that the shape of the cloud is about to change and that is where the larger money is, because cloud gaming is only gaming in name. It can be a lot more and as I see it, the solutions I gave will become massively and not merely this game (I put it online for a reason) it could start a much larger wave and that is where I see my surf time (perhaps literally so). I reckon that the ‘older’ quote “HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, is designed to work with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. While it’s not directly tied to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the same way as Android or iOS, you can still use it to access AWS services and resources.” I reckon that Amazon sees that this lack is about to end, because they have a clear goal to increase their visibility and whilst others are taken back, Amazon is seemingly embracing the options it opens up to. As I see it, people will prefer that setting then feeling blue (read: Azure). Yet another field where Microsoft is falling short of soon enough. Their failures do seemingly seem to stack up, don’t they?

We can see the snags we think we fail to see, we can ignore them or we can find away to make it work for us. So have a great day and consider where you could be in 2026 or 2027, because thinking you get there in 2025 is nice, but largely set to economic turmoils of the days we expect them to be according to some media. Consider where some people will END the stage of their products and see where HarmonyOS is merely beginning at present. It makes for an interesting read. Consider that WPS Office (by Kingsoft) its here for HarmonyOS and also on Amazon Fire tablets. Merely two places and as I see it, as this is free software there is a larger stage where Microsoft will end up surrendering market share. So as I said, have a great day. 

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May 29, 2025 · 05:01

The secondary drive

That is what some have and it is not always in the field you expect. I was contemplating a few things whilst playing the remastered version of Oblivion. I am playing me second character as I am stuck (due to a bug) in the first one. It gave me pause to consider a few settings. These settings I can convert to the game I already had in mind, but I can spice things up now (now is a word as the default setting is not entirely accurate). You see, I created the game to counter Bethesda. The operative word might take a little tweaking. It actually started yesterday when I saw a list of upcoming Playstation games, 15 of them this year and I kept on hearing ‘soul type gaming’ (way too often). You see making more of the same is not more gaming, as I see it, it is the introduction of blanded (just more of the same taking away gaming hunger). As such my mind kept on revisiting settings (and movies) in all directions. It also brought to mind a game named Fable (Microsoft title) and it had great ideas, especially the first and second game with the second being a vastly improved IP over the first. It also made me realise that I had created a dislike for the word ‘Chicken-chaser’ (a word EVERY Fable enthusiast remembers). So what happens when we ‘cross-pollinate’ ideas? And moreover, what if we set this per guild, house or location? 

That is merely the first step. You see, most people have ‘accepted’ the use of nick names and when capture this in combination with the SNPC (smart non playable characters) concept I put in here last year a RPG game could really be spiced up. I see it as a setting to create passive achievements, achievements you will have to work for, but they don’t have any real controllable action and as such you could get a real setting that controls you and you do not control it to that degree. You see when you play an RPG over and over again, you get to be blanded, a blanding like setting that takes the joy out of the game, it will take it out of any game, but when you can divert that feeling by adding ‘soft-achievements’ I predict that this feeling diverts somewhat (it will never take it all away). Added to the changeable setting of dialogues and missions, the game gets to be a lot more rewarding for a lot longer. And today’s consoles can handle that challenge. 

I already set some parts in ‘motion’ in my mind as early as 2022 and up to now, no one considered the ideas I had (or never enacted them) and in my mind, the reengineered idea that originally came from Vint Cerf might be a game changer in RPG gaming. Such directionality will up the game for wannabe ‘fighters’ and ‘assassins’ quite a lot. I get that in the past these ideas were not really possible and now we can do them all, perhaps Bethesda is enabling these ideas in the new Elder Scrolls game, but that will not be known until 2027. What is clear that there is a risk that we will see too many things that we saw before. In the YouTube video that game me the list of 15 that I saw in under an hour I had at least half a dozen time things that I had seen before. To be honest, the only real cracker I saw was Code Violet, not ragingly new, the style of gaming is known to stealth game preferred players, but in the setting that we see, is a new fresh paint of a horror classic and that is at least something. Go see the trailer if you are curious. Anyway, that gave me pause to another setting. You see some will remember ‘Knight Games’ (CBM64), and Bethesda has a ‘sort of’ version in that called Arena, but Arena is a joke to stealth players. Most of the rounds I have no opposition. With a bow and stealth I go right through the opponents in seconds. So what happens if all contestants have Candlelight (Skyrim) cast over them? It takes away the stealth advantage, come to think of it, what if the security of a location ‘auto casts’ Candle light over the trespasser of a location? You need to get close to the cast location and perhaps there is a workaround on that too, another thing you have to elude, now breaking and entering comes with a little snag. 

You might (not entirely incorrectly) think that this brainstorm setting only sounds nice. But tell me, when was the last time that you witnessed true gaming innovation? I reckon that for me it was Horizon Forbidden West (2022) and as such I am trying to blend new ideas (at times re engineered old ideas) to add to gaming and to offer a solution that looks in more directions than Bethesda (not that Bethesda is bad, far from it) but a choice of one, is not a choice.

Well, I need to rethink a few more settings (which I already am), but I think better during breakfast and that is roughly 183 minutes away. So back I go, back in my design shell and watch what others are missing. Have a great day.

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May 16, 2025 · 10:00

Insectum

It is time to talk bugs. As I see it there are three kinds, there are the actual bugs, these are settings that crash a game, or make it non-working. The other two are glitches and systemic glitches. Glitches are merely a hindrance they are flaws in a game of program, but they do not dissuade from the joy that the game brings. I saw all of these settings in Oblivion remastered. Let’s be clear. I am not a doom speaker and heralding the ‘Messy setting of Oblivion’, I am (for the most) a game and before I start this article I will say right now, up front, that Oblivion brought the sense of joy I had when I played the game 20 years ago. That is as I see it a massive achievement, 

Virtuos brought their A game and it shows in everything you see and play. This game is 20 years old, as such plenty of laurels for Bethesda as well. It was the reason I bought me Xbox360 and I never for one moment regretted doing that. Yes, I have had the red rings of death and in the end I have had 3 Xbox360’s. But never was there any doubt that it was a great machine and a worthy contender to the crown that the Playstation 2 won.

Still, we were talking about the game. As such, we have glitches, persistent (or systemic) glitches and bugs, there is also the fatal bug, but I haven’t seen that one in Oblivion.

A glitch can be systemic, but does not mess with gaming fun. An example is that when you go from the rain into a ruin, or a cave and you still hear the rain. It doesn’t stop you from having fun, but it is a glitch. Then there is the systemic glitch. When you’re cupboards are too full, because you (me) is a hoarder, the system gets a little confused and will not show everything in your inventory. As such I could not move my sigil stones from the inventory. The solution is to sell off a lot of junk you were holding and that fixed it. There there is the setting that you can not control. A setting where things go a little haywire (because of a dozen reasons), which can mess with the storyline, but the simple solution is to reload the last autosave and often it is fixed. When dealing with these knights of the thorn idiots, I had to reload half a dozen times before I got the mission done (in different places). There is nearly no saving an idiot who thinks he os gods greatest knife fighter whilst surrounded by two Xivilains, loudly engaging them calling in two more. There is no stopping stupidity, it tends to get you killed in the battle field. Then there was the first time I went into the Rockmilk cave. After the first reception area, there is a path down where three spiked traps are. The stage to the left could not be entered, whilst it had enemies. I think it was a glitch, and it was ONLY the first time I entered it, subsequent entries were good. It is my place to collect free arrows and in earlier levels that matters, later too (I had over 400,000 gold), but it is a assured way to get ebony arrows and glass arrows, which are not sold. Apart from the bounty in there, it is a clear way to make headway. Then there are several persists glitches, but the one in Sancre Tor was fixed by waiting at the opportune time (where there are 4 people) and that worked. These settings happen. Anyone who thinks that bugs/glitches on a game this big doesn’t happen is beyond stupid. And for the most part it never bothered the game. Perhaps one setting which was beneficial to me was that the Rumare Slaughterfish were bouncing on the waterline, so in clear view to kill them. For the most, this game is utterly awesome and I never regretted spending the money of the 125GB download time on this. I will be playing this a few times over as I never played a high elf mage, but that was on me. 

The fact that even after 20 years and after Skyrim, this game shows just haw amazing gaming can be and that is never a bad thing.

So don’t call everything a bug, because some games are just too big and a bug tends to have fatal issues on a game and yes, I did crash a few times, but I just reloaded the game and I merely lost a few minutes in its worst scenario. Yet it is not all bad. It made me realise the settings I redesigned for an RPG and as I saw the stage also saw why my mind set a few things the way it did and it makes sense to do so if replay-ability is your goal. I think this should be the mindset of any RPG developer. As such did you consider the soft architectural stage that Diablo (the first one) offered against the planes of oblivion? When you connect the ideas that certain games had and incorporate them into a plane of oblivion? When you aren’t set to a mere version of a game, but when the towers can be radically different, how much more fun can you have exploring? 

So have a great day and when you hear the screaming in the night, that would be the sound of Daedric Princes as I have entered their realm and they fear for their life now. 

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May 6, 2025 · 21:35

Creating a plus plus game

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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April 27, 2025 · 14:51

Dynamic lore

Perhaps Dynamic interactive NPC’s is a better if not a little incomplete at this time. I have been loving every moment that I have been in Cyrodil, yet some of the missions are bland, redone over and over again and at this time (as there are more options), the setting seems a little absent of electricity. This is not the fault of Virtuos of Bethesda. I have over 1000 hours (perhaps even 2000 hours) in the game, so for the most I have already seen it. Still roaming the sights of the province is a delight. All the sights I forgot about over the 14 years that Skyrim graced my computers (PS3, Xbox360, PS4 and PS5) and there is more, but at some point I started to set out the idea of Dynamic Dialogue.

You see the first game you play remains always the same, but the subsequent versions, there could be a setting that some of the dialogues will be somewhere else. As such my mind set out the stage that at this point has never been done in any RPG.



Could be set to 
Pers001ArdantNadia
Location01BravilBravil
KindofPersonMerchantBeggar
ActionRumorRumor

And this is merely a sample. So we get a key part of information from a merchant, but this information could be from a beggar as well (not always an option), but the system of Dynamic Dialog will have within itself what the definition is. As such you can run to Bruma and ask the same person again and again, but what if the mage changes? Optionally you are given the name, but that is not a given. 

It changes the game, as the subsequent play is more of a setting that sets a new premise. A game  altered to the gamer who loves the challenge, not merely running the distance. In this there comes a second setting that loot in houses could alter, books might be in different locations (after the first play), It gives shine to a game that was good to be great over several play throughs. With the optional setting when you start the game of activate Dynamic Dialogue. As the database is set correctly the game could be reset to original when a new game is started. 

A setting we have never seen in RPG, but this is now possible, as such, I though of including this setting. Loot can always be randomized, but the people usually aren’t. Then there is the setting that a mission could get another parameter as well. Like the weapon shipment could give the added premise of saving miners and that is set to a clock within the moment you give the weapons to the three mercenaries. So there could be the option that you get a 10 minute timeframe to save a number of miners in that level (like 6 miners) and that gives the player a new chase. To get to the people in time. I am not saying that it should have been done, but when you get the second play through, some missions get to be a bit of a milk run, as such I devised the setting to add Dynamic Dialogue and optionally added achievements. 

There are places when that is not possible, but given the option, we have a good stage to improve RPG gaming, and in this case merely the additional times you play the game. I reckon that my mind will concoct a few more iterations of this in the near future as such I will keep you informed of the hair brain schemes I think of. Perhaps in the near future I will add to what I wrote yesterday, there was a lot more to be had.

Have a great day, time for me to close another Oblivion gate.

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April 26, 2025 · 16:51

Rejuvenating Love

Yup, we’ve all been there and it is not the love for a partner or spouse (I have no experience in that regard). It is the rejuvenating the love you have for a hobby or interest. For me it has been Photography and gaming. In this case it is about gaming.

You see, last week Oblivion was launched. The 4th game in the elder scrolls and in the mean time I downloaded the 116 GB and got to play it for real. The initial setting was of course ‘old stuff’ the prison, the escape and the inability to protect the emperor from getting his throat slot (poor Sir Patrick Steward). As such we get to the outside world and my first achievement. From there I went straight to the Rockmilk Cave. I have played the game before, so to ‘hone’ my archery skills I go there as it is home to the black bow bandits and a warring party, as such plenty of things to pick up. And there I got my first glitch and first bug. Darn! No biggie, I merely got around it. The bug was that when you enter the cave, you go right down the cave where you also get the glitch, The bandits (all 4) go back and forth (a few steps) cry “Why won’t you die” and so it goes on. The archers on the right were easy, the ones on the left were the problem. There was an invisible wall preventing me to get to them and slaying them. I didn’t go any deeper at this time a little afraid the bug would become worse, but I got 50 arrows and a few black bows, so not a trip in trouble. Then I wandered around to see some spaces and two caves I never saw before (at least that is what I think). Then off to Chorrol and from there to Anvil where I joined the fighters guild. So I am now a journeyman in the fighters guild. And now I am about to meet the fighter guild master with the next mission. It is also an idea to try and get into the mages guild. I still need to kill an innocent to get into the Dark Brotherhood, but that is for tonight. All in all this all sparked a renewed crush on the game. And after 14 years in Skyrim, it is time to renew the settings I have loved for so long and this devotion needs to be recognised. You see, some will cry like a little wiener and shout bug. But it is merely one in a setting of over a hundred of hours and so far no bugs seen. A few glitches but they cannot spoil the fun I am having. Still I have now enough money to buy the waterfront dwelling, which is nice so I can offload the stuff I do not want to sell. 

The house in Anvil requires silver weapons because of the nasty ghosts and a stronger marksman skill to deal with the thing in the basement. And as we get further into the game, there are more missions and a larger need to get items from these Daedric princes. Not to mention the luscious Nocturnal and her Skeleton key (very nice for opening chests). 

I learned that the Peryte glitch still works, so that will get my fighting skills up in a quick jiffy, but I haven’t been there yet. Still the vibes going through me are unmatched. To play this game in a new coat is amazing and well worth the effort of spending coins to get them and downloading the game as well. I feel a little lost as Skyrim upgraded marksmanship in the game so I need to get higher in bow skills. But that doesn’t take the grin away from the massive boost to my ego as I largely still know where to mustard is. In that setting this game is not to be underestimated. And no matter that Skyrim is ‘better’ in some ways, this version revives the love I had for this game, I reckon that the bugs will be fixed at some time and that is cool, that first feeling of this game came raging in and settled in my soul (like a soul gem) pretty fast and very comfortably. 

It opened a new door as well. As I was looking at the RPG setting that I got for Eder Scrolls: Restoration and as such for a few other games (as Bethesda is now Microsoft) this setting in the last 24 hours gave me a few new considerations for RPG gaming. I still need to reflect on some, but I reckon that it will be in my big soon enough.

Have a great (gaming) day.

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