Tag Archives: Video games

August 1, 2025 · 23:28

The Nintendo Charge

Nintendo makes another blitz record, it is not the first one, but this one is one for the record books. The story (at https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-has-sold-6-million-switch-2-consoles-and-almost-the-same-number-of-mario-kart-world/) gives us ‘Nintendo has sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and almost the same number of Mario Kart World’ as for my excuse not being part of that cluster is simple. I just don’t have the money at present. Nintendo played a near perfect awareness game. They went global with the teaser, they followed up with YouTube video’s and gave online presence. When Zero-hour was here. The streets were aligned around shops who sold it with people. We all wanted one, even the ones that couldn’t afford one. And there was a lot of interest. The expanded memory, larger screen, higher resolution, snap click controllers with magnets and the controller was also used as a mouse. 256GB against the 32GB of the original Switch. Basically everything was stronger. One exception, the battery life seemingly is not. I run my Switch on the TV, so I won’t ever see this one issue. And on the TV, you now get 4K. Cheaper than either Xbox or PS5 (not by that much) Nintendo made the record books yet again. In the first 7 weeks the Nintendo sold 6 million Switch 2 consoles and the real screamer is that nearly all of them got Mario Kart World, it sold 5.63 million copies. That is huge. I saw the videos and I would get that as my first game too. 

So when we se all this we tend to think, what is next? But that is it, this setting will hurt Sony as well as Microsoft to some degree. People can no longer afford it all and when they get a Switch 2, their coffers are nearly empty as such, no direct sales for either Sony or Microsoft. Microsoft with its Game Pass will have an advantage over Sony (for the first time) and it will not be as hindered by Nintendo as Sony is, but they too will feel the pain. I reckon that this will continue straight through Christmas 2025. Because those who can not afford it at present, will work harder to get one before or at this Christmas (hopefully me too). 

So whilst we get the quote “Despite being a launch title and being constrained by its user base, Mario Kart World is the series’ second biggest launch behind Mario Kart Wii.” And that makes sense. I see the improvements and the plusses that Mario Kart World is bringing and I reckon that this game alone is the largest push to get the Nintendo Camera as well. It goes further, As of June 30, 2025, the Nintendo Switch has sold a total of 153.10 million units worldwide. This makes it the third best-selling video game console of all time and now add the 6 million Switch 2 systems and we see that Nintendo is overtaking Microsoft by storm. Consider that at present Xbox Series X/S (2020): Estimated over 28 million units as of June 2024. This implies that Switch 2 is already at 21% of Xbox Series X/S lifetime sales. And the Switch already surpassed that. This sets the  Microsoft systems in third position and should Amazon agree to my terms Microsoft becomes the 4th player. Not bad after spending Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That was money well spend wasn’t it? And should Amazon agree to surpass Microsoft too, that 68 billion dollar anchor will weigh harshly on their actions. The funny part is that neither Sony or Nintendo had to pay that much for anything they bought (as far as I know). And there is more (there always is) Nintendo is should of breaking its own record of the Nintendo DS which sold 154 million consoles. The Switch is now less then a million away from that record. It is anyones guess how far the Switch 2 will make it, but as I see it the numbers are in favor of Switch replacing a lot of systems within the next year. Nintendo said there were no changes to its financial forecast for this fiscal year, which is to sell 15 million consoles by March 2026. I tend to think that this number will be broken in several ways by Christmas 2024. That is before we consider the pleasing notions of all the Harry Potter fans who will be driven to this game on the Switch 2 as well. Yes, Nintendo is about to break record and this is the first time that I am saying this, but Nintendo is now approaching the pole position that Sony holds, as such they will have to up their game considerably if they do not want to be taken over by Nintendo, because that is no longer impossible. I don’t think Sony was ready to see the Switch family as a threat to their number one position, but that is the setting that they face in 2026, as such I wonder what Sony will come up with next. 

The armistice race on consoles tends to be a fulfilling one and there is the second step. When Nintendo get that done, it will find more gamers switching to their side. Although I have always stated that the Nintendo is the system you get next to your usual console, I still believe that and as such Nintendo tends to have great options. I merely wonder when Hogwarts Legacy 2 is released will it be released on day one for Switch 2 too? You might think that this doesn’t matter, but it does. It will be the first moment when Nintendo will have surpassed Sony and that is the kind of news that is massive in its own right. Sony released its PlayStation on December 3, 1994, it went straight to the top from the start and it will have taken Nintendo 32 years to overtake Sony and that is not something to think lightly of. I certainly am not. 

So, I merely have this to say “Well done Nintendo”

Have a great day today 

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July 19, 2025 · 22:54

Creating a new stage

That is what happened to me. In a near instant I created a new kind of RPG (all developers make that claim) and what triggered it was an image of a futuristic building it looked (largely) like the imperial city in Cyrodil, but it wasn’t. This set my brain on a side trip. What if the main character (the person you play) has two sides? A waking stage and a sleeping stage and in that instant we could ‘complicate’ matters. So in one setting you are in a renaissance setting and you get to start there. Story like any RPG, and it is the setting that matters. And whilst you are going through the intro, you get to embrace how you work the game (nothing spectacular). And as you go through the working of the game, you get introduced to some of the background of where you are. There are multiple stories in line (unexplored as of yet). But the kicker comes when you are at the fatigue point and you need to get to sleep.

This sets up the second stage, in this setting you are in a different place. A very futuristic space. Centuries ahed from where you were and if the first place is the 14th century, the second place is a thousand years later. It also comes with ‘issues’. The game will set the new hurdles. If you favored the bow in one, you become a sniper in game in the other. The several blunt weapons will make you a cop in the other and so on. There is the idea that tomes and scrolls open missions and storylines in the second game and visa versa. I am still working out the settings in my mind, but the idea that you ed up with two games at the same time and they are connected is something new. The idea is to get the storylines will also set you in doubt of what part of the game is you awake and where you are asleep. It doesn’t really matter, you could be awake in both, but the setting that one triggers options in the other is basically new and not always useful and you play, but there is a novelty on the setting you cannot avoid. The second setting is on how it works in the other direction. In the future we have memo’s, mails messages and other means of interacting, but they would open missions and quests in the first game. There are still a few issues to think through and I feel good about it, but would it work? It has never been done before, that is for sure and I feel good about the idea, but it is not about me. It is about the IP and getting new IP out there in the gaming world is (as I personally see it) important. More important we see all these ‘big boys’ like EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda ‘dragging’ their feet for years and in under 8 months I placed at least 4 new games in my blog and handed ideas for Ubisoft to expand their arsenal using their old games. As such I wonder who the actual game drivers are (I believe it is me). 

Still, this idea has merit and I will need to see through a few more iterations of this idea before it is even close to ready for development, but I will keep my head high and struggle through the ideas I have. 

Have a great day and enjoy this Saturday.

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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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