Tag Archives: Xbox

October 16, 2023 · 10:38

Everyone’s Amazing Freebee

Yup, this happens. We all like freebee’s and this might not be the exclusive one. But the idea is (as per now) handed to Electronic Arts. You see, this started in the very early morning when I saw the image below pass by. So basically whomever created that image is to blame/congratulate on the idea I just had.

You see, that person made an awesome cover. Or that person has way to much free time on his/her hands. But it got me thinking. My connection to Madden is sparingly and not that much. It started somewhere in the 90’s with Sierra On Line Front Page Sports. 

We had a collection of players and we all played our games and then we compared statistics. I choose the San Francisco 49ers. I got nowhere near the top 3, but it was fun for all around. I then stopped playing the game until Madden NFL 2003 (I think) which I got on the original Xbox. It had the cool option to change the desktop depending on your favourite team, and as such I chose the 49ers. I got one additional version about a decade ago and that was it.

My largest issue is not on the makers, well perhaps it is. I have little to no knowledge on Football and the NFL and that results in the game not having a learning curve for those with little or no knowledge of the game. If someone objects that this is my flaw, I will accept that. But the opportunity to get a larger following on the game is lost and that is on Electronic Arts. Especially as streaming systems are starting to grow, giving players a game with a learning and educations curve will be important, that is pretty much a given and that applies to all sports (NBA, NFL, NHL, FIFA). The time to cater to merely the devoted fans comes to an end, too much needed to be vested in any game to rely on ‘self education’ to get ahead in a sports game. There is also the need to connect to others in a multitude of manners. Scores sharing (to a multi player pool) multiplayer when the two teams meet and so on. Parts can be done now, but it is (as far as I could tell) pretty limited. 

So the idea comes from the cover and that is the fat that more could be done. In this case an evolution in commentators. For example a celebrity could comment on the game. In the season there would be a 10% chance, during the playoffs 25% and the Super Bowl will have a 100% chance and there we get the larger issue. We know that Taylor Swift will have a vested interest to commentate on the Kansas Chiefs (a tall order if ever there was one), Jeremy Renner is a devoted 49ers fan, Arizona Cardinals has its own Oklahoma based fan Blake Shelton, George Clooney is a die hard Cincinnati Bengals fan and that list goes on and it would be up to EA to find the willing and right celebrity for the 32 NFL teams. I am amazed that no one thought of this before. Perhaps they did, but until the PS5 and Streaming systems there wasn’t enough options to implement that and that is fair enough. The nice part is that the next Madden is roughly 8 months, 22 days and 15 hours away. As such Electronic Arts does have enough time to consider and implement (or reject) the notion of adding to the franchise. I also believe that the personalisation that the original Xbox version had should return and a much better or enhanced educational system for those not struck by NFL devotion. There is off course a stage that this could apply to the other franchises, but that would be up for Electronic Arts to consider. 

Whether they do or don’t (it is up to them) my creative vibes remain active and now they went in a direction I didn’t count on. Perhaps all the newspapers focussing on the Gaza clambake was cause of all this. I don’t know, but whomever posted the initial Madden 25 file, thank you. It gave me something to think about and start Monday on a non work related cause.

Enjoy Monday.

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September 4, 2023 · 19:37

It’s a game Jim.

Yup, I just went there and as it is about starfield I feel correct in going there. You see, I might have given correct (or incorrect) voice to a foundational issue, or issues. Yet I am not playing that game. So I cannot say one way or the other and here IGN comes in. You see they have been a clear voice for a long time. 

Not everyone likes IGN, but together with Eurogamer they are a clear voice and there are a few thing you need to know, things given to us (at https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-review) aptly named ‘Starfield Review’. This does not give us that the other voices of review are suddenly wrong, but this is new IP. Things will go bump in the night. One thing that stood out was “Even after about 70 hours there are major quest-lines I haven’t even touched, and others I barely began. I’m eager to go back and finish a lot of those up now that I’ve completed the main story.” Did you make that small jump? ‘Even after 70 hours’? This makes Starfield surpass Skyrim by a fair amount. There are matters of concern when you see “In typical Bethesda fashion, that main quest isn’t terribly flexible in how you resolve the situations it thrusts you into. Your options here are, for the most part, about picking whether you want to be a boy scout for whom a good deed is its own reward, a wise-cracking mercenary who asks to be rewarded after doing a good deed, or an all-business mercenary who demands to be paid up front to do the good deed.” This doesn’t make the game, bad, lousy or lacking. It is merely an approach to RPG, one that Bethesda had done for the longest of times and they have done it well. This is not an apology, but I do believe in fair play and I do not hate Bethesda, I merely hate stupid acts and Starfield is not necessarily a act of stupidity, so adjustments are required and I am making them. There are still too many technical issues reported by all manners of media and that is just a big no-no in beta stage or later, but that is a cross Bethesda and Microsoft will have to carry for some time. Such is life. 

Still, the quote “There’s a storyline that felt very Boys from Brazil-inspired, as well as numerous related quests about hunting down war criminals and banned technology that pose ethical quandaries to reconcile. You can join up with the Crimson Fleet pirates and dive into a life of smuggling and general space crime, or take up the mantle of a legendary pirate hunter” is showing us the foundation of a space RPG that most are looking for and that matters, because it is about the game and the gamers, not about Bethesda perse. None of this shows the meltdown vlogger to be wrong or incorrect. I am merely looking at other parts to the degree a non Starfield gamers can. Just as I did not play Redfall. We give ourselves limits (some on principle), but we all have limits, even I have them and that combines with the need to remain fair gave me the push to write this part. So if you are an Xbox thingamajig you need to make up your mind and as such you should read the IGN review. They have always been fair on games and that counts, for me it does. IGN also had some negatives to report, but to see that you will have to red the article, you see, it might not matter to you. Some people love walking the streets of a place, just like they set the town of Chorrel to mind and we get that, any RPG fan would. So are some parts actually negatives, or merely the hassle of a gamer? Your guess is as good as mine. Even Microsoft’s own Windows Central slapped Starfield, who knew. But there will always be haters and non-accepting gamers of the RPG field and it gets weirder, for some reason any Elder Scrolls lover will often never love Fallout and now Starfield. This happens. They are not haters, but there is one universe, their RPG universe and I reckon that Fallout and Starfield will have their own love connection to THEIR game. This too is the world of RPG and we need to recognise it if we want to get along with these people. No matter how we slice it, thanks to IGN we see that there is a lot more to Starfield than the mere complaints I have seen in over a dozen sources. I believe it is only fair I show that part to you too. It is a fair play approach to often non aligned views.

Enjoy the new week. 

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September 4, 2023 · 01:40

Ding, ding, ding, meltdown.

Normally I let things slide. There are a whole range of reasons why I would stop to proceed. Yet Starfield is a two edged sword. It is the larger setting for Microsoft and it is a new IP for Bethesda. Now on the surface it might seem nothing new, but the meltdown I just witnessed on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) is another matter. Gamers are dodgy to say the least. They love innovation and new RPG, but certain settings need to be open, but a choice for the gamer. So here it comes.

The view by Dan Vasc (at https://t.co/b1m0tt4ib2) is something to behold. And all this is just in week 1, before the official release of the game. And now the media has a go. There are low performance issues, there are apparently audio issues and a few other issues. Now, I get that there are issues, this is new IP. But what I am reading is that these issues should have ben captured by Alpha test teams, they should not exist in Beta editions, let alone early access, yet this is MY personal view. You see Freeze issues are not something you leave to the New Game + solution, this should not exist at this stage. And the list goes on and as the official launch starts, there will be even more issues. Another source is talking about Major Accessibility Problems all whilst yet another mentions that the inventory screens need a massive overhaul. All issues that should have been brought to the front of any limited Alpha test release. But I see again and again a mention like “least buggy Bethesda release” almost like it was spoon fed to the reviewer, but that could be merely me seeing things that are optionally not there, almost like I froze for a moment because my visual scanner was glitchy, but I do not have a New Game +, when I die that is it. There is no new life and no rinse and repeat. That is why PROPER testing is massively important. The stage given to us by Dan Vasc might be merely him, but that might not be the case. RPG gamers are a strange bunch and when Guerrilla Software release Horizon Forbidden West they saw how loyal and how strange some RPG gamers can be, yet the bulk loved and embraced HFW. After the colossal blunder that Redfall showed itself to be, Microsoft (Bethesda too) had the duty to take extra care for Starfield (and maybe they did), but the voice of Dan Vasc tells a different story. You see emersion is nice, but the people need to accept that emersion and making his claims to emersion an option in the game might have been the best choice. I cannot tell, I am not touching Starfield (its an Xbox only product). But his loud voice is making me wonder how much trouble Bethesda is in now, because no matter what Microsoft will claim out in the open, if this game does not bring home the bacon, Microsoft will prune the Bethesda tree to the largest extent and that gives me the idea that developers might want to get on the RPG train now. If a place like Bethesda is rejected there will be no one to champion the torch of RPG, for that new IP is needed and my articles over the last 2 years will give a new developer (for Amazon and Tencent technologies only) a brisk handle of raking in the profit, because gamers need a place to be and it is way to soon to tell where they go, but if Dan Vasc is to be believed RPG gamers will need a new destination and the 60,000,000 copies that Skyrim sold, implies that there are a few million out there panicking and seeking a new refuge. Plenty will be happy in the Sony camp with its offerings, but not all are Sony minded, that is fine, there will be options for Amazon Luna and Tencent Technologies if makers of games wake up, because the wake up call I just witnessed was a loud one. Was it loud enough? I reckon that by the arrival of next weekend that will be a lot more clear for all to see.

It turned Monday 96 minutes ago here. How is your Sunday going?

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May 24, 2023 · 21:37

Fair is the way

To start this off, I am a Sony guy. I have loved my PlayStation one through five and that is it. I am done with Xbox, Microsoft blew its own death march and that is that for me. Still, I do believe in fairness, Microsoft will have its own glorious days, it has had them in the past and it will have them in the future. As such its exclusive massive failure called Redfall does not help it much. Yet this is also another matter, as such when I saw ‘I regret to inform you that the Starfield review discourse has already begun’ I was somewhat offended. You see, no matter what it is a title and it does not matter who brought it, or that it is an Xbox exclusive. It should be judged fairly. 

So as I read “Speaking on the XboxEra podcast over the weekend, leaker Nick Baker suggested that “it doesn’t matter if Starfield is great – I’m already convinced that no-one wants to give Starfield high review scores.” Baker’s thesis is that ‘low’ scores ranging from 7-8.5 out of 10 would be handed down to spin up a news cycle about Xbox’s continued difficulties over recent years.” I got angry. I do not believe that real reviewers (I was one from 1986 through to 1999) would do that. There are two kinds of reviewers. The real reviewers like Eurogamer, and a few like them and there are sycophants internet wannabe influencers who think that dissing one side will bring the other side to them. The real reviewers like Eurogamer and IGN will give you the real deal, others will not. As for the other part I read “But Baker isn’t the only one already focusing on Starfield and its eventual review scores. A recent Forbes article suggests that the Metacritic scores attached to the rest of Bethesda’s catalogue (skirting awkwardly around Fallout 76’s 55%) are more than enough evidence that Starfield is on track for a similar appraisal.” I had to pause, did this  Nick Baker have a case? I for one do not know. I saw the trailer and it blew me away. I was happy for Xbox gamers as they seemingly had a winner for their system. And lets face it Xbox needs a win, especially if it is an exclusive. I haven’t seen anything since, but mostly I wasn’t looking. Why stare at a game you will never play? And the other side is that the game is not finished. It isn’t due until September, September 6th is slightly more precise. So there is well over 3 months to go, and if that date is correct the gold master will be announced in about 8 weeks. As such, how can any clear review be out there? No one gets to see a real version before the gold master as such there should not now, not be any review with a meta score. The trailer is not a reason for any review, but if there was, the trailer I saw makes this a 90% game. I had not felt these gaming butterflies since the Mass Effect 1 trailer and that was in 2006, they had another trailer for the sequel which was in March 2009 and it blew our socks off, moreover Mass Effect 2 is still up to this date one of the best tactical shooters in history, it was THAT good. 

As such I am willing to wait until the real Starfield rears its exclusive head and I will be seeing an actual gameplay on YouTube knowing I will never buy it as I will never get an Xbox, still there are over 18 million Xbox gamers around the world, and why should they not have an amazing gaming journey? I know it is merely half of the PS5 population, but that is a marketing problem for Bethesda, they need not market where they are not. What they need worry about is getting a fair shake and they are entitled to a fair shake, no matter what orchestra they blow from. I believe that above all other things.

Have a great day.

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April 1, 2023 · 18:54

Focal and blinders

We all face them at times, I am no different. The problem is when is what what. Let me be a little more clear, in my case Microsoft is an issue, as I personally see it, if they buy Blizzard, they will need $92,000,000 of profit a day just to break even with the purchase of 3 houses (Mojang, Bethesda and Blizzard), now this is not set correctly, they bought Mojang some time ago, as such the amount is a few million less, but it is not less by much. They already crashed Redfall PS5, which they are allowed to do. They are allowed to do whatever they need to with what they own. Yet, consider that the PS5 has well over 30,000,000 consoles in the field and they allegedly need $92 million a day, does the act make sense? So am I concentrating on a focal, or a blinder. Consider that a blinder lets you NOT see in a specific direction. We attribute all kinds of ‘evil’ towards Microsoft, are they blinders or are they seen as the result of a focal? That is actually a lot harder to answer than you think. When is one could also be the other.

As such I have been concentrating on my two IP projects. Project Graveyard and Project Cluster. Two very different software and hardware IP settings. They both fit the Amazon Luna and optionally whomever buys the Google Stadia, which is why Kingdom Holdings was on my radar. One will be a decent downfall for Microsoft the other no less, but also takes the steam out of Facebook, and as such Amazon was the logical path to take and not just merely logical, Amazon was about to get a whole new range of revenue because of it. Yet I try not to be smitten by either blinders or focal (no matter how much fun they are). As such I saw the appearance of Tencent on time and even as several players are willing to ignore Tencent, I cannot and I will not. Tencent has seemingly the ability to unite gamers. In addition it allows China to grow in one additional industry where Americans thought they would not exist and now Microsoft in particular will have a problem because of the required $92 million a day will become a nose grounded with an anchor around the neck of American economy. And there are plenty of nay sayer spinners on the internet. It is all Microsoft and they are all getting on top of things. So lets have a go at that list 

1. Microsoft would acquire Mandiant to solve their solarwinds issue
There was one news cycle and then suddenly it went dark, there was no more news. I raised it in ‘What we hope for’ on March 7th 2022 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/07/what-we-hope-for/). It became part of Google and it is a Google solution now. After that Microsoft and cyber solutions went a little dark on the matter.

2. Microsoft had a new Tablet to WOW the world. No, it didn’t never got close to the Apple iPad and it got even less close to the iPad Air, two devices that were more able and had a larger following and it still does. It still has a lot more to offer, but the spinners came with the ‘with the keyboard it was a more complete laptop’. No, it was not and it will never be that more. I saw people howling with agony as they saw failure after failure on their Surface. I still see some people trying to spin that thing. A $1650 solution trying to win over a $500 iPad, all whilst Apple has the more versatile device.

3. Microsoft has the cloud solution, Azure. Smell it, it smells nice. Which is laughingly the biggest loser of them all. In clarity, Azure is not bad, it lacks and it has no business in gaming. Azure is the Microsoft solution and after 3 years it is nowhere near ready to take on the AWS (Amazon Cloud solution). Last month someone wrote (not me) “Azure is more costly. Azure is the finest alternative for a robust Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider and even a Windows integration. If a company needs infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) or a wide range of tools, AWS may be the ideal option”, so where are the SAAS and GAAS comparisons? And when I look, there is always a hidden issue where the people are promoting THEIR solution, no matter whether it involves AWS or Azure (Google is falling behind too much). At the moment the marketshare of AWS is a lot larger and in some reports it seems like Google cloud and IBM cloud are underreported. What matters is that this is another field where Microsoft is not ahead. 

4. The Microsoft gaming console is the most powerful in the world. It might be true, but the weakest console of them all (Nintendo Switch) surpassed the Microsoft sales numbers by a lot and did it in half the time Microsoft with their X/S console were in the field. Even now, these numbers of X and S series consoles are aggregated, the loss is that defining. They are way behind  the PS5 with their X series console, but it is the most powerful in the world. In addition the PS5 has a whole range of next generation titles that goes into the dozen and the Microsoft console is lacking there, even after two years it is still lacking in Next generation titles. 

I will ignore issues 5,6 and 7. 4 fields where Microsoft will need to do a lot better and for years they were not able to do so. So where is that $92 million a day profit coming from? I cannot see it, can you? And that was merely to claw back the investments on gaming alone. Amazon is hungry and they are driving their AWS (and optionally their Amazon Luna too) making the pain for Microsoft larger. Apple has a firm grip on their devices and even as we might not like Apple, their devices are solid and Microsoft has no chance of driving a wedge there. And as I see it, they already lost the console war. In that environment Microsoft is bleeding revenue all over the field, their books are red with blood and red ink. And for their security I have not seen an alternative for Mandiant (owned by Google). So where are they now? When will we see another Solarwinds? It is not a given, but they lack in cyber security, so I fail to see how they will stop the next wave. 

And now the battle field changes further, Tencent is about to arrive, I merely wonder if that was one of the reasons why the E3 was cancelled (I honestly do not know). If Tencent arrives, it arrives with more options and more settings than the Microsoft console field will allow for, no matter how that plays out, it makes the Blizzard $65,000,000,000 a massive anchor around the neck of Microsoft and it will hurt them, no matter what ideas they have. Tencent has been funding a lot of Unreal engine 5 stuff, as such they could wow the gaming community and if they are going the direction I am speculating on, it will hurt both Microsoft and Amazon to a larger degree, in this the pain to Apple remains unknown, or it might be minor. And that is all before some figure out that Project Cluster will enable a lot more than anyone considered, it was meant for that, to be ready for national 5G implementations. How many of them did that off the bat and how many (implying Microsoft) stated “We will get to that when it is ready”, it is the short term focal point of a quarter by quarter BI person. In this none of them have a real long term focal point and that is why Tencent is a danger to them all, they are focussing on 2025 and 2026 (the year Microsoft allegedly collapses).

So is Microsoft my blinder? Is it my focal, or did I see the stage for what it was one that offers great options for some and not that much for others. They limited their abilities by hanging an additional $65,000,000,000 anchor around their necks. I am calling it as I saw it. Perhaps I am wrong, you tell me. I gave you the numbers and the works, you can do your own research.

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March 31, 2023 · 20:09

Those cordially invited

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

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

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

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February 8, 2023 · 22:28

When the pool is too deep

Twi days ago I wrote Brain switch, it was me on a joyride through my brain as I was reengineering  IP over and over and it went faster and faster. I got a handle on it by playing Hogwart Legacy. You see gaming is more than an escape for me. It is a passion that allows me to take my mind away from things and that is at times a good thing. It allowed my subconscious to work on Engonos, the story of the grandson of Hades. Weirdly enough I was inspired by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Or better stated, he gave me the idea to take a trip to the right. In part I was already doing s in another way, but I suddenly realised that I could enhance one character to get a lot more out of the whole. It is in part a little bit of a drag. You see, I can go memento on that character to keep the story in line and not give away too much, but that too has its advantages and drawbacks. The advantage is that two characters are drawn into the story, one makes sense already, the other one does not on the surface of things, but in Olympian lore it does. As such I tend towards that part of the solution, even though one of them already has a larger role to play and I set that in motion. Now that these roles are staged and partially set, I need to build the background stories for all involved. As such the memento approach, the other one is a historic jump, it seems cleaner, but it opens up too much mesh. A combination has benefits, but at that point I need to be cautious how I approach the matter and I need to script some elements, but that is not a problem. One lesson I learned a long time ago, when a problem is too big, chip it into smaller manageable pieces. That was all good and fine, but that suddenly gave me a few more ideas towards some RPG designs I was entertaining, to be made freely available for exclusive Amazon Luna materials.

I get that this does not make sense, but the reason is simple. Microsoft made valid steps in gaming, we might not like them, but they did what any corporation did, set yourself apart. Yet they did so by buying Bethesda and making parts exclusive to the Xbox. This is a valid, but unappealing approach. This setting changed when Avalanche launched Hogwarts legacy and they set the bar way higher than Skyrim ever was, making it a problem for Microsoft. You see if Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 are on par with Hogwart Legacy, Microsoft loses a lot more than they bargained for. Now if I can add to that pain by giving Amazon Luna developers a sight to more software that is close to on par with Microsoft (not an easy task) they will feel even more pain and that is what I had been after. I expected this to be a lot harder, but Avalanche gave me a trump card, they surpassed Bethesda (what they had up to now), this is not unexpected because Skyrim is 11 years old. Yet it makes my work a little easier. The RPG has storylines, it has a balanced economic system and it has evolution, I only need to set a new stage that has a new kind of nemesis system. Not some copy of Shadow of Mordor, but something new, something we haven’t seen before. I want to counter grinding to some extent. I have one side which is a much larger map, the other side is a new kind of adversarial system and I want to add to that. But it needs to enhance what is, not replace what could be. This is hard to explain for now, but it is in the works, in the meantime, those thoughts are helping me to give larger rise to Engonos, which was what I had in mind all along. Cogs within cogs, not the most elegant of explanations, but it will do for now.

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January 6, 2023 · 15:15

In opposition, meet tall

I saw the message, or lets just say it is directed BS from Microsoft. The quote (see below) called out Sony.

They claim that Sony is keeping them small. I say ‘BS’, they kept themselves small through stupidity. They were once a contender with the Xbox360 and it was a good system, but the board of directors at MS were short sighted, they set out a path of limitations, because they were just gamers. They set hurdle after hurdle to get more revenue and now they end up with a system that is defeated by Sony PS5 by selling well over 2:1 against the Xbox series X. This is not merely about console technology. I personally believe that the Sony system is superior, but I do believe that the margin is not that great. They lost too much with the Xbox One because they were stupid, very stupid. In addition to that the lack of exclusive games did even more damage. And of course there is the lack of credibility due to stupidity outspoken by Don Mattrick on June 12th 2013 “we have a product for people who can’t get online, it’s called Xbox 360”. There it shows that Microsoft did not understand gamers, it did not comprehend its market and threw it all away on that setting. A real competitor was washed as a has been from that moment on. And the board of Micro$oft did not learn, they kept pushing Azure, they kept on going blunder after blunder and now whilst they are trying to adjust by buying the important software houses, they will lose even more. Lets be clear, it is not wrong to do this. Everyone has done it to some degree and they started this stretch in a good way by buying Mojang. They did however miss the target by buying revenue through the acquisition of Bethesda and now Blizzard, even if the last one is contended. They kept themselves small. They will have good days (Starfield) and they will have a few really good launches, but the people have already shied away from Microsoft and that will take a lot more and the insult in accusing Sony angered me. So I am now making a new stage. I made a few before and I handed that IP as Freeware to Sony and Amazon.

This time around this IP is exclusive to Amazon Luna and anyone developing for the Amazon Luna can have this IP FOR FREE. The rule is simple, it must be an exclusive Luna title. So Sony is out on this one. Just to show that Sony creativity will prevail and Microsoft, where creativity is at an all time low, they will suffer again and again, especially as they are in the process of spending a total of over $100,000,000,000 whilst the others get it for free, that is the harshest lesson of creativity. The imagination is creates without cost, it is a perpetual engine that Microsoft seemingly never understood in the first place.

Tall
As such I created the idea of Tall. It is an isometric game. The story is that the dwarves are on their last legs, they are overrun by the goblins and they have the dwarves painted in a corner. It is not going good for the brothers of Gimli, but on one faithful day, you (hero you) comes in and helps out the dwarves. And this sets a start in motion, a start where the goblins could be defeated, or at least diminished as they will not be able to overrun the dwarves. The setting is that you have a choice of three heroes A fighter, a wizard or an archer. The idea is that they all have a weakness and a strength. Wizard and archer have the ability of range, the fighter has power and instant kill. But it is not that simple. These three can only be on the main roads of dwarf locations, they are too big for the small streets. As such the goblins can retreat more easily. 

But it goes further then that. On your trip you find gold coffers, different sizes shapes and colours. Some are for you and the dwarves collect it all. And set it on the markers that they are meant to go, some are for repairs, some are for upgrades and some are for you. There are more stations but you need a start. As you pass the first stage you will get a first upgrade (all get the same first upgrade), an armour that bounces 60% of all goblin arrows. After that the challenge increases and the race is on. You will face several cities and there is the need to lower the goblin population, each city has a barrel line. A mine-cart with barrels called barrel-rail that the dwarves use to get around. It needs fixing, the rails need to be cleaned and it needs to be reactivated. As the dwarves can get to areas of the city, the goblins have less chance to escape, as you get more treasures, some will upgrade the Dwarf Defense League (a DDL need if ever there was one). And as they upgrade they can reach more places, more survive and more of that place will become safe. And in the end (after all the towns) an evil wizard called A. Unarms (first name Abbott), an anagram for Saruman comes out and it will be a fight where the dwarves become the better supporting fighter as you cleaned out the previous towns more completely. The first town cannot get 100% clean, but every town is seen as complete when the 80% marker is passed. There is of course more, but this is the start and I created it with my mind in under an hour. Microsoft failed its gamers to THAT degree.

Believe me, do not believe me, it is entirely up to you, but better believe me that Sony never kept Microsoft small, they did that to themselves. 

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December 28, 2022 · 23:11

Why be surprised?

I saw the news yesterday, I saw the news earlier. Yet yesterday we were given ‘Microsoft admits to making future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox’ It does not make me happy, but it is as I personally see it, their right. They paid over 7 billion for Bethesda, as such they get assign the dance card of Bethesda. I don’t think it is good business, but it is their choice. You see, in the lat two years I placed gaming IP, with storylines on this blog as freeware for anyone programming games for Sony and Amazon Luna. We can jump high and low, yet I decided to create IP for these two players to offset the Microsoft advantage. I believe that a new RPG IP will not solve it all, but it will take more wind out of the sails of Microsoft and Bethesda. When these RPG’s catch on, the damage for Microsoft increases and those who used my freeware will get a larger chunk of profit, all for free. A win, win, win (not for Microsoft though). 

So when we try to give rise to the titles and consider “The document blacks out the names of the upcoming titles, saying that these are games to be played “primarily alone or in small groups.” If this doesn’t say Starfield and/or The Elder Scrolls 6, we don’t know what does.” I reckon that Microsoft wants to hide the titles, they want to influence the impact of what system to buy. They want to sell more consoles, but Microsoft crashed its own windows all the way back when the Xbox one was here. It never broke the records of Nintendo consoles of the Gameboy Advance, the 3DS, The DS, the the Wii, the Switch and so on and the subsequent systems aren’t doing any better. The latest system has less than half the global sales numbers that the PS5 has. It gets to be worse, the PS4 has sold more than the sum of all Xbox One versions and Microsoft is getting desperate, another field where they no longer have any influence. Bethesda would optionally make a difference. I get that, people bought specific consoles to play a game. It is the reason I got the Xbox360, Oblivion was worth buying the 360 for and it gave me great gaming, a really good system and Microsoft bungled it with the Xbox One, just like they bungle all things else (as I personally see it) and they go on to the Blizzard merge. Another clever ploy, but I can counter it with more freeware for Sony and Amazon Luna. $100 billion in IP bought and the creative minds can counter that with additional settings that will lessen the value of these companies. I left over $6 billion annual on the blog and that is merely the first phase. I created IP for game developers who do not work for Microsoft. Slam after slam after slam. I will bring Microsoft down to their knees and teach them what happens when you mess with gamers. It might be the most expensive lesson they ever got and I am not even close to done yet. Now that I am fired up all the IP that was initially meant for TESVII: Restoration can be poured directly into a new RPG, one that is about creation, choice and restorations. Of course it will need new storylines but I can pull that off too. 

And the new makers never have to pay up to $100,000,000,000. A direct loss for Microsoft, as it should be.

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November 10, 2022 · 14:03

This is the way to London Town

That as the first thought that came to mind. The idea that Microsoft is done for. 

See-saw, sacaradown,
Which is the way to London Town?
One foot up, and one foot down,
That is the way to London Town.

It is 2005, I become the proud owner of the Xbox 360, it is late in the year and I am happy. I saw what Bethesda is about to bring with Oblivion and I am happy. Gaming is at an all time high. I keep it next to me PS2, the PS3 is not there yet and Microsoft has an edge and they play it well, they become a new force to be reckoned with and I am happy. You see, Sony became better with Microsoft nipping at its heels and all gamers prosper because of it. 12 year later and what was once great is diminished to mediocrity. The Xbox One is released in 2013, I get mine in 2015. It is nice to have next to the PS4, but merely that nice. In 12 years Microsoft threw out of the window what it had, stupid people in the board room, stupid people agreeing with everything and getting nowhere. Sony is now the only titan in the sky, there is still Nintendo, but like Apple it has its slightly peculiar journey and that is fine. It is protective of the family as a gaming cluster and it does its part well. In 2017 Microsoft scratches its throat proclaiming it is releasing the most powerful console in the world and some fall for it. The limitations are a joke and moreover the weakest console of them all (Nintendo Switch) surpasses them in a little over a year. 

In the meantime, the Sony fans get the PS5 in November 2020, yes three years later but the impact is visible, it breaks record and the games are beyond anything we have seen. It shows their PS4 (pro) to be limiting but only to the games played. 

Whatever games Microsoft spins does not add up to anything near what Sony brings

Spiderman Miles Morales (2020)
Ratchet and Clank (2021)
Returnal (2021)
Horizon Forbidden West (2022)
God of War Ragnarok (2022)

Five exclusives and Microsoft has nothing to oppose it, it launches another Halo and it gets a mere 80%, it is like watching the spin of Ubisoft. What was once great is now at best mediocre and they feel certain because they bought Bethesda and Blizzard and that is not getting the people round. It is the stage of stale yoghurt with a decent chance of poisoning. There is nothing that gives Microsoft the value it requires. We see “Xbox beats PlayStation when it comes to backwards compatibility, which is a feature that lets you play games from older consoles. Xbox Series X can play games dating back to the Xbox 360, which was released in 2005. PlayStation 5 can play PS4 titles, but gamers can’t play PS3 titles they own with the latest console.” They rely on 15 year old games to safe their hide. The PS3 has 4 titles that would be nice to play again. 4 out of….. (you see my point). God of War 3, Arkham City (both rereleased on PS4), Skyrim (rereleased on PS5) and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots the only game I can no longer play. And with a 94% rating there is plenty of reason wanting to play it once more. One game and the rest is around the corner, as such Microsoft misses out again. There are of course more games, but I am focussing on exclusives. The fact that most PS4 games be played on PS5 is left in the corner. 

Microsoft got it wrong to this degree and they think that all is good, the marketing spin continues and they have no clue that they are a ship that is taking on water more and more. And do not get me wrong, I am not happy about this. It is because Microsoft was once close to a top position Sony opened up all engines and gave us the PS5 and we rejoiced. But I feel that the PS6 might not be the push forward. In the meantime I focussed on IP that will change the game, I am actually making sure that Microsoft cannot get to it, I am handing it to the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia at a reduced price giving them billions, I am willing to give up on a dream to prevent Microsoft fouling my IP. If we are not able to do this, then money controls us instead of we controlling money. Microsoft spin has no place here and I do not want them near my IP. 

There are two sides to the song and story. The great games live forever and Microsoft forgot that making new games and screwing up franchises. Thinking that a TV series solves it and with the 71% rating it shows how wrong they got that too. Consoles and Tablets two markets they wrecked and they give marketing the responsibility to safe it. Now their office market is starting to dwindle they are getting outmanoeuvred by Google, Apple and Adobe. Players that could not get close to Microsoft 20 years ago and now Microsoft is merely left with a spreadsheet, which they got from Lotus (basically). In 20 years Microsoft went from Titan to Tyrion Lannister, who talks a good talk and is smart, but this merely amounts to Microsoft marketing and they do deserve credit, but it might be their only division that does. And their Azure solution? It lost to an online bookshop (Amazon) and that loss is merely increasing as some sources claim. I honestly do not know enough to make that assessment, but Azure has a Microsoft logo, so I do not trust it right of the bat, the other divisions make sure of that. 

As I personally see it Microsoft is done for, it will merely take a few years for the carcass to start rotting and the first few years that rot will be masked as innovation as Microsoft is adding small to its divisions according to some alleged marketing people. In my lifetime I saw Microsoft grow from a simple company to a behemoth and after that dwindle to irrelevancy in the near future. I wonder what they will try to pull of with their partnership with Tencent. We will know soon enough.

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