Emergence at Fextralife writes, "2014's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was a revelation for gamers who are also fans of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Often, games tied to the series have fallen short of player hopes with a handful of them providing mildly enjoyable experiences. However, Shadow of Mordor brought the series into true AAA territory, by infusing into the hack and slash genre a fluid and entertaining combat system along. But a big component of the game’s critical success was an innovative Nemesis system that allowed enemy NPCs to remember the deaths and other situations from its experience with the protagonist, allowing them to be promoted within Sauron’s ranks and grow stronger (and vengeful), while also increasing the value for defeating them. Buoyed by the sleeper success, developer Monolith hit us with a reveal announcement for Middle-earth: Shadow of War earlier this year, and a promise of a release this August, along with announcement footage of city siege gameplay. As the weeks have gone, we’ve learned a bit more about what the sequel will look like and how it will build off the foundations in the first."
From Xfire: "Enemy AI is a difficult subject to tackle in video games. Some may argue that current tech isn't advanced enough to implement ultra realistic AI. However, in a world where your phone's AI can book appointments for you, can't it spot a hooded figure hiding in a 'crowd' of four people? In fact, the AI in 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was so smart that the developer had to 'dumb' it down for the final release."
From VGC: "A few days ago, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) finally agreed to grant Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment a patent on its “Nemesis” system – a procedural engine which Monolith Entertainment, a WB Games subsidiary, used to bring the world of Middle Earth to life in 2014’s Shadow of Mordor and 2017’s Shadow of War."
Is it gross that the patent "effectively makes exclusive to WB Games the concept of…a player-avatar’s interaction with an NPC affecting the parameters of a second NPC"? Gross WB has attained "exclusive rights to a system which on its face appears to describe most games on the market today"? And they did it to "profit off its licensure or exclusivity at a later time"?
Yeah man. Gross is putting it mildly.
Exactly, it's a pretty broad mechanic that a ton of games already have or are developing for right now. Now they have to go back to the drawing board to dumb their games down just to be legal or cough up a ton of dough just to release it.
I will not give this site the pleasure (and revenue) of my click, and I will not waste my time reading this opinion piece. However only the headline is enough to know the author is a dumb***. A corporation making a game mechanic exclusive it is gross, to put mildly.
The very best LOTR games available right now.
