The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) today [October 18, 2017] released the latest sales physical game sales charts for Australia and New Zealand. For the week ended October 15, the No. 1 best-seller in both regions is no surprise: Middle-earth: Shadow of War. It topped the all-platforms charts in both countries, while it was also No. 1 on the console-specific charts for every platform it was released on.
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.
There ya go, well deserved for a great game.
Obviously. The Kiwis practically live in Orcland.
I thought the nemesis system was amazing in the first game, but it's already blown me away with how much better it is in this one.
I can just get lost from the actual missions for hours chasing down random captains and warchiefs, it's awesome.