In theory, I get the appeal of an NPC powered by AI. What if Lydia from Skyrim could talk endlessly about topics other than your shared inventory and could offer more than the handful of phrases she shouts at enemy bandits? I like the idea of characters whose interactions don't end just because their scripts do. It's an intriguing concept.The reality is that, at least for now, the AI solutions...

While Nintendo has a long and infamous history of petty litigiousness, its recent efforts to secure a series of Pokémon-related patents have been particularly obnoxious—obnoxious enough that even the Japan Patent Office seems like its patience for the publisher's quibbling is wearing thin.Earlier this month, Japanese patent examiners issued a rebuke of Nintendo's objections to a Patent Office's prior rejections of one of the publisher's Pokémon patent applications. In its...

Leave it to trademark filings to publicly utter the name of a new videogame before anyone else: The next Kingdom Come will almost surely be called Kingdom Come Salvation. Huzzah.That's according to a July 23 trademark filing by Warhorse Studios with the EUIPO, first spotted by Phrasemaker. Had the owners of the trademark not already been confirmed to be Warhorse, the styling of the Salvation logo (see below) would've been...

Bad news for anyone looking forward to playing the new Tomb Raider game Catalyst next year: It's not going to be out until the year after that.Word of the delay came from Amazon Gaming chief Jeffrey Gattis during an interview with The Game Business. Talking about Amazon's game investment strategy, Gattis said the company is into pretty much everything, "from what we call game night games, which are those phone-as-a-controller...

Larian Studios has reiterated that it is fully, 100%, without a doubt, donezo in the bunzo when it comes to new Baldur's Gate-related projects. It's latest statement was in response to a Dark Horse comics announcement that could have been interpreted as implying the studio's involvement.Maximum hijinks are happening right now, but we’re not involved in any BG3 related projects.As soon as we bust outta here, we'll share more about...

Fantasy RPGs have become too comfortable with delivering the expected gaggle of familiar character concepts. Archers, monks, paladins, you know the drill. I've seen it all before! Give me, I don't know, a Viking that shoots triple-barreled laser guns out of its dual shields, which also have metal claws, you know? Final Fantasy 14 knows what I'm talking about—down to the last detail, in fact. Indeed, the first new job...

I'm in such a bubble of positivity for Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil movie (out September 18) that I had no idea anyone was upset about it until I looked at the reactions to some of PC Gamer's coverage.The movie is Resident Evil "in name and nothing else," one person wrote in reply to one of our social media posts.As it turns out, some Resident Evil...

In June, Sjoerd De Jong—an Unreal Engine modder and map creator turned full-time specialist at Epic Games—announced that he was leaving the company after 12 years as its "lead evangelist" for Unreal. In a cryptic departure message, he said the games industry was at a "pivotal point," and he's aiming to "work out how to adapt and excel" at addressing the changing needs of videogame development.We now have a clearer...

A few months ago, indie developer RetroSpecter noticed something unusual about Crashphalt, their first completed game that launched on Steam in 2018: Since their last check-in on the neglected platformer, Crashphalt had suddenly gained over 500 reviews. In its first four years, it had barely managed a dozen.And almost none of those new reviewers had anything to say about Crashphalt itself. Mostly, they just talked about Undertale.(Image credit: Cold Pressed...

Not only is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey blowing up the box office, but it's also blowing up the career of one of the lesser-known actors in the film… lemme quickly check IMDB for his name… ah, here it is: Matt Damon.Just kidding, Matt Damon is in everything, everywhere, every movie, all the time. You know those little movies Facebook makes of your photographs without asking? I just watched mine and...