Isn’t this already done with Mario game(s)? I think it was Super Mario Deluxe, where if you die enough times, Luigi shows up and will be doing the entire level for you including the ‘boss’ fight.
On Super Mario Wii U this happens. My daughter used it to see how to get through levels she was having trouble with. It’s frustrating to watch, though it showed me I was wrong that levels basically needed the run button to be held to make it across the gaps.
And then you can either accept that the ghost beat the level for you or go back to trying.
But, the thing is it’s not very difficult to do this with specific games. You can just record the inputs as they come in and replay those, which is how replays or saved games often work.
Seems like they want to be able to do this for arbitrary games, which requires a much more sophisticated system that can understand what’s on the screen, what the goals are, and how to achieve them using just video and audio feedback (and maybe hint documents from the makers).
…fuck off.
Hey Alexa, have fun, so I don’t have to!!
God I remember doing a puzzle in Jedi fallen order and about half way through it’s like “oh maybe you should do this” and pointed me to the solution… Like if I’m playing on the hardest difficulty why are you throwing hints that ruin the whole thing?
What is even the point then?
Just watch a movie or read a book.
Shit, listen to an audiobook if you’re that lazy!
What they gonna watch a movie for me too? Fucka my wife for me? Eat a steak for me? I can see this for games for kids like with that Mario example, but for everyone else seems like it would be a nuisance. At least have it be opt in.
Remember when Atreus wouldn’t shut the fuck up in God of War (you know, a FIRST party Sony game) and would tell you the solution if you got stuck? Tone it down a little and it would be perfect. We don’t need AI bullshit.
So much for critical thinking skills…
Reminds me of the Gran Turismo days when an elastic band around the trigger was free money on Test course.
So just a video then without the game
Does anyone remember where games would respect the autonomy of the player enough that they’d actually let you lock yourself out of an ending, where there was an actual game over state your decisions could lead you to?
I still remember the point where the pile of notes my sibling made for Riven (the Myst sequel) was taller than the 6 CD jewel case it came in.
I dont see the issue, I would wait for my cousins to visist to get me past hard points in games as a kid, this wouldve let kid me who was new to using a conttoller finish games that I never touched again and never will.
Watching other ppl play a game start to finish livestreaming or on youtube is somehow social acceptable but this is bad.
Hey Alexa, get me super hard trophy… But quickly!!!
Nintendo already patented this.
Wow that’s depressing. I guess the main solace is that if Sony patents this then we’re unlikely to see this practice on other systems.
Still, on the long list of shit we need to fix with America, fixing the patent system is a big one.
Large corps buy them like lotto tickets and try to patent anything and everything they can.
Look how long WB has sat on the Nemisis system because they got a patent a decade ago on it. It wasn’t really a unique idea, but thousands of games have been prevented from doing anything similar.
They patented a very specific algorithm for a very specific kind of game. You can still do knock-offs of the system in the same way you can make RTS games without asking Blizzard’s permission or platformers without asking Nintendo’s.
I would suspect that SoM’s system is complex enough that nobody’s been eager to try and replicate it. But they high level concept of randomized enemy generation isn’t something you can patent. Neither is randomizing story elements between NPCs.
Digital Extremes was going to do something somewhat similar with their nemesis system in Warframe but had to scrap it because of that patent. So now we have the mediocre Lich/Sister/Boyband systems in place instead.
The Lich system was pretty close to the mark. Possible that developers gave the underlying features of SoM a wide berth out of caution, but so much of this seems to boil down to “we don’t want to risk the possibility of a lawsuit” rather than “we can’t just do our thing and see if WB’s lawyers care enough”.
So long as you’re not directly ripping off the code from another system, patent courts have been pretty generous in interpreting overlapping abstract concepts.
But any kind of suit is scary, particularly for studios that aren’t geared up to fight them.
It wasn’t complex at all. It’s incredibly simple
A lot of times companies will patent things that they don’t necessarily intend to ever produce. Sometimes to obscure the patents that they actually do want to produce. Sometimes to reserve it in the case that they do want to later. And sometimes so that no one else can.
This. Sony patented the stand up and say something to skip ads.
This was a decade ago, and it’s not a thing, and won’t be a thing.
Also, the OP article is an accessibility thing, sometimes people just can’t physically do stuff, fuck them for their disability I guess is what top level comment is saying.
I love that patent. Whoever made it was really trolling.
As someone who does have a cognitive disability, there is a genuine difference between augmented input/level skip vs. what is effectively an integrated TAS.
Mario Kart 8 is a good example of accessibility that still empowers the player, as the player still needs to hold an input and retains control of the character - it’s just that massive errors that would result in loss (IE: falling off the track) are prevented by corrective steering taking control.
An automated TAS gives no empowerment to the player - it’s no different that running a lengthy macro script. If I wanted to watch the characters have an adventure without my ability to have influence in the journey, I’d just watch a movie instead.
Why are you assuming everyone will use it for the whole game? While that’s a possibility, those would be edge cases. The article specifically talks about it helping with CERTAIN parts. If you just ignore a major point of an article, of course you can embellish and look foolish.
Having a TAS to beat certain sections or a hard boss would be awesome, having it play the whole game? Well some people will have a benefit from it, but not for me.
And physical disabilities exist too!
Ai is not, and cannot be considered an accessibility feature. If anything it’ll just stifle any genuine attempts to create something accessible because why bother trying to make the game fun for everyone when the ai can just play the game for you when you’re stuck
What a horrible take.
I get “screw ai” but this doesn’t even need to use ai to work.
But go off I guess, people like you are just the worse. Decrying Ai, doubly so when it’s not even relevant to the story.
Also, this isn’t possible with current or even next gen tech, unless they literally script the “AI” responses to all available situations which would be infeasible.
LLMs can’t reason or handle complex situations. They are text auto complete programs or image generation programs.
Game playing is not LLM. They’re game-specific reinforcement learning models. It’s not easy, but definitely doable with existing tech. Sony’s GT Sophy is a good demonstration on what they’re capable of.
Machine learning is not viable for anything other than simpler 2d games or small segments of more complex games. The training required to get good results on that is intense already.
It is expensive, but it does work. We’ve already seen things work to a limited extent on StarCraft 2, Dota, and Gran Turismo, and those are all multiplayer games. The article seems to be talking about single player games, which simplified things a lot.
What is your problem with it? Just seems like an accessability feature to me. The one issue I see with it is folks who don’t need it using it in lieu of walkthroughs and wasting energy. I don’t expect that to be that big an issue though, generally people buy games because they want to play them.
Just screw disabled people eh?
Somethings aren’t possible for people to do, this would allow them to enjoy playing games still.
Are you really playing the game if the game is just playing itself?
Can’t I use this to skip the unwanted sections? MJ missions in Spider-Man, for example.
Depends how they implement it. Older option was to use cheats to skip parts and maybe watch a video if you want to see what happened in the part you skipped.
Just certain sections. You could get it to do the whole thing I guess.
You would still be experiencing the story as it’s meant to be told. Why do you think you have to “play” to fully enjoy something?
Why do you think “let’s play” videos exist? Now instead, they can support the devs by buying the game and experiencing it themselves.
Why do you think you have to “play” to fully enjoy something?
Where do you think I said or even implied this?
Why do you think “let’s play” videos exist?
Entertainment
Your previous comment says exactly that. Your own words.
Entertainment
So now they can support the dev and actually participate! Even better! Except for according to you.
Please go ahead and quote where you think it says either of those things.
Are you really playing the game if the game is just playing itself?
People enjoy different things, and you don’t need to play something to enjoy it. Your words.
People love watching sports, they aren’t playing are they?
Hell even point and click games exist, and those “play themselves” while you merely interact with the screen.
You don’t need an AI to skip, bypass, or cinematic your way through a difficult section. That’s a game design issue, not a patentable AI issue. This does not support disabled people, this will be used to ignore disabled people during game design and fire people who are actually competent at supporting disabled people.
This doesn’t prevent the other from happening. Why are you assuming that? Both can work hand in hand to deal with different issues
Of course, if you just want to come in and see a company as evil, you won’t ever see the other side.
Sony is pretty good with their accessibility program, I don’t see why things would suddenly turn 180. Unless you just want to I guess. But that’s not reality.
Because I work in software development and I see first-hand exactly what executives are currently doing with AI. That’s what they’re doing. That’s the reality. What other side is there? That we’re going to get more games at lower prices thanks to AI? Sure, if you believe that I’ve got a real nice bridge to sell you too, get out your wallet and just hand it to me.
If given all the evidence of the entire fucking economy of the world you think companies aren’t focused exclusively on short-term, short-sighted profits by minimizing costs and maximizing revenue, you’re so delusional you must be smoking capitalism like a drug.
