Back in Total FebWar, the Total War: Warhammer III team penned a desperate missive in entrail fluids, full of scrawled warnings about the changes coming to the strategy game‘s AI. With their last ounce of strength, they rolled out a beta test for the planned tweaks. Now, the results are in, circling in the eerily fallow wake of over 50,000 campaigns, like carrion crows with tangible datasets grasped tight in their beaks. Thanks, death crows!
The new query system worked well, with foes no longer cowering from lone enemy agents as if they were doomstacks. The tweaks to faction aggression and potential were shakier, causing some unintended consequence. As such, the upcoming 6.1 patch won’t include changes to how fighty or flourishing your foes are. “Faction Potential changes made minor factions significantly easier to defeat for major factions,” reads the blog. “This in turn caused Elector factions to perish too early and to be ineffective even when brought back”. Makes sense. Can’t summon the dead, unless you’re one of the several Warhammer factions that can actually do that quite easily.
Horizon actor Ashly Burch has addressed the AI Aloy video that leaked online last week, using it to call attention to the demands of striking voice actors.
In the now deleted video, Sony Interactive Entertainment director of software engineering, Sharwin Raghoebardajal, has a conversation with an AI-powered Aloy via voice prompts and AI-generated speech and facial animations. Raghoebardajal asks Aloy how she’s doing, to which she responds: “Hello, I’m managing alright. Just dealing with a sore throat. How have you been?”
The voice heard coming from Aloy’s mouth is clearly not that of Burch, rather a robotic voice similar to those heard from text-to-speech voice generators. AI Aloy’s facial movements are stiff and her eyes appear lifeless as she converses with Raghoebardajal.
Burch, who has voiced Aloy in all four Horizon video games released so far (Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, Call of the Mountain, and Lego Horizon Adventures) took to social media platform TikTok to confirm that she had seen the video, and that Horizon developer Guerrilla had got in touch to let her know that the tech demo did not reflect anything that was in active development, nor did it use any of Burch’s performance (facial or voice data). That presumably rules out AI Aloy for the upcoming Horizon multiplayer game, assuming the character is in the game, and the inevitable Horizon 3. However, as Burch pointed out, Guerrilla (and parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment) owns Aloy as a character.
With all this in mind, Burch said the AI Aloy video left her feeling “worried about game performance as an art form,” and used it as a jumping off point to discuss the ongoing video game voice actors strike that has claimed a number of high-profile casualties in recent weeks.
Last week, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) issued an update to its members on the status of negotiations over video game actor AI protections, saying that while progress had been made, it was still “frustratingly far apart” with the industry bargaining group on key issues.
“Currently what we’re fighting for is, you have to get our consent before you make an AI version of us in any form, you have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you’re using this AI double,” Burch said.
“I feel worried not because the technology exists. Not even because game companies want to use it. Of course they do. They always want to use technological advancements. I just imagine a video like this coming out that does have someone’s performance attached to it, that does have someone’s voice or face or movement. And the possibility that if we lose this fight, that person would have no recourse. They wouldn’t have any protections, any way to fight back. And that possibility, it makes me so sad it hurts my heart. It scares me. I love this industry and this art form so much and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. I want to be able to continue to do this job. If we don’t win, that future is really compromised.
“I’m genuinely not trying to put any game company specifically on blast,” Burch continued. “Certainly not Guerrilla. The technology isn’t the problem. Game companies wanting to use the technology isn’t the problem. The problem is we’re currently on strike and the bargaining group will not agree to give us common sense protections.
“I support the strike. I’ve always supported the strike. I believe fighting is what we have to do to protect the future and the longevity of this career that we all love so much.”
Burch then pointed to the temporary union contracts that currently give all the protections the striking voice actors are asking for, that any video game company can sign right now. “There’s the interim, the tiered, and low budget agreement contracts available right now for any game company to sign,” Burch said. “I believe we deserve to be protected.”
Generative AI is one of the hottest topics within the video game and entertainment industries, which have both suffered massive layoffs in recent years. It has drawn criticism from players and creators due to a mix of ethical issues, rights issues, and AI’s struggles to produce content audiences actually enjoy. For instance, Keywords Studios attempted to create an experimental game internally using entirely AI. The game failed, with Keywords citing to investors that AI was “unable to replace talent.”
And the voice actor strike has begun to impact a number of video games. Players have reported that games such as Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft appear to have certain NPCs left unvoiced in otherwise voiced scenes, likely due to the strike. Late last year, SAG-AFTRA struck League of Legends after Riot allegedly tried to subvert the strike by canceling a game in response. And Activision confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 characters were recast after players expressed concern about new voices.
“For instance, non-player characters in games could interact with players based on their actions, making it feel more personal,” Qizilbash said. “This is important for the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, who are the first generations that grew up digitally and are looking for personalization across everything, as well as looking for experiences to have more meaning.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Oh, hello there! You must be here for our monthly rummage through the Nintendo Life Mailbox. Pull up a chair!
Got something you want to get off your chest? We’re ready and waiting to read about your game-related ponderings. Each month we’ll highlight a Star Letter, the writer of which will receive a month’s subscription to our ad-free Supporter scheme. Check out the submission guidelines at the bottom of this page.
Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Three weeks! Three weeks is all it took before Booked For The Week patron saint Gene Wolfe got mentioned again. Welcome back Gene. It’s like you never left.
Who doesn’t love a pirate game, especially a pirate game that involves racing your ships around an archipelago of islands? And, extra-especially, a pirate game that’s currently on sale? Glory Islands, from Rio Grande Games, typically retails for $45, but Amazon has it on sale right now for the oddly-specific price of $32.17. To save you a calculation, that’s a 28% discount. Not bad.
Glory Islands for 28% Off
In Glory Islands, you’ll be dropping off your scurvy crew onto the spaces in the hope of winning treasure and scoring points via a fun mishmash of different mechanics that adds up to a shipshape whole. Ship movement is governed by playing numeric cards from your hand that also have special powers, such as the five allowing you to pause and drop a second pirate. But be careful, as using too many high-value cards will cost you points at game end. Occupying an island space wins you small bonuses but, once an island is full, it bags a bunch of points for the player with the most crew members there.
Glory Islands is a fast, fun, family-friendly board game that doesn’t have the depth to sustain itself over repeat plays or for hardcore hobbyists, but it’s plenty enjoyable if you pick it up at sale price. Getting the balance right between doing well in the race, while still hitting the spaces you need to score with your crew and not incurring a penalty for sailing too recklessly is surprisingly hard. And there’s real tension in watching where other players drop their sailors, as islands you think are in the bag can swing away from you with surprising speed.
The game also comes with neat wooden ships and sailor pieces, plus miniature barrels of rum you can stockpile to really feel like a miniature pirate king.
Check out more cool board games:
Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.
In this charming indie, an aspiring writer gets lost in a scenic coastal destination while searching for inspiration. Diana Caproni wanders Borga Marina, making friends and solving mysteries in this low-intensity detective story.
Italian developer Memorable Games has crafted a gorgeous setting that serves as an ode to Ligurian communities and Mediterranean vistas. The location and sleuthing format also recall seminal adventure titles of yesteryear – particularly the sun-soaked vibrancy of the Broken Sword series.
We are back with another edition of Box Art Brawl and things are about to get puzzley.
Before we dive into this week’s match-up, however, let’s take a look at what went down last time when we put the NES’ Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom under the microscope. Despite what we thought were two pretty sweet covers, it was the Western design that took a commanding win, snatching up 82% of the vote and leaving Japan in the dust with the remaining 18%. Yikes.
Bandai Namco is still showing support for last year’s release Gundam Breaker 4 and to get the new year underway it’s released a “free March update”.
This allows you to acquire the ‘GQuuuuuux’ and ‘Gundam EX’ from the shop with in-game currency. In addition to these new mobile suits, there are also additional builder parts, paint patterns, diorama objects and photo poses as well as “new Master Skill settings” and various other game improvements.
There hasn’t been a new Banjo-Kazooie game for many years now, but there are still plenty of fans out there eager for more.
Although it’s not a game, First 4 Figures has shared a sneak peek of its new statue – Banjo’s sister Tooty, who is captured by Gruntilda in Rare’s original Nintendo 64 adventure. Pre-orders open on 18th March 2025, with a $10 discount included if you sign up to the email. No price or release date has been revealed just yet.
I get that in-world the whole appeal of Dune’s Arrakis is all of that spice it harbours, but to be honest the giant sandworms are a bit of a dealbreaker for me. Even still, I have to admit that Dune: Awakening looks pretty neat even with that ever present threat, and a new trailer all about exploring the desert planet that dropped this week has helped pique my interest a little further. For starters, that desert bike looks pretty nifty, my time in Sable taught me that I love a good zoom through beautiful, sandy vistas, and this looks to be similar, even if Dune: Awakening’s world is a bit more hostile.
