Latest news with #UnrealFest
The Verge
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
A lot more AI characters are coming to Fortnite
AI Darth Vader was a huge hit in Fortnite, and now Epic plans to let creators make AI-powered NPCs for their own in-game experiences. But a senior Epic exec says that creators should expect a 'learning curve' when using them — something Epic had to figure out on its own. The AI Vader that Epic made lets users talk to the character using their voice and hear an AI-generated version of James Earl Jones's Vader voice talk back. It was the 'culmination of a very intense effort for a character everybody understands,' Saxs Persson, Epic's EVP of the Fortnite ecosystem, tells The Verge. But Epic couldn't just set an AI chatbot loose — 'a lot' went into defining how Vader reacted and dialing in the voice. The work was worth it, though; in-game, Vader's voice sounds just like the movies, and when he's on your team, he's a menacing, aggressive force. Persson says that Vader was ultimately 'integrated into gameplay in a way that every player could understand' and he hopes creators are able to make similar things. Vader's rollout wasn't perfect; a popular streamer, Loserfruit, was able to get Vader to swear, which Epic fixed shortly after it happened. Persson says that it was a 'learning experience' and that the team has built multiple layers of how it does its safety checks. Epic also tries to build systems to prevent those kinds of things and be able to react fast. 'We do our best job on day one,' Persson says. 'But more importantly, we're ready to surround the problem and actually have fixes in place as fast as we can.' Creators making AI NPCs for Fortnite will have access to the same safety tools that Epic did for Vader. At Unreal Fest on June 3rd, the company showed a live demo of an AI NPC called Mr. Buttons, whose only purpose was, using its voice, to try and convince the player to push a giant red button. It was a simple, effective, and funny demo that showed what's possible. The goal was to create a scenario where 'the responses are literally endless' so that 'everybody has a different experience,' Persson says. Persson wouldn't say if or when Epic plans to bring more AI NPCs to Fortnite. He says that Epic didn't give its designer some kind of 'AI objective' when making Vader. 'Our objective is fun,' CEO Tim Sweeney says. 'AI is just another tool they have now,' Persson adds. It sounds like AI characters could show up in Epic and Disney's 'persistent universe' that's in the works, too: 'I would imagine that AI plays a role,' Persson says, noting that it would help with immersion. Persson wouldn't share a timeline for when the universe, which was announced last year, might be available. But Epic is going to let creators make their own Star Wars- themed experiences, so perhaps somebody will create another take on an AI Darth Vader.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Witcher 4 Gets New Cinematic Trailer Revealing A Slightly Different-Looking Ciri And A 9-Minute Gameplay Tech Demo
The Witcher 4 looks astonishing in a new Unreal Fest tech demo today, but I've been on the path long enough to know that the visuals that delight our eyeballs years out from release don't always reflect how a game ends up looking once it's finally out on a gaming console. Still, a new cinematic trailer and extended tech showcase have me wishing The Witcher 4 wasn't still two to three years away and probably cross-gen with PlayStation 6. CD Projekt Red developers shared the stage at Epic Games' Unreal Fest in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday to show how new improvements to Unreal Engine 5 are helping make The Witcher 4 feel like the true generational shift fans might expect for a game coming out over a decade after its predecessor. The sequel will be the Polish studio's first after ditching its in-house game engine tools for UE5, and CDPR shared a taste of those early results running at 60fps on a base PS5 with fans during the conference, including the player's new horse pal called Kelpie. A new cinematic trailer showed crooked elites getting their just desserts when a dragon flies down in the night and rips their wagon to shreds. A mysterious wanderer emerges the next day to investigate the remnants of the crime scene, eventually revealing herself to be Ciri, the former princess and Geralt of Rivia's mentee all grown up. Observing for clues as if her mind had shifted into detective mode, it's clear she looks a little different from her appearance in The Witcher 4's initial reveal at The Game Awards 2025. Is that emblematic of a shift moving forward? While she's supposed to be much older now, her new model looked different than what fans may have expected from playing The Witcher 3. CD Projekt Red later revealed a behind-the-scenes video about the making the of the 2024 cinematic trailer and noted that character models naturally look different depending on the rendering-style and medium. 'At this point, any character's appearance may vary depending on the medium—whether it's in a trailer, a 3D model, or in-game,' game director Sebastian Kalemba wrote at the time. A spokesperson for CD Projekt Red told Kotaku that only two changes were made to Ciri in the new trailer, one of which has already been changed again. 'It's the same character model used in the [2024] trailer,' they said. 'Ciri's face is a direct copy of The Witcher 3 model, adapted to work with the latest MetaHuman technology. Two subtle changes were made to improve animation quality: slightly raised eyebrows, and a more relaxed eye area—the latter was present in the trailer but has since been removed.' The real treat today was nearly 10 minutes of seeing Ciri wander around a new open world. A gameplay tech demo showed the monster slayer wandering through sprawling sections of wilderness and village streets lined with NPCs. There's even a bear that pops out at one point, and a knocked-over fruit crate that sends apples tumbling down a cobblestone path. It's a UE5 showcase intended to wow and amaze with its extensive detail, hyper-realistic movement, and seamless transitions. Gently falling snowflakes and icy river currents all add to the effect. More immersive! More visceral! Video Games! The spokesperson for CDPR stressed to Kotaku that today's footage is a tech demo for Unreal, not the game itself. Ciri's look, the open world, all continue to evolve throughout development. 'It showcases the powerful foundation we're building in close collaboration with Epic Games to push open-world design further than ever before and the core systems and features we're developing using Unreal Engine 5. We're really proud of this early milestone and excited to give you a sneak peek at some of the cool tech like UAF, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, ML Deformer and FastGeo Streaming that are helping shape the future of The Witcher.' I don't need to remind Witcher fans of E3 'downgrade'-gate, which saw players poring over preview footage and showing how it looked better than what eventually launched in The Witcher 3 in 20215. As then-CD-Projekt-Red visual effects artist José Teixeira explained at the time, you can't downgrade a game that doesn't exist, and what's really happening in these situations is that trade-offs are made to keep a game performant while also making it look as good as possible. The takeaway from Unreal Fest is that CDPR feels confident it'll be able to do that using UE5 in a way that makes the wait worth it for all the Witcher-heads out there. It looks like it's working so far! The in-game footage is even better-looking than the cinematic. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Verge
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Unreal Fest 2025: all of the news from Epic's show
Epic Games' 2025 edition of its Unreal Fest conference is set to kick off on June 3rd in Orlando. There's likely going to be a lot of news from the show; the company's Unreal Engine is used as part of making many of the world's biggest video games and entertainment, and Fortnite is still a huge game that's getting new experiences all the time thanks to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite. At the show, Epic will be hosting its annual State of Unreal keynote, which will begin at 9:30AM ET on June 3rd. The company hasn't said much about what will be announced, but it's promising that it will 'share what's next for Unreal Engine and the Epic ecosystem.' The show also follows the major ruling in Epic Games v. Apple that blew up Apple's control of the App Store, and it seems likely that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney might have something to say about it. Here's our coverage from the event.
