Blog Spotlight - The Invisible Bunnies That Power World of Warcraft
A lot of game development is just smoke and mirrors, produced as a result of tight budgets and timelines. The train you ride in Fallout 3 is just an NPC wearing a giant train hat. The tables in Skyrim are just shelves buried up to their necks.
In this week’s blog spotlight, Nathaniel Chapman explains how World of Warcraft is actually run by invisible bunnies. The invisible creatures are employed to cast spells or perform tasks because it’s more efficient to use existing Non-Player Character (NPC) systems than for programmers to write new code for each effect.
The bunnies have a wide range of roles and interesting names like the "Projections And Plans Kill Credit Bunny" and "Pony Gun Bunny." And the full list of invisible bunnies can be found here.
News Highlights
1. E3 is officially dead
After more than two decades, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, is officially dead. The biggest video game expo has been having trouble the last few years, with 2020, 2022, and 2023 events being canceled, and the 2021 edition taking place virtually.
Covid might have been the catalyst for the event's demise. But even without the pandemic, its relevance has been slowly diminishing over the years. Bigger publishers found other ways to reach their audiences directly, via events such as Sony’s State of Play, Nintendo Direct, or EA Play.
2. Bezos’ Blue Origin aiming to make long-awaited return
Blue Origin is aiming to conclude a more than 15-month pause in operations of its New Shepard suborbital rocket, with an uncrewed mission as early as December 18.
If successful, the flight will carry 33 science and research payloads to space, and also put Blue Origin back into the game, with more ambitious projects underway. Including a moon lander for NASA.
3. Disney Will Lose Rights to Mickey Mouse Character Next Month
After 96 years since his debut, Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie persona will be entering the public domain, giving all creators the right to use the character in their creations.
Disney, having lobbied multiple times, for copyright law extensions, seem to be letting one of their oldest copyright expire this time. And some companies are more than ready to take advantage of the known character and its style - Fumi Games have already released a trailer for their 1930s Disney-inspired M-rated FPS Mouse.
4. Google’s best Gemini demo was faked
Google has revealed its new Gemini AI model with an impressive video and even more impressive claims. The company could now face backlash when the video turned out to be fake.
Book Club: Thinking, Fast and Slow
In his 2011 book, Thinking Fast And Slow, Daniel Kahneman discusses the two systems in our brain, which are fighting over who’s in charge making us prone to errors and false decisions.
The first system is automatic and impulsive. It will jump to a decision fast and intuitively.
The second system is conscious, aware, and considerate. It is analytical and requires the deliberate focus of your attention.
As your brain tries to conserve energy, it tries relying on the first system. When it cannot handle the task, we make mistakes.
When faced with a complicated problem, we need to make sure we’re using the right system. For the second system to kick in, we need to make sure we’re well-rested, concentrated, and focused on the problem at hand. And to always try weighing multiple factors, not just chasing confirmation bias.