Tommy Thompson
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tommy.aiandgames.com
Tommy Thompson
@tommy.aiandgames.com
2.1K followers 270 following 1.2K posts
That Scottish AI and games guy... __ Founder of @aiandgames.com Game AI Programmer & Consultant Public speaker, educator, nuisance BAFTA Connect He-Him, PhD -- Weekly Newsletter: aiandgames.com YouTube: youtube.com/@aiandgames
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Can we just get back to everyone being annoyed at AI in games because the NPCs won't walk through the damn doors correctly?

I kinda miss those days.
In fact it explains why Nintendo uncharacteristically denied allegations of lobbying the Japanese government on generative AI last month.

Because that's a really bad look for them in Japan's corporate culture, which is markedly different from the west.

www.aiandgames.com/p/nintendo-d...
Nintendo Denies Lobbying Government on Generative AI | 08/10/25
Plus, vote on a newsletter topic coming this December!
www.aiandgames.com
These generous flourishing statements are in vogue especially in Japan, where the governments 'AI Action Plan' published last summer expects businesses to show they're embracing the technology.

As I wrote this week, this is why Square Enix is waffling about AI in QA.

bsky.app/profile/aian...
We're still getting back to our regular rhythm at AI and Games HQ, so for this week's edition @tommy.aiandgames.com catches up with the headlines, and gives a quick recap of the AI and Games Conference - plus some official photos from the event!

www.aiandgames.com/p/post-confe...
Post-Conference Blues and Headline Round-Up | 12/11/25
Sponsored by Lingotion: leading the way on legal and ethical AI acting for games.
www.aiandgames.com
I'm still catching up on the discourse but...

1) You mean generative AI little CEO man

2) No they're not

3) A lot of studios have explored it, but very few have gone all in.

4) While Nexon is Korean, be aware that a lot Asian studios are speaking up now on gen AI as political posturing.
What do you mean it's been a week since @conference.aiandgames.com?

My first week 'back' has me crawling through so many nonsense AI stories and holding them to account.

But hey, we have awesome photos from the conference too. Check those out!
We're still getting back to our regular rhythm at AI and Games HQ, so for this week's edition @tommy.aiandgames.com catches up with the headlines, and gives a quick recap of the AI and Games Conference - plus some official photos from the event!

www.aiandgames.com/p/post-confe...
Post-Conference Blues and Headline Round-Up | 12/11/25
Sponsored by Lingotion: leading the way on legal and ethical AI acting for games.
www.aiandgames.com
I keep getting asked by my Discord community to make a "No, not that kind of AI" t-shirt
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
I continue to believe very strongly that a person's reaction to generative AI is directly correlated to whether it presents any existential risks to your craft. This is why senior engineers and CEOs are so psyched about it, and artists and writers are rallying against it.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has defended AI following Eurogamer's 2/5 Arc Raiders review, which criticised the game's use use of AI voice generation. "AI dialog generation + human personality and tuning could totally transform gaming," Sweeney said.

www.gamesindustry.biz/epics-tim-sw...
Epic's Tim Sweeney wades into the Arc Raiders AI row
"This technology increases human productivity in some areas by integer multiples"
www.gamesindustry.biz
Really appreciate the effort in the review to highlight that while there is some very cool AI in Arc Raiders, there's equally some very uncool AI too.

The Finals got away with it's cheap and tacky sounding AI voices because it fit the theme. But it sucks they doubled down on it so aggressively.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
It's a monday! Which means I'm sending out my weekly automation and quality engineering newsletter later!
Did you know every Monday I sent out a newsletter with some of this week's thoughts on automation in games? And I won't make you make a substack account!!!

andrewfray.dev/newsletter.h...
Andrew Fray - Newsletter
Sign up for Andrew’s Automation newsletter for game developers
andrewfray.dev
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
Don't worry, we know what you're after.
I'm not sure. If I did they'd be in storage somewhere in the family home, but they weren't part of my teacher-approved portfolio (I had aspirations to go to art school at one point).
New header image perhaps?
Oh boy I built an entire _library_ of*aggressively mediocre* platforming games with The Games Factory.

I even made all the pixel art from my own drawings.
A reminder that Absolum and the new Shinobi are just awesome. Picking them up for a lazy weekend has been perfect.
I was a big fan of Streets of Rage 4 by Dotemu, Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube.

So having Absolum (by Guard Crush) and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (by Lizardcube) come out within weeks of each other has been a real treat.

Loving both of these games right now. Snappy crunchy fun, and gorgeous.
You need but ask and I'll make it happen.
Yeah it's weird and all rather depressing. I mean I'm happy here as my default 'hang', but yeah being big on LinkedIn has it's benefits.
We have tons of official photos to share. They'll all be going up next week but I have a batch of stuff on my phone and it just makes me smile every time.
Still just buzzing from running the @conference.aiandgames.com this week. Bringing our community together to learn from each other and just have a good time is so rewarding - and so much work!!! 😅
It's bizarre to say out loud but seeing so much love for this year's @conference.aiandgames.com on socials has been great.

It's bizarre to say because most of it is on LinkedIn(???).

But hey, I like to think we've made it a better place this week 😅
Good lord am I tired.

I did the big thank you over on LinkedIn, but we did it.

2025 @conference.aiandgames.com is in the bag.

The only way to combat the hype that plagues AI in game dev is to fight back with knowledge, experience, compassion, and community.

And we're just getting started...