The Finals Is Adding Dynamic Nametag Reading Commentary and User Named Dill Doe Is Ecstatic
My lawyer advised me against mentioning my username here.
The Finals is making its already elaborate game-show presentation even more immersive next season, with commentators finally learning the most dangerous skill you can possibly give an online game…reading usernames out loud.
Embark revealed its new Dynamic Commentary system in a developer video, where Audio Director Carl Strandberg and Technical Audio and Dialogue Designer Simon Svanbäck explained that Scotty will soon be able to call contestants by name based on things they actually do during a match.
Team wipe an opposing squad, steal a Cashout, go on a revive streak, or pull off some other noteworthy play, and the game can generate an appropriate Scotty line in real time using the players involved.
Embark demonstrated examples including “Tiny.Lils,” “ScottyFan-1337,” and “Big_Jim.” meaning the system is advanced enough to differentiate and read alphanumerics without too much jank. However, that just makes the potential of what the community can do with it even more hilarious.
The Finals community and the internet immediately began thinking of how to exploit this system to its worst possible conclusion. And let me assure you as someone who plays the game regularly, and is guilty of having a name that should not be stated publicly, it gets really bad.
The Reddit thread discussing the announcement is essentially a brainstorming session for ways to make Scotty regret gaining this ability. On one hand I’m terribly concerned about losing my concentration mid-game when Scotty inevitably spouts off nonsense, but on the other the potential for memes and player-generated comedy seems endless.
One has to wonder how Embark plans to implement censorship and moderation over this feature. Would players be forced to change their names? Would certain usernames simply be removed from the pool of names? That problem is almost certainly why Embark is starting small.
Whatever the case, it’s encouraging to see a developer make use of AI in a fun way like this to push forward existing gaming systems.
Dynamic Commentary launches in beta, with Scotty initially reacting to only a limited selection of gameplay events. Embark says it is aiming for just a handful of generated comments per match while it tests the technology and makes sure the resulting dialogue still sounds like Scotty.
The existing pre-recorded commentary isn’t going anywhere either. Dynamic lines will be mixed into the commentary already present in matches. Streamer Mode and Anonymous Mode will also continue hiding player identities as expected.
Embark says this is only the beginning, with the eventual goal of making Scotty and June feel like genuinely reactive commentators watching the match unfold.
What it also means there is almost certainly a The Finals player named Dill Doe, among many others, somewhere right now excitedly waiting for season 12 to kick off.
