Arcadrubin Rubin

Real-time delivery is exactly that, instant notifications, and updates on financial decisions or consumer analytics. This could be a reflection of a purchase made and immediately seeing a notification via smartphone or it could be signing up for a bank account on that same smartphone in a matter of minutes and instantly being able to access and utilize its features. Real-time delivery has become more important as time has passed due to demand. MillennialsMillennials have empowered a new age of technology where desired results are given nearly instantly and are additionally customizable to user's preferences. Real-time delivery is all about data and the instant ability to use that data to achieve set goals.

Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years, with the generation typically being defined as people born from 1981 to 1996.[1] Most millennials are the children of baby boomers and early Gen Xers;[2] millennials are often the parents of Generation Alpha.[3]

Across the globe, young people have postponed marriage.[4] Millennials were born at a time of declining fertility rates around the world,[5] and are having fewer children than their predecessors.[6][7][8][9] Those in developing nations will continue to constitute the bulk of global population growth.[10] In the developed world, young people of the 2010s were less inclined to have sexual intercourse compared to their predecessors when they were at the same age.[11] In the West, they are less likely to be religious than their predecessors,[5][12] but they may identify as spiritual.[13]

Millennials have been described as the first global generation and the first generation that grew up in the Internet age.[14] The generation is generally marked by elevated usage of and familiarity with the Internet, mobile devices, and social media,[15] which is why they are sometimes termed digital natives.[16] Between the 1990s and the 2010s, people from the developing world became increasingly well educated, a factor that boosted economic growth in these countries.[17] Millennials across the world have suffered significant economic disruption since starting their working lives; many faced high levels of youth unemployment during their early years in the labour market in the wake of the Great Recession, and suffered another recession a decade later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18][19]

Members of this demographic cohort are known as millennials because the oldest became adults around the turn of the millennium.[20] Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, known for creating the Strauss–Howe generational theory, are widely credited with naming the millennials.[21] They coined the term in 1987, around the time children born in 1982 were entering kindergarten, and the media were first identifying their prospective link to the impending new millennium as the high school graduating class of 2000.[22] They wrote about the cohort in their books Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (1991)[23] and Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000).[22]

In August 1993, an Advertising Age editorial coined the phrase Generation Y to describe teenagers of the day, then aged 13–19 (born 1974–1980), who were at the time defined as different from Generation X.[24] However, the 1974–1980 cohort was later re-identified by most media sources as the last wave of Generation X,[25] and by 2003 Ad Age had moved their Generation Y starting year up to 1982.[26] According to journalist Bruce Horovitz, in 2012, Ad Age "threw in the towel by conceding that millennials is a better name than Gen Y,"[21] and by 2014, a past director of data strategy at Ad Age said to NPR "the Generation Y label was a placeholder until we found out more about them."[27]

Millennials are sometimes called echo boomers, due to them often being the offspring of the baby boomers, the significant increase in birth rates from the early 1980s to mid-1990s, and their generation's large size relative to that of boomers.[28][29][30][31] In the United States, the echo boom's birth rates peaked in August 1990[32][28] and a twentieth-century trend toward smaller families in developed countries continued.[33][34] Psychologist Jean Twenge described millennials as "Generation Me" in her 2006 book Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Than Ever Before,[35][36] while in 2013, Time magazine ran a cover story titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation.[37] Alternative names for this group proposed include the Net Generation,[38] Generation 9/11,[39] Generation Next,[40] and The Burnout Generation.[41]

American sociologist Kathleen Shaputis labeled millennials as the Boomerang Generation or Peter Pan Generation because of the members' perceived tendency for delaying some rites of passage into adulthood for longer periods than most generations before them. These labels were also a reference to a trend toward members living with their parents for longer periods than previous generations.[42] Kimberly Palmer regards the high cost of housing and higher education, and the relative affluence of older generations, as among the factors driving the trend.[43] Questions regarding a clear definition of what it means to be an adult also impact a debate about delayed transitions into adulthood and the emergence of a new life stage, Emerging Adulthood. A 2012 study by professors at Brigham Young University found that college students were more likely to define "adult" based on certain personal abilities and characteristics rather than more traditional "rite of passage" events.[44] Larry Nelson noted that "In prior generations, you get married and you start a career and you do that immediately. What young people today are seeing is that approach has led to divorces, to people unhappy with their careers … The majority want to get married […] they just want to do it right the first time, the same thing with their careers."[44]

• Medical RoboticsMedical Robotics

Are types of surgical procedures that are done using robotic systems. Robotically-assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.

In the case of robotically-assisted minimally-invasive surgery, instead of directly moving the instruments, the surgeon uses one of two methods to administer the instruments. These include using a direct telemanipulator or through computer control. A telemanipulator is a remote manipulator that allows the surgeon to perform the normal movements associated with the surgery. The robotic arms carry out those movements using end-effectors and manipulators to perform the actual surgery. In computer-controlled systems, the surgeon uses a computer to control the robotic arms and its end-effectors, though these systems can also still use telemanipulators for their input. One advantage of using the computerized method is that the surgeon does not have to be present, leading to the possibility for remote surgery.

Memory devices play an essential role in preventing any inconveniences in the robot-assisted surgery. The memory storage solutions can perform multiple functions based on the patient’s physical record. They can also indicate specific information to measure calibration offsets indicating misalignment of the storage drive system, life of the data, and so on.

Robotic surgery has been criticized for its expense, with the average costs in 2007 ranging from $5,607 to $45,914 per patient. This technique has not been approved for cancer surgery as of 2019 as the safety and usefulness is unclear.

The concept of using standard hand grips to control manipulators and cameras of various sizes down to sub-miniature was described in the Robert Heinlein story 'Waldo', which also mentioned brain surgery. The first robot to assist in surgery was the Arthrobot, which was developed and used for the first time in Vancouver in 1985.This robot assisted in being able to manipulate and position the patient's leg on voice command. Intimately involved were biomedical engineer James McEwen, Geof Auchinleck, a UBC engineering physics grad, and Dr. Brian Day as well as a team of engineering students. The robot was used in an orthopaedic surgical procedure on 12 March 1984, at the UBC Hospital in Vancouver. Over 60 arthroscopic surgical procedures were performed in the first 12 months, and a 1985 National Geographic video on industrial robots, The Robotics Revolution, featured the device. Other related robotic devices developed at the same time included a surgical scrub nurse robot, which handed operative instruments on voice command, and a medical laboratory robotic arm. A YouTube video entitled Arthrobot- the world's first surgical robot illustrates some of these in operation.

In 1985 a robot, the Unimation Puma 200, was used to orient a needle for a brain biopsy while under CT guidance during a neurological procedure. In the late 1980s, Imperial College in London developed PROBOT, which was then used to perform prostatic surgery. The advantages to this robot was its small size, accuracy and lack of fatigue for the surgeon. In 1992, the ROBODOC was introduced and revolutionized orthopedic surgery by being able to assist with hip replacement surgeries. The latter was the first surgical robot that was approved by the FDA in 2008. The ROBODOC from Integrated Surgical Systems (working closely with IBM) could mill out precise fittings in the femur for hip replacement. The purpose of the ROBODOC was to replace the previous method of carving out a femur for an implant, the use of a mallet and broach/rasp.

Further development of robotic systems was carried out by SRI International and Intuitive Surgical with the introduction of the da Vinci Surgical System and Computer Motion with the AESOP and the ZEUS robotic surgical system. The first robotic surgery took place at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio under the direction of Robert E. Michler.

AESOP was a breakthrough in robotic surgery when introduced in 1994, as it was the first laparoscopic camera holder to be approved by the FDA. NASA initially funded the company that produces AESOP, Computer Motion, due to its goal to create a robotic arm that can be used in space, but this project ended up becoming a camera used in laparoscopic procedures. Voice control was then added in 1996 with the AESOP 2000 and seven degrees of freedom to mimic a human hand was added in 1998 with the AESOP 3000.

ZEUS was introduced commercially in 1998, and was started the idea of telerobotics or telepresence surgery where the surgeon is at a distance from the robot on a console and operates on the patient. Examples of using ZEUS include a fallopian tube reconnection in July 1998, a beating heart coronary artery bypass graft in October 1999, and the Lindbergh Operation, which was a cholecystectomy performed remotely in September 2001.In 2003, ZEUS made its most prominent mark in cardiac surgery after successfully harvesting the left internal mammary arteries in 19 patients, all of which had very successful clinical outcomes.

The original telesurgery robotic system that the da Vinci was based on was developed at Stanford Research Institute International in Menlo Park with grant support from DARPA and NASA.A demonstration of an open bowel anastomosis was given to the Association of Military Surgeons of the US. Although the telesurgical robot was originally intended to facilitate remotely performed surgery in the battlefield and other remote environments, it turned out to be more useful for minimally invasive on-site surgery. The patents for the early prototype were sold to Intuitive Surgical in Mountain View, California. The da Vinci senses the surgeon's hand movements and translates them electronically into scaled-down micro-movements to manipulate the tiny proprietary instruments. It also detects and filters out any tremors in the surgeon's hand movements, so that they are not duplicated robotically. The camera used in the system provides a true stereoscopic picture transmitted to a surgeon's console. Compared to the ZEUS, the da Vinci robot is attached to trocars to the surgical table, and can imitate the human wrist. In 2000, the da Vinci obtained FDA approval for general laparoscopic procedures and became the first operative surgical robot in the US. Examples of using the da Vinci system include the first robotically assisted heart bypass (performed in Germany) in May 1998, and the first performed in the United States in September 1999;[citation needed] and the first all-robotic-assisted kidney transplant, performed in January 2009. The da Vinci Si was released in April 2009 and initially sold for $1.75 million.

In 2005, a surgical technique was documented in canine and cadaveric models called the transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for the da Vinci robot surgical system as it was the only FDA-approved robot to perform head and neck surgery. In 2006, three patients underwent resection of the tongue using this technique.The results were more clear visualization of the cranial nerves, lingual nerves, and lingual artery, and the patients had a faster recovery to normally swallowing.[25] In May 2006 the first artificial intelligence doctor-conducted unassisted robotic surgery was on a 34-year-old male to correct heart arrhythmia. The results were rated as better than an above-average human surgeon. The machine had a database of 10,000 similar operations, and so, in the words of its designers, was "more than qualified to operate on any patient".In August 2007, Dr. Sijo Parekattil of the Robotics Institute and Center for Urology (Winter Haven Hospital and University of Florida) performed the first robotic-assisted microsurgery procedure denervation of the spermatic cord for chronic testicular pain.[28] In February 2008, Dr. Mohan S. Gundeti of the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital performed the first robotic pediatric neurogenic bladder reconstruction.

On 12 May 2008, the first image-guided MR-compatible robotic neurosurgical procedure was performed at University of Calgary by Dr. Garnette Sutherland using the NeuroArm. In June 2008, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) presented a robotic system for minimally invasive surgery, the MiroSurge. In September 2010, the Eindhoven University of Technology announced the development of the Sofie surgical system, the first surgical robot to employ force feedback. In September 2010, the first robotic operation at the femoral vasculature was performed at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana by a team led by Borut Geršak.

Uses

Ophthalmology is still part of the frontier for robotic-assisted surgeries. However, there are a couple of robotic systems that are capable of successfully performing surgeries.

PRECEYES Surgical System is being used for vitreoretinal surgeries. This system attaches to the head of the operating room table and provides surgeons with increased precision with the help of the intuitive motion controller.

The da Vinci Surgical System, though not specifically designed for ophthalmic procedures, uses telemanipulation to perform pterygium repairs and ex-vivo corneal surgeries.

Some examples of heart surgery being assisted by robotic surgery systems include:

Atrial septal defect repair – the repair of a hole between the two upper chambers of the heart,

Mitral valve repair – the repair of the valve that prevents blood from regurgitating back into the upper heart chambers during contractions of the heart,

Coronary artery bypass – rerouting of blood supply by bypassing blocked arteries that provide blood to the heart.

Robotic surgery has become more widespread in thoracic surgery for mediastinal pathologies, pulmonary pathologies and more recently complex esophageal surgery.

The da Vinci Xi system is used for lung and mediastinal mass resection. This minimally invasive approach as a comparable alternative to video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and the standard open thoracic surgery. Although VATS is the less expensive option, the robotic-assisted approach offers benefits such as 3D visualizations with seven degrees of freedom and improved dexterity while having equivalent perioperative outcomes.

The first successful robot-assisted cochlear implantation in a person took place in Bern, Switzerland in 2017.[42] Surgical robots have been developed for use at various stages of cochlear implantation, including drilling through the mastoid bone, accessing the inner ear and inserting the electrode into the cochlea.[43]

Advantages of robot-assisted cochlear implantation include improved accuracy,[44] resulting in fewer mistakes during electrode insertion and better hearing outcomes for patients.[45] The surgeon uses image-guided surgical planning to program the robot based on the patient’s individual anatomy. This helps the implant team to predict where the contacts of the electrode array will be located within the cochlea, which can assist with audio processor fitting post-surgery.[46] The surgical robots also allow surgeons to reach the inner ear in a minimally invasive way.[45]

Challenges that still need to be addressed include safety, time, efficiency and cost.[45]

Surgical robots have also been shown to be useful for electrode insertion with pediatric patients.[47]

Multiple types of procedures have been performed with either the 'Zeus' or da Vinci robot systems, including bariatric surgery and gastrectomy[48] for cancer. Surgeons at various universities initially published case series demonstrating different techniques and the feasibility of GI surgery using the robotic devices.[49] Specific procedures have been more fully evaluated, specifically esophageal fundoplication for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux[50] and Heller myotomy for the treatment of achalasia.[51][52]

Robot-assisted pancreatectomies have been found to be associated with "longer operating time, lower estimated blood loss, a higher spleen-preservation rate, and shorter hospital stay[s]" than laparoscopic pancreatectomies; there was "no significant difference in transfusion, conversion to open surgery, overall complications, severe complications, pancreatic fistula, severe pancreatic fistula, ICU stay, total cost, and 30-day mortality between the two groups."[53]

The first report of robotic surgery in gynecology was published in 1999 from the Cleveland Clinic [54] The adoption of robotic surgery has contributed to the increase in minimally invasive surgery for gynecologic disease.[55] Gynecologic procedures may take longer with robot-assisted surgery and the rate of complications may be higher, but there are not enough high-quality studies to know at the present time.[55] In the United States, robotic-assisted hysterectomy for benign conditions was shown to be more expensive than conventional laparoscopic hysterectomy in 2015, with no difference in overall rates of complications.[56]

This includes the use of the da Vinci surgical system in benign gynecology and gynecologic oncology. Robotic surgery can be used to treat fibroids, abnormal periods, endometriosis, ovarian tumors, uterine prolapse, and female cancers.[55] Using the robotic system, gynecologists can perform hysterectomies, myomectomies, and lymph node biopsies.[57] The Memic robotic system is aimed to provide a robotic platform for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) for myomectomy through the vagina.[58]

A 2017 review of surgical removal of the uterus and cervix for early cervical cancer robotic and laparoscopic surgery resulted in similar outcomes with respect to the cancer.[59]

Robots are used in orthopedic surgery.[60]

ROBODOC is the first active robotic system that performs some of the surgical actions in a total hip arthroplasty (THA). It is programmed preoperatively using data from computer tomography (CT) scans. This allows for the surgeon to choose the optimal size and design for the replacement hip.[61][62]

Acrobot and Rio are semi-active robotic systems that are used in THA. It consists of a drill bit that is controlled by the surgeon however the robotic system does not allow any movement outside the predetermined boundaries.[61]

Mazor X is used in spinal surgeries to assist surgeons with placing pedicle screw instrumentation. Inaccuracy when placing a pedicle screw can result in neurovascular injury or construct failure. Mazor X functions by using templating imaging to locate itself to the target location of where the pedicle screw is needed.[63]

Robotic devices started to be used in minimally invasive spine surgery starting in the mid-2000s.[64] As of 2014, there were too few randomized clinical trials to judge whether robotic spine surgery is more or less safe than other approaches.[64]

As of 2019, the application of robotics in spine surgery has mainly been limited to pedicle screw insertion for spinal fixation.[65] In addition, the majority of studies on robot-assisted spine surgery have investigated lumbar or lumbosacral vertebrae only.[65] Studies on use of robotics for placing screws in the cervical and thoracic vertebrae are limited.

The first fully robotic kidney transplantations were performed in the late 2000s. It may allow kidney transplantations in people who are obese who could not otherwise have the procedure. Weight loss however is the preferred initial effort.[

With regards to robotic surgery, this type of procedure is currently best suited for single-quadrant procedures, in which the operations can be performed on any one of the four quadrants of the abdomen. Cost disadvantages are applied with procedures such as a cholecystectomy and fundoplication, but are suitable opportunities for surgeons to advance their robotic surgery skills.

Robotic surgery in the field of urology has become common, especially in the United States.

There is inconsistent evidence of benefits compared to standard surgery to justify the increased costs. Some have found tentative evidence of more complete removal of cancer and fewer side effects from surgery for prostatectomy.

In 2000, the first robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy was performed.

Robotic surgery has also been utilized in radical cystectomies. A 2013 review found less complications and better short term outcomes when compared to open technique.

Pediatric procedures are also benefiting from robotic surgical systems. The smaller abdominal size in pediatric patients limits the viewing field in most urology procedures. The robotic surgical systems help surgeons overcome these limitations. Robotic technology provides assistance in performing

Pyeloplasty - alternative to the conventional open dismembered pyeloplasty (Anderson-Hynes). Pyeloplasty is the most common robotic-assisted procedures in children.

Ureteral reimplantation - alternative to the open intravesical or extravesical surgery.

Ureteroureterostomy - alternative to the transperitoneal approach.

Nephrectomy and heminephrectomy - Traditionally done with laparoscopy, it is not likely that a robotic procedure offers significant advantage due to its high cost.

Major advances aided by surgical robots have been remote surgery, minimally invasive surgery and unmanned surgery. Due to robotic use, the surgery is done with precision, miniaturization, smaller incisions; decreased blood loss, less pain, and quicker healing time. Articulation beyond normal manipulation and three-dimensional magnification help to result in improved ergonomics. Due to these techniques, there is a reduced duration of hospital stays, blood loss, transfusions, and use of pain medication.[73] The existing open surgery technique has many flaws such as limited access to the surgical area, long recovery time, long hours of operation, blood loss, surgical scars, and marks.[74]

The robot's costs range from $1 million to $2.5 million for each unit,[1] and while its disposable supply cost is normally $1,500 per procedure, the cost of the procedure is higher.[75] Additional surgical training is needed to operate the system.[71] Numerous feasibility studies have been done to determine whether the purchase of such systems are worthwhile. As it stands, opinions differ dramatically. Surgeons report that, although the manufacturers of such systems provide training on this new technology, the learning phase is intensive and surgeons must perform 150 to 250 procedures to become adept in their use.[1] During the training phase, minimally invasive operations can take up to twice as long as traditional surgery, leading to operating room tie-ups and surgical staffs keeping patients under anesthesia for longer periods. Patient surveys indicate they chose the procedure based on expectations of decreased morbidity, improved outcomes, reduced blood loss and less pain.[73] Higher expectations may explain higher rates of dissatisfaction and regret.[71]

Compared with other minimally invasive surgery approaches, robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over the surgical instruments and a better view of the surgical site. In addition, surgeons no longer have to stand throughout the surgery and do not get tired as quickly. Naturally occurring hand tremors are filtered out by the robot's computer software. Finally, the surgical robot can continuously be used by rotating surgery teams.[76] Laparoscopic camera positioning is also significantly steadier with less inadvertent movements under robotic controls than compared to human assistance.[77]

There are some issues in regards to current robotic surgery usage in clinical applications. There is a lack of haptics in some robotic systems currently in clinical use, which means there is no force feedback, or touch feedback. Surgeons are thus not able to feel the interaction of the instrument with the patient. Some systems already have this haptic feedback in order to improve the interaction between the surgeon and the tissue.[78]

The robots can also be very large, have instrumentation limitations, and there may be issues with multi-quadrant surgery as current devices are solely used for single-quadrant application.[79]

Critics of the system, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,[80] say there is a steep learning curve for surgeons who adopt the use of the system and that there's a lack of studies that indicate long-term results are superior to results following traditional laparoscopic surgery.[75] Articles in the newly created Journal of Robotic Surgery tend to report on one surgeon's experience.[75]

Complications related to robotic surgeries range from converting the surgery to open, re-operation, permanent injury, damage to viscera and nerve damage. From 2000 to 2011, out of 75 hysterectomies done with robotic surgery, 34 had permanent injury, and 49 had damage to the viscera.[citation needed] Prostatectomies were more prone to permanent injury, nerve damage and visceral damage as well. Very minimal surgeries in a variety of specialties had to actually be converted to open or be re-operated on, but most did suffer some kind of damage and/or injury. For example, out of seven coronary artery bypass grafting, one patient had to go under re-operation. It is important that complications are captured, reported and evaluated to ensure the medical community is better educated on the safety of this new technology.[81] If something was to go wrong in a robot-assisted surgery, it is difficult to identify culpability, and the safety of the practice will influence how quickly and widespread these practices are used.[citation needed]

There are also current methods of robotic surgery being marketed and advertised online. Removal of a cancerous prostate has been a popular treatment through internet marketing. Internet marketing of medical devices are more loosely regulated than pharmaceutical promotions. Many sites that claim the benefits of this type of procedure had failed to mention risks and also provided unsupported evidence. There is an issue with government and medical societies promotion a production of balanced educational material.[82] In the US alone, many websites promotion robotic surgery fail to mention any risks associated with these types of procedures, and hospitals providing materials largely ignore risks, overestimate benefits and are strongly influenced by the manufacturer.[83]

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The WitcherThe Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin [ˈvjɛd͡ʑmjin] (Warlock)) is a 2007 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red for Microsoft Windows and CD Projekt on OS X. It was based on the fantasy novel series The Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The game's story takes place after the events of the main saga.[4][It was released in 2007 to positive reviews from critics and received an aggregate score of 81/100 on Metacritic. In 2009, a console version, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, was scheduled for release using an entirely new engine and combat system. This was suspended as a result of payment problems with console developers Widescreen Games. The first game has, to date, two sequels, namely The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015.

Premise:

The story takes place in a medieval fantasy world and follows Geralt of Rivia, one of a few traveling monster hunters who have supernatural powers, known as Witchers. The game's system of moral choices was noted for its time-delayed consequences and lack of black-and-white morality. The game utilizes BioWare's proprietary Aurora Engine.

Gameplay:

There are three camera styles available in The Witcher: two isometric perspectives, where the mouse is used to control most functions, and an over-the-shoulder view, which brings the player closer to the in-game combat while limiting vision. In all three views the controls can be changed to be primarily mouse focused or a combined keyboard and mouse approach.

Players can choose one of three fighting styles to use in different situations and against different foes. The fast style allows for more rapid, less-damaging attacks with a higher chance of hitting faster enemies; the strong style deals more damage in exchange for a slow attack speed, and a lower chance to hit faster enemies; and the group style features sweeping attacks best used if Geralt is surrounded. The player can switch between the styles at any point. Both of Geralt's main swords also have distinctively different combat styles from other weaponry, and serve specific purposes. The steel blade is used to fight humans and other flesh-and-blood beings, while the silver sword is more effective against supernatural monsters and beasts (against some of which steel may have no effect whatsoever). With precise timing, the player can link Geralt's attacks into combos to damage enemies more effectively.

Alchemy is a significant part of the gameplay. The player can create potions that increase health or endurance regeneration, allow Geralt to see in the dark, or provide other beneficial effects. The recipes for these potions can be learned through scrolls, or by experimentation. Once the player creates an unknown potion, he can choose to drink it, but if the potion is a failure it will poison or have other harmful effects on Geralt. Each time Geralt drinks potions, they increase the toxicity level of his body. This can be reduced by drinking a special potion or by meditating at an inn or fireplace. In addition to potions, the player can create oils used to augment the damage done by weapons. They can also create bombs for use as weapons in combat. Neither can be created until talent points have been allocated into the corresponding skills.

A time-delayed decision-consequence system means that the repercussions of players' decisions will make themselves apparent in plot devices in later acts of the game. This helps avert a save-reload approach to decision making. It also adds to the game's replay value, as the consequences resulting from the player's decisions can lead to significant differences in the events that take place later, and ultimately a very different gameplay experience than in prior playthroughs.

The player often finds themselves choosing between the lesser of two evils.

Setting and characters:

Set in the Continent of the Witcher franchise, the player assumes the role of Geralt of Rivia, a wandering genetically enhanced monster hunter for hire. The game takes place directly after the events of The Lady of the Lake. Geralt is accompanied by his longtime allies and fellow Witchers, Eskel, Lambert, and instructor Vesemir, as well as sorceress Triss Merigold of Maribor and the field medic Shani. In addition, characters in the game originally from the books include Geralt's companions Dandelion the poet, Zoltan Chivay, the regent King Foltest of Temeria, his daughter Princess Adda(who was previously cursed into the form of a striga but was cured by Geralt), King Radovid of Redania, and the spectral King of the Wild Hunt, a conqueror from another world. Characters original to the game include the boy Alvin, the sorcerer Azar Javed, the mercenary Professor, and Jacques de Alderberg, the Grand Master of the religious faction Order of the Flaming Rose.

Plot:

Geralt awakens at the School of the Wolf's mountain fortress Kaer Morhen, with no memory of who he is or how he is to have arrived there. He is taken in by his Witcher brothers as well as Triss Merigold, who seeks a remedy for his mysterious condition. Kaer Morhen is suddenly attacked by an unknown group of assailants, who escape with the School of the Wolf's key mutagens and formulae that detail how to create Witchers. Pursuing this faction, Geralt travels to the Temerian capital Vizima. On the way, he saves Alvin, a magically gifted peasant child. Triss determines that Alvin is a Source, a genetic magic prodigy similar to Ciri, Geralt's foster daughter. The player has the choice of leaving Alvin in the care of either Triss or Shani, a Redanian medic and Geralt's friend. Alvin is given a magical amulet meant to keep his abilities in check while he learns magic.

Geralt looking over Vizima's dilapidated cemetery

Geralt pursues several leads on the group that attacked Kaer Morhen and learns that they are known as Salamandra, and ostensibly led by the foreign mage Azar Javed. To further complicate matters, tensions are high in the city due to the conflict between the religious fanatics the Order of the Flaming Rose, and the elven terrorist faction the Scoia'tael. With the help of various allies in Vizima, Geralt assaults a Salamandra base in Vizima and kills the Professor, a dangerous mercenary in the employ of the criminal syndicate, but is then betrayed by Princess Adda and is teleported to a village on the outskirts of the city by Triss. The previously peaceful hamlet becomes a battleground when armed conflict breaks out between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia'tael. Geralt is forced to choose to support either faction, or make enemies of them both. Alvin is frightened and, using his Source abilities, magically disappears.

When Geralt returns to Vizima, he finds that Temeria's regent King Foltest has also returned while Adda has relapsed in her curse and is in striga form once more. Under Foltest's direction, Geralt either assists the knights or the elves to restore order to the city as well as deals with Adda. Geralt then storms the Salamandra headquarters and kills Azar Javed, only to find that the gang's true leader is Jacques de Aldersberg, the Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose. Foltest hires Geralt under a contract to slay Jacques to end the Salamandra threat. Geralt confronts Jacques, who explains that due to his Source abilities he has seen the eventual extinction of humanity due to the world-ending White Frost, and was attempting to engineer a genetically enhanced superior race of humans to survive this apocalypse. Geralt is also confronted by the King of the Wild Hunt, who warns him of an impending conflict.

After Geralt defeats and slays Jacques, he notices that the Grand Master wore the same amulet of Alvin, revealing that de Aldersberg was actually the village boy, who traveled back in time by accident. After Geralt returns to Foltest with news of his success, the king is attacked by an assassin. Geralt defeats the attacker, only to find that the corpse was a Witcher, leading directly into The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

Development:

Before CD Projekt's involvement, Metropolis Software (which CD Projekt bought in 2009 and closed in 2010) had obtained a license from Andrzej Sapkowski for his novels in The Witcher series, around 1997.[8] However, due to several other projects that the studio was involved in at the time, and concerns from their publisher TopWare about the materials' international appeal, the project never got farther than some initial media and a playable level.[9]

CD Projekt later approached Sapkowski for rights for the series. They were able to secure the rights for about 35,000 zloty (approximately US$9,500) from Sapkowski, who wanted all the payment upfront, rather than through royalties, even though these were offered to him. In a 2017 interview, Sapkowski said that at the time he had no interest in video games, and was only looking at the deal from a financial benefit standpoint.

Enhanced Edition:

At Game Developers Conference 2008, CD Projekt Red announced an enhanced version of the game, which was released on 16 September 2008. The significant changes featured in the enhanced version are over 200 new animations, additional NPC models, and recoloring of generic NPC models as well as monsters, vastly expanded and corrected dialogues in translated versions, improved stability, redesigned inventory system and load times reduced by roughly 80%.[13][14][15] In addition, all bugs are said to be fixed, and the game manual completely overhauled. There are also two new adventures available to play through: Side Effects and The Price of Neutrality. A new option is to set the language of the voice acting and text separately. For instance, players can now choose to play the game with Polish voices and English subtitles. Other featured languages are Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Czech, Hungarian, and Chinese.

Aside from the game enhancements, The Witcher Enhanced Edition includes a "making of" DVD, a CD with 29 in-game soundtracks, another CD with "Inspired by" music, the short story The Witcher from the book The Last Wish, a map of Temeria printed on high-quality paper, and the official strategy guide. In addition, a new and enhanced version of the D'jinni Adventure Editor is on the DVD with the two new Adventures. The game updates, as well as the box's extras, are available as a free download for owners of the original version who registered their game on the official forum. Furthermore, old savegames are compatible with the Enhanced Edition.

According to CD Projekt co-founder Michal Kicinski, the Enhanced Edition required a $1 million investment, and the company had shipped 300,000 copies of the retail version worldwide as of December 2008.[16]

CD Projekt released a Director's Cut version of the game in North America on 31 July 2009. It is equal to the Enhanced Edition available to the rest of the world, but without the censorship applied to the North American version. The company has since released an official uncensoring patch that makes the North American version the same as the international for those who have purchased a boxed version of the game.

The Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin [ˈvʲɛd͡ʑmʲin] (Warlock)) is a 2007 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red for Microsoft Windows and CD Projekt on OS X. It was based on the fantasy novel series The Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The game's story takes place after the events of the main saga.[4][It was released in 2007 to positive reviews from critics and received an aggregate score of 81/100 on Metacritic. In 2009, a console version, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, was scheduled for release using an entirely new engine and combat system. This was suspended as a result of payment problems with console developers Widescreen Games. The first game has, to date, two sequels, namely The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015.